Chapter 1: Dead Once, Awake Ten Years Earlier

Lin Wan’er, legitimate daughter of the house of the Duke of Zhenguo, knelt on the execution platform in the heart of the capital, her body covered in wounds, her hair in tangles. She raised her head to look up at the viewing stand, where Xiao Yichen stood. He was the husband she had loved with all her heart for ten years, the man she had once traded her whole family to protect. Now he stood beside Shen Ruowei, his eyes cold and without the slightest hesitation.

“For the crime of plotting against the princess consort and harming the imperial heir, by the laws of the Great Jin, she is sentenced to beheading.” The supervising official’s voice rang out, final.

Wan’er let out a dry laugh, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. She had never imagined that after a whole life spent devoted to her husband’s family, she would die accused of harming the very child she had nearly given her life to bring into the world. The blade rose, and its cold light flashed across her eyes one last time.

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself lying in the familiar bed of her chambers in the Duke of Zhenguo’s residence, the room she had lived in since she was a little girl. Outside the window, birds were chirping, and the soft sunlight of a spring morning streamed in. She hurried to the bronze mirror and saw her own sixteen-year-old face, young and without a single scar.

“Ten years…” she whispered, trembling all over. “I’ve come back ten years, to before I ever met Xiao Yichen.”

A maid came rushing in. “Miss, are you all right? Why are you so pale?”

Wan’er looked at the maid, Xiaocui. In her past life, Xiaocui had served her faithfully to the very last moment, until Shen Ruowei had her hounded to death for daring to speak up for her mistress’s innocence. Wan’er’s eyes stung, but she quickly regained her composure.

“I’m fine,” Wan’er answered, in a voice completely different from before. No longer naive and meek, but cool, calm, and sharp as a knife. “Xiaocui, help me get ready. I have things to do today.”

In this life, she swore she would never repeat the foolish mistakes of the last one: blindly loving a man who didn’t deserve it, trusting a scheming woman disguised as a dear sister, and abandoning her own family to persecution and ruin all for the sake of “love.”