The Grand Hall erupted in whispers.
"Did the Prince just drink her wine?"
"He took her cup right from her hands!"
"Is this... is this a declaration of favor?"
Lin Qianxue barely heard them. Her eyes were locked on Shen Jingye as he returned to the imperial dais with unhurried grace. He should be dying, gasping for air, collapsing as the poison went through his system.
Instead, he sat beside the Emperor with perfect composure. Picked up his own cup. Took a measured sip as if nothing unusual had occurred.
No trembling. No convulsions. No death.
Either the poison had been fake or something was very, very wrong with the Prince.
Their eyes met across the crowded hall.
Shen Jingye's lips curved into the slightest smirk. Then he raised his cup toward her in a mock toast, as if saying: Disappointed I didn't die?
Lin Qianxue's blood ran cold. He'd known. Known the wine was poisoned. Known exactly what he was doing when he drank it.
Which meant…
A commotion erupted three tables away.
A young nobleman, richly dressed in ministerial robes, had lurched to his feet. His face was pale, eyes wide with panic and something that looked like horror.
"No," he whispered, staring at the Prince. "No, that's impossible. The poison, I used enough to kill three men! You should be dead!"
The hall went silent.
Every noble turned to stare at the man who'd just confessed to attempted murder of an imperial prince.
Guards moved instantly, but the minister's son was already moving faster. He shoved aside the nobles in his path and lunged toward Lin Qianxue, a hidden dagger appearing in his hand.
"It doesn't matter!" he screamed. "If the Prince won't die, I'll finish my mission! She has to die before…"
He never completed the sentence.
Prince Shen Jingye moved like lightning. One moment he was on the dais, the next he was between Lin Qianxue and the assassin, catching the descending blade with his bare hand.
Blood dripped to the marble floor.
The Prince didn't flinch.
"How disappointing," Shen Jingye said coldly. "In forty-three of the previous loops, you at least managed to throw the knife. This time you got sloppy."
The minister's son froze. "What... what did you say?"
"I said you've gotten sloppy. Minister Chen's youngest son, correct? Family lost favor three years ago when your father backed the wrong faction. You blame the Lin family's financial collapse for destabilizing the merchant networks your family relied on." Shen Jingye's voice was conversational despite the blood dripping from his palm. "So when someone approached you with money and promises of restored honor, you agreed to poison Miss Lin. Standard motivation. Boring, really."
Guards surrounded them with their weapons drawn. But nobody moved, they were all amazed by the Prince's casual dissection of the assassination attempt.
"How do you know that?" the minister's son gasped. "I told no one! I was promised…"
"You were promised nothing." Shen Jingye released the dagger, letting it clatter to the floor. "You were used. The real orchestrator is sitting in this hall, watching to see if their plan would work. And you just exposed yourself for nothing."
He turned to the guards. "Take him. Interrogate him. Find out who hired him."
The guards moved forward, but the minister's son suddenly thrashed in their grip, eyes wild with terror and conviction.
"You don't understand!" he screamed, looking not at the Prince but at the stunned crowd of nobles. "She'll destroy everything! All of you, everyone in this hall, you'll all die because of her!"
"He's mad," someone whispered. "Poison drove him insane…"
"I've seen it!" The minister's son's voice rose to a shriek as guards dragged him backward. "The future! The flames! She already destroyed the world once! She built machines that thought like humans! Created demons in metal shells! Everything burned!"
Lin Qianxue's heart stopped.
No. He couldn't know about—
"In 2024!" The minister's son was sobbing now, still fighting the guards. "Shanghai burned first! Then Beijing! Her AI systems turned against humanity! Millions dead! The world ending in fire and blood! And it was all because of her! Because of Lin Yue!"
Her modern name. He'd just screamed her modern name in a hall full of 17th-century nobles.
The silence was deafening.
Everyone stared at Lin Qianxue. Some confused. Some suspicious. All waiting for her reaction to this madman's ravings.
But she couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't do anything but watch as the minister's son bit down hard on something hidden in his mouth.
The crunch of breaking ceramic was sickeningly loud.
White foam bubbled from his lips. His body shook once, twice, then went still in the guards' arms.
A suicide pill. He'd had a suicide pill hidden in a false tooth.
"No!" One of the guards dropped the body, backing away. "He's dead! The prisoner just…"
But Shen Jingye moved forward calmly, crouching beside the corpse. He pried open the dead man's mouth, examining the broken ceramic and the traces of white powder.
The prince looked at the body coldly. "Fast-acting poison. He was prepared to die rather than be interrogated." He stood, wiping his hands on a silk handkerchief. "Which means whoever sent him expected this possibility."
"Your Highness," the head guard said nervously, "what was he talking about? 2024? Lin Yue? Machines that think?"
"The mad ravings of a poisoner driven insane by guilt," Shen Jingye said smoothly. "Pay it no mind."
But his eyes found Lin Qianxue's across the hall, and in them she saw the question he couldn't ask aloud:
How did a minister's son from 1625 know about your AI project four hundred years in the future?
The Emperor, who'd been silent throughout the chaos, finally spoke. "This banquet is clearly cursed. Everyone will retire to…"
"No." Shen Jingye's voice cut through the hall. "We continue. Assassins thrive in chaos and darkness. We proceed as planned. Let them come out of hiding."
He turned to address the stunned nobles. "Tonight was meant to be a celebration. It will remain one. Anyone who wishes to leave may do so, and mark themselves as potential conspirators. The rest of us will enjoy the feast."
His smile was cold and deadly.
"After all, Miss Lin is clearly in no danger. Not with me here. And I'm very curious to see who else decides to make an attempt."
Servants scrambled to remove the body. Musicians began playing again, though the melody was shaky. Nobles returned to their seats, but the conversation was now hushed, nervous.
Lin Qianxue remained frozen in her chair.
A minister's son had known about 2024. About Shanghai burning. About her AI project that had never been completed because she'd been murdered first.
He'd said "she already destroyed the world once."
Which meant somewhere, in some timeline, in some version of events…
She'd actually done it.
Actually created an AI apocalypse.
Actually become the monster they all feared.
And somehow, across time and death and impossible circumstances, people were remembering. Fragments of other timelines bleeding through. Future and past colliding.
Huiyin caught her eye from across the room. Her cousin's expression was carefully neutral, but her hands were clenched white-knuckled around her wine cup.
She'd heard everything. Knew everything. And the slight smile on her lips suggested she was pleased.
Good, that smile said. Let them fear you. Let them know what you're capable of. It makes killing you so much easier to justify.
Shen Jingye's voice echoed in her memory: Seven assassination attempts tonight.
One down.
Six to go.
And now the entire court knew her modern name and suspected she was connected to some apocalyptic future.
Lin Qianxue reached for her new cup of wine with steady hands.
If they wanted a monster, she'd show them what a monster from 2024 could really do.
Starting with surviving the next six hours.
And ending with destroying everyone who'd tried to destroy her, in this timeline and every other one.