After Loading the Empress-Training Game [Fantasy Romance]

Blurb One

You are a chaotic troublemaker who loves stirring things up.

One day, you come across an empress-building game and decide to play it casually to kill time.

You assume it's another hodgepodge of gacha, card training, monster fights, and a bunch of random minigames. But it turns out to be a very serious character-building game.

You're terribly unlucky. From the start, every stat you draw is a bust. Your playable character is an unloved princess, frail and sickly, clearly the sort of expendable extra who wouldn't survive three episodes in a palace intrigue drama. But your task is a daunting one: become empress.

You diligently grind away at the game, unlocking all sorts of bizarre side stories. At last, you claw your way to the throne and max out the affection of every romanceable character. With your completionist tendencies, you max out friendship and family bonds too, becoming everyone's beloved, an unforgettable cinnabar beauty, and the quintessential tragic heroine who is beautiful, strong, and doomed.

You are fully satisfied and prepare to bring it all to an end, letting your darling character rest in the happiest dream of a flourishing realm and splendid land.

Then you discover that it seems to be real.

You can't close the game.

Blurb Two

Empress Zhaohua is a ruthless woman.

From princess to grand princess to empress, she killed her father and brothers, seized power in a coup, and consolidated authority, holding the entire dynasty in her grasp.

The people love and respect her.

The court officials honor and fear her.

She was once the dynasty's pearl. Now she is the pillar of the nation.

She established the imperial examinations, built waterworks, clarified the laws, and worked for the people's welfare...

The empress did it all to the best of her ability.

When Empress Zhaohua took over, the realm was in turmoil, the people were destitute, and the nation was so weakened that families were driven to exchange children for food. She poured all her strength into setting the country back on track, exhausting herself to preserve it, yet endured slander and abuse for having "an illegitimate claim to the throne" and being "a woman born a princess."

She bore countless injustices and baseless accusations: the whispered gossip of sour scholars, the scathing denunciations of stubborn ministers, and the blame of the people. When the truth finally came to light, they wept and bitterly regretted what they had done, hoping to earn her forgiveness.

But the empress remained the empress.

There was no room in her heart for herself or personal affection, for honor or shame, for joy or anger.

Only the realm and its people.

Only the realm and its people.

A few characters:

An elegant and refined chancellor

A sickly top scholar

An emperor like King You of Zhou (the empress's brother, and he will die)

A quiet, loyal guard, and many others

Reading guide:

1. The story mainly follows the actions of the third-person character Zhaohua, alongside the choices of the second-person "you." This is an interactive story, and readers can choose options in the comments to follow different branches.

2. Lots of side characters' wild assumptions and attempts to win affection.

3. The male lead has not been decided, and there may not be one.

4. Some very frustrating plot points, and characters who are treacherous and turn against their own side.

Theme: I grieve for the people's many hardships.