The following web novel series is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Running Away Before the Runaway Empress

Chapter 1

“Have you honestly ever worried a day in your life?” the emperor of Hernea suddenly hissed at his empress who was drinking tea. Giving her a once-over and clicking his tongue at her, he marched past her.

The teacup in the empress’s hand trembled. The tea in the cup sloshed and threatened to spill over as she managed to put it down gently through sheer willpower.

The empress rose to her feet and looked at Lelia, who sensed a storm coming and looked away from the empress. Nevertheless, the empress approached Lelia in quick steps as the latter ducked behind Sara. The empress grabbed Lelia by the shoulder anyway and said, “Let’s go, Lelia.”

She could feel the hand on her shoulder shaking with rage. Hoping to avoid whatever was about to happen, Lelia rolled her shoulders forward to free herself and said, “I’m a little busy today…”

“Lelia,” the empress pleaded with an attempt at a warm smile that came out as a horrifying grimace. Lelia was dragged away by the empress in the end.

When they arrived at the empress’s room and the door closed behind them, the empress finally let it rip. “That f*cker!”

A man’s voice came from the beautiful empress, but this did not alarm Lelia. Of course she sounded like a man because, Lelia knew, this was a man disguised as the empress. He was hiding his voice and appearance through trickery for the sake of his twin sister, the real Empress Deanna.

Ever since Lelia discovered his secret, he’d been venting his frustrations at Lelia.

“Careful. Your wig will come off.”

The empress—or rather, cross-dressing man—scoffed as he raked his hair back. “This is my real hair, not a wig.”

Lelia quietly exclaimed at the sight of the locks that came down to his waist. They were soft as silk with nary a tangle in the big curls.

“You have long hair?”

“Don’t you?”

Lelia touched her hair that was coiled up and stuffed in a bun and said, “Mine’s real.”

“You never back down, do you?”

“I would do everything to back down, up, and away from you.”

He gazed silently at Lelia for a moment, then stretched his neck briefly and stepped up close to her. Lelia took a step back, and he closed the distance again. Predicting how this dance was going to play out, Lelia stood in place. He brushed the flyaways out of Lelia’s forehead, then snapped his fingers before her eyes.

The face at Lelia’s eye level suddenly shot up. The empress’s twin brother was back to his original form. Unfortunately, the dress was ripped and unrecognizable as the petite lady turned into a tall, burly man. Firm muscles, broad shoulders, perfectly straight clavicles, and beefy arms emerged. Lelia marveled at the transformation and pointed out, “The dress ripped.”

“I know.”

“Where did the pants come from?”

Lelia had asked out of genuine curiosity, but the man gave her a sly grin that made her want to hit him.

“Disappointed?”

“Not really.”

His hand, which had been toying with her hair, moved to her hairnet and pulled it off. Lelia’s long, curly hair cascaded down to her waist. He wrapped a lock of her hair around his fingers.

“Say my name.”

“Lady Deanna.”

“That’s my sister.”

“Lord Vancy.”

“Who’s that?”

“Mister Vain.”

“I will end you”

“Is that a promise?”

He fell silent. Placing his arms on her shoulders, he bent down and pressed his forehead to hers. He looked straight into her eyes and asked, “Why do you seem so uninterested in living?”

“I am plenty interested. That’s why I tried to stop Her Majesty from running away.”

“Too bad she escaped, huh?”

She pulled away at his teasing, but he didn’t seem to mind as he wrapped his arm around her neck. She struggled to free herself from his grip, but his strong arms did not budge. She gave in and decided to plead with him instead.

“So, could you please stop interfering in everything I do?”

“Are you out of your mind?”

He raised an eyebrow, his gaze intense.

“Do you expect me to just watch you run away?”

“Then don’t watch.”

“How can I not? The moment I revealed myself—” He paused, his face drawing closer. His hot breath brushed her lips as he said with a fierce smile, “You became mine.”

Looking at this man who appeared to have a screw loose somewhere in his head, she retorted firmly, “‘We’re in the same boat’ would be the better expression for these circumstances.”

“I was going to say that,” he said, then tilted his head and looked down at her. “But I wanted to be yours.”

Lelia was caught in what she could only describe as a sticky net. She did not like this man. She needed to tear her way out of this net.

***

Hello. What fine weather we’re having today! A month ago, I became Lelia.

“Lelia, hurry up!” Sara shouted.

And who is Lelia? She is the personal maid to Empress Deanna.

“The empress seems to be in a foul mood again today.’

Lelia took a moment to reflect on her situation and narrate her own story. When she first found herself in this body, she didn’t have the luxury of such thoughts. There was no time to grasp the situation as she was dragged around the palace by Sara, a fellow maid. They worked from dawn to dusk, passed out from exhaustion at night, and started it all again the next morning.

