The cold steel of the ceremonial dagger didn't sting as much as the laughter spilling from my sister's lips.
"Did you really think he loved you, Lin Xia?" my sister, Lin Rose, whispered into my ear. She leaned in close, her pristine silk dress stained with the spray of my blood. "He never even looked at you when we were alone. He only wanted the jade pendant your mother left you—the one that opens the Ancestral Space. And you, like a fool, handed it to him on your wedding night."
I looked at the man standing behind her—the man I had just pledged my life to. My husband, Prince Yan. He didn't look guilty. He didn't even look angry. He simply reached down with gloved hands and ripped the jade pendant from my neck, snapping the silver chain that had been my only memento of my dead mother.
"With this, I will finally have the power to rule the four kingdoms," Yan said, his voice as cold as the dungeon floor. "You were just the key to the door, Xia. Now that the door is opened, the key is useless. Throw her to the wolves."
My vision began to blur. The metallic scent of my own blood filled my nose, and the darkness of the stone room rushed in to claim me. My last thought wasn't a prayer; it was a scream of pure, burning regret.
If there is a Heaven, let me go back! Let me kill them myself!
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The sound of water hitting stone echoed in a rhythmic pulse. I opened my eyes, expecting the searing pain of a punctured lung and the chill of death.
Instead, the air was warm and heavy with the scent of expensive jasmine incense. I wasn't on a cold floor; I was lying on soft, embroidered silk pillows. I bolted upright, gasping for air, my hand flying instinctively to my throat.
My skin was smooth. There was no wound. No blood.
And then, I felt it—the familiar weight against my chest. I looked down, my breath hitching. The jade pendant was there, pulsing with a faint, rhythmic green light.
"I... I'm alive?" I whispered. My voice sounded different—younger, higher, without the rasp of years spent in sorrow.
I scanned the room. This was my old pavilion at the Lin Estate. The carved sandalwood screens, the painting of the snowy mountains on the wall... this was three years before the wedding. Three years before the betrayal.
The heavy oak door creaked open.
"Sister? Are you finally awake? You've been sleeping like a pig all morning."
Lin Rose walked in, a tray of tea in her hands. She looked so young—only seventeen. Her face was the picture of sisterly concern, but her eyes held a spark of impatience that I had been too blind to see in my past life.
"I brought you some herbal tea for your fever," Rose said, stepping closer with a sweet smile.
As she reached the side of my bed, a sound exploded in my head. It wasn't a voice—it was a vibration, a dark, scratchy echo that seemed to resonate directly behind my eyes.
[Why won't this brat just die already? If she dies from this 'fever,' the jade pendant will be mine by default. Father would never suspect I poisoned the incense.]
My heart nearly stopped. Rose's lips hadn't moved. She was still smiling, her eyes "worried," yet I had heard her thoughts as clearly as if she had shouted them.
"Rose..." I started, my fingers tightening around the jade pendant until they turned white.
"Yes, dear sister? Drink up," she urged, leaning in.
[Drink it. Drink the poison, you useless waste of space. Then I can finally take your place as the most beautiful woman in the capital.]
I looked at the tea, then back at her. A cold, sharp smile began to form on my lips—a smile that didn't belong on the face of the "gentle" Lin Xia she knew.
"I'm not thirsty, Rose," I said, my voice dripping with an icy calm that made her flinch. "In fact, I've never felt more awake in my life."
Suddenly, the jade pendant against my skin grew searing hot. The room around me blurred, the colors bleeding together until the bedroom vanished entirely.
I was no longer in the Lin Estate.
I was standing in a vast, ethereal field hidden beneath a violet sky. In the center of the field was a spring of glowing, silver water that smelled of life and ancient power. Next to it stood a small, white marble library that seemed to stretch into the clouds.
"Welcome back, Master," a high-pitched, mocking voice piped up from behind me.
I spun around. Floating a few feet off the ground was a small boy with hair as white as snow and eyes of pure gold. He wore ancient robes and looked no older than eight, but his gaze was thousands of years old.
"You took your time dying," the boy said, crossing his arms and smirking. "I've been trapped in this Divine Space for ten thousand years waiting for a soul with enough 'Grudge' to activate the rebirth cycle. You finally made it."
I looked at my hands, then at the silver spring. "This is... the Space?"
"The Divine Space of the Heavens," the boy corrected, drifting closer. "Here, time moves slower. The water heals all wounds. The library holds every secret manual in existence. And as for that little 'gift' you discovered back there—hearing the filth inside people's hearts? Consider that a bonus for your suffering."
He landed on the grass and pointed a finger at me. "But don't get arrogant. You're still weak. If you want to keep your head this time, you have to cultivate. You have to become the predator, or you'll just be a snack for that sister of yours again."
I looked toward the horizon of the Space, my heart hardening into a diamond. In my last life, I was a footstool for my enemies. In this life, I would be their nightmare.
"Tell me," I said, my voice echoing in the vast silence. "How do I start?"