Chapter 1
**CHAPTER 1: The Warrior's Tournament Determines the Empress's Husband**
This Empire was a world of male dominance over women. Among the citizens, there was no special male-dominance ideology. But the moment you rose in rank to become a noble, your status was decided by nothing but gender. Mistreat or look down on women moderately, and you became a minor noble. If you tamed women into obedient dogs, the title of grand noble was yours. And at the pinnacle of the Empire—what of the imperial family? The Emperor has entered!
“Shh, be quiet.”
Surprisingly, the Empire right now was not like that. No, it couldn’t be.
‘A woman as Emperor…’
The Emperor who entered was undeniably muscular. Sun-baked skin and scars scattered across her body only sharpened the warrior’s beauty. In the end, though, she was simply a woman.
‘With a single rebellion, only women were left. What else could be done?’
“Ah, I know that, but—”
Kwahng!
The Emperor snatched up a pebble and hurled it. It sliced straight through the two nobles whispering to each other. The wall behind them shattered.
Grrrr…
The Emperor’s pet tiger, a creature far larger than her own body, picked up the pebble and returned it to its owner. This massive tiger had become as loyal as a trained cat to the Empress.
The Empress finally seized the initiative and spoke.
“Are you all still enjoying some interesting stories?”
“Ah, no.”
“Mm.”
And the woman who now ruled as Emperor felt nothing but disgust. No, she had every right to feel it. In that vast hall, the only one wearing clothes was herself.
Slurp ♡ Slurp… ♡♡♡
Some noblewomen hung naked inside the palace as decorations, serving the men’s pleasures. Of course, these were not mere sex slaves. They were proper wives or concubines of the nobles.
“…”
Yet the nobles’ gazes and emotions still fixated on her—partly envious, partly resentful.
The Empress felt it on her skin.
“Are you gentlemen still finding me strange?”
“Not that at all…”
“I have worn the imperial crown for thirteen years. Seven since I first ascended.”
“From the very beginning I showed you I was unworthy of nothing. Yet now…”
The current Empress had already proven far more than that.
Strength. Overwhelming strength. She had stood at the very front of battlefields and shattered enemies with her own hands.
“I am stronger than all of you. This Empire should be ruled by the strong, not the weak.”
“But… it cannot be delayed any longer.”
“…”
At those words, the Empress’s brows furrowed. She already knew exactly what was coming.
“Even so, as the sole heir of the Imperial Family, I must preserve the bloodline.”
“Preserving the bloodline… means marrying and taking a husband?”
The nobles remained silent. That was the same as agreeing.
If a man other than herself entered the Imperial Family… that would be the end.
The Empress, as Empress, understood it better than anyone. Her face darkened even further.
Marriage and the Imperial Code meant she would become no different from any other man’s sex slave.
‘If that happens…’
To demonstrate the Imperial Family’s dignity, she would have to be treated far worse than those women below her.
“But it cannot be delayed.”
“I know.”
Simply because the Emperor was a woman, rebellions had already broken out here and there. How much longer could this unstable regime last?
“…Very well.”
“Eh?”
“You cannot postpone it forever.”
The Emperor rose from her seat. A majestic, warrior-like movement.
“I shall yield to your wishes.”
****
I was a reincarnator. Of course, I hadn’t received anything overpowered. I was simply born into a family with decent physical strength. And I had initially been thrilled by this world’s unique noble culture.
‘But everything’s the same…’
The shock had been too great. I quickly grew tired of it.
In the end, noblewomen in this world all lowered their heads as a matter of course.
At first I had been thrilled, but after a while something in me simply cooled.
That was when a fun story suddenly arrived.
“They’re holding a tournament this time?”
My subordinates had already told me soldiers from the provinces were flocking in.
“Lord, what exactly are you listening to? We only learned this now?”
“I already know they’re giving the throne to the Emperor.”
“And yet you still look excited?”
“Right now the whole world feels like a weight is crushing me. ‘Even if there’s a female Emperor, she’ll just be tormented by the nobles and then sold off.’”
A subordinate showed me an expensive painting.
