[Transmigrate into a book + characters awaken to the truth of the story + a fake rivalry-to-lovers setup, ineffective harem scheming at first, conquering the realm later, a clear-eyed but clueless college student heroine who grows over time VS a long-suffering “tyrant” hero resisting the plot]
Yi Bing transmigrates into a palace intrigue novel written by her best friend, Lin Pingping.
Her best friend acts as her golden finger inside her mind and can even alter her physical condition.
Her friend declares confidently, “Just treat it like a romance game! The tyrant is easy to handle. The prime minister and the young prince are the real male leads, and you have to win them all over!”
Yi Bing believes her.
So she dutifully follows the plot: reciting poetry for the prime minister, discussing archery with the young prince, and as for the tyrant, well, he's going to be deposed sooner or later, so she can just humor him.
Strangely, although the tyrant grants every request she makes, there's always something indescribable in the way he looks at her.
Yi Bing asks her best friend, “Why is he acting so weird?”
Her friend says, “How normal can a fictional character be? You're overthinking it.”
Later, to complete her mission, Yi Bing decides to assassinate the emperor.
But as the dying tyrant lies before her, he says, “In my next life, I don't want to be a clear-eyed man trapped in a book again.”
Yi Bing: !!!
Later still, the realm falls into chaos, her mission remains unfinished, and Yi Bing encounters the eighteen-year-old tyrant among the refugees.
Riding on horseback, he looks down at her with a crooked smile.
“Wicked consort, we've met again. You owe me a life from our last one. You'll repay me little by little in this one.”
Yi Bing: ...
You traitor of a best friend!
