This is a story of when I was younger, slightly after the time I fell down the stairs and remembered my previous life.

Scary.

It feels like something scary is outside.

Not just one, but hundreds and thousands of them.

“Outside. There is something scary…” A soft whimper came out of my mouth.

Even though by that time I already had memories of my teenage self and knew that things like the bogeyman hiding under the bed or the monsters in the closet are not real, I was unable to contain the strange anxiety enveloping me. It seemed like just having memories is not enough to overturn the instincts of a 6-year-old child.

“It will be alright. Everything will be fine, so please rest assured and go back to sleep. Your illness will not get better if you force yourself to be awake.” The person who would hold my hands and pat my back as I hid under my covers was always the same, Diana, a black-haired maid who had just come to serve my household.

“Is mother around…?” I asked softly as I lifted my covers a little to peek out.

“Lady Rosaline is currently preoccupied with something. But I am sure she will come once she is available. Together with your father,” she said as she stroked my head. Although she was younger than me when I died, her hands were filled with calluses, and I could see old scars on her legs and arms underneath her nightgown. It was not difficult to imagine the kind of life she had been through before this.

“Un. It is at night after all. I must not say selfish things like that,” I whispered, half to myself, before covering my face with my covers again.

“Lady Liliana…”

A soft sigh escaped from the maid’s lips.

“When I first met you, I told you I’ll protect you at all cost, didn’t I? There is nothing for you to worry about. When you wake up, everything will be fine again. I promise.” Her calloused hands wrapped around my small ones and gripped it firmly.

The warmth and security from her hands comforted me, and I nodded.

“Okay…”

As if there was magic, I felt myself getting coaxed back into the darkness in my mind.

And the next day, just like Diana had said, everything was back to normal.

The maids who were tasked to bring breakfast to me brought in freshly baked bread at the same timing as always.

The gardener greeted me as cheerfully as always while he swept up black dust from the ground.

My mother hugged me when she met me and scolded me as always when I did not use the corner of the napkin to wipe my mouth after having my lunch.

It was truly as if nothing had happened.

However, there was a difference. The eyes of the servants as they looked at me were unmistakably…

Filled with fear.

I had always wondered why that was so…

*****

“Lil-”

Someone was calling my name…

“Liliana-”

Who? Who was calling my name so desperately?

“Lady Liliana!”

Even though I wanted to sleep more!

I could no longer take the incessant shouting and opened my eyes.

An unknown man with burgundy-coloured hair and round glasses entered my field of vision. On his forehead, sweat droplets accumulated before rolling down the side of his face.

Behind the man, a pair of familiar azure blue eyes came into view.

“Prince Charles?”

“Lady Liliana! You have finally woken up,” the boy said as a relieved smile spread across his face. He inched closer before asking, “How are you feeling? Is there anywhere that hurts?” His eyes searched my face anxiously.

Truth to be told, my whole body ached and there was a throbbing pain on my ankle. My head was heavy and my body felt unusually warm. What exactly happened to me?

As I was searching for words to answer the prince, the unknown man took out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead as he said, “Good to see that the young lady has woken up. We have been very worried about you.”

He gave a gentle smile as he asked, “Do you think you can sit up for a while? It will be easier for you to take the medicine.”

I nodded and tried to prop myself up. The unfamiliar man immediately helped to support my back.

Just then, the seat jostled violently, and I could feel my body being thrown up into the air. However, I was held steady by the unfamiliar man and managed to stay on the seat.

Prince Charles, who had sat down on the seat opposite me, cast a worrying look outside before turning to me.

“Are you alright? Do you want to lie down instead?”

I looked around the small space I was in. Polished dark brown wood with plush seats and dark blue curtains drawn down - it was unmistakably a carriage. However, it was not the same carriage that we had taken to the town.

But why was I with Prince Charles in a carriage? There was something about the situation that I was unable to match up.

“Um, where are we right now? If I don’t remember wrongly, I should have been…”

I should have been kidnapped with the heroine and then brought to the kidnappers’ hideout. Over there, I met one of the supporting characters in ‘Resonant Hearts’, Sui, and then one of the kidnappers came in…

At that moment, the silver glint of a knife flashed across my mind.

“Ah! Valeria! Is Valeria alright?” I leaned forward to grab the Prince’s hands as I asked urgently.

“Ah-!” Beside us, the unfamiliar man paled as he raised an arm seemingly to stop me.

“Who is Valeria?” Prince Charles asked with his brows creased as he held my hand tight in return.

“Um, she is a girl around my age with silver hair and amethyst eyes.”

“Ah.” Prince Charles nodded in understanding. “Yes, the girl is fine. In fact, she was the one who provided valuable information that helped us to find you. We managed to rescue the boy that was with you as well. ”

Ah, right. What happened after that came back into my mind.

