I kept waiting for the pain of the impact to hit, but it never came. Instead, I felt my body being pulled to the side, before falling with a thud.  

            “Hey, watch where you’re driving!” the sound of a man yelling snapped my eyes open. I blinked, the sun shining brightly around me, leaving a yellow afterimage in my vision. Even though I technically hadn’t been hit, every part of my body still ached.

          “What kind of stupid world doesn’t invent brake? I can’t believe I’m stuck here,” the same voice murmured.

            As I adjusted to the light, I turned my head to face the voice coming from behind. Hazel eyes, freckles, fluffy blond hair, and lips twisted into a worried frown.

          “Oh, hey, are you okay? That was quite a fall you had there,” he spoke in a soft, worried tone that contrasted his yells from earlier. 

          “Ah, yes, thank you for helping me,” I started, but I quickly shut my mouth in embarrassment when I realized exactly what position we were in. When he pulled me out of the road, we hadn’t just fallen on the ground next to each other. I had fallen on top of him and was now sitting in his lap as one of his arms wrapped around me, the other propping him up.

          “OH, I’m so sorry!” I gasped, pushing my hands against his chest as I tried to get off him. Noticing my attempt to get up, he released his hold on me.

          “It’s okay. It’s my fault for grabbing you like that, the was probably a more graceful way I could’ve done that. If you’re okay, then I’m fine,” his features softened as he drew his face into a smile. Maybe it was just the adrenaline flowing through my veins, but when his eyes met mine and he gave me that charming smile my heart immediately skipped a beat.

          I could feel myself blushing and quickly jumped up and away so that he wouldn’t see. I breathed in and turned back around the help him up. It was the least I could do.

          “It’s okay, I got it, but thank you,” he smiled. He lifted himself off the ground, wincing as he put weight on his one arm. I looked at him, the guilt of knowing he got hurt helping me sat heavy in my stomach.

          It was as I looked at him that I realized what had created the eerie feeling sitting in the back of my mind since the second I opened my eyes. His clothes. They weren’t your usual work clothes, no jeans with a nice button-up shirt. He looked like he was heading to a renaissance fair. A lace-up white shirt was covered by a patterned, tan jacket, black pants, and boots. I gawked at his outfit when my eyes noticed that my clothes themselves weren’t what they had been. My shirt and skirt had been replaced by a flowing, pale blue silk dress that swayed around me. Peeking from underneath the hem, white flats covered my feet instead of the heels I put on in the morning.

          I lifted my head and quickly gazed around me. Everything had changed. The crowded city streets had turned into cobblestone roads, the skyscrapers becoming two-story, wood, and stone houses and shops, and carriages took the spots of cars as they drove through the uneven streets. Even the truck that I had barely escaped from had become an extravagant carriage, decorated with bright white paint and gold embellishments.

          “Who would think that decorating a carriage like that would be a smart idea? It looks ridiculous,” the guy behind me said. I whipped my head around and stared at him with eyes full or confusion and fear.

          “Hey, are you sure you’re okay?” he asked me, “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

          “I don’t know how I got here,” I stuttered, completely dumbfounded by my surroundings. The door of the carriage suddenly swung open, and a man wearing clothes even more extravagant than the carriage stepped out. His platinum hair gleamed white as light passed through it, and it was impossible to not notice the handle of a sword in its sheath that the sun glinted off. The ruby red cape he wore flowed behind his as he walked forward, making it seem like he was behind followed by a rushing waterfall of blood.

          “Carac, why have you stopped the carriage?”  he asked, his tone showing obvious annoyance.

          “There was someone in the street that we nearly hit, so I stopped to check where she was,” the man sitting in the driver's seat answered. The blond man looked around, and when he saw me, he stared at me with piercing gold eyes. His glare was the definition of ‘if looks could kill’. Though he could only be, at most, a few inches taller than me his presence made it seem like he was towering over me.

          “Ah, so you’re the clumsy little rat who was stupid enough to scamper in front of my carriage and inconvenience me.”

          He stepped closer to me, and as I staggered backward and nearly fell, but was held steady by the same man who had helped me. His firm grasp on my shoulders kept me upright and gave me a small sense of reassurance.

          “Hey, prick, who are you calling an inconvenience? It was your stupid carriage that almost hit her,” the sense of safety dispelled as soon as the appalled reaction to the taunts spread across the blond man’s face.

        “Wait, I know who you are,” the blond man’s face of contempt quickly turned into a menacing smirk, “you’re with the son of the duke, Lawrence’s aide, aren’t you?”

          “Yeah, I am, so?”

          “Figures. The family is such a disgrace to the empire, of course they would have such ill-mannered help,” the blond man snicked, “with indecent filth like you working for them, there is no wondering why they are crumbling.” The man holding me released his grip and took heavy steps toward the other.

          “Listen here, you little sh-“

          “Oliver, stand down,” a third man came out of the shop behind us, a petite girl following behind him. The man who had helped me, who’s name I now knew, stepped back.

          “But Lawrence,” Oliver turned to the third man.

          “I said stand down,” Lawrence sternly cut Oliver up, seemingly shutting him up for good.

