The sterile scent of antiseptic and faint hum of machines filled the hospital room where Xia Mia lay in bed, her face pale against the crisp white pillows. Her normally flawless hair was disheveled, her eyes swollen and red from hours of crying. The humiliation from the previous night still burned in her mind, the taste of failure bitter in her mouth. Everything had gone so terribly wrong. Her carefully crafted plan to humiliate Feng Ruoxi had backfired, and now she lay here, recovering not only from the drugged wine but from the deep emotional wounds that the night had inflicted.