I Transmigrated Back To Become The Empress

Pain. Searing, unrelenting pain engulfed her body, as though her flesh had been torn apart and hastily sewn back together. Lin Yue gasped, her chest heaving as she struggled to draw air into her lungs. Her body felt foreign, as if it didn’t belong to her. She tried to move, but even the smallest twitch sent ripples of agony coursing through her. Her last memory was of the cold rooftop, rain slick against her skin, and the sharp c***k of a gunshot. Her partner’s betrayal had been a cruel inevitability she hadn’t seen coming until it was too late. But this—this was not death. She forced her eyes open, her vision blurred at first, then slowly sharpening to reveal a room she didn’t recognize. The air was heavy with the scent of incense and medicinal herbs, and the faint light of oil lamps flickered against ornately carved wooden walls. “Where am I?” she whispered, her voice hoarse and weak. Before she could make sense of her surroundings, a rush of foreign images flooded her mind, as if someone else’s memories were being poured into her skull. The flash of a name—Lin Yue—struck her with the force of a hammer. Moments, emotions, and faces she didn’t know clawed at her consciousness, pulling her under. Lin Yue, a low-ranked concubine in the imperial palace of Hanzhou, had lived a life of neglect and suffering. She had been poisoned, the memory of that night sharp and bitter, like bile in her throat. The betrayal had come at a banquet, a cup of wine offered with a smile but laced We were even bearing the same name Lin Yue?—jerked upright with a startled cry, her body trembling from the pain and shock of it all. “Mistress Lin Yue! You’re awake!” A frantic voice broke through the haze, and Aria turned her head to see a young girl kneeling beside her bed, her face streaked with tears. The maid’s delicate features were pale, her hands clutching at the hem of her dress as if she didn’t know what to do with herself. “Who… who are you?” Lin Yue managed, her throat dry and cracking with the effort. The maid’s eyes widened in alarm. “It’s me, Mistress! Xiu’er! Don’t you recognize me?” Xiu’er. The name resonated in her mind, stirring a faint memory of loyalty and fear. She took a deep breath, trying to piece together the fragments of Lin Yue’s life that now intertwined with her own. “Xiu’er,” she said slowly, testing the name on her tongue. “Where… am I? What happened to me?” Xiu’er hesitated, her trembling hands gripping the edge of the mattress. “You were poisoned, Mistress. Someone wanted you dead. You’ve been unconscious for three days, and the physician said…” Her voice broke, and tears spilled down her cheeks. “The physician said there was little hope, but you’ve woken up! Heaven must still favor you.”