Life Is Full of Endless Possibilities - Chapter 3

But that was fine.

There was no way one round of killing could satisfy me.

Infinite reloads.

My cheat ability.

This cheat wasn’t under the System’s control. As long as I wanted to, I could start over again.

Back at the beginning, I’d used it all the time.

Sure, I’d watched Empresses in the Palace enough times to recite whole scenes by heart, and I’d read more than a dozen palace-intrigue novels.

But that had still been nothing more than theory on paper.

Yang Fuxue was the protagonist. How could she possibly be allowed to do bad things?

So everything dirty had to be handled by me. I was the one who had to get my hands stained.

Later on, I gradually stopped relying on the cheat. I learned to think three steps ahead and block every scheme and every problem before they could ever reach her.

Feeling a little more satisfied, I stabbed Yang Fuxue twice, then dropped onto a stool.

I let out a long breath.

And calmly hit reload.

Time rewound to the moment when Yang Fuxue dismissed the servants and said she didn’t need anyone attending her.

The System seemed terrified that I would go insane again. Its previous aloofness vanished entirely as it babbled nonstop in my head.

I didn’t care in the slightest.

For the first time, I muted it.

This time, I didn’t stay. I bowed and withdrew with the rest of the servants.

Before leaving, I saw Yang Fuxue smiling brightly as she said something to Xiao Qingyan.

There was no trace left on her face of the innocence and naivety she’d had when I first met her.

I closed the door and stood straight outside on watch.

I’d just killed someone for the first time.

Although my face remained calm, deep down I was far from peaceful.

I needed time to repair my mood.

And I also needed to think about… how I should kill the female lead again next time.

The next morning, my biological clock pulled me from sleep right on schedule.

I’d expected to suffer from insomnia.

Instead, I’d slept better last night than I had in years.

Now that Yang Fuxue had taken the Empress’s seat, naturally there had to be a grand banquet to celebrate.

As the head palace maid of Fengyi Palace, I was fully responsible for the event.

Lacquer-red screens divided the inner and outer halls. Female musicians remained hidden behind the screens, unable to see the nobles inside. Only the sound of strings and flutes drifted through.

In the main hall, nearly all the imperial consorts had come except those who were genuinely too ill to attend.

A place packed with women from the imperial harem didn’t smell particularly pleasant. The air was thick with all kinds of perfumes and incense.

Because Xiao Qingyan was present, the Noble Consort, Consort Shu, and the others had to keep smiling no matter how resentful they felt, offering congratulations through clenched teeth.

After several rounds of wine, flushes had spread across everyone’s faces.

Consort Shu was the most strikingly beautiful of all the women in the harem. She rose gracefully, intending to offer Xiao Qingyan a toast.

Her plan was simple: lure His Majesty back to her palace on an occasion like this. Not only would it show off how favored she was, it would also humiliate the newly installed Empress in front of everyone.

But halfway to her feet, her body suddenly went limp and she collapsed.

I stood calmly behind Yang Fuxue, watching one person after another slump to the floor, unable to suppress the thrill rising inside me.

I’d lit incense as soon as the banquet began, and mixed a generous amount of Muscle-Weakening Powder into it.

That hadn’t seemed like enough, so I’d put some in the food too.

Naturally, I’d taken the antidote well in advance.

In the main hall, every maid and eunuch went limp from head to toe—never mind the masters they served.

Music continued drifting in from the outer hall.

My steps light, I pulled out my dagger.

Time to start harvesting heads!