The dagger stopped an inch from Lin Qianxue's heart.
"Huiyin, no!" Lady Wang's hand shot out, gripping her niece's wrist. "Not like this. There are too many witnesses. The guards will talk."
Huiyin's eyes flashed with irritation, but she lowered the blade. "You're right, of course. How foolish of me to act in anger."
"I have evidence!" Lin Qianxue held up the ledger. "This proves everything, the embezzlement, the conspiracy, the poisoning! Mother, please, just read it!"
Lady Wang's face was a mask of anguish, but when she spoke, her voice was cold. "Guards. Take her to the punishment hall. Charge her with attempted murder of her father and theft of family documents."
"What?" Lin Qianxue stared at her mother in disbelief. "I saved Father! That physician was killing him!"
"You attacked him in his sickbed," Lady Wang said mechanically, as if reciting rehearsed lines. "Multiple servants witnessed it. You induced vomiting that nearly choked him. You assaulted our family physician. And now you've broken into the study and stolen private records."
"These records prove Father was poisoned! That our fortune was stolen! That…"
"Enough!" Lady Wang's screehed. "I have tried to be patient with your illness, Qianxue. Tried to understand your pain over the broken engagement. But this madness has gone too far. You will be confined until you come to your senses."
The guards moved forward. Lin Qianxue clutched the ledger tighter. "At least look at it! See the truth for yourself!"
Lady Wang held out her hand. "Give me the ledger."
Hope flickered in Lin Qianxue's chest. Her mother would read it. Would see Father's notes about the conspiracy. Would understand.
She handed it over.
Lady Wang opened the book, flipping through pages with trembling fingers. Her face went pale as she read her husband's handwriting, his accusations, his meticulous documentation of…
She stopped. Stared at a page. Then another. Her expression shifted from shock to confusion to something that looked like relief.
"What crimes?" Lady Wang held up the ledger, showing page after page of neat columns. "I see only normal household accounts. Income, expenses, nothing irregular."
"No." Lin Qianxue grabbed the book, flipping frantically through the pages. "There were notes in the margins! Father's warnings about, "
Blank. The margins were clean. Pristine.
She found the page where Father had written about the missing grain store funds. The notation was gone. The page where he'd documented Huiyin's excessive expenses. Vanished. His final entry about being poisoned. Erased.
Not torn out. Not scratched through. Simply gone, as if they'd never existed.
"You're seeing things that aren't there," Huiyin said softly, moving to stand beside Lady Wang. "The poison from your suicide attempt must have damaged your mind more than we thought."
"No." Lin Qianxue flipped back to the list of conspirators she'd seen just moments ago. The page was there, but it showed only a list of household servants and their wages. "This isn't possible. I read it. I saw…"
"Guards," Lady Wang said quietly. "Take her to the woodshed. Post two men outside. She is not to leave until I give permission."
"Mother, please!" Lin Qianxue struggled as rough hands grabbed her arms. "They changed it somehow! The evidence was there! You have to believe me!"
But Lady Wang turned away, unable or unwilling to meet her daughter's eyes.
They dragged Lin Qianxue through the corridors as night fully settled over the estate. Servants pressed themselves against walls, watching with a mixture of pity and fear. Past the gardens, past the kitchens, to the far edge of the property where the woodshed stood, a small, windowless building used for storage and, occasionally, punishment of disobedient servants.
They threw her inside. The door slammed shut, followed by the sound of a heavy bar sliding into place.
Darkness. Complete and absolute.
Lin Qianxue sat on the dirt floor, breathing hard, her mind racing. How had Huiyin altered the ledger? Magic? Some future technology? Or had she known about Father's hidden records all along and prepared forgeries just in case?
The door opened again, sudden and violent. Two guards entered, one carrying a lantern, the other a wooden rod.
"Lady Wang's orders," the one with the rod said flatly. "Twenty strokes for attacking the master. Ten more for theft."