As she acclimated to her new circumstances, Lelia sighed. It seemed that, like so many characters in stories these days, she too had ended up in a different world.

“The empress has had little appetite for the past few days.” Sara let out a worried sigh.

Although concerned about the empress’s health, Lelia’s eyes twinkled as she patted her own stomach.

“More for me.”

Lelia was quite pleased with herself. The empress hadn’t even touched the sumptuous food, and the Lelia could not in good conscience let it go to waste.

“Noble ladies do not eat leftovers,” Sara cried in horror. “Please stop doing that, alright?”

Sara spoke to Lelia as if to a younger sister. Lelia had been acting awfully strange ever since she had smacked her head on a door a month ago and started bleeding from both her nostrils. Sara couldn’t bring herself to ignore her.

In this perilous palace, there was no one she could rely on more than her roommate—and the feeling was mutual.

Lelia had managed to survive in this chaotic new situation thanks to Sara’s help. Sara had even kindly reminded Lelia of her own name when she couldn’t remember it. However, the moment Lelia saw the empress’s face, memories of the novel flooded back with uncanny accuracy.

She could hardly remember people’s names, and yet she could recall that romantic fantasy she read word for word.

This has to be some kind of spell or device.

Perhaps whoever was behind this implanted the story in her head to make up for suddenly yanking her out of her life and dropping her here.

With a soft groan, Lelia retorted, “It was practically untouched. And besides, I am a maid.”

“Only nobles can become maids in the palace! And you are the daughter of Viscount White! I should have realized something was wrong when you started eating like a pig a month ago.”

“Noble ladies don’t say ‘eating like a pig,’ either.”

Ignoring Lelia’s protest, Sara clicked her tongue. “You’ve been acting strange for the past month. I asked if you had turned soft in the head. You haven’t really become a halfwit, have you?”

“What? How did you know?”

Sara stopped and looked at Lelia with pity. Hesitant, she finally placed her hand on Lelia’s forehead.

“It’s as if you have become a completely different person. How can you not remember a thing about yourself?”

“But I really am a different person.”

I’m actually someone else inside Lelia’s body. I’m looking for the original owner of this body, and while I’m at it, I’d like to find my own body as well.

Sara couldn’t tell anymore if Lelia was being serious or, well, a halfwit. She shook her head and continued walking.

“Your face is strangely expressionless, and your manners lack refinement. You’re different. You used to be gentle and quiet.”

Sara’s criticism had no impact on Lelia.

“Because I’m not Lelia. I’m someone else.”

“You’re not sick, are you?”

Continuing to ignore each other’s words, they went out to the empress’s garden. The empress was enjoying tea in a small gazebo amidst the blooming flowers. Her face was like a painting, the kind of beauty one could not forget for as long as they lived. Opposite her sat a handsome blond man. This was the emperor, the sun of this empire.

Ah. Here’s the male lead of the story.

Seeing him for the first time since landing in this body, Lelia couldn’t deny he was strikingly handsome. But his words were cold.

“Empress, I do not have the leisure you seem to have in abundance.”

“Can you not spare a moment for tea with me?”

“Do I look like I can?”

The emperor retorted coldly at his wife as he gazed lovingly at his mistress. The empress’s face hardened.

Witnessing this scene from the novel in real life was fascinating but a bit infuriating. No matter how handsome he was, his behavior was enough to make anyone frown. To flaunt his mistress in front of his wife was a blatant disregard for her, the empress of an empire.

Even if he has a mistress, shouldn’t he at least hide it in front of his wife? I thought that was the unspoken rule in the world of this novel.

But the emperor didn’t care. The reason was obvious: it was because of the empress’s family.

Lelia thought this over and shook her head. She wasn’t in a position to worry about others. While standing by at a distance from the empress, Lelia tried to organize her thoughts about her current situation. For the past month, she had been too busy adjusting to her new role in the new world to even think clearly.

A month ago, she ended up in the body of a character named Lelia. The title of the novel was The Disappearance of the Dying Empress.

The main copy was “heartbroken, wronged girl runs away and repentant boy goes looking for her.” The empress, who was the female lead, ran away, and it was only after she was gone that the emperor realized she was the love of his life. He abandoned his mistress and went on a frantic search for the empress. Unable to find her, the emperor blamed and killed all the servants who had served the empress, one of whom was Lelia. That was the main plot of the original story.

Brushing off a flower petal that landed on her nose, Lelia muttered, “I want to live, Sara.”

“I’ll bet you’ll live a long life.”

Lelia appreciated her saying so.