Dim light washed over the room. Under the thin blanket on the big bed, the outline of a graceful figure could just be made out.
The woman asleep looked anything but peaceful. Her black hair was spread across the white pillow, and a fine layer of cold sweat dampened her forehead.
Vivienne Calloway jolted awake from the nightmare again, her long lashes trembling nonstop.
Only after she saw clearly where she was did the sharp rise and fall of her chest slowly settle down.
She pushed herself up bit by bit and walked barefoot toward the bathroom.
Warm water slid over her skin. When the steam finally thinned out, she stood in front of the mirror and quietly studied herself.
Reflected there was a face so beautiful it was almost dangerous, black hair spilling down to her waist like a waterfall, skin pale and flawless to an almost unreal degree.
This face was stunning.
But the strange part was that her whole vibe and figure were totally at odds. She had that soft, delicate, almost gentle kind of aura, yet her body was absurdly alluring—full and lifted in all the right places, a slim waist, curves so shapely they looked almost unfair.
"Sigh."
The beauty in the mirror let out a soft breath.
She was a widow. A brand-new widow who had just lost her husband.
Her fingers unconsciously rubbed the diamond ring on her ring finger, the symbol of marriage. The cool touch slowly cleared the haze in her mind.
She didn’t feel grief. Not really. If anything, what she felt was relief, like a massive weight had finally come off her chest.
Because she wasn’t originally from this world.
Her fingertips brushed over that face in the mirror, one that felt both familiar and weirdly unfamiliar.
The same shell, but two completely different souls had lived inside it.
Back in that other world, her face had looked almost the same as it did now,
but her status there had been even higher, the kind of spoiled, untouchable rich heiress people could only dream about.
And yet, in that world, her personality had been nothing like the one she had now.
To her, the words “spoiled” and “overbearing” had never been insults.
They were a badge of privilege she’d been born wearing.
In her eyes, anyone who didn’t carry her family name was basically just living wallpaper with a voice.
But the owner of this body now—
was a soft, graceful young lady from a refined scholarly family, the kind raised on books and good manners.
Totally different. Like, not even in the same universe.
She only remembered that, right when she’d been living her best life, some massive unknown thing had yanked her into this world without even asking.
A bronze compass floated in midair, glowing with a ghostly blue light. Its pointer clicked and spun so fast it made her scalp tingle. That thing called itself the “Heavenly Dao.”
Its voice sounded like rusty gears grinding through silk, weird and creepy enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.
“Sin value exceeded. Atonement program activated.”
It said it in this self-righteous tone, like it was the law of the universe, claiming she’d done too much evil in her old world, so she’d been thrown here to repent.
What a joke.
Sure, she did enjoy picking on people.
A lot, actually.
But every single one of them had it coming.
“That Zhang family idiot tried to peek while I was changing. Wasn’t he asking to get stripped and dumped into the pool?”
“And Miss Li spread rumors that I stole her fiancé. Wasn’t she overdue for a few slaps and a butchered haircut?”
They were the ones who came after her first.
So why the hell should she be the one atoning?
“You damned thing—let me go back right now!”
Damn it. Damn it all.
The pampered young heiress who had always been waited on hand and foot was now collapsed on the floor like a stray dog that had nowhere left to go, cursing at empty air until her voice turned ragged.
If it weren’t for her reddened eyes and those faintly trembling shoulders giving her away, anyone really might’ve thought this spoiled rich girl was vicious to the core—looking fierce on the outside, scared stiff underneath.
After cursing herself tired, she finally realized, way too late, that none of it meant a thing. So she simply dropped to the floor without caring about her image at all, trying to calm the fire burning in her chest.
She flat-out refused Heaven’s demand that she accept the plot.
["Resistance will trigger the punishment mechanism,"] the mechanical voice announced coldly.
With the system threatening her like that, the young lady could only hold back tears and agree, feeling miserable and wronged.
A ghostly blue screen suddenly lit up before her eyes. Densely packed words flooded toward her like a rising tide.