The mirror was a liar.
Li Meilin stared at her reflection in the ornate silver frame. The eighteen-year-old girl staring back had flawless cream-colored skin and eyes still tinged with the softness of naivety. But Meilin knew the truth. Those soft eyes were gone. All that remained was steel.
She could still feel the phantom scars etched into her back from a year trapped in the underworld. She could still hear the deafening roar of the explosion—the heat that had almost consumed her body, and the memory of the man who had tried to pull her from the abyss: Xie Zihan.
"Miss? The guests from the Zhang family are arriving."
The warm, familiar voice of Mother Wu broke her trance. Meilin turned to see the woman her biological mother, Tang Wan, had hand-picked to guard her. In her first life, Meilin had been naive, blind to the truth, and had pushed Mother Wu away.
"Mother Wu," Meilin whispered, her voice tight with emotion. She pulled the older woman into a trembling hug.
"Little Meilin? What's wrong, child?"
Her lips curled into a faint, cold smile. "Mother Wu… I need the Red Silk pill. Now."
The older woman's eyes widened at the frost in Meilin's gaze. No questions. No hesitation. She knew the girl had finally awoken to the vipers hiding in her home.
"I will handle it, Miss," Mother Wu said softly.
An hour later, the grand hall glittered like a crystal palace. Meilin descended the staircase with measured elegance, each step a silent warning. Below, her step-sister Huang Yuxuan whispered to Zhang Kaichen, her so-called fiancé.
Meilin's lips curved into a delicate, almost innocent smile. "Sister, you look… exquisite today."
With a flick of her wrist, the delicate red wine splashed across Yuxuan's white lace dress.
"Oh! My dress!" Yuxuan gasped, flustered.
Meilin's voice dropped to a soft, velvet lilt. "Go to the guest suite on the first floor. I have a spare dress there."
As Yuxuan scurried off, Meilin turned her gaze to Kaichen, silky and dangerous. "Kaichen… meet me in that room in five minutes. I have something regarding the Tang Wan inheritance to show you."
Kaichen's eyes gleamed with greed. "Of course, Meilin."
Twenty minutes later, muffled cries echoed from the guest suite. The music in the hall faltered, replaced by whispers of scandal.
Grandfather Zhang's face darkened to purple. "What is happening here? Jianyu, check that room immediately!"
The crowd surged forward. The doors burst open, revealing a shocking scene: Zhang Kaichen and Huang Yuxuan, writhing in a drug-induced stupor, their "innocent" masks shattered completely.
"You… you animals!" Grandfather Zhang bellowed.
"Grandpa! It's not me!" Kaichen's bloodshot eyes pleaded. "She planned this! Meilin! It's Meilin!" He pointed shakily at Meilin, who clung to Mother Wu, feigning heartbreak.
"How dare you!" Li Jianyu, Meilin's father, roared, though his eyes darted nervously around the hall.
Madam Zhang pushed through, her face a mask of panic and calculation. "Grandfather! Kaichen was clearly framed! This is a misunderstanding! You cannot cancel the engagement over such… triviality! Think of the merger!"
Her gaze sharpened like a blade. "You! Always jealous of Yuxuan, always trying to undermine my son!"
"Enough!" Grandfather Zhang's cane slammed the floor like thunder.
"Framed?" He glared at Madam Zhang. "He was in that room willingly! And you…" His icy gaze swept over Li Jianyu. "You wanted me to tie this honorable girl to a man who rolls in the hay with her sister on their engagement day? Shame!"
"The engagement is cancelled," the Patriarch declared, his voice echoing through the stunned hall. "From today, the Zhang family has no claim to the Li family. Kaichen may pursue your second daughter if he wishes—but not a penny of inheritance shall reach her!"
Meilin's eyes shimmered through her feigned tears. Her father's horrified expression, her stepmother's pale, trembling face—the trap had snapped perfectly. The engagement destroyed, her enemies humiliated, their reputations crushed under the weight of the city's whispers.
No words were necessary. The silence rang louder than any victory speech