Chapter 3.
I Possessed Someone, but I Have Depression (3)
A narrow, dark room.
A steel chair placed in the middle.
Various torture devices hanging on the wall, and strange black stains splattered across the stone.
Ilena swept her fear-filled eyes across the torture chamber.
‘Why is there a torture room under the royal palace?’
The original novel was clearly an all-ages story full of flower paths.
‘This kind of setting… it wasn’t in the novel at all.’
“Why, Ilena? Feel out of place because it’s been so long?”
The man harshly shoved the dazed and motionless Ilena down into the steel chair.
“What is this? I hate this!”
Ilena feebly struggled, her body weak from not eating properly.
Depression and lethargy were one thing—enduring pain was a whole different matter.
‘I don’t want pain! I’m scared!’
Unbothered by her resistance, the man clamped shackles around her slender wrists.
“Are you insane! What is this! Where’s the original flower-path story!”
Unable to hold back, Ilena let out a stream of curses.
“The original? Flower path? …You really have lost it, Ilena.”
The crown prince looked down at her with a hint of pity in his eyes.
“Back in the old days, they used electroshock therapy to treat lunatics.”
‘What? This crazy bastard!’
Ilena was too shocked to speak, her body writhing in fear.
What happened to sunshine, cuddles, and sweet romantic male leads?
K-romance transmigration really wasn’t a joke.
Was she supposed to work her butt off the moment she possessed the protagonist?
All she’d done was take a mere three-month break after running herself into the ground in Korea.
And that was enough to derail the whole original story?
So… you’re only loved if you’re useful—even inside a novel?
Maybe it was because depression had consumed her for the past three months, but her thoughts kept spiraling negatively.
“This is all your fault. I always told you—if you want to stay in the palace, do your part.”
“You always have to do your part. You can’t show weakness to those beneath you.”
Suddenly, she remembered her cold-hearted grandfather. Her father, who always watched that grandfather’s moods. Her mother, who was indifferent. Her siblings, who were always wary of her talent.
“The crown prince… no, your name is… Friedhen! It’s not really you, right? I’ve already been shocked enou—”
Before she could finish, his rough hand reached for her—and an unimaginable pain followed.
Ilena twisted and flailed to escape the pain, but her wrists were shackled. It was impossible.
This wasn’t a novel. It was real. Pain this intense couldn’t possibly be fiction.
Tears streamed down Ilena’s face as she ground her teeth.
She wanted to kill the man who had inflicted such agony on her.
She wanted to give him the same pain—or even worse.
“You… you bastard… I’ll kill you!”
The moment she screamed—
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion shook the basement, loud enough to be heard even underground. The ceiling trembled dangerously.
Dust and debris rained down.
Only then did the crown prince back away from Ilena.
“What the hell? What’s happening?”
“Haa… haa… I’ll kill you… I’ll kill you…”
Ilena trembled and muttered like a madwoman.
She had never felt this kind of fury in her life.
Was she a bit lethargic, so that warranted doing this to her?
‘This guy’s a complete psycho, isn’t he?’
Her rage wouldn’t subside.
She wasn’t some merciful sunshine heroine who turned the other cheek.
She wanted to fry him with electricity just like he tried to do to her.
“I’m going to kill you. I’ll destroy you!”
Boom! Boom! BOOM!
As Ilena screamed, more explosions rang out, one after another.
It sounded like the entire palace was collapsing.
“What the hell! Shit, I need to get out of here first!”
‘Yeah, run. Drop this crazy act and save your own skin.’
Relieved that the immediate pain had stopped, Ilena exhaled deeply.
The crown prince cursed and stumbled to the door, flinging it open and bolting out.
…What?
“You bastard! I—!”
Ilena thrashed, her hands still bound in shackles.
“You fucker! Fuck!”
This was the first time she’d felt such intense rage.
“You coward! Don’t you have a shred of chivalry? You call yourself a male lead? You son of a biiiiiitch!”
As if echoing her voice, a deafening CRAAASH resounded.
One side of the basement wall crumbled.
