In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 36

The next day.

“…Please execute me.”

“Stop, stop! Stop begging me to kill you.”

Inside the chambers, Sangseon knelt while confessing his crimes.

I was growing thoroughly tired of this man’s guilt by now.

This time, I decided to give Sangseon a different order.

“I’ll have you deliver a letter to Mansong Kim Ikjae. I intend to have it delivered directly to Deputy Scholar.”

“However, Your Majesty, Deputy Scholar is…”

I cut off Sangseon’s words.

“I’m aware. That’s why you’ll organize trustworthy eunuchs to escort Deputy Scholar’s path.”

At that, Sangseon bowed his head as if he understood.

His expression seemed much more at ease.

“Also, bring me a map of the capital. Ah, and summon Sunim too.”

After spending another tedious day as king, late into the night arrived.

Inside an unused building, Sunim, Sangseon, and I gathered around a desk.

“This is…”

Sunim looked at the map with a puzzled expression.

I placed my finger on one section of the capital map.

“Here.”

Both Sunim’s and Sangseon’s eyes followed the tip of my finger.

“Openly crossing the fortress walls will get you caught. From the guard units inside the capital to the checkpoint guards outside the walls, assume we have no allies.”

At that, Sunim hesitated before responding.

“Your Majesty, how can you be so certain?”

“I’m considering the worst-case scenario.”

Both of them stared at me with wide eyes.

This was precious information I’d paid for with my life.

For a brief time, the three of us put our heads together and fervently discussed plans to secretly escape the fortress walls.

Everything was progressing faster and faster.

Once I get past this hurdle, it’ll be the ending.

As the finish line came into view, my desperation grew even stronger.

* * *

Another failure.

It had been expected.

However, because we’d received help from the eunuchs in escaping the capital, Sangseon’s execution was even more gruesome than before.

Through that, I learned the final checkpoint lay outside the capital.

It had been a close failure.

‘I’m really almost there.’

“From here to here, we’ll receive help from Eunuch Kim, and after crossing the fortress walls, we must avoid the checkpoints.”

On a secretly gathered night.

With Sangseon and Sunim before me, I presented the escape route and pointed to one spot on the map.

“And we absolutely cannot pass through here. Even if it’s the long way, take this route.”

At that, Sunim’s eyes widened.

“How does Your Majesty know so well which places you cannot pass through?”

Sangseon added with a serious expression.

“Your Majesty. You haven’t been climbing walls without this servant’s knowledge, have you?”

“Come now. What nonsense.”

Suspicion filled both their gazes.

I’d have to make up some explanation.

“There are ways to know everything. Do you truly think you two are my only eyes and ears in the palace?”

Question marks filled both Sunim’s and Sangseon’s eyes.

Their gazes seemed to ask, ‘Who else besides us?’

I deliberately ignored them and turned my head.

“That’s not what’s important right now. We need to focus.”

I spoke in a somewhat heavy tone.

I was sincere.

During the two failures, I’d watched Sangseon and Sunim get dragged away, hurt, and killed.

Though they wouldn’t remember, those memories were accumulating as guilt in my heart, layer by layer.

People within a script.

I watched Sunim and Sangseon examine the map once more with care.

Here before my eyes, they had warmth, hearts, and breathed life.

I’d come to genuinely wish for them to survive within the script and claim their happiness.

“Your Majesty. This servant will surely engrave the path Your Majesty has shown me.”

Sunim looked at me and spoke.

“Yes, trust me and go. I won’t let you get hurt.”

At my words, Sunim responded with a radiant smile.

* * *

Another restless night that had grown familiar.

I thought that even if I fell in love later, I wouldn’t feel this desperate.

This was the first time in my life I’d waited and waited for something like this.

Dwelling on all sorts of random thoughts was proof the night was long.

Then a strange thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘What happened to Yu Ji-an’s world?’

I’d been so busy struggling to escape the script in Flat Shoes.

Were they all living well?

If the direction I’m trying now is the correct one to complete the sequence, then like that time, I’ll soon exit the script.

Once I finally defeat the Queen Dowager and leave the script, what will happen to this world?

Will they live on remembering the time I played king?

Won’t they be confused by the king’s changed appearance after I leave?

Most of all, what I’m most curious about is…

‘What does this sequence I’ve completed actually mean?’

If persuading Kim Ikjae is correct, the ending will be completely different from the synopsis.

Because in the synopsis, the female lead handed over the evidence and disappeared entirely, leaving the king to face the Queen Dowager alone.

However, after actually living as the king, that seemed like a stretch.

If this is the real ending.

If this worldview is trying to convey some truth to me…

‘What about Sangseon’s existence, who wasn’t in the script?’

Just then, faint cheering sounds reached me from far away.

The cheering gradually grew louder, and I could hear soldiers throughout the palace moving somewhere.

“Sangseon.”

“Your Majesty.”

Sangseon and I spoke simultaneously.

We both hurriedly opened the door and rushed outside.

As we opened the door, torches blazed bright against the pitch-black night sky like a constellation.

Far in the distance, the gates blocking passage between buildings stood wide open.

And before them, young eunuchs stood holding the gates open despite threats from the Royal Guard, risking their lives.

