A/N sorry the prologue was so short!
Yifei didn't die immediately. No, instead, she was bleeding out from a head wound, slowly and agonizingly. She couldn't even scream. Makes me wish I hadn't thrown that bomb.
And as her vision blurred and her hearing spluttered, she dreamt that she was walking along a path in the woods. But these trees were silver and the moonlight too bright. Then, she came across a fork. One path led out of the woods, to a shore filled with people while the other twisted out of sight, ever deeper into the forest.
And she chose left.
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Gasping awake, Yifei looked around the dark room that she was currently located in. Well, at least she tried to. She couldn't move her head properly, or lift any of her limbs, but she could tell that she was in a bed of some sort, from the soft feel of linen under her.
It wasn't her bed, as she never slept without her blinds half open, and the light coming from the windows was not striped. It wasn't a hospital either, as she couldn't hear the heart-rate monitor nor see a breathing tube.
Her eyes latched onto the ceiling painted with faeries, and she traced them, traced them in the moonlight until the sun drowned it out.
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Suddenly, a woman rushed into the room, dressed in what appears to be a maid's uniform, a bright smile on her lips and hands clutching her apron excitedly. She immediately rushed over to Yifei, swiftly lifted her out of what seems to be the cot that she had mistaken for a bed last night, and cooed gently. Huh?
She kept making adoring noises and giggling sweetly, and Yifei, who worked very hard to please those around her, instantly played along, giggling and smiling right back at her. Besides, any maid acting so silly impossible to let down. Then the maid spoke in a foreign language and carried her over to a mirror.
Through the mirror, she could see "her" room, painted a soft pastel blue and the window, outside which there lay a sleepy town she could recognize anywhere. It was, after all, a design she had her old room painted. She had been transported - no, reincarnated into the only otome game she had ever played, and it was also her sister's first Otome game, which had started her obsession and her successful career.
Looking at herself in the large silver mirror, her reflection stared right back. She, Yifei Zhao, was no longer Yifei Zhao.
But who was she then?
She knew plenty about the game, as she had researched it to be able to shove the knowledge into her sister's face whenever SiQi didn't know every aspect of the game. She was petty that way. It was a typical European fantasy world with magic and royalty and princess balls. Yeah. But now she knew which universe she was in, she needed to know which character she was.
She was obviously a noble, as she had a maid and all to attend to her, but she couldn't just guess who she was from looking at her reflection alone. In the games, the characters are shown in specific poses in scenes, and they are all far older and are only shown to the player in preset scenes.
Plus, she couldn't understand the language. While the maid was fussing over her and changing her into a small lolita style dress, she was going through the possibilities through her head. she knew there were probably seven capture targets, including the hidden routes, and around fifteen rival characters depending on which actions the heroine (player) chose. Yifei knew that there were definitely more people than just featured in the otome games - this was her life now.
She was most likely one of the female characters, as the maid was now tying a soft pink ribbon into her hair. From her brief glance at herself in the mirror, she could already tell she was going to be far more beautiful than she was in her previous life - yes, Yifei Zhao was an ugly baby.
In her previous life, she had been plain, just on the verge of ugly - stiff brown hair, muddy eyes, unbalanced figure. Arms too skinny, legs too fat. By eleven, she grew so annoyed with her tangled hair that she had asked her mother to give her a "boys style" chop. Yifei had sustained that haircut for the rest of her life, never able to fulfil her dream of the long, shiny black braid that her sister wielded.
People often joked that maybe Yifei was the rough copy that God forgot to delete before completing the beautiful, multi-talented protagonist of her twin sister. SiQi's name alone means 'riches', 'wealth' and 'success', while Yifei was just a translation misspelling of 'grass'. It's all the fault of the Chinese language.
Now, travelling down the grand hall in the maid's arms, she desperately hoped that she would not be a mediocre side character like Yifei Zhao, but someone who could live for herself, not just those around.
Entering a large room, she unwillingly cooed in surprise, causing the maids and servants seemingly cleaning the room to burst out in warm laughter and exclaim in the foreign language that the maid had used earlier. Since Yifei Zhao was an immigrant traveller in her previous life, always on the move, she had picked up a spectrum of languages that she was just itching to use in this world, and could possibly help her learn the language here.
They placed her on a mat and several of the servants sat down along her to play with her. There were little alphabet books on her left, so she immediately lunged for it. The symbols of letters were unfamiliar, but they held the same feel as ancient Greek by them. This might actually be easier than I thought.
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It was not.
The letters were completely jumbled, and her earlier experience with languages only confused her. Two months in, and she has only been able to recognize five of the thirty-six letters instantaneously.
Not a lot of progress, but the maids and servants still showered her with praise. This character must have been a spoiled brat, from how everyone looked at her with wonder and admiration for being able to read maybe half her name. All those maids and servants, yet the parents are too busy to care. This character is most likely an annoying little pig that has no regards to others' feelings. Not under my guidance!
So every day when the maid brought her to the playroom, Yifei Zhao worked relentlessly at her reading. Another month or so in, and she could finally, finally start to read the children's novels located on the middle shelf to the right of the room. Next: walking. While her reading has led her to mouth some of the words, this didn't need her to stand up or exercise.
She wanted to be able to walk herself to the playroom, as she noticed that she was growing bigger and that her maid (Saryhn, her name was) would soon tire from carrying her like that. So one day, she crawled over to her little spot by the bookshelf and held herself up carefully. She was testing out her balance stamina, so she held the position for as long as possible. Then, when she tired, she decided to sit herself down and reward herself with a well-earned book.
Saryhn and Grynnwalfus laughed at her futile attempt, but it was not meant to be hurting. No, but her slightly flushed and proud face after she had completed her little rally was endlessly amusing and sweet to the servants.
Then one day, instead of going the usual route, Saryhn, now holding Yifei's small hand and walking beside her, turned left and headed up a series of stairs, where they turned a right and another left to a grandiose set of doors, where they slowed to a stop.
"Now, little one," Saryhn's voice was more serious than usual." these are the owners of this house, and they are very important people. Little one, these are the people that will decide your name at the naming ceremony next week!" Her face brightened."Little one, these are your parents."
And she knocked on the doors with a wink towards Yifei Zhao.
