First, she had barely closed her eyes before being dragged into a meeting with a goddess—a divine being who had threatened her very existence unless she accepted the role of an Apostle. Without it, she would die.
Then came the deal she struck.
A deal that had completely derailed her original plan of staying far from the main story, living a quiet, peaceful life in the safety of her Jola Dukedom. Instead, she now had to become the Empress within the next five years.
All of this, before sunrise.
And then, as if fate itself was mocking her, she had been forced to endure breakfast with her infuriating imperial family—a constant game of veiled insults, political maneuvering, and backhanded remarks.
Only now did she finally have a moment to breathe.
Still sprawled across the bed, Ravenna lazily lifted her hand and summoned her System Interface. The familiar blue window flickered into view.
[ Reputation System v0.1 ]
User: Ravenna Solarius / Joy Cha Kim
Reputation Level: 61 (7,834 / 9,400 EXP)
Current Reputation Points: 47,454
Titles: Raven of the Sun Palace, Unruly Princess
{ View Reputation Log } { Spend Reputation Points }
She tapped on { Spend Reputation Points } and scrolled through the available options.
[ Spend Reputation Points ]
-
Access to the Internet: 100 Points per Hour
-
Access to Magic Spell Library: 100 Points per Hour
-
Geographical Scans: 5 Points per 1 Kilometer
-
Nullify Minor Poison Damage on Self: 250 Points
-
Nullify Minor Poison Damage on Others: 350 Points per Entity
-
Minor Heal: 1,000 Points per Entity
-
Major Heal: (Locked)
-
Lie Detector: (Locked)
Without hesitation, she spent 100 points and accessed the internet.
She reread the novel. Ravenna already knew what was coming.
The wedding would not be a celebration but a massacre. Hundreds of thousands would die, torn apart by a horde of magical beasts that would descend upon the capital.
But she couldn’t stop it. Not yet.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
In the original novel, Prince William and Eugene had saved the capital, leading the charge against the beasts and rallying the empire’s forces. Their heroic deeds had cemented their reputations, earning them overwhelming support from the nobility and military alike. Emperor Andrew had no choice but to acknowledge them—naming William as the Crown Prince.
Ravenna refused to let history repeat itself.
She wasn’t even in the succession race anymore thanks to her exile, but this event, this tragedy was an opportunity. A chance to reclaim her place and take back her power.
“The issue is…” Ravenna muttered, scrolling through the novel’s contents.
She knew that the attack was orchestrated by the Hericules Crime Syndicate. They had smuggled magical beasts into the capital, hiding them in multiple secret locations before unleashing them all at once on the wedding day.
But the novel had never mentioned exactly where those hideouts were. She had a week until the wedding.
A week to find several hidden underground lairs in a city as large as any metropolis in her past life.
“It’s impossible to search every corner of the capital,” she whispered, frustration creeping into her voice.
Even if she did find the hideouts in advance, she couldn’t destroy them outright.
If she prevented the attack entirely, the severity of the threat would never sink in for the Emperor or the nobles. They wouldn’t grasp the true danger—and if they didn’t, she would lose her chance to use the event to return to the succession race.
But…
Ravenna’s grip on her bedsheets tightened. She might have been acting as the minor villainess Ravenna Solarius, but in the end…
She wasn’t truly her.
Even if the original Ravenna’s emotions and personality were bleeding into her own, she was still Joy Cha Kim deep down.
And she couldn’t let thousands of innocents—children, families, commoners with no stake in the imperial war—die just so she could rise in power.
Ravenna’s fingers absently twisted a lock of her long, jet-black hair as she stared at the glowing interface before her. The weight of the situation pressed heavily on her shoulders.
She had already made her decision—she wouldn’t let thousands of innocents die just to gain political leverage.
But stopping the attack before it happened would mean forfeiting her only chance to rise back into the imperial succession.
“There has to be another way,” she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
Her gaze flickered back to the Reputation System window, scanning her available options.
“I could use a Geographical Scan to locate the hideouts, but…” Her brow furrowed in thought. “Then what? I barely have fifty knights under my command.”
Even if she located the syndicate’s underground bases, she didn’t have the manpower to storm them. And even if she did, taking action before the attack would mean that the Imperial Knights and ultimately, the Emperor would take credit for stopping the crisis.
That wouldn’t do.
The event needed to happen—just controlled enough for her to step in as the hero before William and Eugene could seize the moment.
Her fingers hovered over the Geographical Scan option.
“First, let’s find the hideouts,” she muttered, selecting a scan radius of 650 kilometers—enough to cover the entirety of the capital.
[ Geographical Scan Initiated ]
650 km scanned.
-3,250 Reputation Points deducted.
Remaining Reputation Points: 44,204
A detailed map of the capital materialized in front of her, dotted with bright red markers—each one indicating an unusually high density of magical beasts hidden underground.
“There they are.” Ravenna’s eyes traced the locations carefully. Four hideouts.
All of them were positioned alarmingly close to the Imperial Palace—ensuring maximum devastation once the beasts were unleashed.
“This is bad… but also an opportunity,” she muttered, walking to the large map of the capital pinned against her wall. With a quill, she circled the four locations, marking them down.
She had found the hideouts. Now she needed a plan.
“I could hire mercenaries to set up traps in advance… and when the attack starts, they’ll spring into action.”
It made sense. A preemptive strike before the beasts could rampage unchecked. But then a sinking thought hit her.
“Can a bunch of mercenaries really handle hundreds of magical beasts?”
The answer was obvious—no.
Magical beasts weren’t ordinary creatures. Many of them required elite knights or mages to subdue. Even if she hired hundreds of mercenaries, they would crumble under the sheer might of the creatures waiting in the dark.
Ravenna exhaled sharply and pressed a hand to her forehead.
She wasn’t a military strategist. She had no experience in warfare, no knowledge of battle formations or tactical maneuvers.
Even during the battle against Ronin’s knights, she had relied entirely on the expertise of Hughes and John to direct her forces.
She couldn’t afford to make a reckless decision now. “What I need… is a second opinion.”
Her mind raced through the list of people she could turn to. “Who can I consult?” she muttered, biting her lip.