          “I’m sorry, your highness, for his crude behavior. I assure you that he will be punished for his actions. He isn’t normally like this, so please excuse this as it is a one-time occurrence,” Lawrence turned to the blond man, bowing his head as he apologized. The blond-haired man looked as if he was going to give a harsh response, but when he spotted the girl standing behind Lawrence, he immediately changed his tone.

          “Tch, because I am generous, I won’t punish you myself, but do not expect this type of leniency in the future,” though he smiled and spoke kindly, I could hear the subtle annoyance that he was trying to hide.

          “Your highness, what happened to cause such a commotion?” the girl behind Lawrence asked, her soft voice barely audible.

          “Oh, hello Ryia,” the man acted surprised as if he hadn’t already noticed her, “it appears that this poor girl fainted and fell into the road, where my carriage nearly hit her. She seems to be in shock, so I was going to take her back to the palace to treat her.”

          Wait, her name was Ryia? It wasn’t exactly a common name, in fact, the only place I heard it was in… the book I had been reading the night before. My eyes widened. It all made sense. I thought transmigration stories like this appeared in, well, only books. Yet, here I was, standing in the middle of a cobblestone sidewalk, stuck between four fantasy characters. Honestly, it was a realization that I couldn’t process, and for now, my mind was just skipping over the ridiculousness of the scenario and continuing as if this was normal.

          God, not only did I get sent to a book, but it was a truck that sent me there. How cliché.

          “And Ryia, please, call me Sawyer, not your highness. It is far too formal for someone as important to me as you are,” he looked at her with a bright smile that was the direct opposite of the look of disapproval that he had given me earlier.

          I furrowed my brows, my mouth gaping open at his words. The shift in his behavior was almost laughable, exactly what you’d expect from his character in the book. Sawyer was the sad excuse of a male lead, the kind that every girl loved despite the obvious red flags. In the story, the female lead fell head over heels for him, it didn’t matter how toxic, fake, and aggressive he was.

          My eyes shifted to the girl. So, she was Ryia. The author had perfectly described her delicate features and chestnut waves that were intertwined with flowers and braids. I should’ve recognized her immediately. If that were the case, then the only girl character I could be was her lady-in-waiting, named…

          “Oh dear god, June, you almost got hit by the carriage? Are you okay?!?” her sharp nose wrinkled with worry as she ran over to me. Grabbing my arm, she pulled me into an embrace.

          “Are you hurt? How did you get out of the street in time? How did this all happen?” she pulled back, holding me at arm’s length for a second to ask me the question.

          “I apologize, it was all due to the incompetence of my driver. June tripped into the street, and it took Carac an unacceptable amount of time to stop the horses. He was mere seconds away from creating a disaster,” Sawyer bowed his head, try to play up his fake apology and explanation, “I will make sure that Carac is reprimanded in a way that ensures that this will never occur again, and your safety will never be in jeopardy.”

          “I am thankful for your apology, your highness, but please don’t be harsh on your driver. Mistakes happen, and I am sure that it all happened very quickly. In the end, June came out alive, so that is all that matters,” Ryia responded with a soft tone and a small curtsey.

          “Now, please allow me to take you and June back to the palace so she may be evaluated and treated by the royal doctors. It would be a shame if something was missed and she ended up hurt,” Sawyer reached out his hand to Ryia, “Carac, please quickly get a second carriage.”

          Carac raced away at Sawyer’s command.

          “Ryia, you and I can ride in this together, and give June her own.”

          Ryia blushed a bit but responded to his proposition with concern, “wouldn’t it be unsafe to leave June all alone?”

          “It will be best for her to rest on her own in the quiet on the way there. Please allow me to take care of you, I insist.”

          Oliver snorted at his reasoning, making me laugh a bit. I mean, it was a stupid idea. Sawyer obviously was just trying to get time with Ryia, even if it meant being a bit manipulative.

          “If you insist, then there is no way I can refuse, your highness,” Ryia gave him a soft smile of gratitude, “your kindness is much appreciated.”

          Once the second carriage came into view, Sawyer invited Ryia onto his carriage, taking her hand to help her up. As he closed the door, he gave Oliver and Lawrence one final, pretentious sneer. They took off, leaving Lawrence, Oliver, and I alone on the sidewalk for a moment. When the second carriage arrived, I got in and closed the door. Through the open window, I could hear the two speaking.

          “I seriously can’t believe that this prick is royalty. That lying piece of sh-” Oliver exclaimed a little louder than he should’ve. Lawrence smacked him on the head before he could finish.

          “Hey, dumbass, if he is royalty then you can’t continue to say shit like that, or else you’ll get yourself killed. Are you really that stupid?” Lawrence asked him through gritted teeth. He grabbed Oliver’s collar and pulled him behind him.

          “Ow, ow, ow ow,” Oliver cried out in pain, rubbing his next once Lawrence let go. He grumbled some sort of profanity under his breath. I couldn’t help but giggle at his actions, he was ridiculously stupid.

          I stuck my head out the window as the wheels slowly began to roll.

           “Thank you again, Oliver,” I gave a small shout. He smiled at me in return, keeping his eyes on me until I pulled my head back into the carriage and sat down. I leaned back, and my mind finally began to piece together the reality I was stuck in.