The first thing Xiao Zhi noticed was the smell. No burnt coffee. No dusty cat fur.
Instead, a faint and elegant scent. The kind of scent she imagined a luxury spa would have. Xiao Zhi couldn't tell what exactly the scent was, but it was certainly not from her apartment.
She opened her eyes and winced. The sunlight was too bright. It was wrong because her apartment was so dimmed and poorly ventilated that it was basically gloomy all day.
Where am I?
Xiao Zhi sat up slowly. This wasn't her creaky mattress. The bed was firm but also softer than anything she had ever touched. Her pillow felt like a cloud. Definitely not the cheap pillow that she got from the bargain bin.
Her mind went blank.
She remembered the fuse box last night, and the way the current had slammed through her body.
"Did I die?"
She glanced at her surroundings. This wasn't just a room. It was a scene straight out of a big-budget historical drama.
"…So… is this… heaven?"
She glanced at her hands. Pale, slender, with perfect nails that looked like they belonged on a magazine cover. Not her hands. Absolutely not. She wiggled her fingers, half expecting them to vanish.
They didn't.
"Oh my gosh. Did heaven give me a hand transplant?"
She kicked off the covers in excitement and instantly regretted it.
Her body was wrapped in layers of robes heavy with embroidery. The weight nearly dragged her back into bed.
Stumbling to her feet, Xiao Zhi stood up and caught sight of a mirror. Or at least that's what she thought it was. It looked too dull, and the bronze-colored glass didn't reflect her face properly.
But it still made her freeze.
She saw a stranger staring back.
Porcelain skin. Hair flowing like dark silk. Dressed in hanfu-style robes, finer than anything she had ever touched. It was her face, alright, but somehow different. She looked less like a person and more like the lead actress of a period drama she binge-watched on the weekend.
"Heaven is real…" She touched her cheek with her manicured fingers, barely believing the reflection staring back at her. "I must've been really, really good in my last life."
A laugh slipped out. "Forget heaven. This is a miracle. I never even washed my hair more than once a month, and don't get me started on nail salons."
She wiggled her fingers again at the mirror. "Manicure by angels. I could get used to this."
But before she could cheer any louder, the door creaked open.
A maid rushed in and nearly tripped. Her eyes went wide.
"Princess Lian Zhi! You're awake!"
Xiao Zhi blinked. "…Come again?"
The maid bowed. "Thank the heavens. After you collapsed in the garden, we feared the worst."
Princess. Lian Zhi.
Wait, I knew that name. Where have I heard it before?
When the memory surged in, her stomach dropped. Her eyes widened in shock.
"Wait. Princess Lian Zhi? The concubine-born? The tragic character from the manuscript I'd been mocking last night?"
Her smile faded. "Maybe heaven isn't that nice after all."
Her eyes wandered the room. The incense. The wooden windows. The phoenix-embroidered bed. The silk hanfu. Every detail screamed that manuscript.
"No way. Heaven wouldn't give me that nightmare. Couldn't they at least drop me into a peach blossom garden with a dozen hot immortals? Or a cheesy CEO romance? Anything but this."
"Your Highness?" The voice of the maid snapped Xiao Zhi back to reality.
Xiao Zhi forced a crooked smile. "Yep. Totally normal. Princess Lian Zhi. That's me."
Before she could even think, another servant appeared. "Her Highness is summoned to the Great Hall. Immediately."
"Summoned? Great hall?" Xiao Zhi barely had time to blink before the maids seized her hands. "Hey, wait!"
The maids were swarming her, adjusting her hair and smoothing her silk robes as they moved her along. She nearly tripped with every step.
The hall they dragged her into was massive, lined with jade pillars and golden dragons. Officials stood stiffly on both sides, staring without blinking.
At the throne sat a man in dragon robes. His presence was heavy as a storm. She didn't need anyone to explain. He was the Emperor.
Beside him sat a woman in similar design robes, her expression perfectly calm. Her posture was composed, and her smile was thin as a blade. One look from her made Xiao Zhi feel like a bug under a magnifying glass.
Must be the Empress.
In front of them, a girl was kneeling, sobbing.
"Father! I cannot marry into the Tughril Khanate. They are cruel, heartless barbarians. Please spare me!"
According to the story she had read, that must be the first princess, Lian Yue.
Xiao Zhi's brain screeched.
No. No, no, no! I knew this scene. This is where the tragedy begins. The First Princess cries her way out, and the concubine-born Lian Zhi gets thrown to the wolves.
Her blood ran cold. She had read this chapter last night. She'd laughed at how stupid Lian Zhi was, a noble sacrifice and tragic death.
And now she was that idiot.
The Emperor's voice echoed across the hall. "The Khanate requested the First Princess. To refuse now is an insult. They will see it as a war declaration."
Princess Lian Yue sobbed harder. "Father, please! I'll die if you send me!"
Then the Empress spoke, calm but with a clear authority. "Yue'er is frail. Forcing her would kill her. But…"
Her eyes slid toward Xiao Zhi.
"... Lian Zhi is strong. She will endure."
Xiao Zhi's pulse spiked.
Wait, did she just volunteer me as tribute?!
"Enough!" The Emperor slammed his hand on the throne. "Very well, it is decided. Princess Lian Zhi will wed the Grand Prince of the Tughril Khanate!"
Yep, that just happened.
Xiao Zhi almost chuckled at how easy it was for the Emperor to throw her under the bus. She knew Lian Zhi was not favored, but he could at least have shown a little bit of hesitation before changing his mind.
Lian Yue sobbed prettily, but when she lifted her face, Xiao Zhi caught it: a quick, sharp glint of triumph.
What kind of heaven was this?
No wings and clouds. No angels with harps.
This wasn't heaven at all. This is budget heaven, a cheap knockoff, a cruel joke wrapped in silk.
And she was the punchline.
Back in her quarters, she collapsed onto the bed. Her head was splitting open. Princess Lian Zhi will wed… The words looped in her head like a broken record.
She buried her face into the pillows. "Why me? Out of all the books, why this one?"
Her voice muffled against the silk. "I would've taken a CEO novel. I'd marry some domineering president who secretly makes breakfast at 7 a.m. Heck, I'd even take a cultivation world. At least there'd be magic. But noooo... I got the tragic character express ticket."
She rolled over and stared at the embroidered ceiling. The phoenixes seemed to laugh at her misery. "You guys think this is funny? Ha. Ha."
In the book, Lian Zhi died miserably. Someone who was betrayed, forgotten, erased.
Now that "someone" was her.
She hugged the silk quilt tighter. "Nope. Not happening."
She tugged the quilt over her head. "God? If you're listening… can I get a setting change? Please? I did good things in the past, right? Recycling, donations, and that one time I helped an old lady cross the street. That counts, right?"
Just as she finished her one-on-one complaint session with the heavens, her door slammed open again.
"Zhi'er! Are you all right?" A middle-aged woman rushed in. Her eyes were wet with worry.
"I heard the news." The woman stopped in front of her, her voice trembling with outrage. "How could the Emperor do this to you?"
Xiao Zhi froze.
"M—Mama?"
Her eyes widened as she stared at the familiar face, the same face she hadn't seen since she was sixteen.
Her mother.
Alive.
Standing right there.