That place wasn’t a hallway but another room connected to the one I had woken up in—much bigger and nicer than before.
And then—
“Stella!”
A beautiful young woman spotted me and called out in a whisper-like voice.
Her blonde hair looked like a wig, her doll-like eyes sparkled, and she wore a flowing dress—she was unlike anyone I’d seen before.
‘But why does she seem so familiar…? Don’t tell me… Ka, Kayla?’
I didn’t know why that name suddenly came to mind, but the woman looked almost identical to the image of Kayla in my head. Just like how I imagined her while reading the book and in my dreams.
‘Wait. Did she just call me Stella?’
I turned my head, just in case—and there I was, reflected in the room’s mirror.
A young woman with a petite figure, lightly wavy red hair, and a fair, delicate face.
The moment I saw myself in the mirror, it felt like I’d been struck on the head.
Which meant… I had transmigrated. And just my luck, I ended up possessing Stella—the maid who suffered miserably and died a pitiful death along with her mistress.
“Stella! Help me! Why are you just standing there!?”
Kayla’s urgent voice snapped me out of it as she ripped long fabric on the bed with scissors. She was tearing down all the curtains in the room and tying them into long ropes.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the mirror, my face already turning tearful.
Not the beloved baby princess doted on by her father and brothers, not a glamorous noble villainess, not a saint adored by a young emperor—but a mere maid. A maid!
And I hadn’t even had time to mentally prepare for transmigration—I’d been tossed into this chaotic moment right away. What’s worse, I didn’t remember this scene ever happening in the book!
“Stella!”
Still frozen in confusion, I didn’t move, and Kayla called me again with a frustrated look.
Then she spoke as if she’d made up her mind.
“Listen carefully. I’m running away tonight.”
Rip—shhk!
Even while she talked, her hands kept tearing the curtains with grim determination. I had never seen such a resolute side of Kayla in the original story. She had always collapsed from crying or thrown things around in a fit.
“I’d rather run away than marry that blood-crazed demon of a man.”
Listening to her, I vaguely began to understand. This must be before Kayla and Stella even appeared in the original story.
Kayla Enrio—before she married Ricardo Zenkis.
‘So there was this kind of commotion back at her family’s estate.’
True, before she met Ricardo, she had only heard terrifying rumors about him and was deeply afraid.
‘Then this escape attempt must have failed in the end.’
Which means Kayla eventually gave up and went to the capital to marry Ricardo.
Which meant—right now—I was standing at a crucial turning point where I could change the original story. My scrambled mind suddenly began to clear.
Miss, no! Please don’t do this!
If I shouted something like that and tried to stop her, everyone in this mansion would rush in. Kayla’s escape would fail, and the story would follow its original course.
The dream I’d just had popped back into my mind.
Kayla and Stella being dragged off a carriage and killed horrifically. I could still vividly see the moment they collapsed to the ground without even a final scream, their blood pooling red beneath them.
“I’m sorry, Stella. You’ve always treated me like a sister… but we can’t go together. It’s hard enough escaping with just Vittorio.”
She looked at me with a hint of guilt.
‘Vittorio?’
There had been a brief mention in the story about a man Kayla liked before her engagement. It must be him.
“Cuckoo. Cuckoo.”
From outside the window came the soft sound of a cuckoo bird. Both our eyes turned toward it.
“He’s here!”
Kayla’s movements grew even more frantic. She grabbed the makeshift rope and leapt across the bed in one swift motion. I couldn’t understand—if she had someone she loved this much in her hometown, how could she fall into a love-at-first-sight fantasy with the Duke later?
“Are you really running away? W-What about your marriage with the Duke?”
At my question, she turned to me with a look of disbelief.
“Can you seriously say that right now? If I go through with this, I’ll die! He’s a war-crazed monster with no heart who can kill a man with one hand!”
Her strong reaction made me shut my mouth. What she said was partly true.
‘If she goes through with it, she’ll die. And I’ll die for nothing, too.’
