Song Lian's head throbbed, as if someone were hammering inside it. Bright light pierced her eyelids too sharp, too sudden. She blinked, trying to make sense of the blinding glow.
Where am I?
She tried to move, but her limbs felt heavy. Her wrists cold. Shackled. Panic fluttered in her chest like a trapped bird.
Then, a voice thundered through the silence, echoing off the stone walls
"Song Lian, you stand accused of treason against the crown! How do you plead?"
The name struck her like a slap. It sounded foreign… yet somehow, she knew it was hers.
Her breath hitched.
Just moments ago, she'd been slumped over her desk, eyes burning from staring at spreadsheets and endless emails. An overworked nobody in the modern world.
And now?
Now, she was a prisoner. Kneeling on a hard stone floor in front of someone she didn't know and didn't care to know. And she was about to be executed.
This can't be real.
Someone shoved a scroll in front of her. The charges were written in dark, angry ink
Scheming to harm noble Lady Liu Xinya.
Treason.
Attempted murder.
Song Lian stared at the parchment, her mind racing.
Wait. Liu Xinya? Treason? This plot sounds familiar…
Her eyes widened.
No way. This is that novel the one her friend sent her on her birthday. She had only read it out of boredom.
A melodrama, full of palace scheming, betrayals, and the classic love triangle. The story where the villainess Song Lian was executed.
She was that villainess now.
She wouldn't have remembered this stupid book, but the author had used her name, her actual name and that's what made it stick.
A chill crept down her spine. "Wait, what happened to me in the modern world? And why am I in this stupid book? Huh… that's not important. I'm about to die. From… what?"
"Alright. So, not me, Song Lian tried to harm Liu Xinya. But what's with the treason and attempted murder? For God's sake, I can't even kill a fly, let alone attempt murder."
Her mind cleared a bit, and she finally looked around, trying to figure out where she actually was. And what greeted her took her breath away in the worst way possible.
It looked like a prison. Yet it wasn't. She was in front of an enormous crowd, something her jumbled brain had completely missed.
It was a stage. A public courtroom, where criminals were interrogated in front of a live audience nothing like modern trials. Here, she was ridiculed, abhorred, and not even given a chance to defend herself.
Her frantic eyes landed on a woman in white, standing smugly among the spectators, her gaze sharp with mockery. So that's Liu Xinya, huh.
Then, Song Lian laughed.
Not a giggle. Not a whimper. But a dry, crooked laugh that sliced through the murmuring crowd and silenced the room.
"I... confess nothing," she said clearly, her voice echoing across the chamber. Gasps rippled through the crowd. Whispers broke out like wildfire.
"You insolent—" someone snapped, but Song Lian cut him off, standing as tall as her chains would allow.
"Why should I fear death," she said coolly, "when the one truly responsible for this walks free? I haven't done anything wrong."
A sharp inhale passed through the courtroom. Murmurs turned into open outrage. Even Lady Liu Xinya's expression faltered, her doe-like eyes blinking in disbelief.
High above, seated like a shadow carved from ice, was General Xie, the man destined to kill her. His black robes whispered as he leaned forward, brows furrowed, eyes cold as winter.
He stared at her unblinking. Calculating.
Song Lian stared right back.
Then something shifted. His eyes gleamed with interest. Slowly, he turned to look at the crowd.
Instantly, silence fell like a blade.
His voice was quiet, but sharp enough to cut through stone. "So... you believe this was orchestrated by someone else?"
Song Lian blinked, caught off guard for a moment. Then, she smirked.
"General Xie," she called, eyes sweeping toward the stoic man among the officials. "Don't you find it suspicious that I was never even granted a trial? Just labeled a criminal without a chance to speak?"
Gasps again. Murmurs stirred like a rising storm.
Down below, Liu Xinya clenched her hands tightly, her gaze locked onto Song Lian with an intensity that betrayed her calm facade.
But Song Lian's mind was spinning in a different direction.
If the story wanted villainess, it was about to get one. But not the one they expected.
I won't be bullied so easily.
Still, something about General Xie put her on edge. He had been a mysterious character in the novel one she barely remembered. His actions, his loyalties… they had been hazy at best.
Whatever happens, I have to get myself out of this situation, Song Lian thought, jaw clenched.