The Villainess's Reputation [Kingdom Building]

The most terrifying thing of all?Joy Cha Kim, the anxious, overlooked office worker from Earth, had only ever wanted to survive. To escape the grind, to stay alive, to live in peace far from the novel's plot.

But Ravenna Solarius…

She wanted more. She wanted to rule. To own. To devour the world in all its glory. To become the indulgent tyrant history would never forget.

And now… the line between them was paper-thin.

Over time, through wounds, war, and quiet moments between heartbeats, the separation between Joy and Ravenna had blurred. Disintegrated.

She clenched her fists, her back still pressed against the door. Her breath came in shallow pulls.

"What am I?" she whispered into the empty room, the candlelight flickering around her like the breath of ghosts.

There was no answer. Just silence.

And the quiet realization that she might never be just Joy again.

"I should… think from a different perspective," Ravenna murmured, lowering herself into the high-backed chair at the center of her study. The table before her was cluttered with unopened documents, ledgers inked with fresh accounts of the day's expenses, and a half-drained cup of tea gone cold hours ago.

Her fingers tapped against the polished wood, a slow rhythm to anchor herself. "Either I am Joy… or I am Ravenna," she said aloud, forcing her voice to steady.

She took a deep inhale, closing her eyes for a moment before continuing in a softer tone, "And if I am either one of them: then I should already be dead. Because both of 'me' have died once already."

The thought was absurd, yet there was an almost twisted comfort in it. A coping mechanism—yes, she knew that. A fragile wall she was choosing to keep standing, because if she allowed it to crumble now… she didn't know what would be left of her sanity.

She pressed a hand to her forehead, massaging the growing tension there. "Not now," she whispered to herself. "Not here. Not in the middle of all this."

There was too much at stake. Too many eyes on her. Too many threads of political intrigue, military aftermath, and brewing religious chaos that needed her hand to guide them. If she allowed herself to sink into an identity crisis now, she'd drown, dragging with her not only her own life, but the fragile stability of everyone depending on her.

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She couldn't afford to be just Joy Cha Kim, the anxious office worker from Earth. Nor could she be only Ravenna Solarius, the imperial princess with a crown's worth of arrogance and blood on her hands.

For now… she had to be both.

And neither.

At least until she had secured the survival of herself, and of the city she had somehow, impossibly, come to claim as hers.

"Now then… first," Ravenna murmured, pulling a thick leather-bound ledger toward her. The familiar scratch of pen against paper was oddly grounding. She dipped the nib in ink and began writing with deliberate, sharp strokes.

"Nolan is dead. I don't know how, but whoever did it has chosen not to reveal themselves. The credit for it will naturally fall onto me."

Once she finished the line, she drew an arrow from it to a fresh section on the page and neatly wrote a single word: Consequences.

"This will clearly unsettle the imperial court… and my siblings," she muttered under her breath, tapping the page with the tip of the pen. "It's certain the whispers will spread, that I'm back to my former strength."

She paused, thinking. The flickering lantern light painted her profile in sharp relief, her eyes narrowing in calculation. "This… might not be entirely bad. Even if they increase their scrutiny of me, those who once belonged to my faction before my fall might come crawling back."

A faint, almost dangerous smile touched her lips. "I need to capitalize on that… if I want to become Empress faster."

She dipped the pen again, drawing another arrow. This one she connected to a new entry: Order of Expansion. From there, she began jotting down names and notes in swift, confident lines.

"Otto City is in a state of distress," she spoke aloud as she wrote, "thanks to Bolita's maneuvering toward building a Conley Armory there… and the trade halt, information thanks to Kenric." She stopped for a moment, reviewing her handwriting.

"I can leverage my victory in this war, and the convenient credit for Nolan's death to my favor." Her pen scratched another neat line of ink. "It will be far easier to convince Otto City to join my dukedom without bloodshed, especially in the current climate. With the perception of safety… and the undeniable perceived strength of Kim City's naval warfare capabilities."

Her expression hardened. "Although… that same perception could be a double-edged sword. If my enemies believe Kim City is far more capable than it truly is, they may appear with overwhelming force to test it." She tapped the ledger again and let out a short exhale. "Still… this is for the better."

Another arrow flowed across the page, this one pointing from Otto City to a blank section. She wrote in careful, deliberate script: Cult of Absolution & Aurora's Parents' Disappearance.

Her tone dropped, cold and edged. "From what we know, the cult was, and still is active in Otto City. There's no other explanation for how Count and Countess Flask vanished… and Ethan Flask was found dead just as their investigation reached the city."

She leaned back slightly, pen poised but unmoving. "The cult wasn't a priority for me before, since I intended to detour from the main plot… but now, more than ever, the threat is real. And immediate."

She connected another arrow from that entry to yet another space on the page and wrote in bold strokes: The Reveal of Marie's Saintesshood.

Ravenna set down her pen for a moment, staring at the growing web of ink across the ledger. Her expression was unreadable, but the tightening of her jaw betrayed the storm of calculations forming behind her eyes.