Xia Yiren's POV
Don't move.
Yijun's voice cuts through the panic. He steps between me and the door, his hand on his sword. No one is arresting anyone until I see the evidence myself.
The servant trembles. Your Highness, the Empress Dowager ordered
I don't care what she ordered. His voice turns to ice. I am the Crown Prince. Imperial Consort Xia is under my protection. Any arrest requires my approval.
Through the bond, I feel his absolute determination. He's not letting them take me. Not this time.
But he doesn't understand. The trap is already set.
The poison vials were planted, I say quietly. Just like before. They're in my chambers right now, hidden somewhere I'd never think to look. When the guards search, they'll find them exactly where they're supposed to.
Yunfei's face darkens. Then we destroy the evidence before
Too late. I close my eyes. If we destroy it, they'll say we're covering up guilt. If we don't, it proves I'm the poisoner. Either way, we lose.
Not if we find who really did it, Yijun says. Through the bond, I feel his mind racing. Ling Meihua was poisoned in her own chambers. Someone had access. We find that person, we find our culprit.
It won't matter. Despair crashes over me. Don't you see? This is happening faster than before. Someone knows I remember the future. They're accelerating the timeline, setting the trap before we can prepare. We're already three steps behind.
Then we fight anyway, Yunfei growls. We don't just surrender
Footsteps thunder down the corridor. Many footsteps.
The guards are here.
Yijun's hand tightens on his sword. Through the bond, I feel his split-second decision—he's actually considering fighting the palace guards to protect me.
Don't, I grab his arm. If you fight them, they'll charge you with treason too. We both lose.
I'm not letting them take you.
You have to. I meet his eyes. Go to Ling Meihua's chambers. Find the real evidence while they're focused on arresting me. It's our only chance.
Through the bond, his anguish tears through both of us. He doesn't want to leave me. But he knows I'm right.
The door bursts open. Ten armed guards pour in, led by a stern-faced captain I recognize from my first life. Captain Feng, who personally dragged me to the interrogation chambers.
Imperial Consort Xia Yiren, he announces formally. You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Lady Ling Meihua. You will come with us immediately.
She's innocent, Yijun says coldly.
That will be determined by investigation, Your Highness. Captain Feng's tone is respectful but firm. The Empress Dowager his ordered her detention until the matter is resolved.
On whose authority
On mine.
The Empress Dowager sweeps into the room like a winter storm. Her eyes are sharp and cold as they land on me.
The evidence is clear, she says. Poison vials found in her chambers. Lady Ling collapsed after drinking tea that Imperial Consort Xia personally prepared this morning—
I didn't prepare any tea! I protest. I haven't left my pavilion since last night!
Your servant Lianhua says otherwise. She witnessed you brewing a special blend and sending it to Lady Ling as a 'welcoming gift.'
My stomach drops. Lianhua. My own maid is lying. Either she's part of the conspiracy or they've threatened her into false testimony.
Just like before.
Grandmother, this is clearly a setup— Yijun starts.
Enough. Her voice cracks like a whip. Your judgment is compromised by the soul bond. You will not interfere with this investigation. She looks at the guards. Take her.
Two guards grab my arms.
Through the bond, Yijun's rage explodes so violently it nearly knocks me over. He actually draws his sword halfway before Yunfei grabs his shoulder.
Your Highness, Yunfei says quietly, urgently. Do as she said. Find the evidence. We'll handle this legally.
Yijun's eyes meet mine across the room. Through the bond, a thousand words pass between us. His fury. My fear. His promise that this isn't over.
I will prove your innocence, he says.
I want to believe him. But I remember too clearly how this ends.
The guards drag me from Plum Blossom Pavilion. I don't fight. What's the point? The trap is already sprung.
They take me to the same detention chambers as before. Same cold stone walls. Same iron-barred door. Same smell of dampness and despair.
I've been in this cell before. Waiting for trial. Waiting for torture. Waiting for death.
History is repeating exactly as I feared.
Hours pass. Or maybe minutes. Time moves strangely when you're locked in a cell reliving your worst nightmare.
Through the bond, I feel Yijun searching Ling Meihua's chambers. Feel his frustration when he finds nothing. The real poisoner was too careful this time.
