Chapter 1

“Table Three! It’s busted!”

At the dealer’s shout, thunderous cheers erupted throughout the casino. Soon, envious and jealous gazes turned toward the woman at Table Three.

“Is it Lady Rascal again?”

“Damn it! How many times has it been now? I’m seriously jealous!”

“Whoa, is she actually possessed by some kind of ghost? At this point, this is a talent too…”

Her name was Violet Rascal. The second daughter of the Marquis of Rascal, and the person who had won the most prize money at Golziners, the largest casino in the Empire, for nearly the past six months.

“Hehe…”

Violet’s face was flushed from the alcohol, but she paid no attention to the whispers around her. Humming to herself, she swept the mountain of chips piled up in front of her into her arms.

Perhaps the sight of all those hefty stacks of chips had lifted her mood even further. She pulled a small mahogany box from inside her clothes and placed a cigarette between her lips. Holding the cigarette in one hand and a wineglass in the other, she sensually ran her tongue over her lips, a look of bliss on her face.

“Hehe, no wonder I had such a good feeling about my dream last night.”

“At this point, you’ve recovered your original stake and still have plenty left over, haven’t you?”

“Obviously.”

Her attendant, Hurein, who was always by her side, was equally impressed by his mistress’s skill as he busily gathered up the chips. Violet even had enough composure to hand a stack of chips to the dealer as a tip with a gentle smile.

“Should we get going soon? We need to have dinner. Hurein, what do you want to eat? Big sis will buy you anything!”

“Ahh, you really are the best, my lady! Then I’ll…”

“Pfft. Who in their right mind would marry a complete wastrel like her?”

At the single remark that slipped out from the table behind them, Hurein’s movements froze like stone.

At that moment, he began praying desperately in his heart.

Please. Please let Violet not have heard what that man just said.

“Hey. What did you just say?”

But his desperate wish was in vain.

Violet narrowed her eyes into a fierce glare and strode toward the man. Seeing the wild look that had already appeared in Violet’s eyes, Hurein let out a deep sigh.

Violet had an absolutely terrible reputation in high society. She was already approaching her mid-twenties, yet despite her powerful family background and flawless beauty, she didn’t even have a fiancé, let alone a lover.

Many young noblemen would look at Violet and say things like, If she would just fix her personality, I’d take her, or She’s pretty, so it’d be nice if she were just a little more obedient.

Of course, those comments often managed to get on her nerves.

Perhaps he had never expected Violet to hear him, because the man hurriedly lowered his head in embarrassment. But Violet had already leaned forward, bringing her face close enough to meet his eyes.

“What did you say? A complete wastrel? Lift your head. Let me see which family you’re from. Hey, are you ignoring me?”

“A-ah, well, that’s…”

“Whether I get married or not, what the hell does it have to do with you?!”

“Eek!”

“If you have a problem, want to step outside and talk with me? Huh?”

Seeing Violet irritably begin removing her gloves, Hurein panicked and hurried to restrain her. Judging by the deep crease between Violet’s brows, it looked like she was about to throw one of those gloves straight into the young nobleman’s face.

“My lady! Please, hold yourself back. Please!”

“Let me go. I have something to say to him.”

“If you cause another incident, the Marquis really won’t let it slide! I’ll get fired too! My lady, please!”

Hurein whispered desperately into her ear at lightning speed, and Violet’s momentum finally began to subside.

Just as he had said, her father, the Marquis of Rascal, had been keeping a very close eye on Violet lately. Her month-long ban on going out had only just been lifted, so Violet decided she had better behave herself.

“Let’s just go. Hurry, hurry!”

“Tch. I’ll let it slide today because I’m in a good mood. Next time, I’ll really kill you. Watch that tongue of yours.”

Even as Hurein dragged Violet out of the casino, she didn’t forget to glare at the man and point a finger at him until the very last moment.

“Oh, my lady. I told you not to pay attention to people like that. They’re all just jealous of you. Have something delicious and cool your head down, okay?”

Hurein dragged Violet upstairs to the restaurant located on the upper floor of the casino. Still looking sulky, Violet silently downed glass after glass of wine.

“Are you sure you’re not drinking too much? You already had several bottles at the casino…”

“Ah, I’m fine! My ban on going out has finally been lifted, so we have to make a toast!”

Contrary to her words, however, Violet’s eyes were already half unfocused.

Hurein sensed that something was going wrong, but he didn’t dare take the wineglass away from Violet. All he could do was stare anxiously at his mistress, worried that something might happen.

Violet Rascal was known as the most beautiful young lady in the Empire.

At the same time, she was also famous for having the worst personality.

“Hehehe… There really is a lot.”

By then, Violet’s mood had completely recovered. She was staring at the gold coins she had exchanged for her winnings with a silly grin on her face.

Hurein, sitting across from her, tilted his head in confusion.

