Chapter One: The Healer from the Modern World

A chill seeped into her very bones, rousing Yan Heru to slowly open her eyes. Droplets of water still clung to her trembling lashes.

She propped herself up, her entire body aching and shivering with cold, her clothes thoroughly soaked. Glancing around, she found herself in a pitch-dark cave, an underground river flowing before her. It seemed she had been swept down here by the current.

“How did I end up here…” she murmured, standing unsteadily.

She remembered clearly: only moments before, she had been traveling by private plane to visit a patient, when an explosion had torn the craft apart. Had she truly survived such a disaster? Was it because she had fallen into the river?

Leaning against the slick, black wall, she prepared to follow the current upstream, but when she glanced at her own hand braced against the stone, she froze.

That hand was covered in scars and calluses. Impossible!

She was a physician—her hands were her most precious instruments. She had always taken meticulous care of them, believing it a sacred duty to save lives with these hands.

A sense of unease rising within her, she hurried to the river’s edge and crouched down. The reflection in the water was indeed hers, but it was her sixteen-year-old self staring back.

Though the cave was dark, the mirrored image was faintly discernible.

“How can this be…” she whispered in disbelief, stumbling back a few steps. Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced her skull. Clutching her head, she curled herself into a corner as a torrent of unfamiliar memories overwhelmed her, dragging her into unconsciousness.

When she awoke again, she was lying on a rickety bed. A man sat by her side.

Yan Heru frowned, glancing at him. During her brief faint, she had absorbed the memories of this body—she now knew what had happened.

She had died, and yet she had not.

Her soul had inexplicably awakened in the body of another girl, one who shared her name and her face, at the age of sixteen.

This body’s original owner had drowned after falling into an underground river while out with her family. At that very moment, Yan Heru’s soul had taken her place.

The man at her bedside was her younger brother, Yan Hecheng. Both were children of a concubine in the Yan family.

“Sister! You’re awake!” At the first sign of her stirring, Yan Hecheng called out joyfully.

“Yes,” she replied coolly. She had always been a reserved person, but her indifference did not dampen his delight.

“Sister, wait here. I’ll tell Grandmother!” He hurried out before she could stop him.

In the entire Yan family, only her grandmother and her brother had ever shown her affection.

Soon, a commotion arose outside. Expecting to see her grandmother, Yan Heru was surprised when, instead, the household’s matron entered—the second wife of her father, Lady Lin.

“You shameless creature! How dare you consort with men! You’ve ruined the Yan family’s reputation!” Lady Lin stormed in, flinging her handkerchief at Yan Heru in anger.

Unsatisfied, she tried to strike her, but was quickly restrained by the servants accompanying her.

Yan Heru was puzzled. Her memories held no such indiscretion. Lady Lin did not seem the type to fabricate accusations; she was a blunt, straightforward woman, not known for scheming.

“Shameless girl! Did you give no thought to your family before acting so disgracefully?” Lady Lin glared at her in anguish.

Yan Heru regarded her coolly. Her memories held no trace of such an incident. Clearly, someone was framing her.

Since her life in the modern world had ended, she resolved to live here in peace. She had always been solitary; now, she would simply deal with this problem.

She rose from the bed and stood serenely before Lady Lin. For a moment, Lady Lin felt an inexplicable sense of nobility radiating from Yan Heru—the kind she had only ever sensed in the most refined daughters of noble families.

“Proof,” Yan Heru said calmly.

Lady Lin blinked. “What?”

“Proof. Do you not understand? If you wish to accuse me, you must offer evidence,” Yan Heru replied, unruffled.

This was not the Yan Heru Lady Lin knew. She hesitated, flustered, but her maid whispered something in her ear, and a confident smile returned to Lady Lin’s face.

Just as Yan Heru wondered what scheme they had devised, Yan Hecheng ran back in and stopped at her side.

He was followed by the Yan family’s elderly matriarch. At her arrival, Yan Heru immediately saluted her. “Grandmother.”

The old lady smiled gently. “Ru’er, are you still unwell?”

Yan Heru shook her head. The old lady then turned to Lady Lin. “I have already gone to the palace and arranged a marriage for Ru’er. Enough of this commotion—go and make the preparations.”

A marriage? Yan Heru looked up, startled. There was no mention of marriage in the original owner’s memories—what was this all about?

Normally, Lady Lin and the old matriarch were at odds, but today, Lady Lin smiled and agreed readily.

“Rest assured, Mother, I’ll see to Ru’er’s wedding. May I ask which family you have chosen for her?” Lady Lin’s smile made Yan Heru uneasy.

Yan Heru studied the stern-faced old lady, sensing that there was something the original owner had always overlooked.

“Naturally, it is to a royal prince—the Ninth Prince,” the old lady announced.

The room fell silent. Yan Heru stared in shock at her grandmother.

From the original memories, she knew the Ninth Prince was crippled—said to be exceptionally handsome, but with a grave injury. Wouldn’t marrying him be akin to a lifetime of widowhood?

Had her ever-doting grandmother truly arranged this? But recalling recent events, Yan Heru understood at once, a cold laugh echoing in her heart.

This grandmother’s affection was nothing but a façade. In truth, she would rather see her dead. Since childhood, whenever Yan Heru or Yan Hecheng got into trouble, their grandmother had always been the first to defend them, right or wrong.

Thus, the siblings had always believed she was their only ally in the family.

But Yan Heru was not the same as the original owner—she had never known true familial love, nor did she hope for it. She saw through the old matriarch’s heart in an instant: this was not love, but calculated destruction.

There was not a single soul in the Yan family who truly cared for the siblings. Yan Heru’s heart turned to ice.

“Rest assured, Mother. I will make sure Ru’er’s wedding is splendid!” Lady Lin was nearly beside herself with glee, eager to flaunt her disdain for Yan Heru to the world.