The Emperor's Concubine

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

The heroine is good and the villainess is evil.

That was the absolute truth. That rule was undeniable as well as the fact that only the heroine would receive true love and her happy ending. Likewise, the malicious villainess would always suffer and leave the stage to clear the path for the perfect heroine in the end.

So, for Blanche, it felt like her world came crashing around her when she remembered the truth about her life. As the villainess in the typical romance novel “To Be Empress”, she was fated to be condemned and abandoned by her lover. No matter how devoted she was to Theodore Estien, the emperor of Artias, she would only be the bratty concubine that would obstruct the heroine, who happened to be Theodore's lawful wife and the empress.

In the end, the villainess would be deserted and executed. It was destined to happen like this, and yet she couldn't give up. She had to change the future.

Preventing the romance between the main characters would get her killed. Much like trying to steer away from the enemies' intrigues, in which she was already caught up, would. But neither the heroine nor the emperor's political rivals would change the fact that Blanche loved the man that was supposed to be the heroine's. And no matter what happened she would always stay by her lover's side. So she wouldn't just follow the book's storyline and let her own doom arrive.

Blanche would survive while trying to suppress all of the selfish desires that had made her the villainess. But was she truly fine with that? Did she not desire more than just surviving?

Did she even have the right? Could the villainess ask for a happy end? Was she too brazen if she just wanted to stay with the man she loved and receive his affection? And wasn't there a bit more to this novel than she remembered? She didn't know and in the end that mattered little when the world around her changed with each day as more and more questions about the future and the past arose.

*The Profanity tag was added due to the characters' occasional swearing, which should not happen too often.

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2021
Author: A Writers Refugium

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.2/ 5.0
Followers: 329
Views: 779,292

Chapters(390 total)

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Community Reviews(10)