How could such a sharp-minded Kayla lose her sanity after marrying the Duke?
“Thank you for everything, Stella—or should I say, sister.”
She stepped close, embraced me by the shoulders, and kissed my cheek—as if saying goodbye for the last time.
“I’ll be counting on you.”
Her eyes burned with determination, and before I knew it, I felt swept along by her will.
‘Alright, Kayla. Let’s rewrite this damned story together.’
Let’s avoid this senseless death.
“Yes. Please be careful, my lady.”
We held hands and smiled at each other—short and bittersweet.
I helped her climb out the window, holding tightly to the curtain rope.
‘First, I need to twist the major plotline. If I want to survive, I must stop Kayla’s marriage.’
As she climbed down the wall, the rope pulled taut, then suddenly went slack.
Tap.
I heard her land safely. Then came the sound of hurried whispers and feet running away.
My heart pounded wildly as I stared down at the pitch-black window. Everything—my transmigration, Kayla’s escape—had all happened so fast.
Beeeep! Beeeeep! Woof woof!
Then, from far away, a loud commotion erupted.
‘What do I do? Have they already found out?’
Lights turned on in every room. Someone was blowing a whistle over and over. The hunting dogs barked furiously. This was bad.
‘No time to waste!’
I rushed back to the room I had woken in, dove into bed, and pulled the blanket over my head.
‘They must have caught on to the escape.’
Is it impossible to change the original story after all?
Then I really will go to the capital with Kayla and die like in that dream…
At that moment, someone began banging on the door so hard it felt like it would break. Instead of Kayla’s locked room, they seemed to be trying to enter through the room connected to mine.
‘This is crazy.’
I tousled my hair and put on a dazed, half-asleep expression before opening the door. The moment it opened, people pushed past me and began calling for Kayla.
“Kayla?”
“My daughter!”
“Miss Kayla!”
The middle-aged couple who pushed me aside looked deathly pale.
A short, chubby white-haired man and a thin, sharp-featured blonde woman. Clearly Kayla’s parents—Baron and Baroness Enrio.
Of course, Kayla’s room was now completely empty. The curtains lay in shredded tatters, and scissors had been thrown carelessly on the floor.
“What… what on earth happened here!?”
“Stella! What’s going on? Why is Kayla missing!?”
Though they clearly grasped the situation from the sight of the room, they pressed me for answers. I shook my head as if I knew nothing, already slipping into my role as Stella.
“I-I don’t know.”
“You were asleep while the young lady disappeared!?”
The woman stepped forward, furious, and slapped me with her claw-like hand. My cheek stung like it had been raked.
I clutched my face and glared at her. She raised her hand again, but—
“Dear, calm down.”
The Baron tried to restrain his seething wife.
I calmed myself too. As painful as the slap was, it was better than dying like a dog in the capital.
The Baroness eventually sat down on the bed, trembling with tears.
“What do we do now, dear? What do we do?”
The Baron beside her looked equally panicked and out of his mind.
As I watched them, I thought to myself:
‘You’re in shock now, but this was the best thing for your daughter.’
But oddly, they seemed more terrified of something else than the fact their daughter had disappeared.
“We’re doomed. He’ll never forgive us. We’ve already sold off half the jewels we received.”
“What? You already used them!?”
“Did you think it was for me? That silk nightgown you’re wearing—do you even know where it came from? Our carriage was falling apart! Even if the estate is crumbling, how could we walk around like beggars? We’re nobles! What would people think?”
The Baron groaned and clutched his head.
I knew Kayla came from a poor provincial barony, but I didn’t expect her parents to be so blinded by greed that they’d send her off to marry a stranger in the capital.
“If we can’t find her, we’ll have to beg for forgiveness. He won’t actually kill us… right? We’ll just repay the money over a lifetime, bit by bit…”
The Baron looked resigned.
At that moment, a group of soldiers stormed into the room like a raid.
