When her eyes opened again, she wasn't lying in a pool of blood. Instead, she was in her old bedroom, sunlight streaming through embroidered curtains.
Her fingers shook as she touched her unscarred chest. She sat up abruptly. her body younger, softer. On the vanity table, a calendar showed the date clearly: three years before her death.
Her heart thundered.
She had been reborn.
This time, she would not be the naive daughter they could manipulate and destroy. This time, she would sharpen her claws, wield her beauty and wit like a blade, and rise higher than any of them could imagine.
Her lips curved into a cold smile.
"Zhao Rourou, Lin Yumei, Su Wei… and Father." She whispered each name like a curse. "Wait for me. I'll make you kneel."
The warm sunlight spilled into the room, gilding the silk curtains with a faint glow. Zhao Yuexin sat at her vanity, her fingers brushing across her flawless skin as though to confirm she was truly alive. No scars. No dagger wounds. Just the face of a nineteen-year-old girl staring back at her.
The same girl who, in three years, would be reduced to nothing more than a corpse.
Her heart throbbed with bitter clarity. "So it wasn't a dream… I really came back."
TO BE CONTINUED