chiku1605012Royal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I won't be giving a very detailed review as this story is not exactly to my tastes, I prefer sci-fi or fantasy style stories. This one stood out as an excellent drama as far as I have read. You can really feel the despesration of the villainess. Brilliant construction of the world and as far as I know this is not a reincarnation, and the behaviour of characters is consistent according to that. Therefore, it can be considered that it is pretty unique on RR. Definitely recommend for those looking for a great drama.
incarnadineRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
WOW.
I might be biased here since I used to be deep into the villainess isekai game a while back but this is really good writing. Heavily underrated. Definitely a unique hidden gem in terms of the genre - really enjoyed it!! It takes a nice spin on a popular premise but the author manages to twist it into their own style which I really admire.
Amazing characterization. TEC brings emotion to you raw (the only warning I'd give is that it contains a lot of exposition at bits) but I think it's one of the best villainess isekai fics I've ever read. Blanche's grief hits deep, and every blow feels so personal. I don't know how exactly the author does it, but what they do, they do well.
Wouldn't recommend it for people who like a whole lotta action but I also think that anyone can appreciate its good writing! This fic makes my heart break sometimes :( the story can be a bit slow sometimes, too, but that's just its charm. Realistic, emotional, and containing depth; I would definitely read it again!
Hope this review brings you a bit more exposure!! Thank you so much for writing this, author!! <3
AlbincrovvRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I like it. And that's the only metric I'm gonna really rate it.
This story is a twist on the recent Villainess Transmigration trope, so if that's something you like I can recomment to read it.
It is very heavy on raw emotions and relationships and has less action because of that, but it fits.
There is nothing glaring of note I would critizise and the start is good. We will have to see where it goes, but if it continues and ends as good as it has begun, I may count it to my all time favorites.
Kent CasandraRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Super emotional take on a villainess story except this time it's not an isekai, a reincarnation, or a transmigration. The novel's story functions less like book knowledge and more like prophetic nightmares that constantly plague our protagonist, Blanche, at the start of the book.
Hopefully that knowledge lets you forgive Blanche for not being the smartest at decision-making in the early chapters. At the starting point in the story the nightmares have caused her to be emotionally volatile, incredibly insecure, and paranoid as all hell. Not every character has to be a hyper intelligent genius and I like that Blanche isn't like that. She might not make the best decisions sometimes but the author has done a good job of making it so you can usually follow along and understand her train of thought. You might not always agree with her choices but you have a solid idea why she acts the way that she does because we spend the entirety of the novel in her head.
There are a few typos and missing words here and there but they're minor and should be easy to fix if people help point them out in the comments(I rarely remember to do so myself).
I think a few interludes here and there from other POVs would be nice. We barely spend any time with some interesting characters, like Sophia, Seraphina, and Allen. It helps a lot with world-building and foreshadowing future plot points. Though that might detract from the mystery of knowing only as much as Blanche knows.
I would also like to see more of the world around them. The neighbouring countries are somewhat of an enigma to me other than Ocrea. Anyways, I've really been enjoying reading this so give it a shot.
NaglfariRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
And I love it.
This novel is riddled with beams. Especially the face kind, so be careful. The story is well written, has villains with actual personality other than being "the villain". The pacing is good, with a lot of foreshadowing and characters moving behind the scenes and not just conjured out of thin air, which shows the authors care. It is still a lovey dovey story with a lot of "I love you more than anything and you love me as well, so I don't want to tell you my TERRIBLE SECRET becquse you may not love me anymore even if you said you still would aaaah~" which is absolutely filthy. 10/10. i read the whole thing in one shot and the quality just keeps getting better. It's very late for me and I'm tired and I don't wanna redo the review later so I'll just write until i have the 200 words. It's rare that i take the time to actually write an advanced review but this is worth it. The emperor is like so dreamy... There hasn't been a single smut scene of anykind yet. It doesn't need it, It's perfectly good whiteout it, but man. I wanna know what kinky gift he gave her, if any. I'm pretty sure there will be some kind of "i knew your secret all along!" or Allen? the brother of the empress prob share it somehow. guy is shady. also secret passage which is a hole in a wall HELLO huge security risk i mean w h a t tell someone already jeez.
CommanderZhoraRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I absolutely loved it, the characters were well thought out, the mystery fascinating, the conflict intense. A rollercoaster of emotions, I laughed and cried in equal measure, and can only wish there was more. Thank you so much for gifting this wonderful story to the world, I loved every word of it.
Sam TolanRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
I must admit to being biased to loving these genres. I am a huge fan of historical stories, be them normal historical, alternative universe, or a world/setting based on a specific time period and region. I am also a huge fan of villainess stories in any form.
So this story was the perfect combination of some of my favorite tropes and genres.
I fully believe that this story is severely underrated and is a hidden gem of Royal Road. I loved it so far and am eager to read more.
The characterization is perfect and everyone, including the world, feels so alive and real. This is particularly pleasant to me after binging so many webnovels or fan translated novels.
I admit to not being the biggest fan of romance when played straight (odd I know given my love of villainesses and otome) but I genuinely feel for the MC and her grief. The other characters are not quick to anything and the slow going of recovery and reconnecting with others (rebuilding burnt bridges) along with the grief throughout the story managed to affect even me.
There isn't a lot of action, at least not what Royal Road considers it, but I don't mind that at all. This story is just wonderful, and I will be recommendating this with others.
Thank you so much for writing this, author!
TheMetaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
As will be quickly noticeable from the note, and the fact I was spurred to make an advanced review, the TL;DR is that I love this story, and am currently in the process of binging it.
I will gloss over the grammar part, as I'm non-native, though I will say I didn't notice any mistake, neither did I see any odd turn of phrase.
As for style, it is a villainess story, which for those who never read one before is like the synopsis explain it, a story where the protagonist happen to find themselves be the villain of a romance novel (or visual novel in the case of the most well known fiction of the genre). This one however isn't an isekai where it is a "real world" reader who finds themselves in this position, but rather the actual villainess who somehow gets the memory of her self from the novel, as if she had read it.
This leads us to the characters, and specifically Blanche, our protagonist : she is flawed. Why wouldn't she be, she was the villainess of the story after all. A bratty, envious and malicious character...Until she is forced to witness her own execution, ordered by the man she loves above all.
Thus, she decides to try and change for the better, while having to deal with her spoiled nature, her love toward the emperor, and her jealousy for the 'Heroine' who she has seen was destined to get the man in the end.
The story is slow paced, but not so much that it becomes an actual flaw, the change in the personnality of the protagonist is shown to have repercution on how the 'story' should have proceded (without her fully realizing how much so far) and though the most kind hearted/open-minded character can appreciate it, many are shown to still hold to the many rightful grudge they had developped, giving plenty in term of conflict and realism.
All in all, I can only recommend everyone to at least try this story, whether they're familiar with villainess stories or not!
MehxRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Am on all my appendages begging for another chapter!
I was sceptical at first considering that this type/trope has been done numerous times already and with many coming off as just wish fulfillment. Where the main character with a bunch of one sided buddies find a simple solution to every issue, where every average 21 century human becomes a genius in math, the sciences,politics, warfare, medication and whatever else the author feels is a neet to add to a non ending list but this
THIS wonderful writing just makes me sucks my breath in at turn. The fact that we are looking through the eyes of a person in the world not some introvert(that becomes anything but a introvert in a chapter or 2)sent by whatever god the day feels like, brings me joy to no end.Where the relationships are new both old due to the main character having fresh new outlook at her life. Adding even more dopamine to my blood is that the main character knows her limits and even pauses to think over what to do, not simply having a A to B plan in mere seconds.
If you have read my review this far I hope you would give this wonderful writing a read and if the author is reading this too I really really really enjoyed the story so far and am praying for more!
LeephoyaRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
Style: The style of this story is great. It is from third person POV of our main character only. It is one of the few times I wished we had more POVs because of how excellent the characters are written. The style is engaging and takes you into the story.
Grammar: The story's grammar is good. I only saw a few mistakes that did not interrupt my reading flow. Note though that I am not a natuve speaker.
Story: Now onto the plot. The story is wonderful. We rarely have such good historical stories on RR, so I was pretty excited when I started reading it. It starts with our main character Blanche realizing she is a character in a book. A bad character. A villainess. However she cannot abandon her love for the emperor and it is amazing following the story of our main character trying to navigate through the world with her new (unwanted) knowledge.
Character: The characters are awesome. Our main character is a woman who is not super smart or good at acting but very faithful in her love. Her struggles with what her lover did to her in the book and her trying to live ignoring that feel very real and make you relate to her. The emperor is also amazingly written.
Spoiler : He IS her lover and not someone who uses her. Him trying to get her to open up to him about her nightmares (the knowledge about the book) and trying to get her to feel secure again is a wonderful change from all these other stories of abusive "lovers". The dynamics between the characters feel realistic and not forced.
Overall: Definite reading recommendation for this historical book with a new take on the villainess and lover dynamic.