I feel Yunfei arguing with palace officials, demanding to see me, being turned away.
I feel the Dowager's cold satisfaction as her trap closes around me.
And underneath it all, I feel my own rising panic.
It's happening again. All of it. And I'm powerless to stop it.
Exhaustion finally drags me into uneasy sleep.
That's when the nightmare comes.
I'm kneeling on the execution block again. Hands bound. Thousands screaming for my death.
But this time it's more vivid. More real. I feel every detail with crystal clarity—the rough wood under my knees, the executioner's blade catching sunlight, Yijun's cold face on the throne above.
Please, I beg through the bond. You know I didn't do this. You know I'm innocent.
But he doesn't respond. Just sits there, frozen, while the magistrate reads my crimes.
You killed me, I whisper. You chose duty over me. You let me die.
The blade rises.
Falls.
White-hot agony explodes through my neck
I wake screaming.
But I'm not the only one.
Through the bond, I feel Yijun jolt awake in his own chambers across the palace. He experienced my nightmare. Felt my execution from my perspective. Felt the blade fall, felt the bond shatter, felt everything I felt when I died.
Horror crashes through the connection. His horror and mine mixing together until I can't tell them apart.
He knows now. Really knows. Not just intellectually understanding that I'm from the future, but truly knowing what he did to me.
Through the bond, I sense him stumbling out of bed, rushing through palace corridors. Coming to me.
The guards try to stop him at my cell door.
Let me through, he orders. Now.
They hesitate. But he's the Crown Prince. They unlock the door.
Yijun bursts in, his face pale and stricken. He looks at me like he's seeing a ghost.
That felt like a memory, he whispers. Not a dream. A memory. Of me... He can't finish. Of me killing you.
I don't answer. Can't answer. My throat is tight with unshed tears.
It was real, he continues, horror bleeding through every word. Everything you said. The execution. The blade. You screaming that you were innocent while I sat there and did nothing. He sinks to his knees beside my prison cot. I felt it through the bond. I felt you die.
Now you know, I say hoarsely. Now you understand why I can't trust you.
Yiren
You killed me. The words come out broken. You're going to kill me again. The evidence is already planted. The witnesses are already lying. And when the time comes, you'll choose the empire over me because that's what emperors do.
No. His voice is fierce. I won't. I swear on my life, I won't let it happen again.
You swore before too. Through the bond. You promised you'd always protect me. I meet his eyes. And then you signed my death warrant.
Through the bond, his anguish is so sharp it cuts. He reaches for my hand, but I pull away.
Don't touch me. Don't make promises you can't keep. Just... just leave me alone.
I can't. His voice breaks. The bond won't let me. Every second you're in pain, I feel it. Your fear is my fear. Your nightmares are my nightmares. We're connected whether you want it or not.
Then you'll suffer with me. I turn away. Good. You deserve it.
Silence falls. Through the bond, I feel his heartbreak. Feel him struggling with the knowledge of what he did—or will do—to me.
I'll prove your innocence, he says finally. I'll find the real evidence. I'll expose whoever did this. And I'll make sure you never stand on that execution block again.
You can't promise that.
Watch me.
He stands and walks to the cell door, then pauses.
The nightmare, he says quietly. When you died in that vision, you said something. Right before the blade fell. You said 'I should have known the bond was a lie.' He turns back. What did you mean?
I freeze.
Because I didn't say that in my nightmare. I thought it, yes. But I didn't speak it aloud.
Which means he didn't just experience my dream.
He saw something I didn't.
What else did you see? I ask slowly.
His face goes pale. After you died... I saw what happened next. Saw myself finding evidence that proved your innocence. Saw me execute Ling Meihua and Minister Zhao in rage. Saw me... He swallows hard. Saw me dying six months later. Poisoned. By the same people who framed you.
My blood runs cold. That's not how it happened in my timeline. You lived for years after I died.
Then something's different this time. Through the bond, his fear mirrors mine. Which means we're not just repeating your past. We're in a new timeline. And whoever is setting these traps knows things that even you don't know.
We stare at each other, both understanding the implication.
Someone else remembers the future.
Someone who's been through this before.
Someone who knows exactly how to destroy us both, no matter what choices we make.
And they're three steps ahead.