Pain hit her like a hamr the mont she stirred. It was sharp, burning, and bone-deep.
It felt as if her body had been crushed under a carriage. Every breath scraped through her chest. Zora lay there for a long mont, waiting for the agony to fade. When she finally forced her eyes open, the ceiling above her was unfamiliar. There were old wooden beams, dim lantern light, and a sll of strange incense drifting in the room.
Her heart tightened. "Where am I?"
The last thing she rembered was the beast’s nest, and that strange, ancient ring she’d dug out from under a pile of bones.
She rembered how her blood had accidentally dripped onto it, how the wind suddenly howled, and then nothing but darkness swallowed her whole.
A fresh wave of pain surged through her skull. She hissed, clutching her head as fragnts of mories, hers and soone else’s, crashed together.
Faces she did not know.
A house she had never lived in.
A life that was not hers.
The flood lasted only a minute, but by the end, her forehead was covered in cold sweat, and her breathing turned shaky.
When the pain finally subsided, clarity returned, and shock followed.
"I crossed?" she whispered under her breath while her heartbeat rose. "I actually crossed and landed in the Holy Continent from a thousand years ago?"
She used to be the youngest clan head in the Xynnar Continent, blessed with rare talent and unmatched potential. Yet because of a single ring, her soul had been dragged into the body of a useless young lady from the General’s Manor.
And that girl seed to have the sa na as her.
But the similarities stopped there. This body’s original owner had been ignored since birth. Her mother died early, the General barely cared for her, and the only thing that protected her status was a marriage contract with the crown prince.
That thin protection vanished three months ago, right after she suddenly went blind. Yesterday, the emperor officially annulled the marriage.
And behind every misfortune stood the sa person: her so-called good sister, Luna.
The mories were clear as day. Fake comforting words, hidden sneers, and the sa girl encouraging her to calm down before she swallowed gold in despair.
Even becoming blind probably had Luna’s hand in it. Who knows...
Zora clicked her tongue and sighed at the gush of mories. "So ring what a ss you dragged into."
Her irritation froze when she glanced down at her hand. The ancient black ring glead faintly on her finger, exactly the sa ring she’d touched before she crossed.
"You followed ?"
Before she could examine it, footsteps clicked in the hallway. Soon, a man and a woman walked in, leaning into each other. Even without the mories, Zora would’ve recognized them instantly.
Luna and Crown Prince Philip.
Luna’s beauty was delicate and bright. Her posture was also quite graceful, everything the original Zora lacked. Philip kept a hand shalessly on her waist, with his eyes filled with mocking disdain, the mont they landed on the girl lying on the bed.
So they’d co expecting to find a corpse. Too bad for them.
"Good sister," Luna said sweetly, though her eyes glinted with disgust, "why were you so stubborn? Swallowing gold like that, really... how foolish."
Her tone sounded caring, but every word was dipped in toxicity. She looked at Zora the way one would look at trash lying in the street.
Prince Philip tugged her back and snorted, roaming his hands freely over her waist. "Don’t waste ti worrying about her. A useless girl like that dying is a blessing. We should’ve ended that engagent long ago."
He didn’t even bother lowering his voice. The contempt in his eyes was thick enough to choke on as he continued. "If you hadn’t wanted to co check her body, I wouldn’t have stepped foot near her."
Luna giggled softly, pretending to be kind and pretending to care, even as satisfaction shimred in her eyes because of his words.
But to keep her act, she replied in her usual gentle tone, "Your Highness, she is my sister. How could I just watch her do sothing so stupid?"
anwhile, on the bed, Zora lifted her eyes, watching the two with a calmness that seed as if this had nothing to do with her. Her voice ca out weak on purpose. "Sister I"...
But inside, her thoughts were cold and sharp.
Good. Keep talking.
Let’s see how far you two can dance before I cut the strings.
"Luna, you are so kind. I really love you."
Philip’s voice dripped with sweetness, but his bright smile was aid straight at Zora, as if hurting her brought him so twisted joy. He pressed closer to Luna, with his hands wandering without care while maintaining an expression full of smug pleasure.
Luna, anwhile, lowered her lashes, pretending to shy away while secretly enjoying every second. Her voice trembled with false gentleness. "Your Highness, if you say things like that, Zora will be sad."
"Sad?" Philip snorted, turning to look at the girl lying on the bed as if she were dirt under his shoe. "If it weren’t for the General’s face, I’d never have agreed to that engagent. I’ve always liked you, Luna."
The two of them stood there like actors performing a cheap lovers’ drama in front of the girl they thought had killed herself. Zora watched in silence, letting a slow sneer inside her heart.
What a pair.
Two people with less sha than beasts.
If the original girl were still alive, this alone might’ve pushed her to swallow gold all over again. But that girl was gone. And the one watching now was soone who had no patience for weak hearts.
She studied Philip calmly. The original owner once admired him... how laughable. The man was nothing more than a lustful, brainless parasite who strutted around like royalty. Just looking at him made her want to wash her eyes.
If her body weren’t still weak, she would’ve sent him flying out the door already.
Philip, drunk on his own arrogance, pulled Luna closer and kissed her neck loudly as they slowly walked toward the bed, clearly doing it on purpose so Zora could see every disgusting detail.
He wanted to humiliate her.
He wanted to enjoy her pain.
Too bad she wasn’t the original Zora.
Her gaze flicked downward. A small bead blossom ornant lay beside her pillow. Without changing expression, she lifted her hand slightly and flicked it toward the floor, letting it roll to exactly where Philip would step.
A heartbeat later...
Bang!
Philip stepped on the bead and shot forward like a launched chicken, arms flailing. The montum ripped Luna from his embrace, and she flew ahead of him...
"AH!"
Her face slamd straight into the bed fra. Blood spurted from her nose instantly, and her delicate face swelled up on the spot.
Philip didn’t fare any better, either. He crashed onto the floor with all four limbs in the air, looking like a crushed frog.
Zora widened her eyes slightly and put on a perfect mask of shock. "S-sister? What happened?"
Philip scrambled up, twisting his face from embarrassnt, and tried to step forward, only for his foot to slip a second ti.
THUD!
He smashed face-first into the bed fra beside Zora with a loud crack.
"AAAH!"
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