Chapter 1: Tragic Death and Rebirth

It's really pitiful, there's still endless clothes to wash for the Lantern Festival.

What's there to pity? She deserves it. If it weren't for her extreme jealousy, she wouldn't have hurt the little princess and been punished by His Majesty to reflect in Eternal Lane. She actually thinks she's a princess blessed with countless favors? She's just an adopted daughter, not even a single hair of the kind little princess.

Exactly, the little princess, raised among the common folk, knows how to sympathize with us servants, unlike her arrogant and tyrannical self with a vicious heart! Forget her, let's go eat sweet rice balls; on such a great festival we'd better avoid bad luck.

In the bitterly cold winter wind and snow, inside Eternal Lane where sunlight never reaches, a few palace maids passed by the curled-up, shivering Mu Yuanzhi in the corner, spat, then chatted and laughed as they walked on.

Mu Yuanzhi's hands were so cold they turned red, swollen, and numb; she wanted to blow a breath of warm air to warm up, but moving her arm dragged the heavy chains, overturning several wooden buckets, and the clothes she had washed half a day instantly got covered in snow and dust.

She leaned her head against the wall in defeat, and the feeling of injustice that had barely disappeared surged back up.

Mu Yuanzhi took a deep breath, reborn into this life, she shouldn't continue to pity herself!

Compared to her previous life, where she was flayed and stuffed with grass, tortured to death, now enduring cold and hunger as a slave and servant is nothing at all.

She looked at her own skin, covered in wounds yet still clinging firmly to her bones and blood.

Father Emperor once praised her skin as white as snow, jokingly offering to make her the Snow Princess; later, he was also the one who sentenced her to the flaying‑and‑grass punishment, having her skin peeled off alive, then made into a drum stuffed with straw and hung at the city gate for public display.

Every time she recalled this, fear instantly enveloped her whole body, a tightness in her chest and shortness of breath made her feel even colder; she dug her nails into her palms just to barely keep her spirit.

In her previous life, she had been a noble princess for sixteen years before being told she was merely adopted; her birth parents, the Grand General and his wife, had died on the battlefield just after her birth, and the father emperor, longing for a daughter, brought her back to the palace to raise.

Later, the true little princess was found; Pei Yunxi, the little princess who had wandered the common folk for years, received the palace's affection as soon as she returned.

Mu Yuanzhi will never forget that day, when Father Emperor affectionately stroked the head of the newly recognized true princess, Pei Yunxi, saying his only little princess had finally come home.

But Father Emperor had clearly said she was his only little princess; why did everything change overnight? How did her father emperor and imperial elder brothers suddenly cease to be her kin?

She wandered helplessly, standing in the main hall like an unrelated outsider; after a long while Father Emperor finally noticed her presence, gestured to comfort her, saying she was still his obedient daughter, but then he turned and proclaimed to the world that she was merely an adopted daughter, not a true one.

Pei Yunxi easily took away the affection of her father and brothers, while Mu Yuanzhi, due to jealousy plotting against the legitimate princess, was deprived of freedom and locked in Eternal Lane, charged with improper conduct and sentenced to death.

How ironic, Yuanzhi Yuanzhi—'Yuan' for freedom and bravery, 'Zhi' for noble character—yet she died in this manner under such a charge.

Mu Yuanzhi adjusted her breathing, forcibly suppressing all her weak emotions.

Having already died, what could be more frightening than death?

This is her first time being locked in Eternal Lane; she still has a chance—in this life, she will live only for herself!

Suddenly, a sharp cry rang from outside Eternal Lane: 'His Highness the Crown Prince approaches!'

Mu Yuanzhi looked up and saw a tall, stalwart figure striding over, his dark gold‑embroidered dragon‑pattern cloak heavy and splendid, utterly out of place in the lightless prison.

She blinked, gazing at that handsome, bright face—familiar yet strange.

The man she had called 'Crown Prince Brother' for sixteen years had once crossed mountains and rivers for her, seeking a rare herb, and had also drawn his sword to stab Pei Yunxi in the chest!

At this moment they had not yet become enemies; when his gaze fell on her blood‑stained prison garb, his concern and pity could not be hidden.

The turmoil rising in Mu Yuanzhi's heart quickly calmed; everything she had spent her life trying to regain—all the grievances, tears—should have ended in her previous life, and she no longer cared for them.

"Younger Sister Zhi, do you admit your wrongdoing?" Pei Shangyan asked.

Heh, Mu Yuanzhi snorted coldly in her heart.

Exactly the same question as in her previous life.

Before he called her 'little sister'; now he says 'Younger Sister Zhi' to distinguish her from Pei Yunxi, who is his true little sister.

Seeing her silent, Pei Shangyan still thought Mu Yuanzhi remained unrepentant, his brows slightly furrowed: 'Younger Sister Zhi, you've really gone too far this time, even using hidden weapons to hurt the little sister!'

In the past you were willful and prone to using such lowly hidden‑weapon tactics, which I could overlook, but how can you be so clueless this time? Don't you know the little sister ran a high fever for days, hovering between life and death, nearly leaving a lasting illness?

Yet despite that, her kind‑hearted self, as soon as she woke, pleaded for you, asking Father Emperor to release you.

"Lowly tactics"? Mu Yuanzhi smirked; her specially crafted hidden‑weapon cannon had routed the retreating imperial army, eight thousand defeating a hundred‑thousand foes! In this age of peace, her hidden weapons have become contemptible.

"I admit my wrongdoing."

Mu Yuanzhi lightly opened her nearly frozen lips, her tone cold and aloof.

It's just admitting a mistake—just a touch of the lips.

In her previous life she refused to wrong herself, denying anything she hadn't done; as a result she was confined here, forced to labor like an ox or horse—scooping waste, washing chamber pots, chopping firewood, laundering clothes—and would be whipped if she slowed even a little.

Because the cold wind invaded severely, she almost died here.

Later, even after she left, she bore the brunt of criticism under that charge.

Now thinking about it, it's all her own fault; besides, they're biased anyway, so whether she admits it or not makes no difference.

Freedom and health are more precious than anything; she must learn to love herself.

Pei Shangyan doubted his ears; just before Mu Yuanzhi was locked in Eternal Lane, she had desperately begged him to believe her, weeping heartbrokenly that she had really done nothing.

"Did you really do it?" Pei Shangyan cried out in anguish: "Then why did you previously claim you were innocent?"

"Indeed I did." Mu Yuanzhi lowered her eyes, her tone still calm.

Pei Shangyan produced the imperial edict, saying: "Good, Father Emperor said that as long as you admit your wrongdoing, this edict will be proclaimed and you will be released."

Mu Yuanzhi thought, "So that's how it is; in her past life she failed to recognize favor."

"Thank you for Your Majesty's grace." Mu Yuanzhi remained respectful and aloof.

Pei Shangyan drew his sword and cleanly cut the shackles binding Mu Yuanzhi's heavy iron chains.

The same person, the same sword, the same swift, precise, fierce swing—Mu Yuanzhi momentarily felt as if she had returned to her previous life, and she couldn't help but flinch.

She seemed to still hear her own heart‑rending cries, she wailed: "Crown Prince Brother, I'm in so much pain!"

But the only reply she got was a blade that cut three degrees deeper into the bone!

Mu Yuanzhi tried to stand, but her legs were weak and numb from the cold, slipping downward; Pei Shangyan rushed forward and caught her around the waist.