Chapter 2
She thought her life had ended in the emergency room.
But when she regained consciousness, someone was shaking her body, sobbing uncontrollably.
“My lady! My lady… You can’t leave like this.”
Sohui wondered if maybe she was in a coma, hallucinating.
“Please, wake up, my lady! Please… You can’t die. Sob… sob…”
The voice of the woman who eventually sank to the floor beside the bed, weeping bitterly, was so filled with sorrow that Sohui wanted to comfort her.
“Why are you crying so sadly?”
“Ah—my lady? My lady! You’re awake!”
At her words, the woman jumped up and threw her arms around her.
“Thank goodness… I thought you were gone… No, wait—I shouldn’t be standing here! I’ll go call the doctor!”
The young girl’s face was streaked with tears as she wiped her eyes and dashed outside.
“When someone experiences a great psychological shock, they may temporarily suffer memory impairment. The most important thing is to help the patient rest and stay calm.”
An elderly man, who appeared to be a doctor, said this after asking Sohui a few questions, addressing her family.
At his words, the woman who seemed to be her mother buried her face in her hands, while the middle-aged man who seemed to be her father scowled as though displeased.
“Tsk… So weak-minded! Now you’ve even gone and lost your wits? Worthless thing!”
Once the doctor left, the middle-aged man—apparently her father—began to shout.
“Dear, can’t you see how heartbroken Lucy must have been? Let’s just leave so she can rest.”
The woman—apparently her mother—pushed the grumbling man toward the door. But before closing it, she shot her a glance utterly devoid of any concern.
Left alone, she slowly looked around the room. It was small and shabby, furnished only with an old wardrobe, a dressing table, and a narrow bed.
She tried to get up from the bed, but the moment she took a step, the world spun and she staggered.
Standing unsteadily in front of the dressing table mirror, her eyes went wide.
The woman reflected there was as pure and dazzling as a white lily—fragile, yet breathtakingly beautiful. She blinked mysterious golden eyes, brushed back her platinum hair from her pale face.
“Am I… dreaming right now?”
In her previous life, Sohui had suffered from a rare form of cancer for years. She had collapsed at home, been rushed to the emergency room, and closed her eyes staring up at the hospital’s white ceiling.
She had already known her life’s flame was nearly extinguished, so accepting death hadn’t been hard. But this—this situation—was beyond comprehension.
She was still marveling at her reflection when a familiar girl entered the room.
It was the same one who had been sobbing on the floor when she first woke up. With brown hair and prominent freckles, her swollen eyes showed she had cried for some time.
“My lady, you probably have no appetite, but please eat this to regain your strength…”
As Sohui sipped the soup the girl brought, she asked who she was, and why she had been crying so sorrowfully.
Her name was Anna—she had no family name.
“I work here in this mansion as a maid. Mostly kitchen chores… nothing too hard.”
Anna spoke shyly, sniffling still from her earlier crying fit.
“Your name is Lucy. Lucy Diallo…”
The body’s owner was Lucy Diallo, eighteen years old—having just reached adulthood this year. She was the youngest daughter of the Diallo barony: nobility in name only, nouveau riche without pedigree.
Just from a few words, it sounded like something out of a novel. Sohui almost laughed at the thought.
If this really is like a novel, that would be nice… No more pain. No more suffering.
“For now, you should rest. I’ll explain things one at a time, so you can recover your memory.”
Anna smiled warmly as she took away the empty bowl. But to Sohui, that smile looked strangely sad.
The next morning, when Sohui opened her eyes in the shabby room again, she began to think this might really be reality.
She pinched her cheeks, even slapped herself—too vivid, too clear to be a dream.
That evening, when Anna judged she had regained some strength, she began cautiously telling her about Lucy’s past.
Lucy had been engaged for two years to a man—the illegitimate son of a noble family. Despite Baron Diallo’s fierce opposition, they had managed to get engaged.
He had cherished Lucy sincerely, and she had fallen deeply for him in return. But not long ago, he had left behind only a suicide note and ended his life. The reason was unknown.
The shock had made Lucy stop eating entirely. Eventually, she had fallen unconscious for days—that was when Sohui had awoken in her body.
Still, Sohui couldn’t fully understand the situation. Anna’s explanation, brief and hesitant, seemed to omit something important.
She couldn’t shake the feeling Anna was hiding something.
Days passed. Other than Anna, no one visited Lucy’s room, and she herself didn’t step outside.
At first, she had been too confused to know if this was dream or reality. Then she was simply dazed at the thought of a new life. But her frail body, weakened from Lucy’s days of not eating, kept her confined to bed.
Sohui’s age in her previous life had been the same—eighteen—and she had spent nearly half that short life bedridden. Lying still didn’t bother her.
Still, she felt it was a waste to stay locked in a room after being given a new body.
As soon as she had enough strength to move, she told Anna—bringing lunch—that she wanted to take a walk.
“It’s still too soon, but later I’ll take you! You want to see the garden, right?”
Anna smiled brightly at Lucy, who had been gazing out the window toward the garden.
She said she had grown up with Lucy almost like a friend. Since Lucy wasn’t treated like a proper daughter, much less given a personal maid, Anna had always looked after her carefully, despite having to mind the baron’s temper.
“Of course, all I could do was sneak you leftover scraps at mealtimes…”
Anna trailed off with a gloomy voice as they strolled through the garden that day.
From above, the garden had looked nice—but up close, it was stunning, full of vibrant blooms. Lucy became absorbed in the sight.
That was when a girl her age approached, dressed in an elegant navy gown.
“Anna, who is that?”
Lucy’s whispered question made Anna frown.
“That is your older sister, Lady Jessica…”
Before Anna had even finished, Jessica stopped before Lucy and smirked.
“So you’re perfectly fine now? After acting like you were about to die?”
Lucy blinked, not knowing how to respond. Jessica spoke again.
“Oh, that’s right—you said you lost your memory. Good. Honestly, that’s a blessing for you. If I were in your shoes, I couldn’t endure such disgrace with my sanity intact.”
Her tone was openly hostile.
“If she’s my sister, why does she seem so antagonistic toward me?”
Lucy asked Anna after Jessica turned and walked away.
“Ah, my lady… you don’t know the half of it. Actually, Jessica is…”
Anna hesitated, then seemed to steel herself and told Lucy the ugly truth of the Diallo family.
Lucy was the daughter of the baron’s lawful wife.
But before marriage, the baron had a mistress—and from her, he had a child: Jessica.
Lucy’s mother had always been frail. Neglected by the baron, she had died shortly after giving birth to Lucy from lingering complications.
The rest of the story, Lucy could guess without hearing it. From the moment she woke in the shabby room, she had suspected as much.
Just comparing her own worn, threadbare gray dress to Jessica’s finery made the neglect clear.
A few days later—about four days since their last encounter—
the baron’s wife, who hadn’t visited since the first day, appeared at Lucy’s door.
