Aria's POV
"Burn her now!" someone screams.
The throne room explodes with shouts. Nobles point at me like I'm a demon. Guards reach for their swords. King Aldric rises from his throne, face twisted with rage and fear.
"Witchcraft," he hisses. "In my own castle. Explain these marks, girl!"
Seraphina holds my engineering notes higher. Equations. Circuit diagrams. Calculations for thrust and velocity. My handwriting from my real life, somehow transported here with my soul.
How is this possible?
"Your Majesty," Seraphina's voice drips false concern. "I found these hidden beneath my cousin's mattress. Strange symbols. Unnatural diagrams. She's been communing with dark forces—"
"Those aren't spells!" I shout over the chaos. "They're—"
What? Math? Physics? Concepts this world won't discover for four hundred years?
Prince Cassian hasn't moved. He stands beside his father's throne, eyes locked on the papers. His face shows nothing, but something flickers in those cold gray eyes.
Interest.
"Silence!" King Aldric roars. The room goes quiet. "Lady Aria, you stand accused of murder and witchcraft. These marks are proof of demonic knowledge. Guards—prepare the pyre immediately. We burn her before nightfall."
"Father, wait."
Everyone freezes. Prince Cassian spoke. His voice cuts through the panic like ice through fire.
"Your Highness?" Seraphina's smile falters.
Cassian steps forward and takes the papers from her hands. She has no choice but to release them. He studies the equations with frightening intensity.
"These symbols," Cassian says slowly. "They follow patterns. Logic. See here—" He points to a thrust calculation. "This mark appears repeatedly in the same position. Like a formula. If this were demonic magic, it would be chaotic. This is... organized."
My heart pounds. He's analyzing my engineering notes. Understanding the mathematical structure even if he doesn't know what it means.
This medieval prince is smart.
"Organized evil is still evil!" King Aldric snaps. "Cassian, your grief over Elara's death has made you soft—"
"My grief has made me careful," Cassian interrupts his father. Every noble gasps—you don't interrupt the King. "Princess Elara died from poison I didn't see coming. Clara died tonight from poison no one predicted. Someone in this castle is intelligent enough to commit perfect murders. And you want to burn the one person who might be intelligent enough to catch them?"
He turns those winter-storm eyes on me. "Lady Aria. What are these symbols?"
Truth or lies? Both could kill me.
I choose truth. Partial truth.
"They're from my mother," I say quietly. "She was a scholar. Traveled far before she married into House Thornwell. She learned... different ways of understanding the world. Mathematics. Logic systems. Ways to solve problems using numbers instead of guessing."
Not entirely false. My real mother was a mathematician before she became an engineer.
"And she taught you this knowledge?" Brother Thomas asks. He's appeared at the edge of the crowd, watching carefully.
"Before she died, yes. She said knowledge was power. That being smart could save my life someday." I look at King Aldric. "She was right. That knowledge helped me understand the hemlock poisoning. Helped me realize someone forged Princess Elara's signature. It's not magic, Your Majesty. It's just... thinking differently."
"Heresy," a bishop mutters.
"Innovation," Brother Thomas counters. He steps forward bravely. "Your Majesty, I've spent today with Lady Aria. Her methods are unusual, but they work. She identified the forged signature in minutes—something I missed despite decades of scholarship. If her mother taught her advanced logic systems, that explains her abilities without requiring demonic explanation."
"Advanced logic from where?" Seraphina demands. "What scholar teaches such things? Name her!"
Trap. If I name someone, they'll investigate and find nothing.
"She's dead," I say flatly. "Died when I was sixteen. Took her secrets to the grave."
"How convenient," Seraphina sneers.
Prince Cassian is still studying the papers. "Lady Aria. If these are logic systems, prove it. Use them to solve a problem right now. Show us this isn't witchcraft."
Challenge accepted.
"Give me a problem," I say.
Cassian's smile is sharp. "The Northern Clans are three days' march away. They have five thousand warriors. We have seven thousand. But their warriors are experienced—each worth one and a half of ours in combat. They also have high ground advantage, which historically increases effectiveness by twenty percent. Do we have enough forces to win, or should we negotiate?"
The room goes silent. It's a real military problem. One that requires math this world does in their heads poorly or not at all.
I close my eyes and calculate. Convert everything to equal units. Factor in the multipliers. Run the numbers.
