The silence after her accusation stretched, taut and brittle like glass.
Song Lian stood as straight as her chained posture allowed, refusing to be afraid. Her words had stirred something…unrest, curiosity, maybe even doubt. Whatever it was, it was better than blind hatred.
But silence was dangerous. It gave others time to think. And thinking led to sentencing.
I need to steer this, she realized. Now.
She turned slightly, scanning the sea of faces, nobles, officials, servants. All here for a spectacle. All ready to see her fall.
A strange unease stirred in her chest, as if the entire scene was a farce. I haven't read novels like this, she thought, but I've watched dramas based on these tropes. So why does this feel unfamiliar?
Shouldn't I have received the original owner's memories? Why is everything blank?
There was no guiding system either, no cold voice assigning her tasks, no cheat sheet on how to survive.
What happened to my body? Did I die... or am I still alive somewhere?
Her thoughts spun, fast and frantic, but she forced herself to focus. No. I must turn this situation around.
By the time she snapped out of her spiral, murmurs had begun again but this time, their gazes had changed.
"If I may," she began, her voice steady despite the tremor in her legs, "I would like to formally request a proper investigation, one where evidence, not whispers, determines guilt."
General Xie tilted his head. His fingers tapped once, slowly, against the armrest of his elevated seat. The sound echoed like a distant drumbeat.
"Do you claim innocence in all the charges?" he asked, his voice like winter air thin, sharp, and cutting.
Song Lian met his gaze without flinching. "I claim I've been condemned without proof. If that's not injustice, what is?"
Gasps again. She was quickly becoming the most scandalous thing they had seen in years.
From the corner of her eye, she spotted Liu Xinya stiffen. The woman's carefully composed expression cracked, lips thinning.
Hit a nerve, did I? Good.
But inside, her heart was pounding. She didn't know the laws of this world. Didn't know who to trust. All she had was the vague memory of a melodramatic plot and the burning instinct to survive.
I have to get back to the real world. This is just a book and these characters?
I don't know anything about them, apart from the words I read in passing. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.
General Xie leaned forward once more. "You claim this entire event is a fabrication?"
Song Lian paused, carefully choosing her next move. "I claim it deserves scrutiny. If I'm guilty, let it be proven. But if I'm not… what will the Crown do to repay a life nearly taken by error?"
That landed like a stone dropped in a still pond.
For the first time, General Xie smiled barely. A twitch of the lips that was more unsettling than reassuring. "You speak boldly for a woman in chains."
"I have nothing left to lose," she replied.
Another pause. Then: "Very well. The trial will be—"
Before he could complete the sentence, a sudden whoosh echoed through the air.
General Xie's eyes flickered.
Song Lian, still processing the word trial, felt a flicker of triumph, I did it. I turned it around.
But before the thought could even take form, another whoosh and pain exploded through her left arm.
An arrow.
She gasped, stumbling as a sharp, burning ache tore through her. Before a second arrow could strike, she heard a clank metal against metal.
Then chaos.
An uproar rippled through the crowd. Screams. Running footsteps. Guards shouting.
Song Lian's knees buckled, her body crumpling under the pain.
She felt arms catch her strong, steady and lift her effortlessly.
But her consciousness was slipping, fading into darkness.
The last thing she saw was a blur of black robes.
*****************
Xie Zhaoyun was an honorable general, always at the forefront whenever danger struck the border. He was deeply loved by the masses. Yet, his courtyard remained isolated by imperial design, as the emperor reportedly never wanted him to mingle too freely with the people. Rumors swirled, but what truly lay behind those closed doors, no one knew.
Right now, his expression was thunderous. "How is she?" he asked coldly, eyes locked on the imperial physician tending to Song Lian.
The physician immediately knelt, trembling in fear. "Honorable General Xie… she will regain consciousness after a day. We…" He wet his lips, his voice quivering. "We found traces of poison in Lady Song's body."
He dared not meet the general's gaze.
Xie Zhaoyun's voice was low and emotionless. "Oh? What kind of poison?"
"A hallucinogenic one, General. It confuses the mind of the one who consumes it… makes it hard to separate memory from illusion."
A heavy silence fell over the room. Then, with a wave of his hand, Xie Zhaoyun dismissed the physician.
No one knew how far his connections reached, nor what methods he used to find the truth. But once the physician was gone, the general slowly knelt beside Song Lian's unconscious form.
In a voice just above a whisper, he said, "Just what have you seen… for them to poison your mind like that?"
Outside, the night deepened. The wind howled softly through the eaves, and the air grew colder, as if echoing the storm that now stirred behind General Xie's eyes.