When the Female Lead Went Off-Script, the Main Male Lead Became the Tyrant's Empress

「Bird Abuse」 was not a forgiving novel.

Even when a villain was dealt with, the seeds they had sown didn’t disappear with them.

Because of the discord she had created and the unresolved misunderstandings she left behind, the relationship between Emperor Arden and Grand Duke Haster deteriorated beyond repair.

Even if they cleared up the misunderstandings, so many incidents and intentions had become entangled that reconciliation was impossible.

Furthermore, Clary’s body and mind grew increasingly battered until they were beyond recovery.

The political situation descended into chaos, and the worsening economy caused public sentiment to turn hostile.

Riots also broke out frequently.

In the end, civil war erupted throughout the Empire, and while the two male leads fought for each other’s throats, the main female lead died after a difficult labor.

Yet that villain had died here and now.

Apparently, she had been attacked by bandits on her way to the capital from another territory where her relatives lived.

“Bandits? As far as I know, there are no such groups in that region.”

Arden looked unable to understand.

The aide’s gaze touched Clary before falling away.

“During the last imperial tour, didn’t Your Highness have the knights search the County of Winfield? The bandits who had settled in the mountains within the county fled south along the mountain range at the time, and that was where the Count of Nestin met her death.”

In other words, the bandits had panicked upon seeing the knights the Emperor had dispatched to capture Arthur Lurie and his party, and moved their territory before they could be caught. Then the secondary female lead had unknowingly passed through that area.

To everyone else, it would seem like an atrocious gang had attacked and killed a noblewoman traveling along the road, but the truth was different.

‘What in the world is going on?’

Clary worked her brain while washing down the remaining scone in her mouth with tea.

Where else could one find such dramatic irony?

Through sheer coincidence, a lesser evil had eliminated a greater evil.

She no longer had to worry about how to dispose of the atrocious mastermind behind the rebellion.

She no longer needed to fret that if she attacked clumsily, the intelligent villain might retaliate tenfold.

‘Wow! The genre really must have changed!’

She wanted to climb onto the table and dance immediately, but for now, all she could do was cover her mouth with a napkin as laughter kept leaking out.

I’ll do a windmill when I’m alone later.

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A crystal pen danced between the man’s fingers.

A sparkling light appeared each time the pen spun.

Small rainbow-colored prisms formed by sunlight passing through the crystal repeatedly appeared and vanished over the documents.

After twirling the shaft several times with faint clicking sounds, the hand began irritably tapping the end of the pen against the desk.

“Is something bothering you?”

You’re distracting me, so stop making so much noise.

At the words of Arden’s aide, Mishien, the crease across the pale forehead deepened.

“How could there not be?”

It was an irritated answer without either a subject or an object, but Mishien nodded with a look that said, ‘Ah, just as I thought.’

The council had convened that morning.

Among the councilors they always saw sat a noble whose face was rarely seen.

Marquis Cadis Anberg had attended the council for the first time in over ten years.

No one mentioned it, but eyes filled with various speculations and questions stirred like waves.

When the Marchioness died of illness several years ago, he hadn’t even shown his face in the capital, and he had barely moved around within his own territory.

Yet now that his daughter was dead, he had appeared in Carcosa.

What in the world did it mean?

Some claimed it was nothing more than a whim, while others speculated that he had come to resent the Emperor for neglecting public security in the provinces.

Others predicted that he had come to make an impression on the Crown Prince, who would soon become the new Emperor.

However, none of their numerous guesses or speculations provided a satisfying answer to their questions.

Like the Grand Duke who ruled the North, the Marquis defended the Empire’s borders from foreign invasions. Unlike other noble titles, his position came with independent and expansive rights of autonomy and military authority.

Officially, he was a noble, but within his own territory, he was no different from a king.

The Emperor didn’t show it, but neither the Crown Prince nor his close aides had any difficulty recognizing that he was displeased.

They had deliberately drawn the Grand Duke into the central government to maintain balance, only for an unexpected opponent to appear and threaten to muddy the waters.