I woke up as the Villainous Empress

Yang Ning couldn\'t help but react with disbelief and skepticism to the woman\'s claim that she had written the novel. The entire situation felt like a surreal, fantastical nightmare that defied all logic and reason.

"What do you mean by you wrote it?" Yang Ning asked, her voice trembling with a mixture of anxiety and confusion. "You\'re spouting nonsense again, aren\'t you?"

The woman maintained a composed expression and replied calmly, "No, I\'m not spouting nonsense. I really am the writer of the novel."

Yang Ning scoffed, her head spinning from the bizarre revelation. "No, that can\'t be true. How can you write it and still be inside the fictional world? That\'s... that\'s some fantastical nonsense."

The situation itself was so absurd and unbelievable that Yang Ning\'s head felt like it was about to burst from the sheer complexity of it all.

Witnessing Yang Ning\'s flabbergasted expression, the woman smirked sardonically. Glancing at her wrists, bound by thick ropes that had left angry crimson imprints on her dust-covered skin, she affirmed, "That\'s right. I was the one who wrote it, the novel that changed everyone\'s life," her tone was serious and sincere.

Upon hearing the woman\'s words, Yang Ning couldn\'t contain her overwhelming emotions and slammed her fists onto the table in frustration. Tears welled up in her eyes as she struggled to make sense of the bewildering situation. "If you\'re the one who wrote it, tell me what is going on. What the hell is exactly happening? You said that I cannot change my fate, why?

Why can I not change my fate?" she pleaded, her voice quivering with anxiety.

After being trapped in this unfamiliar world with no one to answer her questions, she felt a glimmer of hope in finding someone who could provide some explanation for the madness she was experiencing.

She wanted some kind of explanation to justify this situation. She was well aware that trying to make logical sense of this situation was futile. The whole scenario was so far removed from logic that it felt like an impossible puzzle. However, there must be something that has led to her becoming Yang Ning and meeting this strange woman.

There must be a solution of all her problems.

Could she truly return home after uncovering the truth? The possibility weighed heavily on her mind.

However, amidst the glimmer of hope and happiness, a pang of sadness tugged at the corner of her heart. If she were to discover the truth and find a way back to her own world, it would mean leaving everything and everyone behind, including Zheng Liang. The thought of parting from him was almost unbearable. Could she really make such a choice?

The woman, sitting across from Yang Ning, empathized with the overwhelming emotions. She, too, had felt the same confusion when she had awakened in this inexplicable reality. The situation was so far from logical that it defied all reason.

After composing her overwhelming emotions, Yang Ning wiped away her tears and took a deep breath. She turned her attention back to the woman and spoke carefully, "We don\'t have much time. We need to hurry up and solve this mystery, alright?"

Gu Lan had granted her only half an hour to converse with this woman. Beyond that, the guards would take her away and would throw her out of the capital city to ensure that she stayed far away from the palace.

She was determined to learn everything she could about this woman before that time limit expired.

Yang Ning clapped her hands together and expressed with determination, "Alright, I am going to trust your claim that you wrote the novel. You mentioned not knowing who I am or where I am from, correct? Well, you\'re absolutely right. I\'m not Yang Ning." She paused, taking a deep breath before continuing, "My real name is Fang Li. I have come from a world and timeline vastly different from this one.

In my world, I was an archery athlete, and my archery skills were top-notch, on par with the highest-ranking knights in this world." Out of habit, she boasted about her archery skills, not holding back praises for her mastery of archery skills.

She went on, describing her world, "In the world I come from, women can wear whatever they want, work just like men, and choose their own life partners. There are no palaces, no slavery, and no king."

Yang Ning leaned back on the chair, looking at the ceiling as if remembering the events that happened before she came into this world, and continued, "However, on one gloomy day when I had no determination to live or wondering what wrong did I do to commit to being punished so harshly, I found a novel titled \'Eternally Together\' near a riverside.

I started reading it and fell asleep in my dorm room."

" When I woke up, I was trapped in Yang Ning\'s body, who was burning with high fever and was just three months away from marrying the Crown Prince. It happened just a day before the 25th birthday banquet of His Highness. That\'s my story." Yang Ning looked the woman in the eyes with determination, concluding, "I have revealed my secret, and I\'ve shared who I am.

Whether you choose to believe it or not is up to you."

She leaned in closer, her eyes searching for answers, and questioned the woman, "Now, it\'s your turn. Who are you, and what\'s happening here? If you truly wrote the novel, why are you stuck inside it?"

Yang Ning, her voice filled with urgency and hope, begged the woman, "Also, please tell me how I ended up in this world, or if there\'s any way for me to return to my world."

Upon noticing the desperation in Yang Ning\'s eyes, the woman took a moment, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply. When she opened them, she locked eyes with Yang Ning and said,  "I did write the novel called \'Eternally Together,\' however, unlike you, who has come from another world, I belong to this world."

"What do you mean by \'belongs to this world\'?" Yang Ning asked, confusion evident on her face. She had thought that this woman might have come from the same world as hers and was stuck in the novel she had written. However, what does she mean by saying that she belongs to this world?

The woman met Yang Ning\'s gaze, a hint of melancholy in her eyes. With a bittersweet smile, she began, "You see me now as someone living on the streets, wandering aimlessly and leading the life of a beggar. Many label me a madwoman because of my state. But beyond the scornful titles of a crazed, wretched woman, I have another name: Li Hua."

"There was a time," she continued, her voice a soft reminiscence, "when I walked with dignity, working diligently within the royal palace. I served as a court lady at the residence of Her Majesty, the Empress of the Zheng Empire, Yang Ning."