I Was Supposed to Be a Puppet Prince, So Why Did I Become the Protagonist?

Shen Chengzhang, a naval weapons designer, dies suddenly from overexertion at the gym and awakens in the body of a second-rate prince with the same name in a female-oriented political intrigue novel. He finds himself cast as a disposable pawn—a useless royal mocked by the entire court and controlled by the villainous Marquis of Xiangnan. His situation is dire from the start: on his wedding night, the Marquis breaks into his chambers with aphrodisiac incense, intending to defile his new wife, while all the guards in his estate are loyal to the Marquis. The entire capital views him as worthless mud that cannot be shaped. However, Shen Chengzhang refuses to accept this humiliation. As an imperial prince with a sister who commands one hundred thousand troops in Jiangbei, he possesses significant leverage. Deciding that if others will not rebel, he will take matters into his own hands, he swiftly kills the Marquis of Xiangnan with a single sword strike. No longer content to be a puppet, he sets out to establish his own merits and power, embarking on a ruthless journey to climb the ranks and ultimately seize the throne.