Ilena flinched in fear.
“Am I gonna die? Shit! Am I seriously gonna die?!”
Thankfully, a knight who had been outside heard the noise and ran down.
“L-Lady Priestess! Why are you in a place like this?!”
‘I’m saved.’
Ilena was helped out of the basement, only to witness a scene of destruction.
Nearly a third of the palace looked like it had been bombed into ruin.
“How… how did this happen?”
She panted as she asked, and the knight supporting her replied,
“Well, it’s just that… a massive lightning strike seemed to specifically target the palace…”
He trailed off, eyes widening as he remembered something:
The priestess he was supporting—Ilena—was a weather manipulator.
Ilena looked at him, mouth agape.
‘Did… did I do that?’
How?
Was it just because she wanted to electrocute the crown prince?
While she was still reeling in confusion, she spotted the king fleeing from the crumbling palace, his face pale with terror.
That damn male lead was clinging to his side like a leech.
The king looked from the wrecked palace to Ilena and shouted,
“What in the world! The priestess had such power? That sweet, innocent girl would never do this!”
Ilena had never seen this part in the novel either.
The sunny female lead never wanted to kill anyone, or wished to destroy everything and go home.
‘Did anyone die?’
A wave of guilt hit her. Instinctively, her mind started sorting through how to handle the aftermath.
A terrible habit from her past life as a workaholic chaebol heiress.
“L-Lady Priestess!”
“Lady Ilena!”
‘Ilena… huh? Ilena?’
She had been calculating options in her head when the shouts snapped her back.
‘Ah, right. I’m not Choi Inna anymore.’
She wasn’t the person in charge here, or the kingdom’s heir. They were.
Ilena glared at the panicked crown prince.
Oddly, she didn’t feel the slightest bit sorry.
‘Huh? This is actually… kind of satisfying.’
She flinched at the unexpected feeling.
No one had ever messed with her and gotten such immediate, direct payback.
Since childhood, she’d always endured, always given in, always acted like the bigger person.
She used to secretly get revenge behind the scenes…
‘But smashing things directly like this… actually feels great?’
So this is the sweet taste of having power.
If she’d known, she would’ve lived her chaebol heiress life flexing her power a little more.
Maybe she wouldn’t have even gotten depressed.
‘I used to force myself to act noble and kind, even while popping pills… but not anymore.’
“You priestess! How dare you—what is the meaning of this!”
The king shouted, stepping toward her.
“Don’t come any closer!!”
Ilena yelled.
Everyone froze in shock—it was probably the first time the priestess had raised her voice.
“Did… did she just defy us?”
“What in the world is going on?”
‘So… you lived like a good girl too, huh? Like a puppet. Just like me.’
Ilena smiled bitterly, then raised her head again and shouted fiercely,
“If you come closer! I’ll flood this place and strike it with lightning again! Just like the eastern province!”
Everyone flinched.
It wasn’t impossible.
Ten years ago, due to strange weather patterns, the east had suffered nonstop rain and floods.
The only reason the north had been spared was because of Ilena, the priestess.
“If you come near me, I’ll kill you all! Thunder! Floods! Aaaaaaah!”
Honestly, she didn’t know how to control it—but it seemed like her emotions affected the weather. When she got angry, lightning struck.
She wasn’t bluffing.
“You sick fucks! Haven’t you learned that people in power should bear responsibility?! Even when I was a chaebol, I never did disgusting torture shit like this!!”
As she screamed, a fierce sense of liberation surged within her.
It felt like the gunk stuck to her heart was finally melting away.
‘Ah… that feels so damn good.’
It wasn’t just about getting revenge on that psychopathic male lead.
She realized she had never screamed like this in her past life.
She always came back to her room and beat up her poor rabbit plushie instead.
‘This… isn’t bad at all.’
No more second-guessing, no more lethargy.
In this life, she’d live her way.
Ilena screamed again, louder than ever.
“JUST LEAVE ME ALONEEEEEEE!!”
The fact that their priestess is now cussing up a storm is really funny for me to picture