The pain was unbearable.
Lin Xia clutched her swollen belly, blood pooling beneath her on the cold prison floor. Her once-white dress was now stained crimson, her body trembling from the miscarriage induced by the poison they had forced down her throat.
Through blurred vision, she stared at the two figures standing in the doorway of the visitation room turned execution chamber.
Bai Lian, delicate and beautiful in a soft pink coat, leaned affectionately against Gu Yichen's arm. Her eyes shimmered with crocodile tears as she spoke in a trembling voice.
"Yichen, she... she tried to push me down the stairs. She wanted to kill our baby. I had no choice but to defend myself..."
Gu Yichen's handsome face was as cold as ice. He didn't even glance at Lin Xia, who lay dying just a few feet away. His deep voice carried no emotion.
"She deserves it."
Those three words pierced Lin Xia's heart sharper than any knife.
She had loved this man for seven years—three years of secret pining before marriage, four years as his invisible wife. She had endured his indifference, his late nights, his refusal to touch her even once. She had believed that one day, he would see her devotion.
But in the end, he believed Bai Lian without question.
The police had "found evidence" that Lin Xia attempted murder. The media exploded with headlines calling her a vicious wife who harmed an innocent pregnant woman. Her family disowned her overnight. And Gu Yichen—her husband—personally signed the order to have her thrown into this hellhole.
Lin Xia laughed bitterly, blood bubbling from her lips.
"Gu... Yichen..." she rasped, using the last of her strength. "In this life... I loved you with everything... and you destroyed me... for her lies..."
Bai Lian's eyes flashed with triumph for a split second before she buried her face in Gu Yichen's chest, sobbing harder.
Gu Yichen finally looked down at the woman on the floor. For the briefest moment, something flickered in his dark eyes—perhaps doubt, perhaps nothing at all. Then it vanished.
"Take her away," he ordered the guards coldly. "I never want to see her again."
As rough hands dragged her broken body away, Lin Xia's vision darkened.
If there is a next life... I will never love you again.
I will make you all pay.
The world faded to black.
---
"Madam! Madam, please wake up!"
Lin Xia jolted awake with a gasp, her heart pounding wildly.
She was... alive?
Her hands flew to her stomach—flat, no swelling. No blood. No pain.
She looked around frantically. This was her bedroom in the Gu family villa. The familiar crystal chandelier, the silk curtains, the vanity mirror across the room.
Everything was exactly as it had been five years ago.
A young maid stood beside the bed, looking worried. "Madam, you were having a nightmare. It's time to get ready—today is Miss Bai's welcome-back banquet. The Master said you must attend."
Lin Xia's breath caught.
Five years ago.
This was the exact day everything began to fall apart.
The day Bai Lian returned from abroad and moved into the villa as Gu Yichen's "childhood friend." The day Lin Xia, in her desperation to keep her marriage, foolishly confronted Bai Lian—and was recorded secretly, edited to look like a jealous shrew.
That clip went viral. It was the beginning of her complete ruin.
But now...
Lin Xia stared at her reflection in the mirror across the room.
Young. Beautiful. Unscarred.
Her lips slowly curved into a cold, bitter smile.
Heaven had given her a second chance.
This time, she would not be the foolish, lovesick wife.
This time, she would tear down every lie, expose every schemer, and walk away from Gu Yichen with her head held high.
And if he tried to stop her?
She would make him regret ever treating her like air.
Lin Xia rose from the bed gracefully, her voice calm and steady.
"Tell the kitchen to prepare my favorite breakfast. And inform the Master... that I will be attending the banquet tonight."
The maid blinked in surprise. The Madam had always avoided such events, fearing she would embarrass the Master.
But this time, Lin Xia's eyes gleamed with something dangerous.
She would attend.
And tonight would be the start of her revenge.