I Want to Be a Tyrant

I've transmigrated twice.

The first time, I was determined to be a wise ruler.

I eased the corvee labor, reformed the taxes, and promoted the imperial examinations. I wanted to make the dynasty prosperous, the people happy and at peace, the talented able to realize their ambitions, and my own name to live on through the ages, praised in the history books.

I failed.

It wasn't because I did a bad job. It was because the people around me betrayed me.

The brother I trusted, the ministers I had raised up, even the chief eunuch I was close to.

They struck a deal and joined forces to betray me.

When the rebel army stormed the imperial capital and the palace gates swung open to welcome them, I killed myself on the dragon throne.

My blood soaked into the throne. From then on, whoever sat there would be sitting atop my bones.

I would become a vengeful ghost and make sure no one who took that seat ever slept peacefully again.

*

Just kidding.

I deleted that save and started a new game.

When I opened my eyes, Qiancheng, the future chief eunuch and now a young eunuch newly assigned to serve before the throne, was stepping through the palace doors.

I waved a hand and ground my teeth. "Drag him away! Behead him!!"

This time, I wasn't going to be some thankless wise ruler.

I was going to be a tyrant!

He Qiancheng: "...?"

As the mad dogs gradually regained their memories, they realized that this time, their emperor seemed different from before.

* Harem of admirers + multiple reborn characters + regret and redemption + melodrama

Content warning: One love interest is a real eunuch. This isn't a power fantasy about a reborn character killing everyone. It's a melodramatic stew fueled by the author's very niche tastes.

Upcoming story: The Inherited Old King [Quick Transmigration]. Please add it to your favorites!

Blurb:

System: "Want to transmigrate, bro? Let's team up. I'll take you to different worlds and make you king!"

Xi Hui was overjoyed. "Become king?! Me? Sure, sure!"

What an amazing offer!

Xi Hui transmigrated and became a noble, supreme king in world after world

His track record:

A blind wolf king in a beastfolk world, injured while hunting, stripped of his ability to lead, and on the verge of being driven out by his pack.

An amnesiac dragon king in a Western fantasy world, born to a noble bloodline and gifted with natural strength, but sealed away and usurped.

A local warlord in the final days of a dynasty, ruling his own territory amid the warlords' chaos, gravely ill and about to be killed.

Xi Hui broke down. "You never said I'd be this kind of king before I transmigrated!!!"

What happened to the good life he'd dreamed of?

*

The kings of old were beacons gazed upon by countless subjects, peaks none could scale, and rocks standing firm through raging storms.

Until one day, the beacon went dark, the peak crumbled, and the rock fell.

The new king gathered the old king beneath him, warming him with the softest fur and protecting him with the sharpest claws and fangs.

The new king inherited the old king's throne, land, and subjects.

And the old king himself.

Theme: Look at the way others see you.