There was a sudden flood of black rabbit-like creatures which fell onto the kidnapper and chased him away. After which Valeria was supposed to run away to seek help. It seems like she had managed to escape safely.

“And about that…” Prince Charles muttered something as his eyes darted down. “The neckla-“

“Thank goodness, she is safe!” I exclaimed as I curled up and buried my face between my knees. At that moment, I was terrified that the man would injure Valeria just like that. All hail plot armour-sama!  

“Young lady, you are too agitated. It will not be good for your recovery,” the unknown man warned cautiously as he adjusted his glasses.

“I’m sorry,” I apologised as I quickly sat properly again. I am a noble lady after all, so I can’t let my guard down and behave inappropriately especially when the Prince was with me.

Seeing my sudden change in demeanour, he gave an uncomfortable smile. “There is nothing for Lady Liliana to apologise for. In fact, please pardon my rudeness for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Leigh Hughman. I am a doctor from the Royal Palace. Pleased to meet your acquaintance,” the man introduced formally.

“I understand that you must have many questions, but please take this medicine first. Your ankle is swollen and you are having a fever. This will help to lessen the discomfort until we get you back home. Its effect might not be as good as the magic the young lad cast on you, so please bear with it for a while,” the doctor, Leigh, said while giving an apologetic face as he held out a packet of brown powder with a cup of water.

“Thank you,” I said as I accepted the medicine and the water.

The bitterness of the medicine cleared my head up, and I could feel myself calming down.

“Is there anything you want? Are you hungry?” Prince Charles asked as his blue eyes glanced over me worriedly.

“I’m okay,” I replied as strongly as I could. “But more than that, can you explain to me what is happening now? Are we on the way back to the mansion?”

“Yes. Using the information obtained from the girl as well as…” The expression on his face clouded for a moment before returning to his usual gentle expression. “Some other people, we managed to track the footsteps of the kidnappers to find you together with a boy in the forest.”

“You were under attack by a magical creature, but the boy did an excellent job keeping the two of you safe, so you were not harmed at all.”

Hearing his words made me relax a little.

“I see...”

In the original story, when the heroine and Sui were held by slave traders, they were saved by a passing merchant. In this case, since I had arbitrarily changed the scenario by helping Valeria to escape first, it seemed like Prince Charles and the other guards were the ones who had found us instead.

Well, as long as everyone was well and alive that was all that mattered.

“Lady Liliana?” Prince Charles prompted. Was he worried because I had fallen silent?

“Please do not be concerned. I am just feeling a little tired,” I explained and I tried to make a smile.

“Is that so?” He gave an extremely unconvinced face. “Your body was heating up in an unusual manner before you woke up. Do you remember anything about that?”

Looking into his blue eyes, I felt my lips part open in a daze.

Was there something like that? I could only remember him shouting my name repeatedly. Was there something else that had happened before that? I felt as if something was lingering at the corner of my mind but was unable to grab hold of it.

“If you can’t remember it, perhaps it is better to let it rest?” Leigh said with a sympathetic expression.

“You must have been exhausted with such a terrible thing happening to you. And falling sick on top of- Oof.”

The doctor gave a grunt as the carriage swerved to the right suddenly and he was thrown to the door. The Prince and I managed to hold onto the seat tightly, so we were unaffected.

“Are you alright?” I asked as I peered at Leigh who was rubbing the side of his head as he straightened himself.

“I’m fine. Ahem. It wouldn’t do for the patient to worry about the doctor now, would it?” he said embarrassedly as he sat back on the seat.

I turned my eyes to the window. As the curtains were let down, I was unable to see where we were or even how fast we were going.

“The road seems to be very bumpy.”

The road we had taken to the town this morning was fairly well-paved so we had not experienced this kind of jerkiness.

As I lifted a hand to open the curtains, a palm stopped in front of me.

I turned to look at the owner of the palm quizzically.

An expression of surprise fleeted across Prince Charles’s face before he gave a gentle smile as always.

“Please do not push yourself. You are hurt so, please rest quietly,” he said firmly. “We are rushing back to the mansion right now so the carriage ride might be bumpy. I’m very sorry about that, but please bear with it for a while more.”

I paused for a while before asking hesitantly, “Is there something happening outside?”

I stared into the Prince’s azure blue eyes unflinchingly, not wanting to miss out on anything.

An awkward silence enveloped the carriage. Even the usual loud creak of carriage wheels turning sounded a lot more muted than usual.

“There is nothing for the young lady to be worried about,” Leigh suddenly cut through the silence.

For some reason, that sentence felt very nostalgic.

“A patient’s job is to rest and heal up as fast as they can!” He said energetically.

“Now now, why don’t you lie down and rest. It won’t be long before we reach the mansion!”

Leigh, whose tension was suddenly very high, quickly fluffed up the cushion I was resting my head on and brought me to lie down again.

