TVHLHM 02

What on earth does she mean?

“I didn’t go to the party?”

I glanced at the calendar. The party had taken place yesterday.

“I was at the venue last night. That’s where the accident happened.”

“No, my lady. The reason you collapsed was…”

Anna trailed off, clearly hesitant. I waited silently for her to continue.

Finally, Anna spoke.

“It was because you drank a love potion. You really don’t remember?”

“What? What did I drink?”

“A love potion, my lady. You drank some suspicious concoction, not even knowing where it came from, and collapsed.”

“Why would I drink something like that?”

“Because… you wanted to become His Second Highness’s lover.”

“Prince Andreas?”

He was already my lover.

“But we’re already in a relationship. Why would I drink something like that when we’re already together?”

“My lady…”

Anna’s voice was faint, as if this was all too much for her.

“This is a joke, right?”

If she wasn’t joking, Anna would never say something so ridiculous.

“My father, my brother, even the servants… Are you all just trying to scare me?”

I knew my family and the staff well. They weren’t the type to pull such elaborate pranks. But if this wasn’t a joke, then none of it made sense.

“The side effects must be worse than I thought… How could things come to this…”

The physician looked at me like I was a patient with a serious condition, his pity evident. His gaze was so intense it made it hard to even argue with him.

Something was clearly wrong. Very, very wrong.

“I’d like to be alone for a bit. Could you leave me? You too, Anna.”

I used the excuse of wanting to rest to send them out. Even alone, I couldn’t calm the confusion swirling inside me.

“Are they all serious?”

If they were truly being sincere, then there was only one possible explanation for everything— This was a dream.

“I must be dreaming.”

That would explain all the nonsense.

Thinking of it as a dream made the situation feel less overwhelming. Eventually, I would wake up and everything would go back to normal.

____________.𖥔 ݁ ˖𓆰♕𓆪 ֶָ֢. _________

I dreamed again—inside a dream.

Is that even possible?

But this one really was a dream.

It was the day I returned home with my family after my debutante ball.

“One gentleman told me I was more kind than I looked!”

“He said you were kind?”

“Yes. It was a compliment, but the way he said it, it sounded like a surprise.”

“Why would that surprise him?”

As I shared what had happened at the ball, Father and Milan, who sat across from me in the carriage, both fixed their eyes on me.

I continued speaking casually, as I had that day.

“He said I looked sensitive, probably because of my expression.”

Apparently, my blank expression gave the wrong impression.

Sensitive? Me? I was always considered mild-mannered. I’d never gotten angry over trivial things, and I believed in letting things go.

I took out a hand mirror. Sure enough, my neutral expression did look a little cold. Was it the slightly sharp tilt of my eyes?

“Now that he mentioned it, maybe I do look a little aloof… Do I seem unapproachable?”

“What nonsense.”

Milan scowled.

“Who said that to you? Who dared say something like that?”

“Are you angry?”

“Of course I am. Who the hell thinks they can judge my little sister?”

Milan was always calm and rational—except when it came to me.

Others might find him hard to approach, but he was always kind to me.

“Whoever he is, he’s rude. Don’t associate with people like that.”

Father added his voice.

“No matter how you look, you’ll always be my precious daughter.”

“Father, really…”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his affectionate words. Maybe it was because my family doted on me so much that the servants still treated me like a child.

And I was a full-grown adult now.

“You must be tired from all the excitement. Why don’t you take a nap?”

The topic of the rude gentleman faded, and Father gently suggested rest. Milan immediately took off his jacket and laid it over me.

“Then I’ll close my eyes just for a bit. Please wake me when we arrive.”

No need to carry me all the way to my room like before.

I fell asleep again without realizing it—forgetting entirely that this was a dream repeating the past.

And when I woke again, I was back in the world I had desperately wished to escape.

____________.𖥔 ݁ ˖𓆰♕𓆪 ֶָ֢. _________

“How are you feeling?”

“So it wasn’t a dream after all?”

The physician’s face was filled with sympathy. I was rarely ever sick, so it was strange to see him at all, let alone like this. His look of concern was draining.

Why couldn’t I just wake up?

I hadn’t changed. I was still me. This room was still my room.

And yet, everything had become unfamiliar.

I opened my eyes to find the brother who once adored me now looking at me with disgust, and the father who used to be gentle was now cold.

And apparently, I was never Prince Andreas’s lover.

