The metallic scent clung to her lips as she struggled to breathe. Zhao Yuexin's trembling hands pressed against the dagger lodged deep in her chest, her vision blurring as the grand chandelier above her flickered.
"Why?" Her voice cracked, eyes filled with disbelief. "Why would you do this to me?"
In front of her stood the people she loved most....her family.
Her father, Zhao Cheng, the man who raised her with stern words and cold silence, had not even flinched when the dagger struck. Her stepmother, Lin Yumei, smirked with painted lips, her eyes full of disdain. And beside them, holding her cousin's hand, was the man she once called fiancé...Su Wei.
Wei's eyes shifted away, guilt flickering, but he didn't let go of Zhao Rourou's hand. "Yuexin, don't blame me. You were never meant to shine. You were just… a stepping stone."
A bitter laugh tore from Yuexin's throat. Stepping stone? Was that all her years of devotion amounted to?
Her stepmother leaned close, whispering venom into her ear. "You should've learned your place. The Zhao family has no room for a useless daughter like you."
With that, she was shoved to the ground like discarded trash.
The cold marble floor welcomed her, and the darkness began to eat away at her fading consciousness. Her last thought before death was not sorrow. it was rage.
If heaven gave her another chance… she would make them regret everything.
TO BE CONTINUED