---
[Li Cheng Cheng's POV]
The first thing she heard was the rain.
It whispered against the lattice window like a heartbeat returning from a faraway dream.
The second thing she felt was warmth — a hand enclosing hers, steady and unyielding.
When she opened her eyes, the world was dim and soft.
Silk curtains swayed in the morning light, carrying the faint scent of medicinal herbs.
> (System 003: Consciousness restored. Vital signs — stable.)
She turned her head slightly.
Li Yun sat beside her bed, his head bowed, his fingers still wrapped around hers as if afraid she might vanish again.
"Your Highness," she murmured, her voice little more than breath.
His head snapped up. Relief and exhaustion warred in his eyes.
"Cheng Cheng…" he whispered, forgetting the name she wore in court. "You're awake."
She smiled faintly. "I told you not to worry."
"You almost died protecting me," he said, voice low, rough. "Do you think that leaves room for calm?"
Her gaze softened. "If the world lost you, it would lose more than one life."
He looked away then, as though the words cut deeper than any wound.
Silence lingered between them — not empty, but full of everything neither dared to say.
> (System 003: Emotional resonance increased. Warning — host detachment risk decreasing.)
She ignored it. For the first time since binding with the system, she felt… alive. Not as a mission, not as vengeance, but as herself.
---
For several days, the palace existed in hushed vigil.
Li Yun seldom left her side.
He read reports beside her bed, occasionally pausing to check her pulse, to adjust the blanket when she shivered.
Sometimes he spoke quietly about the state affairs, sometimes about nothing at all.
And once, when he thought she slept, she heard him whisper,
> "If fate were kind, I would have met you in another life—one without crowns or blood."
Her heart trembled. She wanted to tell him that fate was far from kind, that she herself was proof of it — a soul sent across worlds to heal wounds that were not her own.
But instead, she pretended to sleep and let his hand rest over hers, warm and trembling.
---
When she finally stood again, the court was already stirring with rumors.
Zhao Rong's allies had scattered like leaves in a storm, but two names remained like thorns — Xu Yan, Zhao Rong's niece, and Su Mei Xian, the daughter of the late Grand Scholar.
In the original Li Cheng Cheng's memory, they had been her poisoners.
It was Xu Yan who framed her for treason, and Su Mei Xian who whispered lies into the Emperor's ear.
Their betrayal had sent her to the execution ground, nameless and alone.
This was the justice she had been sent to deliver.
> (System 003: Mission node—'Avenge the Victim.' Objective active.)
---
[Palace Court – Three Days Later]
Thunderclouds gathered over the imperial roofs, heavy with storm.
Inside the grand hall, courtiers whispered, eyes darting between the returning Lady Yan Ruo and the Crown Prince at her side.
Li Yun's expression was composed, but there was a subtle protectiveness in his stance.
When he spoke, the court fell silent.
"Three days ago, an assassin struck within these walls. The investigation led us to the remnants of Zhao Rong's faction. Two names arose repeatedly—Xu Yan and Su Mei Xian."
Both women knelt in the center of the hall, their silken finery dimmed by fear.
Xu Yan tried to speak first, her voice trembling. "Your Highness, the accusations are false. We are loyal to the crown—"
Li Cheng Cheng stepped forward.
"Loyalty?" she said, voice calm but edged with something that made even the guards shift uneasily.
"You called it loyalty when you sent a poisoned letter sealed with my name to the border? When you bribed the physician to falsify the cause of death?"
Xu Yan's lips parted in horror. "You… you have no proof."
> (System 003: Project evidence — sequence initiated.)
From her sleeve, the projection unfolded again, bathing the hall in spectral light.
Letters appeared—Xu Yan's handwriting, Su Mei Xian's seal. Secret communications with Zhao Rong's steward, transactions recorded in invisible ink now revealed under the system's prism.
Gasps spread through the ministers like wildfire.
Su Mei Xian tried to stand but fell to her knees, trembling. "It was Zhao Rong's command! We only obeyed—"
Li Yun's voice sliced through her plea. "You obeyed greed, not the law."
The Emperor leaned forward, voice weak but resonant. "Confess fully. Let the ancestors judge your hearts."
Xu Yan broke first. Tears streaked down her powdered face.
"We feared losing our positions! Zhao Rong promised us favor if we silenced Lady Yan Ruo. He said she threatened the throne with her intelligence. We never meant for her to die!"
The confession echoed through the hall like a bell tolling for the dead.
Li Cheng Cheng stood unmoving.
Inside, the memory of the original girl—her terror, her screams, her loneliness—rose like a wave.
She could almost feel that other self standing beside her, whispering, Thank you.
When she finally spoke, her tone was neither angry nor triumphant.
"It is not my place to forgive. The dead do not speak. But I can ensure their truth is not buried."
Li Yun looked at her, something fierce and reverent in his eyes.
"By imperial decree," the Emperor declared, "Xu Yan and Su Mei Xian's households will be stripped of title and lands. Their names erased from the record. Justice has been done."
Thunder cracked outside, as if the heavens themselves had sealed the verdict.
---
[Later – The Rain Court Pavilion]
After the court dispersed, Cheng Cheng stood beneath the pavilion's edge, watching the rain fall in silver sheets.
Each drop felt like a release — not of sorrow, but of something deeper, older.
Li Yun joined her quietly, holding an umbrella.
"You've done what no one else could," he said. "You avenged not just yourself, but those silenced by fear."
She smiled faintly. "It wasn't only me."
He tilted his head. "Then who?"
"The one whose life this body once belonged to," she whispered. "She can rest now."
He studied her for a long moment.
"Sometimes," he said softly, "I think the heavens sent you to heal more than one soul."
Their eyes met—rain between them, distance closing like the hush before a confession.
Then he said, almost too quietly, "Cheng Cheng… stay."
She blinked. "Your Highness?"
"In this world," he clarified. "When your storms are done—stay."
She didn't answer.
But her smile was enough, fragile and luminous as the dawn that finally broke through the rain.
> (System 003: Mission 'Avenge the Victim' — Completed. World Stability: 100%. Preparing next transmission…)
The sound of wind rose again, carrying faint echoes of another world calling her name.
But for now, she stayed—because sometimes even wanderers deserved one sunrise in peace.
---