“Mm?”
“This is the Emperor, but the artist exaggerated the muscles way too much—”
“No. The painter drew her as closely as possible to the real thing.”
So that meant…?
One should not judge everything by outward appearance. But a lot could be seen at a glance.
‘The Warrior.’
Reddish-brown hair and scars from the battlefield. Even the brushstroke carried a powerful aura.
‘There’s a woman like this…’
She was not just any noble. She was the Emperor.
Her attitude was unmistakable even from the painting alone.
“This is…”
“Very alluring, aren’t she?”
“I’ll give you an extra month’s salary.”
“Eh?”
I had no choice but to see it for myself.
***
In the Empire’s center, the nobles stirred the moment the Emperor’s words of acceptance spread. They knew they could not avoid it, yet no one knew what the real price would be.
“Is it true?”
“You can choose the Emperor’s consort freely, but not decide her fate.”
The subordinate who had spoken first met the Emperor’s gaze.
“Hmph.”
In this world, men had no color. The instant the Warrior’s eyes pierced them, the nobles looked away in panic.
It was not the nobles’ fault. It was simply that the Empress’s gaze was too scorching.
“Well, we happen to have the Warrior’s Festival right now, don’t we?”
“Y-yes, but…”
“I will not award the final prize of the tournament. Instead, I grant the seat of my husband.”
!!!
The nobles exchanged shocked glances with one another.
“But I will enter the tournament as well.”
“T-that’s—”
“Warriors are allowed to participate, aren’t they?”
The words “you are a woman” rose to my throat, but I swallowed them.
“The Emperor is not a warrior.”
Winning the tournament and becoming the Empress’s husband meant taking control of everything.
However, to win that tournament, you had to defeat the Empress—the strongest warrior of this era.
***
Fortunately, the road leading to the capital was wide and fast. Still, in the countryside it had been tight. The moment I arrived, the Emperor was just about to begin her speech.
“Listen, all of you, warriors of the Empire!!!”
Despite standing at the very peak of this world’s power, her spirit was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was not mere arrogance.
She was beautiful and strong. The precise lines of muscle, not exaggerated but visible to the eye, harmonized with a woman’s curves to create a specimen of a beautiful warrior.
Even the scars scattered across her body made it clear she had lived as a warrior, not as a woman.
Her reddish-brown hair whipped in the wind and had been cut short. Her golden eyes burned with intensity, almost glowing.
‘There’s a woman like this…’
“The Warrior’s Festival is about to begin!”
Waaaaahhhhhh!!!!
Even though she was a noblewoman of this world, the citizens roared for her. Some faces showed discontent, but none mocked her authority.
‘The first female Emperor.’
She was the first.
“…”
I forgot all thoughts of turning back and simply stared at her. She was not a submissive woman who would bow her head. She was a voice that thundered with the rightful authority of this world’s master.
Soon that voice would deliver an important announcement.
Except for a few nobles who had already known, this was the first time anyone here would hear it.
“Yo… but even if I become the Empress’s husband, won’t I just live as a prisoner?”
I asked the attendant who had come with me.
He gave me a strange look.
“What are you talking about? How can a man live as a prisoner to a woman like her?”
That was simply the way of the world.
“The higher you rise, the more the woman must be kept below. That’s what makes a man’s chest swell.”
“Mm… I see…”
In the end, if you became the Empress’s husband, you could tame her however you liked.
I had thought of myself as a good person, but seeing this… I felt the opposite.
I was no longer asking for flowers from a basket.
I wanted the flower growing on the vine at the edge of a cliff.
‘If I win…’
I could break this strong female warrior.
A dark, intense ambition wrapped around my heart like smoke.
“Iya, this woman alone has made everyone’s will so different.”
My own strength surged, but the real energy came from somewhere else.
“I’ll have to participate too.”
Even if it was not for power, it was worth it for her alone.
But that meant stepping into this noble world.
I would inevitably be entangled with other women as well.
Still, I could carry other fine women in my pocket and charge forward with vigor.
“I will definitely take her.”
It was a difficult goal. But it was not impossible.