Darkness swallowed me whole.
At first, there was nothing—just silence.
Then, memories came crashing down like a broken dam.
Not mine.
**Hers.**
The real Lady Yang.
Her love for the Crown Prince had never been calm or reasonable. It was fierce, foolish, and absolute—the kind that made promises feel eternal and waiting feel noble.
She had loved him long before anyone else mattered.
They had agreed to wait.
He told her to be patient.
He told her the time wasn't right.
He told her he would handle everything.
And she believed him—because when he smiled at her, when he spoke softly, it felt like the world narrowed down to just the two of them.
Then, a few days ago, she heard the news.
The Crown Prince's engagement.
Official. Celebrated. Irreversible.
Her hands had trembled when she heard it. She laughed at first—surely it was a misunderstanding. Surely he would explain.
She tried to meet him.
Once.
Twice.
Again and again.
But he didn't see her.
Excuses came instead—*busy with court matters*, *occupied*, *another day*.
Occupied… with his fiancée.
They had promised to wait, hadn't they?
So why did waiting suddenly feel like punishment?
She didn't want much.
Just reassurance.
Just a word.
Just to hear him say that she still mattered.
But he never came.
The palace gates stayed closed.
That night, she heard whispers that the Crown Prince would be at the night market. Hope—cruel and sharp—rose in her chest.
She shouldn't go.
She knew that.
But she went anyway.
Sneaking out like a thief, clinging to the fragile belief that if she could just see him—just once—everything would make sense again.
The market was bright. Lively. Full of laughter.
And there he was.
The Crown Prince.
Standing beside his fiancée.
They were laughing.
Laughing the way he used to laugh with her.
The way he used to look at *her*—gentle, amused, attentive—was now directed at someone else. His eyes never searched the crowd. Never hesitated.
As if she had never existed.
As if she was already erased.
Her feet froze.
Her heart shattered quietly, without sound.
She turned away, every step back feeling heavier than the last.
That was when the thought came.
A desperate, twisted thought born from love that had nowhere left to go.
*What if I die?*
*What if I hurt myself?*
*Would he look at me then?*
If she disappeared… would she finally appear in his eyes again?
She didn't want to die.
She just wanted his attention.
Just once.
Just like before.
The memories ended there—drenched in regret, loneliness, and a love that had crossed the line into obsession.
I woke up gasping.
My chest felt tight, as if someone had pressed all the air out of my lungs. The familiar scent of incense filled my senses, and above me hung the embroidered canopy of my bed at the Yang residence.
So it wasn't a dream.
The memories—*her* memories—still burned behind my eyes. Every laugh. Every ignored plea. Every promise that meant nothing in the end.
The Crown Prince.
No—*him*.
I lay still, staring at the ceiling, my tears drying before they could fall again. Something inside me had shifted, cracked, and then settled into place.
She waited.
She trusted.
She begged silently for reassurance.
And what did she get?
Neglect.
Replacement.
Erasure.
Her love had been treated like something disposable—easy to forget once something shinier appeared. And in her desperation, she had believed that pain—*her pain*—might force him to look at her again.
How foolish.
How cruel the world is to women who wait.
I slowly sat up.
My hands were no longer shaking.
If love could be ignored so easily, then it wasn't worth preserving.
If he could move on without a backward glance, then so could she— I mean I will too but not quietly.
Not gently.
I laughed softly, a sound that surprised even me.
So the Crown Prince wanted everything, didn't he?
The throne.
The perfect bride.
The future king's glory.
Then I would make sure he lost the one thing he valued above all else.
Power.
I would marry Jin Wei.
Not as an escape.
Not as a mistake.
But as a decision.
Jin Wei—the man everyone feared, the man whose ambition was buried beneath silence and patience. The man with enough power to *change* the game rather than play by its rules.
I would stand beside him.
I would help him rise.
And when he became king—
The Crown Prince would have nothing.
No throne.
No authority.
No future to fall back on.
He would live, yes—but as a man who watched everything slip through his fingers. Just as he had let *her* slip away.
A maid rushed in, her face pale with worry.
"Miss, are you feeling better? Should we call the physician?"
I looked at her and smiled.
A calm, unsettling smile.
"I'm fine," I said softly.
"Can you tell Jin wei I wanted to meet him"
She hesitated. "But—Miss, you fainted—"
"I said," I repeated, my voice steady,
"I am fine."
I need something to discuss with Jin wei. I will make sure Jin wei has the thrown without being villain.
And once Jin Wei sat on the throne—
The Crown Prince would finally understand what it felt like
to lose everything
and be remembered by no one.