At fourteen Marta Maeda came home to celebrate her birthday—and died under the princess's whip. Her family barely registered her absence. Her body was buried. Her grievance did not die. Marta's soul lingers, a restless ghost in the cold halls of Riverside Court. She learns the truth in fragments: her elder sister Celine rose into the palace as consort, her brother Chase became the princess's secret, and ambition—more than love—laid the bones of their loyalty. Marta starts small: a frightened night, a wind at the window, a leaf in the princess's eye. Small cruelties bloom into a long, precise plan when Celine and a desperate court medic use poison and patience to turn pain into power. This is a palace revenge tale where the wronged girl's memory becomes an engine of justice. Marta watches as the arrogant princess falls, as the emperor is weakened, as Celine carves her way to regency. Marta must decide: is victory the quiet burial of an old hurt, or is true revenge forgiveness? Along the way there are face-slaps, confessions, betrayals, power grabs, and an impossible reconciliation between the living and the dead. A vengeful ghost. A sister who never forgot. A court that will learn the price of cruelty.
19 Chapters
