Arc 4: Chapter 89

Elenor felt like she was floating in the air. It was quiet and nobody disturbed her.

'Am I dead?' she questioned herself.

As if someone was answering her, she suddenly heard a voice. An extremely familiar voice she had heard her entire life.

She opened her eyes to find herself in an apartment which was almost three times smaller than her room back at the Marquess' household. However instead of an unknown room, she knew where she was.

She was back in her apartment in her world. She blinked her eyes before rubbing them in disbelief. She returned back to her world?

"Impossible…" she muttered to herself but quickly looked around the apartment, double checking if it truly was her apartment which it was.

"I must be dreaming.." she then proceeded to pinch herself but felt a short pain jolting up her skin.

Remembering that she heard a voice before this, she looked around but found nobody until she heard water running from her toilet. Not long after, a figure emerged out of the bathroom with a towel around their neck.

"Phew that was really healing! Hot baths are the best!"

Elenor widened her eyes in shock as she watched her previous self wiping her hair with the towel around her neck.

She had brown eyes with two tiny moles under each eye and short brown hair which was extremely messy looking as she ruffled it with the towel. Silver rimmed glasses rested on her nose bridge.

Elenor realised something was off and looked down at her body. Her upper body was intact however her lower half was gone and was instead smoke. Her face paled at the sight of it.

'So I'm really dead!?'

"Beer~ Beer~ Delicious beer~"

While Elenor was freaking out, she heard her previous self humming as she rummaged through her fridge before closing it shut with a can of beer in her hand.

'For now let's observe…' she thought to herself.

Her previous self sat in front of her laptop and cracked her knuckles, "I should start thinking of the plot for the second book."

Hearing this, Elenor was able to confirm she was watching herself before she suddenly woke up in her book. She floated down, standing behind her previous self, watching her randomly blasting music as she wrote.

Her previous self let out a yawn, her eyes slowly drooping. Quickly, she shook her head, slapping herself on the cheeks.

"Don't fall asleep yet Hyejin! You need to finish the first chapter at least!!" her previous self muttered but it wasn't effective as she fell asleep on her laptop within minutes.

Elenor sighed, shaking her head at her own self. Watching her previous self made her embarrassed, it felt like she was watching an old recorded video her parents used to do when she was young.

Elenor wondered why she was here when she noticed smoke seeping into her apartment. She furrowed her brows in confusion before she heard loud crackling. In no time, more smoke filled her apartment and the door to her apartment was burned by the fire. She could hear shouting outside and cries from the inside yet her previous self did not move.

'Is this how I died..?'

Before Elenor saw her body being burnt into a crisp the scenery right before her changed. There was no fire seen but people dressed in black with quiet sobs echoing. She then saw her family standing near a coffin with tears running down their faces.

Her heart ached as she knew what this was. It was her own funeral. She saw her friends and even her coworkers attending. Elenor tried to touch their shoulder yet her hands went through them.

"Mum...Dad...I'm here.." she called out to her parents but they couldn't hear her.

"Hyejin...my baby...mum and dad are sorry for not being able to protect you.." her dad cried out.

Her mum couldn't say anything as she cried harder, nearly choking on her own tears. Elenor felt tears rolling down her cheek and she tried to call out to them.

"Mum! Dad! I'm right here!" she yelled out but nobody heard her.

She continued trying to call them out repeatedly yet it was all inevitable. Nobody noticed her. Not even her family. All she could do was watch people send their condolences and mourn for her.

By the time, her tears finally dried up, the scenery changed once more and this time instead of being a bystander, she was in it.

She was sitting in her own room with Alec by her side, pouring tea for her. Her eyes brightened at the sight of Alec and just as she was about to call his name, he looked up at her with disdain.

She blinked, clearly caught off guard by the sudden disdain look in his eyes. She tried to get up from her seat but her feet were rooted to the ground as she picked up the tea cup.

Her eyes widened in horror. She wasn't in control of the body. It was as if it was on autopilot mode instead. She slowly drank the tea before nodding at Alec.

"Finally you made decent tea." she said in a haughty tone, clearly mocking Alec's skills.

Alec bowed, "This insolent butler of yours will try harder."

She scoffed, "Try harder? Just how dumb and useless are you?" she asked before splashing hot tea onto Alec, drenching him.

Elenor cringe yet it did not show on her face. Instead a smirk was plastered on her face as she placed the teacup down.

"Pour." she ordered and Alec did as she ordered, his eyes dead like a fish.

Before she could reach for the teacup, she felt immense pain shooting through her body. She twisted her body left and right before falling to the ground, shaking terribly. Elenor gasped for air but she still couldn't breathe as her windpipe closed up.

"Finally the poison worked." she could hear Alec sighing.

He squatted down and smirked as Elenor glared at him with anger, "Wh..what did you...do!?" she spat out in anger despite being in pain.

Alec glanced at the teacup before turning back at her. "What do you think?"

Elenor could clearly see the murderous intent in his voice and eyes. His eyes which bore into hers were nothing like the way he looked at her. These were dead, emotionless and murderous.

"...You will..pay for...this..!!" Elenor swore, her glare growing even worse which made Alec chuckle.

He grabbed onto her face and took a blunt butter knife out of his coat, "After all you have done, you deserve a painful death."

Before it pierced through her, the scene disappeared and the pain Elenor felt was gone. She gasped for air, her body trembling in fear. She swore she saw her life passing through her eyes!

After she calmed down, she noticed she was standing in the middle of nothing but darkness. She continued looking around but never once moving as she was afraid of what might happen if she did.

She was thinking of what she had to do in order to get out of here when she noticed a figure walking towards her. She squinted her eyes before seeing who it was.

"...Elenor?" she sputtered out, not expecting to see her.

Elenor had an expressionless look on her face as she stared at her.

She was about to point out at how she looked exactly like her when she noticed she returned back to her previous self's body. Hyejin blinked, clearly confused by this situation she was in.

Elenor however, did not wait any longer and spoke in a solemn voice, "Aren't you glad this didn't happen?" she questioned Hyejin who awkwardly stood in front of her.