Beyond those gates, scholars in white robes and regional soldiers entered boldly.

It was a shocking scene.

To witness so closely the moment a nation and political landscape changed.

Sangseon couldn’t hide his overwhelmed expression either.

In the distance, I could see the Queen Dowager hurriedly approaching with her entourage.

“Traitors, traitors! What are you all doing? How dare you disturb the sacred palace…!”

Before the Queen Dowager’s scream-like words could finish, the countless scholars split into two groups.

Between them, one small yet upright scholar stepped forward.

It was Kim Ikjae.

Though I’d never seen his face before, I knew immediately.

He was truly someone with the power to break the Queen Dowager’s momentum and change the flow of air within the palace.

Behind him stood Sunim.

Kim Ikjae cried out in a clear, ringing voice.

“Those words are ill-suited for one who joined hands with traitors!”

The Queen Dowager’s momentum faltered.

A man who’d raised disciples across the countryside, receiving the admiration of scholars from all eight provinces.

Someone even the Queen Dowager couldn’t carelessly draw her blade against.

The Queen Dowager pointed at Sunim and erupted in fury.

“That one is a woman! How can you believe the words of a woman who disturbed the sacred court and brand me, the king’s mother, as one with traitors!”

The fact that Sunim was a woman must have been the Queen Dowager’s final card.

However…

“Did Your Majesty not destroy the sacred court first?”

Kim Ikjae struck back at the Queen Dowager, who trembled with rage.

“You destroyed loyal families with false charges of treason, and contacted other royal descendants to depose Your Majesty’s healthy son—is that not corrupting the court?”

Even the Queen Dowager’s eyes began to tremble.

“Loyal… loyal…?”

The Queen Dowager’s gaze stopped on Sunim.

Sunim met the Queen Dowager’s eyes while desperately holding back surging emotions.

After a moment, Sunim stepped forward and opened her mouth.

“I am.”

Silence descended upon the palace in an instant.

Sunim paused and looked at me.

I nodded and smiled at Sunim.

Then Sunim continued.

“The daughter of Great Minister Song Inseok, who died unjustly fifteen years ago under false charges of treason.”

Sunim pulled a letter from her sleeve.

“Inside this letter is clear proof of how Your Majesty the Queen Dowager’s schemes forced my parents to die unjustly!”

The Queen Dowager’s face turned pale as she listened to Sunim.

“How… how did you get that… What are you doing?! Cut off these people’s heads at once!”

The Queen Dowager screamed as if in agony.

Now it was my turn.

I walked forward and stood before the Queen Dowager.

I gathered strength in my core and shouted to the soldiers guarding the Queen Dowager’s back.

“Will you die as traitors, or remain as loyal subjects!”

A bitter wind blew.

This was the final, final moment.

Whether the palace would see bloodshed or find peace lay in the hands of the soldiers holding blades.

Clang—

Just then, the sound of someone’s weapon hitting the ground rang out.

Soon after, like the sound of rain, the noise of metal striking earth followed one after another.

As that sound faded, the Queen Dowager collapsed on weakened legs.

I looked down at the Queen Dowager with cold eyes.

I commanded the palace attendants who’d stayed by the Queen Dowager’s side.

“Escort Her Royal Highness the Queen Dowager to her quarters.”

The palace attendants hesitantly lifted the Queen Dowager to her feet.

As she was dragged away, the Queen Dowager shouted desperately.

“Your Majesty cannot do this to me. Do not be mistaken. Your Majesty is not fit to lead this nation!”

The Queen Dowager’s struggling cries scattered into the air.

Sangseon opened his mouth while watching the Queen Dowager’s retreating figure.

“His Majesty, who possesses an upright heart, is one who already holds the nation. He is our lord who will continue to lead us forward.”

At that, all the soldiers, ministers, and scholars throughout the palace began bowing before me.

A magnificent sight unfolded as hundreds of people prostrated themselves before me.

Watching that scene made my heart race.

It was the moment this long, long journey came to an end.

Then, small golden light began flickering before my eyes.

No.

Not so suddenly.

“Sunim!”

I rushed to Sunim, who was bowing at a distance, and lifted her up.

I grasped Sunim’s hand.

People’s gazes turned toward us.

“Sunim. I won’t forget you.”

“Pardon?”

She looked quite flustered by my suddenly changed speech pattern.

“Sunim.”

“Your Majesty. Why do you speak as if you’re going somewhere…”

Confusion filled Sunim’s face at my desperate tone.

“I will… I’ll make you into a real person who truly lives and breathes.”

Then I shouted to Sangseon.

“Sangseon… grandfather! I won’t forget you!”

Contrary to my expectation that he’d be flustered, Sangseon simply smiled gently and bowed at the waist.

It was inexplicable.

As if he knew everything…

“Your Majesty.”

Just then, Sunim’s voice reached my ears one last time.

I squeezed our clasped hands tightly.

Unlike the long time we’d spent together, it was an unbearably brief farewell.

I committed Sunim’s face to memory as I surrendered myself to the blinding light gradually reaching toward me.

Goodbye, everyone.

[You have completed the mission.]