The silence of the Divine Space was replaced by the sudden, jarring chirping of birds outside my window. I opened my eyes in my bedroom at the Lin Estate, the transition so smooth that for a moment, I thought the silver spring and the boy named Bai were just remnants of a fever dream.
But then I felt it.
My body felt light, as if I had shed a heavy, invisible cloak. The dull ache in my joints from years of being "sickly" had vanished. I stood up and walked toward the bronze mirror in the corner of the room. I gasped.
The girl staring back at me was recognizable, yet entirely different. My skin, once sallow and greyish from the Soul-Wither poison, was now like polished cream. My eyes, which had been perpetually tired, were sharp and clear, shimmering with a hidden vitality. I looked like a goddess carved from jade.
A sharp knock at the door broke my trance.
"Miss? Are you still in bed? Second Miss Rose said you were feeling unwell and told me to bring you more 'medicine'."
The door swung open before I could give permission. It was Chun, my personal maid—or so I had thought in my last life. In reality, Chun had been Rose's spy, the one who slowly fed me the poison that kept me bedridden and weak.
Chun walked in with a sneering confidence, holding a small porcelain bowl. She didn't even bow. She expected to see me pale and trembling. When her eyes landed on me standing by the mirror, her steps faltered, and the bowl rattled against the tray.
"M-Miss? You're out of bed?"
As she spoke, the dark, scratchy vibration erupted in my mind.
[What is going on? Why does she look like that? That bitch Rose said the poison would have her coughing blood by now. She looks... beautiful. I hate it. I need to make her drink this quickly before anyone else sees her.]
I felt a cold shiver of satisfaction. The mind-reading wasn't a dream. I could see the fake concern on Chun's face, but I could hear the venom in her soul.
"I'm feeling much better, Chun," I said, my voice smooth and ringing with health. "In fact, I feel stronger than I have in years."
Chun recovered quickly, her face twisting into a forced smile. "That must be the fever breaking, Miss. But you mustn't overexert yourself. Here, drink this tonic. Second Miss Rose stayed up all night supervising the brewing herself."
[Drink it and die, you waste of space. Then maybe I'll get a bonus from the Second Miss and finally buy those silk hairpins.]
She held the bowl toward me. In my past life, I would have thanked her for her "loyalty" and swallowed every drop of the poison. Not today.
"It smells... bitter," I remarked, leaning closer to the bowl. "What exactly is in this, Chun?"
Chun's hands trembled slightly. "Just the usual herbs for blood circulation, Miss. Please, drink it while it's warm."
"If it's so good for circulation, you should have some," I said, my eyes locking onto hers. "You've been working so hard lately, spy—I mean, Chun. Your face looks quite pale."
The maid's eyes widened in terror. "O-Oh, I couldn't possibly! This is for the First Miss. I am just a humble servant..."
[Is she suspicious? No, she's too stupid. She's probably just being difficult. I'll force it down her throat if I have to.]
As she moved forward to press the bowl against my lips, I moved with a speed I didn't know I possessed. I grabbed her wrist, my grip like an iron shackle. The porcelain bowl tilted, and the dark liquid splashed onto Chun's hand and the floor.
"Ah! My hand!" Chun shrieked, dropping the tray.
The liquid hissed slightly as it hit the rug, a faint, acrid smoke rising from the fabric. My eyes narrowed. This wasn't just a slow-acting poison anymore; they were getting desperate. They had increased the dosage.
"You dropped the medicine, Chun," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "Such a waste of my sister's 'hard work'."
"Miss... I... I'll go get another bowl!" Chun turned to flee, but I didn't let go of her wrist.
"No need. Since you're so worried about my health, let's go see Father together. I'm sure he'd love to know about the 'special ingredients' my sister is adding to my tea. Or perhaps we should ask the estate's physician to examine the remains of this spill?"
[No! If the physician sees this, I'm dead! Rose will kill me to hide her tracks! I have to get away!]
Chun began to struggle, her face pale with genuine fear now. At that moment, the door burst open again.
"What is all this noise? Xia, why are you shouting at—"
Lin Rose stopped mid-sentence. She was dressed in a stunning pink robe, ready for her morning lessons. Her eyes swept from the spilled poison on the floor to the maid's terrified face, and finally to me.
Her jaw nearly dropped. She stared at my glowing skin and my sharp, confident gaze. The "sickly" sister she had spent years creating was gone.
[How?! How is she standing?! She should be dying! That medicine was meant to paralyze her spirit! Did the poison fail? Or did someone help her?]
Rose quickly masked her shock with a gasp of horror. "Sister! What happened? Chun, why are you crying? Did Xia hit you?"
"Oh, Rose," I said, releasing Chun's wrist and stepping toward my sister. I smiled, a cold, predatory expression that didn't reach my eyes. "Chun was just being clumsy with my medicine. But look at me... don't I look wonderful? It's almost as if the 'poison' in my system has finally been washed away."
Rose flinched at the word poison. "I... I don't know what you mean, sister. I'm just glad you're feeling better."
[She knows. No, she can't know. She's just guessing. I need to calm down. I'll just tell Yan we need to move the plan forward. If she won't die quietly, we'll have to use the Autumn Banquet to ruin her reputation instead.]
I tilted my head, hearing every word of her panicked plan. The Autumn Banquet? Ruin my reputation?
"I can't wait for the Autumn Banquet, Rose," I whispered, leaning in so only she could hear. "I have a feeling it's going to be a night neither of us will ever forget."
Rose's eyes filled with a flicker of true fear. For the first time in two lives, the power dynamic in the Lin Estate had shifted.