I was concerned about Prince Charles who had not answered my question, so I tried to observe him from the corner of my eyes.

My eyes went to his hands placed on his thighs that were slowly clenching into tight balls.

“I am sorry about this.” The voice that came out of the young boy was low and very much unlike his usual tone. “Even though you must be feeling uncertain and scared, there are so many things I can’t tell you. No, rather, I am not sure of what exactly I should say.”

“It is alright, your Highness. If you do not think that it is something to tell me at this point, I will not hurry you.”

Even if things were being hidden from me, I had no rights to complain as I was hiding things from others as well.

Although I had meant for my words to be comforting, for some reason it only caused him to be more shaken instead.

He closed his eyes as he squeezed words from his mouth. “Even though I am supposed to be a Royalty, I am completely useless in situations like this. All I am doing is getting caught up in the events.”

His fists that had turned white from clenching it too tightly were starting to shake.

Could it be that he was feeling responsible for my kidnapping?

I quickly sat up again.

I could see from the doctor’s face that he had something to say but I ignored him

I reached out with both my hands to touch the young boy’s fists gently.

“We may be young and immature now, and the things we can do may be limited, but it will not remain like that forever. You do not need to be angry at yourself for what had happened.”

However, Prince Charles continued to shut his eyes tightly. It seemed like my words were not getting to him at all.

“For example, your Highness, who do you think is the mastermind behind today’s events?” I asked seriously.

“What do you mean?” Prince Charles asked as he lifted his head.

“It is just a guess, but I think that the mastermind is Christian.”

His blue eyes slowly widened. “Why do you say that?”

I’m sorry, I apologised silently as I continued with my explanations.

“It is just my speculation, but Christian gave you a memo to head to the jewellery shop, didn’t he? It was something not on our schedule, so I thought the reason why we went there was due to the memo he passed to you.”

Prince Charles nodded with a stern face. “That is correct. The memo told me to pick something up for you in the jewellery shop. But I believed its authenticity as it had the seal of the Remington family.”

“Christian is very close to my father so it would not be too much of a stretch if he had obtained it without his permission,” I theorised. “Plus, when I was kidnapped, no one came to my immediate rescue. Today’s arrangement for the security was supposed to be done up by Christian. This means that he is the best person to have arranged for such a lapse.”

Truth be told, I was aware that the engagement between the Royal family and the Remington family was not supported by other nobility. Although it was partly because of my knowledge from the novels, it was not too difficult to glean this information from the conversations amongst the servants.

The Remington family was considered to be one of the most prestigious and illustrious family in the Kingdom. We had a heritage that could be traced back to the founding of the Kingdom, However, it ended more or less with that. We did not have many natural resources and our towns were not particularly wealthy. Our best contribution was as the ‘guard dog’ against the Acardia Forest.

For the future Queen to be a countryside bumpkin with a bad reputation to boot, it was not difficult to imagine that many people were unable to swallow such a thing.

“But why will he do something like that? He has been a long-serving butler in your house, hasn’t he?” the Prince asked.

That was a good question.

The memory of him looking at his family portrait right before we left the mansion flashed through my mind.

“Perhaps his family has been threatened?” I proposed. “If he had been threatened by bad guys to orchestrate this kidnapping if he wants his family back alive? If his family has been threatened, then there could be a chance that he had no choice but to follow through their orders to save them.”

Prince Charles held his hand up to his chin and nodded. “That sounds like a possible reason.”

The corners of my lips lifted up as I watched his innocent reaction.

“Your Highness, do you believe in the story I have just said?”

The Prince looked confused. “It was a story?”

“I do not know,” I admitted. “Mmm… This is similar to me trying to guess who the bad guy is while I am in the middle of the story.”

“The most important thing is; we are still alive. And as long as we are alive, we can find out the truth and kick the ass of the people behind this,” I said positively with a wink.

Opposite me, Prince Charles only stared at me quietly. Not quite the kind of reaction I had expected. Was I too crass? Had I gone overboard with the wink? Behaving like a lady was still a skill I had yet to master…

As I was reflecting on my actions, the Prince seemed to have come to a conclusion.

“Lady Liliana is really amazing. You are able to stay calm and make think logically even during such a traumatising event. I really can’t compare to that at all.” Breaking our eye contact, he hung his head.

It seems like I was quite a poor comforter.

“I am not as composed as I look,” I answered awkwardly. “I am only able to get this far because I had something to believe in.”

“Something you believed in…” Prince Charles echoed my words. “But if the Head Butler is really the one behind this, wouldn’t your trust have been betrayed?”

The truth was, I had believed that plot armour-sama would not abandon me! But it was not something I could say out.

I took a deep breath and sat back to lean against the seat.

“Well, I can understand since he probably does not have positive feelings for me.”