Lin Qianxue opened her mouth to protest, but the first blow landed across her back, stealing her breath. Pain exploded through her body.
The second strike. The third. She tried to stay silent, refusing to give them the satisfaction of hearing her scream. But by the tenth blow, involuntary gasps escaped her lips.
By the twentieth, she could taste blood.
By the thirtieth, she collapsed fully onto the dirt floor, her vision swimming.
The guards left without a word.
Lin Qianxue lay there in the darkness, every inch of her body screaming in agony. She couldn't move without pain lancing through her. Couldn't breathe without her ribs protesting.
And then, impossibly, she laughed.
It hurt. Gods, it hurt to laugh. But she couldn't stop.
Because she remembered now. The original Lin Qianxue's fragmented memories, pushing through the pain. This had happened before. In the original timeline, the one where the real Lin Qianxue had lived.
Father falling ill. The family fortune disappearing. Qianxue trying to investigate, finding evidence, being caught. Accused of trying to murder her father. Beaten. Imprisoned.
The pattern was identical.
Which meant Huiyin wasn't just reacting to Lin Yue's presence. She was following a script she'd already perfected once before. She'd destroyed the Lin family in the original timeline, and now she was doing it again, step by step.
The only difference was that this time, Lin Qianxue knew it was coming.
"Not enough," she whispered into the darkness, tasting blood. "You'll have to do better than this to break me. I've already died once. What's a little more pain?"
She didn't know how long she lay there. Hours, maybe. The cold seeped up from the ground, making her injuries ache worse. Her stomach twisted with hunger. Her throat burned with thirst.
But her mind stayed sharp. Waiting for an opportunity.
A sound outside made her lift her head despite the agony. Voices. Multiple people. Movement in the courtyard.
Through a gap in the wooden planks, she could see lanterns bobbing. Servants rushing about. And then, a figure in official robes, the kind worn by imperial messengers.
Lin Qianxue dragged herself to the wall, pressing her eye against the gap.
The messenger stood in the main courtyard, illuminated by dozens of lanterns that had been hastily lit. Lady Wang and several senior servants had assembled, all bowing deeply.
"By imperial decree," the messenger's voice rang out, formal and loud enough to carry across the estate. "The Lin family is commanded to attend the Victory Banquet three days hence, celebrating Prince Shen Jingye's triumphant return from the northern campaign."
A murmur rippled through the assembled servants. The Victory Banquet was the social event of the year. Only prestigious families received invitations.
"The Lin family?" Lady Wang's voice was shocked. "But surely there's been a mistake. We haven't had imperial favor in years…"
"There is no mistake." The messenger unrolled a scroll. "The decree specifically requests the presence of the family head, Lin Zhengde, and..." He paused, reading carefully. "The eldest daughter, Miss Lin Qianxue. The Prince has particularly requested her attendance."
Silence. Absolute, shocked silence.
"The... eldest daughter?" Lady Wang repeated weakly.
"Yes. Prince Shen Jingye was quite specific. He expects Miss Lin Qianxue to be present. In good health and appropriate attire." The messenger's tone suggested this was unusual, but not to be questioned. "Failure to comply will be seen as defiance of imperial will."
He handed the scroll to Lady Wang and departed, leaving chaos in his wake.
Lin Qianxue slumped against the wall, her mind reeling.
Prince Shen Jingye. The future Emperor. The most powerful man in the empire.
Had specifically requested her presence at a imperial banquet.
By name.
The original Lin Qianxue had never met him. Had never even been in the same city. There was no reason for him to know she existed, let alone request her attendance
Unless he somehow knew about her. About what she really was. About the impossible truth that she wasn't supposed to exist.
But how?
And more importantly, was this salvation or a death sentence?
Through the gap in the wall, she saw Huiyin's face, illuminated by lantern light. For once, her cousin's perfect mask had slipped. She looked furious. Frightened.
Let her be afraid.
Because Lin Qianxue had just been thrown a lifeline by the most dangerous man in China.
And she intended to use it.