"You'll lose," I say, opening my eyes. "Their effective force is seven thousand eight hundred fighting strength versus your seven thousand. You're outnumbered by eight hundred effective warriors. You should negotiate. Or find a way to remove their high ground advantage, which would change the calculation significantly."
Every general in the room stares at me in shock.
"That's... that's correct," the Master of War breathes. "It took my advisors two days with maps and counters to reach that conclusion. She did it in seconds."
"Witchcraft!" someone shouts again.
"Mathematics," Brother Thomas corrects firmly. "Your Majesty, this is the same logic I use for calculating medicine dosages or architectural supports. Lady Aria's simply faster at it because of her training. There's no magic here. Just education."
King Aldric looks uncertain now. Scared of me, but also greedy. I can see it in his eyes—he's thinking about how useful my "unusual knowledge" could be.
Cassian sees it too. His jaw tightens.
"Father, Lady Aria still has two days remaining to prove her innocence in the murder case. Let her continue the investigation. If she's guilty, we burn her then. If she's innocent..." He pauses meaningfully. "Her knowledge could be valuable to the kingdom."
I hate how he says "valuable" like I'm a tool. But right now, being a tool beats being ash.
King Aldric finally nods. "Very well. But Lady Aria will be under constant guard. Any attempt at escape, any suspicious behavior, and she burns immediately. Witchcraft or not."
Relief floods through me.
Then Seraphina speaks, and everything gets worse.
"Your Majesty, I must insist on additional protection. If my cousin has such dangerous knowledge, we must ensure it doesn't fall into wrong hands. I volunteer to supervise her investigation personally. As family, it's my duty."
No. No no no.
Seraphina wants to supervise me. The woman who framed me, killed Clara, and is trying to get me executed now wants to watch my every move.
She'll sabotage everything. Kill more witnesses. Maybe poison me directly.
"An excellent suggestion," King Aldric says. "Lady Seraphina will accompany the investigation. Report anything suspicious directly to me."
Seraphina's smile is pure poison victory.
Cassian's eyes narrow. He knows something's wrong but can't prove it.
"One more condition," Cassian says coldly. "Lady Aria will also report to me. Daily. Every discovery, every theory, every use of her 'knowledge.' I want to understand exactly what she knows and how she knows it."
His tone says: I'm watching you. One wrong move, and I'll end you myself.
"Of course, Your Highness," I say through gritted teeth.
The assembly ends. Guards escort me back to my cell—nicer now, with actual blankets and food. But Seraphina walks beside me the whole way, humming cheerfully.
At my door, she leans close and whispers so only I hear:
"You're clever. I'll give you that. But you made a mistake surviving today. Because now I know exactly what you're capable of." Her blue eyes glitter with malice. "And I know how to destroy you. Not just your body—but your mind, your reputation, your strange little secrets. By the time I'm done, you'll beg for the fire."
She walks away, leaving me shaking with rage and fear.
The door locks. I'm alone.
I sink onto the bed and stare at my hands—these strange hands that aren't mine but are now all I have.
Two days to solve a murder while the murderer watches my every move.
Two days before I burn.
And now Prince Cassian wants daily reports, which means facing those cold, calculating eyes that see too much.
I should be terrified.
But as I lie in the dark, a different feeling grows.
Anger.
Seraphina thinks she's won. Thinks she can intimidate me like she intimidated the original Lady Aria.
But I'm not that scared noblewoman.
I'm Dr. Aria Chen. I built rocket engines. Survived corporate sabotage. Died and somehow woke up in another woman's body in another world.
I've played against cheaters before and lost.
This time, I'm going to win.
Even if I have to use every bit of "unnatural knowledge" I possess.
Even if it means the Ice Prince learns exactly how dangerous I can be.
The game has changed.
And I'm done playing defense.
A knock at my door startles me. It opens before I can respond.
Prince Cassian steps inside.
Alone.
He closes the door behind him and locks it.
We stare at each other in the torchlight. His face is unreadable. Dangerous.
"Your Highness—"
"Explain," he says quietly. "And don't lie. I've seen enough liars today. Those papers, that knowledge, the way you think—it's not from any scholar in this kingdom. So tell me, Lady Aria."
He steps closer. I press back against the wall.
"Who are you really?"