The bustling restaurant was packed to capacity as always for the most renowned establishment in the capital. Crowds poured in without pause, filling every seat in the house. The private rooms on the upper floor, reserved exclusively for the city’s elite, offered a quieter place, but the restaurant’s famed dishes from the Eight Great Cuisines kept people coming back for more.

In front of a private room marked with the character “Bamboo,” a young maid in a green satin dress lifted the beaded curtain and hurried inside, holding a skewer of candied hawthorns. “Miss, Aunt Wang didn’t set up her stall today, so I had to get these from the shop in East Alley.”

Inside, the private room was calm as the faint scent of tea drifting through the air. A round purplewood table was laden with the restaurant’s signature dishes, known throughout the city. By the window sat a woman in a delicate pale lotus-pink dress with a floral pattern on smoke-like gauze. She leaned on her hand, gazing thoughtfully out the window. Her bright, clear eyes held a hint of melancholy, her elegant brows slightly furrowed on a refined and gentle face.

“I heard that those two petty women, Wu Yu and Zhou Xitong, are in the room next door. Should I have Xiao Lu eavesdrop on what they’re saying?” a girl in a blue dress seated at the table asked tentatively.

With a sidelong glance, Liu Yin accepted the candied hawthorn skewer from Xiyun and took a bite. The tartness scrunched up her delicate, fair face.

“Aunt Wang’s are still better,” she said, handing the skewer back to Xiyun.

“Those two ungrateful wretches! Last time, they even sided with Shen Yao to argue against you. One of these days, they need to be taught a lesson!” the blue-dressed girl muttered indignantly.

Liu Yin shot her a look, then returned her gaze to the window, her expression looked melancholy once more. Ah, so every sidekick to a villainess always comes with terrible ideas.

The truth was, Liu Yin had simply gone in for an appendectomy, but after waking up, she found herself in some unknown dynasty. But when she realized she was now a high-born young lady, she couldn’t help but feel a bit pleased. A life of food, drink, and being waited on without the need to work—what a carefree existence.

Still, her new status was dauntingly lofty. So lofty, in fact, it made her feel vaguely unsettled.

Her father held a prestigious position as the Minister of Personnel, wielding considerable influence—enough that even the Emperor had to treat him with caution. Her brother was a powerful general commanding troops at the border, while her aunt was the Empress, and her cousin, none other than the Crown Prince himself. It was a life bathed in glory, the kind that usually belongs to a background character in novels who rarely survives more than a few chapters.

The Crown Prince was born of the late Empress, who had died in childbirth. From then on, he was raised under her aunt’s care. The Crown Prince seemed unstoppable, achieving impressive feats: at fourteen, he handled a major flood in Jiangnan, at fifteen, he quelled a plague in the northwest, and by eighteen, he reclaimed vast territories from foreign enemies. His position as the crown prince was solidified, yet anyone with half a mind would see her family’s powerful influence as a threat and wouldn’t hesitate to remove them.

Unfortunately, the original Liu Yin was infatuated with the Crown Prince to an extreme degree, refusing to tolerate him being near any other woman. Spoiled from a young age, she developed an attitude that demanded the world to bend to her whims. With beauty as her only redeeming quality, she was the epitome of a side character destined for a bad ending—barely even qualified to be a third-rate antagonist.

Despite her aunt’s matchmaking attempts, the Crown Prince was distant, ignoring her overtures and keeping Liu Yin at arm’s length. Undeterred, she staged frequent “chance” encounters with him, hoping to win his attention.

Today was one such attempt. Her sidekick had discovered the Crown Prince would be visiting, so Liu Yin rushed here, unwilling to miss any opportunity. She had only recently inhabited this body and hadn’t yet seen the Crown Prince in person, but she knew she had to follow the original character’s path. Suddenly deciding not to like him would raise suspicion—and her parents and aunt would never allow it.

To them, the position of Crown Princess could only belong to a Liu.

“Sitting here is making my back ache. I’ll take a stroll,” Liu Yin sighed, standing up with an air of melancholy. In the modern world, she’d never chased after anyone, but here in ancient times, she was expected to pursue a man relentlessly.

At this, Lin Xuan looked worried. “But the Crown Prince will be here soon.”

Putting on her veiled hat, Liu Yin replied solemnly, “I’ll just be wandering nearby. Who knows? I might run into the Crown Prince first.”

To the original Liu Yin, the Crown Prince was everything—her deepest obsession.

Hearing this, Lin Xuan nodded in agreement watching as Liu Yin left the private room.

A “chance encounter,” she said—Liu Yin had no intention of waiting longer than a few hours. Whether he showed up or not was out of her hands, and she had done her part.

After wandering the bustling streets for a while, Liu Yin enjoyed the perks of wealth, fully embraced the spirit of “buy, buy, buy.” She only stopped when Xiyun could no longer carry everything. Returning to the restaurant, she bit into a sugar figurine she had picked up along the way, relishing the thrill of spending without restraint.

She wondered if the Crown Prince had arrived yet. As she made her way upstairs, she saw Lin Xuan arguing with two other women in the corridor. The moment Lin Xuan noticed her return, she stormed over, looking absolutely exasperated and ready to lodge a complaint.

“Liu Yin, thank goodness you’re back! These two have gone too far. I overheard them badmouthing you, so I stepped in to defend you, but they actually dared to get physical!”

Lin Xuan was practically shaking with anger. As the original Liu Yin’s most loyal sidekick, she was accustomed to wielding power alongside her and couldn’t stand being slighted. However, the two women across from her clearly had a different perspective.

“It was you who was eavesdropping outside,” one of them retorted. “When Sister Wu noticed, you insulted us first. We were just defending ourselves, and then you shoved Sister Wu. Muer only bumped into you by accident while trying to protect her. How can you twist the truth like this?”

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