As Xia Yi put the pieces of her new reality together, her mind raced.
The once-harmless Xia Yi's life had descended into turmoil, and now she was in her body.
The slight marks on her wrists, a reminder of the world's crushing hold on the body's original owner, were traced by her hands absently.
The marriage contract, however, was the most significant item.
The Ninth Master is He Shihan. The high society circles shuddered at the mere mention of his name. Everyone who dared to cross him dreaded him because he was cold and cunning.
In her current state, Xia Yi was shocked to learn that she was bound to a man like that.
As a piece in a game she never understood, the original Xia Yi had been coerced into a contract marriage with him.
She had refused because she was too weak and naïve.
Her fists clenched. That girl was no longer her.
In the futuristic world she came from, the new Xia Yi had survived wars much worse than this one.
For the time being, though, she had to comprehend why He Shihan had forced the former Xia Yi into this wretched union.
The image of the original Xia Yi, broken and crying, came before her eyes while He Shihan's icy voice reverberated in the background.
"You believe that you can ignore what your family did? I'll marry you. Or watch as everything falls apart.
There was nothing the former Xia Yi could do. Lu Feng, her former fiancé, publicly humiliated her by ending their engagement in favor of Bai Yao, the genuine heiress.
The business owned by her family had been on the verge of bankruptcy. With demands as piercing as a dagger, He Shihan swooped in.
He proposed to rescue her family's failing company, but at a high cost: her.
The contract marriage was only a business arrangement, a kind of punishment masquerading as security.
For the girl she had replaced, Xia Yi's heart grieved.
The world around her had ruined the original Xia Yi. However, that was not going to occur once more.
"I'm not her," Xia Yi whispered to herself, her eyes glimmering with determination.
"I won't be anyone's pawn."
She realized that her marriage to He Shihan was a power play rather than a simple error when she glanced down at the contract on the desk.
She was going to play her own game now.