A woman in red robes, her skin fairer than snow, sat cross-legged on the soft couch with a troubled expression, occasionally tilting her head and letting out a sigh.
Yuan Siyin was panicking.
Not just ordinary panic.
According to the novel’s setting, she was now a beauty renowned throughout the capital.
But a femme fatale, and utterly uneducated.
Why not just call her vicious and crude?
All these fancy words for nothing.
“Miss, someone from the palace has arrived. We should set off now.”
The maid Zi Yuan gently knocked on the door, waiting outside without entering directly.
“I’m not going.”
She lay down and turned over.
Her life was hanging by a thread—what was the point of going to the palace?
“It’s the Empress Dowager’s decree. In this sweltering summer heat, she wants to bring you to the palace to escape the heat. She also said she intends to properly arrange your coming-of-age banquet.”
She, Yuan Siyin, had shared a name with the villainess in her favorite novel. After binge-reading it in one go, just as she was about to voice her thoughts in the comments section, the world spun around her, and she fainted at home.
She didn’t know if it was sudden death or low blood sugar, but when she opened her eyes, she found herself in this awkward predicament.
She had hoped to transmigrate as the female lead or, at the very least, the female lead’s best friend.
She slapped her thigh in frustration, feeling that reality always had a way of defying expectations.
Transmigrating as a supporting female character was bad enough, but she had to be the villainess.
Being the villainess was bad enough, but she had tormented the male lead relentlessly since childhood, clearly leaving no room for her survival.
This damned author was utterly inhuman.
Zi Yuan waited calmly by the door for a while before hearing an earth-shattering scream from inside: “What! The coming-of-age banquet?!”
Yuan Siyin scrambled off the soft couch.
“Zi Yuan! Let’s go quickly!”
She pulled the door open and took a deep breath of the fresh air outside.
Each breath was precious—she might as well take as many as she could while she still had the chance.
The male lead was the Seventh Prince, born of a concubine. Since childhood, he had been mercilessly bullied by the lawless Yuan Siyin and the Crown Prince, to the point where he would hide at the sight of them. His eyes practically screamed, “Just wait until I become Emperor—you’re finished.”
Later, he did become Emperor. As the novel’s ultimate villainess, the original host, after failing to obstruct the male lead’s bid for the throne, gloriously met her end.
Although the original host’s coming-of-age banquet seemed insignificant, it was actually a critical turning point that would determine whether she could survive.
“Miss, you forgot this.”
Seeing her rush headlong toward the courtyard, Zi Yuan hurriedly retrieved a coiled golden silk whip from behind.
At the sight of the whip, Yuan Siyin froze, afraid of arousing suspicion. She could only tremble as she reached out to take it.
Good grief—the murder weapon was being handed right to her.
She stared at the whip with a complicated expression, the very instrument that had repeatedly flayed the male lead’s skin until it split open. A sudden urge to destroy the evidence surged within her.
“Miss…”
Zi Yuan trailed behind her, hesitating to speak.
“Although the Seventh Prince is not favored, he is still a prince. Last time, you flew into such a rage that you beat him until he was bedridden for a month before he could barely walk again. Although the Emperor refrained from punishing you out of respect for the Empress Dowager, it would be wise to exercise restraint during this visit to the palace…”
She lightly covered her face, unable to continue, as if recalling the horrors of that day.
“I know my limits.”
Yuan Siyin wept inwardly.
Dear Zi Yuan, she didn’t want this either, wuuu…
“Elder Sister!”
As soon as she stepped out of the courtyard, a fair-skinned youth in blue robes rushed toward her like an eager puppy, clinging to her arm and rubbing against it affectionately. “A-Qing wants to go to the palace with you, sister. Without you to share breakfast, I can’t even eat properly,” he pleaded.
Lifting his eyes, he gazed at Yuan Suiyin with a pitiful look, as if he would be wagging his tail if he had one.
Seeing Yuan Fuqing acting so coquettishly toward her, Yuan Suiyin felt her heart melt.