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Chapter 1 - The day I died Chapter one 1

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Chapter 1: The Day I Died

They poured poison into a golden cup and handed it to me like it was tea.

I drank it with steady hands.

Across the hall, the Emperor smiled at the concubine draped beside him. Sweet little Meiyan, the same girl who once knelt before me, trembling like a rabbit. Now she wore my colors. Now she sat where I used to.

The courtiers didn't look at me. The eunuchs said nothing. Even the servants had already turned away, as if I were already gone.

I felt it first in my fingertips. Cold. Then my stomach twisted like someone had driven a knife straight through my spine.

Still, I knelt. Still, I bowed. Still, I played my final part.

Because a proper Empress dies with dignity.

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I fell before the dais. Graceful, silent. The hem of my robe brushed against the edge of the jade stairs.

No one rushed to help me.

I saw Meiyan lean into the Emperor's shoulder, whispering something with a smile too wide to be polite. He laughed.

That laugh followed me into the dark.

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But the heavens were not done with me.

I woke to the sound of birdsong and the sharp crack of my maid dropping a porcelain tray.

"Your Highness!"

I gasped. Air surged into my lungs like I'd been drowning. My limbs were heavy. My chest ached. And when I sat up, the first thing I saw was the old embroidery on the canopy above me.

This was my old room. My room before the palace. Before the wedding. Before the crown.

I knew this place. I knew this day.

Because this was the day they chose me.

The day I was told I would become Crown Princess.

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I stumbled to the mirror. My face was untouched. No lines. No scars. My lips still red from sleep. My hands… not yet calloused from ink and prayer.

I had been dead.

But now I lived.

And this time, I would not die quietly.

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