The Imperial Consort of Medical Excellence

Qin Wanru felt as though she had awoken from an utterly absurd dream.

In that dream, her life ended in tragedy. She was nothing but an onlooker, watching herself be led step by step into the depths of a nightmare. The final act was her cruel execution—her body severed at the waist, cut in two, lying stiff and contorted beneath the blood-soaked golden palace.

She became the first woman in the history of Dongcang to suffer such a gruesome punishment.

A familiar, mocking laughter echoed faintly at her ear, drifting in and out. Every scene was vivid, the bloodlust and despair hauntingly real…

“Miss, Miss, please wake up! Did you have another nightmare?”

A voice pierced the sunlight-bathed vision of the ninety-nine-tiered golden palace drenched in blood, shattering the image like a bubble. Qin Wanru’s eyes flew open. Her hands clenched tightly, nails digging sharply into her flesh, sending pain shooting up her arms. Her heart pounded violently as she stared, eyes bloodshot and cold, at the canopy above her, her whole body shrouded in icy dread.

“Miss, don’t be afraid. It was only a dream. None of it is real!” Footsteps hurried across the floor, accompanied by a clear, anxious voice. The bed curtains were drawn high, and the youthful face of Qingyue, her maid of twelve or thirteen, came into view.

It was the same lively, spirited Qingyue—not the broken and bloody Qingyue of her previous life, who died in the woodshed protecting her.

This was already the second day since she’d awoken. Last night, her sleep had replayed the memorie