The hard-packed mud-brick wall dug into the back of her neck, sharp and unforgiving.
Albina Huxley’s lashes trembled. What lingered under her nose wasn’t the old end-times mix of disinfectant and gunpowder. It was the cloying scent of cheap face cream mixed with the damp smell of earthen walls, stuffy enough to make a person feel trapped.
"Albina Huxley, you’d better accept it."
That shrill voice burst right by her ear, full of naked malice. "Ethan Lawson’s a cripple now. He’ll be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. For all anyone knows, he may not even count as a man anymore. If you marry into that house, you’ll be a living widow. But a country bumpkin like you getting matched with a cripple? Frankly, that’s you marrying up."
Albina snapped her eyes open.
Right in front of her was a face powdered pale, brows twisted mean and sharp. It was her cousin Becca Huxley, the orphan from her eldest uncle’s branch, the girl the Huxley parents had doted on like their own daughter for over ten years.
Broken memories came rushing in with the dizziness. She had been one of the top military doctors in the apocalypse. To protect the medical base, she had detonated her portable space and taken the zombie horde down with her.
Then she opened her eyes again and landed inside a period novel she had just read, becoming the real Huxley daughter who happened to share her name. Swapped out at birth by a grandmother obsessed with sons, working together with the eldest uncle, she had been sent off to the countryside. Only recently had she been brought back, not to enjoy her real family, but to marry in Becca’s place.
The Lawson family’s third son, Ethan Lawson, had once been the youngest main-force regiment commander around. Then he was badly wounded on a mission. His legs were ruined, and even his ability to have children had been affected.
Becca had her eyes set on the deputy factory director’s son. No way was she jumping into that pit. And the Huxley couple, biased to the bone, turned their scheme onto the daughter they had only just brought back.
Albina braced herself on the wall and slowly stood up. Her body still felt weak, but her eyes had gone cold as ice.
Becca thought she’d been scared silly, so she leaned closer, about to spit out a few more nasty lines.
Smack.
The crisp sound cracked through the room.
Albina slapped her hard across the face, clean, steady, merciless.
"Watch your mouth. Who exactly are you calling a bumpkin?"
Becca clutched her face and froze.
Usually this dull little mute couldn’t get a word out if you beat her with three sticks. And today she dared to hit back?
She was just about to throw a fit, but the second she met Albina’s eyes, she stopped cold. There wasn’t a trace of fear in them. Only the icy killing intent of someone who had stared death in the face too many times, like she was looking at a corpse. Becca stumbled backward three whole steps, lips trembling, not daring to let out even half a curse.
[Medical space restarting... Host identity confirmed: Albina Huxley.]
[Modules currently unlocked: Basic treatment room, combat supply depot, spirit spring well.]
The familiar mechanical voice rang in her head, and the tight line of Albina’s shoulders loosened a little.
The space was still there.
Good. That made things easy. She had survived mountains of corpses and seas of blood in the apocalypse. This little household squabble wasn’t even enough to stick between her teeth.
"Albina! Have you lost your mind!"
The door was shoved open with a bang as Raymond Huxley and Colette Drummond rushed in.
The moment Colette saw the swollen half of Becca’s face, she slapped her thigh in distress and pointed straight at Albina’s nose as she cursed, "You damned little stray! Becca was kindly trying to have a heart-to-heart with you, and you hit her? You’ve gone wild in the countryside all these years and learned not a lick of manners!"
Raymond’s face was dark too, his tone stiff as an order. "There’s no use making a fuss. The marriage certificate’s already been arranged through connections. The Lawson family is coming this afternoon to pick you up. Ethan used to be a regiment commander, and his monthly allowance isn’t small. You won’t be losing out by marrying him. And that bride price can help your brother with his engagement next month."
Albina laughed.
Her gaze swept over the so-called birth parents in front of her, and the last bit of grievance left behind by the original owner vanished clean away.