“They can’t all be lying… unless they’re all in on some cruel joke!”

But they had no reason to. None of them were the kind of people to do this, and their behavior was far too serious to be considered a prank.

“What exactly is wrong with me, then?”

“Physically, you’re in good health. But… it seems there’s been significant trauma elsewhere.”

“Why are you looking at my head?”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Don’t even think about saying I’ve lost my mind. I’m perfectly fine.”

“Of course. I will do my utmost to help you recover, my lady.”

Stop treating me like I’m crazy.

No matter what I said, he wouldn’t listen. He insisted on preparing an herbal tonic for “clearing the mind.”

I saw him signal to Anna before leaving. She followed after him quietly, leaving me alone in the room.

I tiptoed to the door and pressed my ear against it.

“Make sure she doesn’t throw the medicine away,” he whispered to Anna.

As if I’d throw it!

I stopped listening and went to my desk. I opened the drawer and pulled out my journal.

With everyone around me acting so strangely, I had to see for myself.

“At least my journal will be normal.”

If I could just read my own words, I’d be reassured. Even if the world had changed, surely my writing remained.

But the moment I opened it, I froze.

How could His Highness do this to me? I’m so heartbroken I can hardly bear it.

In my handwriting—words I’d never written.

To reject me so coldly in front of everyone… If I’d known, I never would’ve gone to that ball.

“Confess…?”

I confessed to His Highness?

That made no sense. He was the one who confessed to me.

The entry was dated just days ago.

“We were already together. Why would I confess to him?”

And yet, the diary was filled with heartbreak. And the handwriting was unmistakably mine.

I flipped through more pages. None of the entries I’d written were there.

Only entries about dreaming of Prince Andreas’s love, and ones where I apparently fought with Milan and bad-mouthed him.

I had never written any of it.

“What is this?”

The more I read, the more I felt like I was losing my grip.

I shut the journal.

This wasn’t just strange—it was as if I were cursed.

Was Baron Price right? Was there something wrong with my mind?

No. I wasn’t insane.

It wasn’t me who had changed—it was the world around me.

Everything had shifted the moment of that accident at the party. It felt like the sky had flipped upside down.

How could something like this happen overnight?

“Am I the only one going through this…?”

Was there anyone else experiencing this madness?

Someone who could understand me. Someone who might know what was going on.

“Anyone at all…”

I racked my brain—and then one person came to mind.

That fortune-teller.

She had predicted I might die. Maybe she knew something.

I had to find out. Right away.

“Oh!”

I was just throwing on a coat when Anna came in and gasped.

“My lady? Where are you going?”

“I feel fine. There’s no reason I can’t go out. I’m stepping out for a bit.”

“Where to?”

“To see the fortune-teller.”

“What?”

“Sorry, Anna. I don’t have time to explain.”

I rushed past her. The stable was nearby, and I found the coachman grooming the carriage.

“Can you get the carriage ready right away?”

“Pardon? Did Lord Milan give permission for you to go out?”

“Why would I need my brother’s permission?”

“I heard you were unwell…”

“I’m perfectly fine. Even Baron Price said so.”

“I-I’m sorry, my lady, but I can’t…”

“What? Why not?”

Why won’t anyone let me leave?

I was about to plead with him, but his face said it all—he wouldn’t budge.

If he wouldn’t take me, I’d just hire a public carriage.

And if he wouldn’t let me through the front gate, I had another way.

There was a small side exit I used to sneak out of when I was younger.

“There it is!”

Just as I remembered it—the little hole in the wall.

I never imagined I’d use it again, but I slipped through and made it out of the estate.

No public carriages were nearby, so I ran to the main road.

“Huff… Huff…”

I hadn’t run like that in ages. I was out of breath by the time I spotted a carriage.

“Over here!”

I hailed it at once.

“To the shopping district, please.”

Thankfully, this driver wasn’t like the one from the estate. He didn’t argue.

I sank into the seat, finally able to relax.

I had brought my purse, too. Even if the fortune-teller asked for payment, I could give her something.

It was bumpy, but the carriage took me where I needed to go.

Should I ask the driver to wait?

I considered it briefly but dismissed the thought. If the fortune-teller actually knew something, we might be talking for a while.

Heart pounding, I stepped into the same fortune-telling shop from before.

The woman turned around to greet me.

“Welcome—oh?”

She blinked, her voice rising in surprise.

“You’re back again?”

She recognized me. No doubt about it.