The Rise of the Imperial Female Supporting Character (GL) - Chapter 1

Never look at your phone while walking—especially when you’re heading down the stairs.

That was the very first thought that crossed Rong Siling’s mind the moment she regained consciousness.

Right now, she had a desperate urge to crawl into a corner and claw at the walls or start cursing the heavens. But as someone who had always been obsessively concerned with her public image, she managed to hold herself back—mostly because there was a breathtakingly beautiful woman currently sobbing her heart out right next to her.

The woman’s weeping was actually quite melodic, a rhythmic sort of sorrow that might have been pleasant to listen to under different circumstances.

For the dizzy and disoriented Siling, however, it was pure torture. She felt like she had just stepped off a dozen consecutive roller coaster rides. Her head felt like it was being split open by a cleaver, her stomach was doing somersaults, and she was drenched in a cold, sticky sweat that made her clothes cling uncomfortably to her skin.

In her current state, even the slightest noise felt like a direct assault on her frayed nerves.

She wasn’t sure what this woman was made of, but she had been crying for over an hour now without a single sign of stopping. The tears just kept flowing. When Siling tried to ask why she was crying, the woman simply bit her lip with a look of stubborn grievance and refused to say a word. The sheer frustration of it nearly sent Siling’s soul flying straight out of her body to meet her maker for a second time.

Fortunately, at that moment, fragmented memories began to flicker through her mind, piecing together how she had ended up in this physical wreck.

To put it simply, it was all a big misunderstanding—one that had been aimed at the crying woman, only for the “original” owner of this body to impulsively jump in the way and take the hit.

Realizing this, Siling lost all desire to comfort her. After all, the original girl had suffered this calamity entirely because of this woman.

In fact, the original girl hadn’t just suffered; she was dead. This body belonged to a princess also named Rong Siling, who had been lethally caught in the crossfire of an Alpha’s spiritual pressure. As an Omega—the physically weakest of the six human genders—the shock had been fatal, allowing a soul from the twenty-first century to take up residence in the empty shell.

Most importantly, Siling finally realized exactly who this “delicate white lotus” of a woman was.

Her name was Gu Yitong, the daughter of a wealthy Imperial merchant. She was characterized as innocent, romantic, and possessed by an uncontrollable urge to meddle in everyone’s business for the sake of “justice.” In short, she was a classic “Holy Mother” type.

In the modern world, someone like that would likely meet a swift and messy end. But in this world, Gu Yitong possessed the ultimate “anyone who crosses me dies” plot armor. She was the story’s Female Lead.

The realization made Siling feel even worse.

She didn’t know the specific details of the current plot point, but she knew enough to know that being the woman standing next to the Female Lead was a death sentence. For a side character like her, the probability of becoming “cannon fodder” was 99.9%. The only question was how gruesome the death would be.

Alphas, Omegas, Betas… a spicy Interstellar ABO setting… a lead named Gu Yitong and a side character named Rong Siling…

It was all too familiar. This was the exact plot of the web novel she had been reading before her “accident.”

Siling stared blankly at the canopy of her bed, her eyes devoid of life. To the woman beside her, she looked like someone who had lost all will to live.

Gu Yitong panicked. Forgetting her own tears for a moment, she gasped out between hiccups, “Princess… Your Highness, it’s all my fault. But I simply couldn’t stand by and listen to Princess Zhaoyang slander the Fifth Prince! He’s your full-blooded brother, after all… I only meant to explain things to her, I never imagined she would…”

Siling felt a surge of pure irritation. She didn’t have all the original memories yet, so she wasn’t clear on the friction between her and this “Princess Zhaoyang.”

But Gu Yitong’s “reminder” made her want to vomit blood. The original princess had just been nearly killed by the spiritual pressure of Zhaoyang’s Alpha guard; she was currently hanging on by a thread, and this girl was still bringing up the very person who had attacked her. Was she really a “white lotus” heroine, or was she just dense?

Siling was too overwhelmed by the shock of the transmigration to bother responding.

Seeing no reaction, Gu Yitong grew even more frantic, her words tumbling out in a desperate rush. “Princess, I am just the daughter of a merchant. My life is lowly; it wouldn’t matter if that guard had killed me. But you! Even if the Emperor doesn’t favor you, you are still of royal blood. How could they treat you so cheaply? Princess Zhaoyang has gone too far!”

“Then why don’t you go find her yourself and demand justice for me?” Siling suggested irritably.

Gu Yitong’s sobbing stopped instantly. She stared at Siling, mouth agape. Seeing Siling lying there looking haggard and barely able to breathe, she said mournfully, “I see. Your Highness must find me quite loathsome now. Fine… I will go. I’ll go to Princess Zhaoyang and get the justice you deserve!”

With that, she turned and ran out of the room, tears streaming. To any passerby, it would look like the Princess had used her status to cruelly bully an innocent girl.

The door slammed shut. Finally, Siling thought, some peace.

She let out a long sigh, but her throat felt like it was filled with sand. This body had been in bed for a full day without a drop of water. Between the headache and Gu Yitong’s wailing, she hadn’t noticed the thirst until now.

Logically, even an unfavored princess should be surrounded by a small army of servants. However, the original Siling had been best friends with Gu Yitong. Since Gu Yitong was treated like a second mistress by the staff, she had cleared the room of all doctors and servants the moment she arrived to “tend” to the princess.

The problem was that Gu Yitong only knew how to cry, not how to actually nurse someone. Now that she had run off in a huff, Siling was left completely alone. Unfamiliar with the high-tech gadgets in the room and unable to call for help, she could only lie there and stare at the ceiling.

A wave of bitterness washed over her. Gritting her teeth against her weakness, she forced herself to sit up and crawl toward the head of the bed. With trembling hands, she poured a cup of water and gulped it down.

As the lukewarm water soothed her throat, she finally felt like she had been brought back to life.

Again.

Just hours ago, she had been a university student in the twenty-first century, glued to her tablet reading a novel called The Interstellar Chronicles. She had been so absorbed in the story that she missed a step on the stairs. There was a flash of agonizing pain, a long period of drifting in the darkness, and then she had woken up as Princess Rong Siling.

It was a strange coincidence—they shared the exact same name. That was the only reason she had started reading the book in the first place. Normally, a “straight-A” student like her, raised under a strict grandfather who preached ladylike decorum, wouldn’t touch “brainless” web novels.

Years of that upbringing had turned her into a bit of a “split personality”: she was a perfectly composed, polite lady on the outside, but a chaotic, sarcastic “roasting machine” on the inside.

Her roommate, a web-novel fanatic, had recommended the book. It was a massive hit, and since there was a character with her name, Siling had decided to pass the time during the slow start of the semester by reading it.

Web novels have a strange magic; even when the plot is a mess and the morals are questionable, they hook you. Siling had spent the last few days binge-reading and mentally mocking the author’s logic. She had been reading the series finale when she fell.

Now, she was trapped inside that very world.

Siling pursed her lips. Thinking about her new identity and the tragic end awaiting her, she almost wished she could just kick the bucket and try for a third life.

The reason was simple: the original owner of this body had a straightforward identity—a cannon fodder female supporting character.

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