Looking at his searching eyes, I made a small smile. “No, not just him - most of the servants probably hate me after all.”

I paused and steered my eyes to the curtains as I gathered my courage before opening my mouth again.

He might have known about this already though.

“When I was 3-years-old, I almost burned down the entire mansion.”

In the novels, Liliana’s background was only introduced briefly. We were merely told that she was brought up as a spoiled and sheltered young lady, and that she had a bad relationship with her family and servants. Before I was reborn as her, I had never put too much thought into it. To me, she was simply an unlikeable character.

However, after remembering my previous life memories after the accident when I was six, I started to understand the reason why she became a twisted person.

“They have probably told you; my magic is unstable. When I get agitated, it is easy for my powers to go awry. It started with small things, like the paintings shaking or the flowers wilting. But when I was three, my magic completely went out of control and it burned down half of the mansion.”

Even now, I could still remember the terror of being trapped in a circle of orange flames. The details were faint, but I could remember that the thoughts ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ repeated throughout my mind endlessly as I crouched down helplessly.

“Thankfully no one died, but there were a number of servants who were seriously injured during that accident. To prevent an accident like that from happening again, my parents built a building with magic resistance just for me.”

Yes, that was the building that I was staying in with Diana now. Under the beautiful wallpaper were magical runes inscribed into the walls, similar to the concept of an ice house. Inside that house, magic cannot be used. It was the best place to put me - someone whose magic was prone to getting out of control when I get agitated.

I moved in when I was around 4-years-old with my then nanny. From that day onwards, I had lived separately from my family. As the building had all I needed to survive, there was no need for me to even leave the building.

“But it is fine this way.”

As my words went on, the creases between the boy’s brows became deeper.

Don’t make such a face. These are not just pretty words.

If I had not remembered my past life, I would probably have ended up hating my family who secluded me in another building, hated the servants who avoided me and talked behind my back, and then at the end, I would likely have ended up sharing the same fate as the Liliana in the novels.

But I will not go down the same path.

“After all, I understand where everyone is coming from.  A person who injures others and can cause the mansion to burn to crisp anytime most likely seems to be a monster to them-”

“I disagree!” A loud voice startled me.

With a face that was flushed red, Prince Charles shook his head furiously.

“Lady Liliana is not a monster!”

It was my first time seeing him so agitated.

“Lady Liliana is a person loves sweets and desserts. She loves books, especially those with female heroines. And even though she may look stern, her room is filled with plush toys and cute items!”

Erm, the last part was because of my brother though.

“I… I mean that Lady Liliana is a normal girl. So please. Please don’t call yourself a monster...” With teary eyes, the young boy spoke with a trembling voice.

Kind, gentle and considerate, but dependable when the need arises. Even though he was just a 10-year-old boy, he was definitely the Prince Charles that I knew from the novels.

I think I can understand the reason why Liliana was head over heels in love with him now.

“Your Highness, I am fine, so please don’t cry,” I said as I tried to give the brightest smile possible.

“I am not crying,” Prince Charles said as he wiped the tears from his eyes using his sleeves.

What’s with this cute childish reaction all of a sudden?!

Well, even though he had been asking me if I was fine, he must have been the person feeling the most terrified and worn out by everything that had happened.

“Yes, yes,” I said as I reached out both arms to hug him.

His small body trembled under my arms as he sobbed.

Now that I think about it… He won’t feel offended having a girl younger than him console him right? This is not lese majeste, right?

That boy hugging me tightly back probably had no idea the kind of stupid thoughts that were going through my mind.

“I am sorry to interrupt…”

Oh dear, it seems like the was a person who had been conveniently forgotten by the both of us.  

The doctor smiled awkwardly as he pointed at the window.

“It seems like we have arrived back to the mansion. We should get ready to get off soon.”

He lifted the curtains slightly, and I could faintly see lights coming from a multi-storey building in the distance.

Phew. I let out a sigh of relief.

After this, I’m going to take a nice hot bath, followed by a long nap. After all the excitement, exhaustion was starting to catch up with me.

My part in the story is over, so what was left shall be up to the adults to handle.

*****

“We are sorry.”

Something out of my expectations had happened.

In front of the staircase stood three people; my father, my mother and the person I had just spoken badly about, Christian.

Once again, I apologised to him silently in my mind.

It was not an unusual trio.

What was unusual was that all three of them had their heads lowered the moment we stepped into the foyer.

In front of them on each side, stood rows of armed guards in full battle gear. From their stoic faces laced with dust and grime. It was easy to guess that they had been through some rough times before coming here.

“What is the meaning of this?” Prince Charles said as he took a step forward.

My father raised his head just a little to glance over the both of us. His sharp green eyes lingered on my face a little before he lowered his head again.

Then once again, in a heavy voice, he said:

“We are… very sorry.”