Wei Lian's POV
The letter burned in my pocket as I slipped through the dark gardens.
Meet me at the north garden pavilion tomorrow at midnight. Come alone, or your brother dies.
I should've told the Emperor. Should've brought guards. But the threat was clear come alone, or my brother Wei Chen would pay the price.
My only family left. Fighting at the borderlands, barely surviving.
I couldn't risk him.
The north garden was empty, silent except for crickets. The pavilion sat at its center, a small wooden structure surrounded by lotus ponds.
I approached slowly, every muscle tense. My hand gripped the small knife hidden in my sleeve.
You came. A figure stepped from the shadows.
Female. My age. Dressed in plain servant robes, but her posture was wrong, too confident, too poised.
Who are you? I demanded. How do you know about my brother?
She pushed back her hood, revealing a beautiful face with sharp, intelligent eyes. My name doesn't matter. What matters is that we're the same.
What does that mean?
It means you're not the only one who died and came back. She smiled coldly. I'm reborn too, Wei Lian. Just like you.
My blood turned to ice. That's impossible.
Is it? You woke up three years in the past, remembering your execution, remembering watching the empire burn. She stepped closer. I woke up five years in the past. I've been preparing much longer than you.
My mind raced. Another person reborn? How? Why?
You don't believe me. She pulled out a piece of paper, handed it over. Read this.
I unfolded it by moonlight. My hands started shaking.
It was a list of events, specific, detailed events that hadn't happened yet but that I remembered from my first life:
Minister Liu's embezzlement of dam fundsNorthern border troop movements as distractionPoison attempt on Crown Prince using Serpent's BreathGeneral Lin Zhao's family massacre in 9 months
Things only I should know. Things I'd never told anyone.
How
Because I lived through them too. Different perspective, same timeline. She took the paper back. In my first life, I was Imperial Consort Hua Rong's personal attendant. I saw everything. Every conspiracy, every betrayal, every murder.
Hua Rong. The poisonous woman who'd destroyed the empire.
If you were her attendant, you helped her, I said coldly.
I had no choice! I was a servant. I did what I was told or I died. Pain flashed across her face. But when the rebels came, she killed me herself. Didn't want loose ends who knew her secrets. I died in the same burning palace you did, just three hours earlier.
I studied her carefully. She could be lying. Could be a trap.
But the details she knew... no one except me should remember those things.
Why reveal yourself now?
Because you're changing things too fast and too obviously. The Jiangnan flood warning? Saving the Crown Prince twice? Getting the Emperor's personal attention? She shook her head. You're drawing every enemy's eyes directly to you. At this rate, you'll be dead within six months.
I'm being careful
You're being reckless! She grabbed my arm. In my first life, you died eighteen months into your time as concubine. Quiet. Invisible. Forgotten. Now you're the most talked-about person in the palace. Do you know how many assassination attempts there have been?
Seven, I said quietly. I survived them all.
You got lucky. But luck runs out. She released me. I've spent five years building a network, gathering allies, learning to move in shadows. You've spent three months making yourself a target.
Then why not just let me fail? Why warn me?
Because despite your recklessness, you're changing things that need changing. You saved fifty thousand lives with the Jiangnan warning. You protected the Crown Prince. You're exposing corruption. Her voice softened. You're doing what I was too afraid to do, making real changes instead of just trying to survive.
I wanted to trust her. Wanted an ally who understood.
But trust had killed me once before.
What do you want from me?
Cooperation. You have the Emperor's attention, something I can never get as a servant. I have information networks and knowledge of Hua Rong's plans. Together, we can actually save this empire.
And if I refuse?
Then I disappear back into shadows and watch you die. Again. She met my eyes. But your brother's survival depends on information I have. There's an ambush planned for his unit in two weeks. Without my warning, he's dead.
Rage exploded in my chest. You're threatening him to force my cooperation?
I'm showing you that I have value. That my information can save the people you love. She pulled out another paper. Here. Troop movements, ambush location, exact timing. Verify it yourself. When you see I'm telling the truth, meet me again.
She pressed the paper into my hand.
One week. Same place. Decide if you want to work together or play this game alone. She started to leave, then paused. Oh, and Wei Lian? Stop eating anything Lady Chen prepares. She's planning another poisoning attempt in three days. Arsenic in the sweet cakes.
Then she vanished into the darkness.
I stood alone, holding two pieces of paper that could change everything.
Could she really be reborn too? Or was this an elaborate trap?
I hurried back to my quarters, mind spinning. Locked the door and lit every candle.
The troop movement paper detailed a rebel ambush on my brother's unit. Specific location. Specific timing. Information that wouldn't be public knowledge.
If I sent a warning and it was accurate, my brother would live.
If it was a trap designed to make me look like a spy communicating with rebels...
Su Jin! I called softly.
She appeared from the adjoining room, sleep-rumpled. My lady?
I need you to get a message to General Lin Zhao. Discreetly. Tonight.
What message?
I wrote carefully, wording it to sound like intelligence gathering, not foreknowledge:
Rumors of rebel movement near [location]. Recommend verifying troop safety. Especially units including Wei Chen.
If this was real, I'd save my brother. If it was a trap, I'd worded it carefully enough to claim I was just passing along rumors.
Su Jin took the message and disappeared.
I couldn't sleep. Paced my room until dawn.
Three days later, news arrived: General Lin Zhao had investigated the rumors and discovered a planned rebel ambush. He'd reinforced the area. The rebels had retreated without attacking.
Several soldiers' lives saved. Including my brother's unit.
The mysterious woman's information was accurate.
Which meant she really was reborn. Really did have knowledge of the future.
Really could be the ally I desperately needed.
Or the most dangerous enemy imaginable.
That afternoon, Su Jin brought troubling news. My lady, Lady Chen has been baking sweet cakes. She's planning to gift them to several concubines tomorrow, including you.
Arsenic. Just like the woman predicted.
Tell everyone I'm fasting for religious purposes. I won't accept any food gifts this week.
Su Jin nodded, but her eyes were worried. My lady, how did you know?
I didn't. I'm just being careful.
The next day, three concubines who ate Lady Chen's sweet cakes became violently ill. Not dead Chen had been smart enough to use small doses that looked like natural illness.
But I would've been one of them.
The mysterious woman had saved my life twice now. My brother's life. And proven she knew things she shouldn't.
I had to meet her again. Had to know the truth.
But first, I had a more immediate problem.
That evening, I was summoned to the Emperor's study. When I arrived, his expression was darker than I'd ever seen.
Sit.
I sat, heart pounding.
General Lin Zhao received an anonymous warning about rebel movements. A warning that proved accurate. His eyes pinned me. The warning mentioned your brother specifically. Care to explain how you knew about a military ambush before it happened?
My mouth went dry. The trap had worked after all not from rebels, but from the Emperor's suspicion.
Your Majesty, I
I'm waiting.
Before I could answer, the study door burst open. A guard, panicked. Your Majesty! Emergency! The Crown Prince has collapsed! The physicians think he's been poisoned!
The Emperor was on his feet instantly. When?
Ten minutes ago. They're trying to save him, but
He ran. I ran after him, not waiting for permission.
The Crown Prince's quarters were chaos. Physicians everywhere. The five-year-old boy convulsing on his bed, foam at his mouth.
Imperial Consort Hua Rong screamed, being held back by servants. Save him! Someone save my son!
But I saw the truth in her eyes. The same cold calculation from my first life.
She'd done this. Poisoned her own son.
Just like before.
And this time, I was watching it happen in real-time, unable to stop it.