After her mother went back to helping the customers, Yue Mian sat there bored chewing on some passion fruit buns, she started thinking about her father and how happy her mother seemed while she spoke about him. [I wonder how it would be having them together? Wait, am I not a princess?]

Thinking this she smiled, rubbing this in An Chengs was an exciting thought, she stood up from the chair and was about to head out and rush back to the Imperial Palace and rub it in his face when she suddenly felt dizzy.

Her surroundings blurred out and her head started pounding, she felt a bit nauseous and bent over to throw up, but instead, she grabbed miss reaching for the table and landed on the floor, her body stiffened and her mind went blank.

When she fell over she hit the ceramic plate with the buns on it, which made it fall to the floor and break when she fell down; she landed on a piece that was shaped like a crescent that strayed from the rest and it pierced her skin, lodging into the space between her left ear and left eye.

Her grandmother came running in and saw this, quickly turning Yue Mian onto her back and started screaming her name out; she took the ceramic plate out gently and started wiping the blood away. Ni Xing and a few male customers came running in and they help Ye Ning take care of Yue Mian.

They carried her to a bed in the back of the store and began treating her wound that seemed to not want to stop bleeding. One of the men went to the local physician to call him over while the second went to the Imperial Palace to inform General Ye. The third stayed with Ni Xing and Ye Ning.

The physician came soon and attended to her wound, after applying treatment and covering it with a thin white cloth, everyone calmed down and the blood stopped, but Yue Mian's eyes were wide open and a bit lifeless.

The physician examined her body and couldn't make of this, he told them she was still alive and she was just asleep and that maybe her muscles just froze like this and will be better when she wakes up. He stayed with them just in case something did go wrong.

***

Yue Mian found herself waking up in a blank white space; she opened her eyes, still laying on her stomach, raising her head she looked around. Left, right, in front of her and behind her.

All she could see was an endless white space, she lifted herself up and sat down on her butt, her head was slightly pounding, she shook her head a couple of times then stopped. [Where am I? Wasn't I in mama's shop?] she asked in her heart.

The throbbing pain in her mind slowly eased as she was getting used to it, she sighed looking at her surroundings one more time; she threw her body down laying on her back and looking up at the empty whiteness in front of her.

***

Something squeezed her right shoulder and she opened her eyes and quickly sat up while she had her left on her right should and rubbed it where it was touched, she looked around and still saw no one.

[Who touched me and when did I fall asleep?] she asked in her heart.

"I touched you." a voice sounded next to her left ear, she turned her head to the left side and there was nothing there. "This way." The voice sounded again behind her, she turned her body around, in front of her grey smoke dissipated and flew into her.

She fell onto her butt and was frightened, [What was that?] she thought, "It was me!"

Her eyes widened, where was this voice coming from she wondered, this was the first time she felt like this, [Am I dead?] she asked herself again. "Nope, you are alive and well."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Yue Mian looked again for this voice, the fear she had only lasted for a few seconds, annoyed she opened her mouth but nothing came out, it was like her voice was taken, [Why can't I speak?] she asked herself.

"You can speak, it's your voice you can't use," that voice spoke again. Yue Mian frowned, [Why can you speak but I can't?], "Well, that is because I am using your voice to speak."

[...], Yue Mian stopped speaking in her heart and looked around to find this person that was speaking to her; after looking around for a while, she laid back and crossed her arms behind her head and closed her eyes again.

It remained silent for a while, then her voice spoke again, "Don't ignore me!" it sounded frustrated. Yue Mian grinned, [Show yourself.]

It was silent for a few more minutes then she heard a sigh, "Alright, open your eyes."

Yue Mian did just that and raised her body, in front of her, the person sitting in front of her? She frowned, looking down at her own body she looked back up. [Who are you?] she asked in her heart.

"Who do I look like?" that person asked. She raised her brow and asked back, [Why do you look like me?] That person grinned and answered, "Because I am you."

She raised a brow and said with an annoyed tone, [I am not someone you want to annoy, I am warning you, don't mock me.] The person in front of her smiled, "Don't act fierce in front of me, the only reason why you are like this is because of me."

Yue Mian looked at the person in front of her, observing her every move, [What do you want?] "Why would I want anything from you?" she answered back.

The two of them sighed at the same time, their conversation was going nowhere, a bit curious, Yue Mian asked, [Why am I here?], "I called you here."

She looked at the other with a raised brow and asked, [Why?]. The grin on the other widened and she answered, "You are here because if I let you go, would you not have gone back to the Imperial Palace and claimed that you are the princess of the Jīlěi Empire?"

She slowly nodded her head and answered, [That was the plan yes.] The other forced a smile and slowly nodded, "Actually, I didn't call you here, you ate something bad."

[Eh?], "mn, the bun you ate was not the one mama made," claimed the other. [If mama did not make it then who did?]

"Who else?" Yue Mian pondered for a while then a person popped into her mind, she looked up at the other and asked, [The lady in the kitchen?] The other slowly nodded her head.

"She probably mixed the ingredients wrong or poisoned you," she claimed once again. [I see… So how do I get back?] she asked.

"When I say you can." Yue Mian frowned, she did not like the person in front of her. [Where did you come from?] "I am you!"

[How can you be me?], "I was always here, alone in this place, inside your heart." Her eyes widened after she heard the last part she instantly recognised who the person in front of her was.

"Do you know who I am now?" The two of them made eye contact, staying silent for a moment, opening their mouths at the same time, one voice was heard, "I am Ye Yue Mian."

***

They smiled at the same time and started speaking together as one person, "Now that we have established who I am, it's time to let everyone know who I am, I am Ye Yue Mian, the daughter of Ye Ni Xing and the Emperor of Jīlěi. I will grow strong and return everything to those who have treated me as though I, Ye Yue Mian is beneath them, they will know who I am and they will suffer at my wrath."

An evil smile formed on their lips and their eyes were as clear as day.

****

Her body started spasming and she took a deep breath in and opened her eyes, in front of her was her mother Ni Xing, her grandmother Ye Ning, her grandfather General Ye, Crown Prince An Cheng and Emperor An.

They all looked at her worried, they were no longer in the store and were in a room inside the Imperial Palace. She knew this because of all the over exaggerated gold decorations.

"YuMi, are you okay?" asked her mother. A gentle smile formed on her face as she nodded her head. She looked around the room and smiled at everyone, they started speaking and smiled with one another.

An Cheng observed Yue Mian and found the smile on her face a little off, [Since when does she smile?] he asked himself. A second after that question passed, Yue Mian looked at him with a terrifying gaze that only stayed for a second but was not missed by Crown Prince An Cheng.

With that gaze and that smile, his body tensed. A suffocating feeling rose from his body; he started sweating and felt ill, he excused himself from the room and immediately after he left the room, the tension was gone.

With just a few puzzle pieces, he already figured what happened, he swore to himself that he'd never pick on Yue Mian again and continue on with his one-sided love for her.