“But you don’t really need money anyway, my lady. You already live comfortably off the Marquis’s money. Are you really that happy about winning some gold coins?”

“Of course! The more money you have, the better.”

At the same time, she thought to herself.

I’m going to live off my father’s money until the day I die.

I will never leave the House of Rascal.

She made that vow again and again.

However, roughly one hundred days later, Violet’s vow would be completely shattered.

Violet Rascal, the second daughter of the Marquis of Rascal, had not always been such a complete wastrel.

Three years ago, an ordinary woman in her twenties from South Korea had possessed her body.

Purple hair that looked as though it had been dyed with lavender, pale green eyes that seemed to have transparent emeralds embedded in them, and captivating eyes that sharply tilted upward.

For a moment, she simply marveled at the flawless beauty of the woman reflected in the mirror, as if it had been carved by a master sculptor.

Then she realized that she had possessed the body of Violet Rascal and immediately clapped a hand over her mouth.

I’m so screwed…

Violet Rascal was a female supporting character in a fantasy novel called The Emperor’s Bastard Is Too Strong.

And not just any supporting character.

She was a pitiful minor character who appeared only briefly before meeting a miserable end.

Just as its title suggested, The Emperor’s Bastard Is Too Strong was the story of Terso Ortier, the bastard son of the Emperor of the Erphen Empire.

In order to survive, Terso stormed straight into the Imperial Palace and, relying solely on his own abilities, was recognized as a prince. He eventually became Crown Prince and later ascended to the throne as Emperor.

There was only one protagonist in the novel: Terso Ortier.

Violet was merely one of the few female supporting characters.

The nobles of the Erphen Empire were broadly divided into two factions: the Imperial faction and the Noble faction.

The Noble faction was weaker than the Imperial faction, so they worked desperately to bring Violet and Terso together.

Their plan was to bring the neutral Marquis of Rascal over to their side and have Terso become the new leader whom the Noble faction would serve.

Just as they had planned, Violet fell in love with Terso at first sight and began following him around like a puppy.

But Terso, who cared about nothing except the throne, didn’t give her the slightest bit of attention despite her endless advances.

“Terso, would you like to go see the fireworks festival with me this weekend? I can get us a good—”

“Why should I waste my time with you? Did those supposedly impressive nobles force you to ask me out on a date?”

Terso found her constant pursuit annoying. Worse, he believed Violet was a pawn of the Noble faction who had been sent to spy on him, so he deliberately kept even further away from her.

In the first place, Violet’s role in The Emperor’s Bastard Is Too Strong was simply to demonstrate how obsessed Terso was with the throne—so obsessed that even the advances of the most beautiful woman in the entire Empire couldn’t sway him.

Violet Rascal appeared again and again in miserable circumstances until, in the end, she failed to clear up Terso’s misunderstanding and was executed at the guillotine.

It was the pathetic end of a miserable, one-sided love.

“Violet doesn’t get purged until after Terso becomes Crown Prince, so…”

After possessing the body, she spent several days desperately figuring out her situation.

The original story was already underway.

Terso Ortier, who had recently entered the Imperial Palace, had been recognized as a prince and was quietly aiming for the position of Crown Prince.

Worse, Violet and Terso had already met several times, meaning she had already acquired the infamous title of Violet, the girl hopelessly in love with the prince.

If things continued like this, she would once again fall out of Terso’s favor and inevitably end up with her head on the chopping block.

For the past three years, she had desperately tried to stay away from Terso in an effort to change the original story.

But the nobles continued trying to match the two of them together.

In the end, Violet had no choice but to take drastic measures.

“Let’s become such a vulgar woman that nobody will even think of pairing me with the prince!”

The reason the nobles were so eager to match her with Terso was not only her beautiful appearance. Her status as the daughter of the Marquis of Rascal was an even greater factor.

At first, she reluctantly put a cigarette to her lips, stepped into casinos, spoke crudely, and picked fights with other nobles.

She had no choice.

She had to survive.

The effect was remarkable.

Violet’s reputation plummeted almost unbelievably quickly, and the nobles of the Noble faction who watched her stopped actively trying to bring the two together as they once had.

Of course, a ridiculous rumor spread that Violet had ruined herself because she couldn’t get over Terso.

But regardless, she was finally able to naturally distance herself from him.

However, there was a saying that even if the rich cannot live like beggars, beggars can live like the rich.

Violet had completely adapted to this new lifestyle.

Pouring alcohol down her throat instead of water was wonderful.

Smoking harsh cigarettes was dizzyingly pleasurable.

And money that never seemed to run out no matter how much she lost was absolutely intoxicating.

The alcohol and cigarettes she had never tried before were even more addictive than she could have imagined.

She indulged in extravagance every day, wasted money and time, and squandered her youth, yet nothing ever changed.

This kind of reckless life, something she had never experienced before, made her mind go blissfully numb.

Before she knew it, she had genuinely begun to enjoy the life of a complete wastrel.