It rained that night.
Not the kind of rain that brings peace or washes things clean, but a cold, merciless downpour that soaked me to the bone as I knelt in the courtyard of the Lin family estate.
I used to think this place was home.
Where I learned to walk.
Where I took my first steps, laughed under the cherry trees, and dreamed of a future full of love.
But tonight…
This place was my execution ground.
The stone beneath my knees scraped my skin, leaving trails of blood that mixed with muddy rainwater. My dress was torn, clinging to my frame like a second skin, and my hands trembled as I tried to steady myself.
Behind me, the grand doors slammed shut.
And in front of me, silence.
Until she spoke.
"You've always been a disappointment."
Mother.
Poised like a queen, standing beneath an umbrella she didn't hold herself. She stared down at me as if I were some dirty, wild dog that had wandered onto her marble steps.
"A jealous, conniving little thing," she added, voice like ice. "How dare you humiliate this family."
My lips parted, but no sound came out. I didn't know what to say anymore. I had denied it all, again and again, until the truth in my heart began to sound like lies even to myself.
"You tried to poison your brother's fiancée," said Zian, arms folded across his chest, eyes gleaming with triumph. "You wanted to be her so badly, you were willing to kill her."
"You stole from us," Suyin spat, tossing a torn paper in my face. "Father's business contracts. His seals. Everything!"
"She's always been like this," Wen murmured, not even looking at me. "We just didn't see it before."
Each word sliced through me like a blade. My own family, the people I loved most in the world… had turned me into a monster in their eyes.
They had no proof.
But they didn't need it.
Because someone had whispered lies sweetly enough, and I didn't have anyone left to speak the truth for me.
I stood there, trembling, soaked in rain and shame.
The servants didn't help me.
My uncles didn't intervene.
The fiancée—smiling sweetly behind crocodile tears—clung to my brother's arm as if she were the one who'd been betrayed.
And when the media came, they came hungry.
"Heiress turned criminal."
"Daughter poisons rival."
"Lin Family scandal deepens!"
By the time I was cast out, I no longer felt like I existed.
I ran.
Alone. Barefoot. Without direction.
I don't know how long I ran—only that my body was numb, my heart hollow, and my soul… tired.
And then I saw it.
The car.
Bright lights.
Slick road.
No time.
I didn't scream. I didn't move.
For a moment, I welcomed the end.
And then—impact.
Pain flashed like lightning through every bone in my body.
And then… nothing.
No sound.
No light.
Just darkness.
I thought it was over.
But something—someone—was waiting in that void.
A voice, soft and cold, echoing through the emptiness.
"You died confused. Broken. Blinded by betrayal."
"But your story isn't finished."
"You will learn. You will rise. And when the time comes… you will return."
Return?
Return to what?
But I had no strength left to question. I was already falling… deeper… deeper…
Until a spark lit within me.
And I realized—
This wasn't the end.
This was only the beginning.