Chapter One — Crazy

If I could define my emotional state right now, describing it with just one word would be difficult, but I'll try.

CRAZY.

I'm going CRAZY.

I woke up in an unknown room, with strange clothes and hair of a different color. If I didn't know it was impossible, I would think I had entered a novel or arrived in some strange world. Hahahahaha.

"..."

I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror closest to the bed. My hair was no longer brown, it was now black, reaching a little below my waist.

"What the hell?!" I exclaimed in a low voice fearing that someone would come. My eyes were different, now a bright amber color. I touched my face in case it was fake. Was I dreaming? MY EYES USED TO BE BROWN, POOP COLOR!

Knock Knock

I leaned back against the dresser with fear. The door opened slowly, revealing a girl in a black dress and a white apron, like the one worn by the maids of nobles in the past.

"Good morning, Lady. How did you sleep?" she asked informally, looking at me with some disdain. I nodded, still terrified.

I gathered all the courage I could and asked in a trembling voice. "Who are you and where are we?" The girl looked at me confused. Please don't look at me like I'm crazy…

"We are at the Marquis Allen's mansion, in the Grace Empire. I am the temporary personal maid of my Lady, Calie," she spoke without looking at me in the face while taking a dress out of a room near the bed. Marquis Allen? Grace Empire?

Did they kidnap me, drugged me, and put me in an illusion chamber to see how the human brain reacts to the drug? ... Okay, Leah, breathe. "Hey..." Calie looked at me with scorn.

I didn't realize when she had started to get me dressed. "W-what are you doing?!" I tried to walk away.

"Don't make this any harder, Miss Sophia, no matter what you do, you will have to marry Duke Kleas," she told me while holding my arm and tightening a corset. WHAT?!

"D-did you say Miss Sophia?" I stammered with terror at the answer. "That's right...?" she replied tiredly. Sophia Allen... Duke Kleas... Grace Empire…

OMG! Aren't all these names from the novel "Loving You Till Death"?! Am I inside that trashy novel and I'm no more and no less than the villainess?!

Calie sat me down in the chair in front of the vanity and started to put on my makeup.

Okay. Let's think.

The story was about the crown prince and a noblewoman from the countryside, typical. The villainess, Sophia Allen, was the prince's fiancée, but it hadn't been formally announced.

In general, the story was about an arrogant prince who hated his fiancée, fell in love with the protagonist, prevented her from finding out about his engagement, and deceived Sophia. The only reason I read that whole novel was to find out what happened to the villainess. After all, the only thing she does is protect her honor, without ever harming the protagonist's health.

Tremendous change of events, they incriminate her for trying to poison the protagonist, and, since she was the daughter of a marquis, they sent her to marry the Duke of the North, Duke Kleas, who was rumored to be horrible and merciless. They wanted him to kill her. They defeat the real villain, the empress. And, as always, the protagonist forgives the prince for the deception, and they get married. THE END.

A horrible plot and a similar ending. And it seems that we are almost at the end of the story since they were preparing Sophia to go to the duke's territory to marry him.

Calie finished with my preparation and I looked at myself in the reflection perplexed.

As she was described in the novel, Sophia was someone of such beauty that she stole the sighs of others. With black hair, snow-white skin, and amber eyes. A slim and well-developed body.

But Sophia's personality was always described as rotten. Arrogant and unkind. The opposite of the protagonist, Alissa, who was kind, quiet, adorable, cheerful, dazzling, beautiful, humble, and any other positive adjective. Practically, a perfect character.

I left the room and followed Calie to the entrance where the marquis, along with his wife and my half-brother Creig, were waiting with annoyance.

"You're late," the head of the family said firmly.

"I apologize, father," I bowed like a lady. I may be from the XXI century, but I knew my way around this etiquette thing.

"Tch." Creig clicked his tongue with contempt.

"Remember not to get into trouble with the duke, it's enough that you've destroyed the family's honor," he spoke as he walked towards the stairs, without saying goodbye. The marquise and Creig followed him, leaving me alone at the entrance. I headed to the carriage that would take me to the duke's territory.

Sophia's personality was to be expected if she lived her whole life with those people. I got into the carriage with the help of the driver and Calie got in after me. The carriage started to move and I felt my head spinning. It was like being in a truck but smaller.

"How long will it take to get to the duke's territory?" I asked Calie timidly.

"2 weeks," she said without looking away from the window.

"Oh..." I replied.

...How awkward.

I looked out the window as we were passing through the city. The Allen mansion was in the capital, so that's why the travel time was longer. The people looked happy, there were flyers all over announcing the engagement of the protagonist and the prince. I closed the curtain and settled in. This will be a total nuisance.

//Almost two weeks later//

We were less than two days away from reaching the territory and one more to reach the mansion. I looked at Calie, who, although she was supposed to be my maid, had not helped me with anything. "What are you looking at?" she asked me rudely.

I understand that I am not from this world, but I know that she should not talk to me like that, even if I were not a noble. -"Absolutely nothing," I said with a smile. "Can we stop the carriage for a moment?" I asked, and she looked at me with disdain.

"Stop," she said to the driver.

The carriage stopped and I got out. I took a gold coin and approached the driver. "When I say go, move forward without stopping no matter what, deal?" I said in a low voice so Calie couldn't hear. The driver looked at me with confusion but nodded while taking the gold coin. I got back into the carriage and looked at Calie.

"Can you look outside? I think I dropped something," I asked her kindly. She looked at me with contempt but did as I asked. When she leaned over to look outside, I pushed her and closed the door.

"GO!" I shouted and the carriage started moving again. Calie's screams calling my name and some more insults could be heard clearly. I threw a bag with about 10 silver coins out the window, enough to return to the capital.

"Goodbye," I said waving my hand as we drove away from her insults. "Hah" I sighed happily. One less nuisance.

I mean, I even left her money, she should be grateful. The next two and a half days were the most pleasant of the entire trip. Without a crazy woman watching me all the time and seeing me as a disgrace, everything seemed more wonderful.

"We are arriving at the main city of the territory," the driver warned me. After I gave him the gold coin he seemed to behave more kindly. I leaned out the window and saw a lot of people having fun on the street, walking and buying food. The duke's territory may be cold, but it is pleasant and rich. Half an hour later we arrived at the mansion. "IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" The gate guard shouted. I peeked through the window, curious. A gate rised between us and a garden, that seemed to extend more than a kilometer from there. One of the guards signaled the other, and he walked over. He looked through the window of my carriage and nodded.

"I bring Lady Sophia Allen," the driver said to the guard inspecting the carriage.

"They told us the lady would bring a maid with her." He said suspiciously.

"Uh… she had to get off in the middle," he replied.

— I actually kicked her out of the carriage…quiet literally — but I couldn't say that.

" I see. You may enter," the guard said as the gate opened.

Ok, that was easy. Is every noble like this that they're used to it????

As we arrived at the door, there was a woman and two girl in maid's uniforms, a man in a suit, and a knight. The latter approached and helped me out. The woman, who seemed to be the head of the staff, looked at me with intrigue.

Sophia's reputation had always been horrible, a girl with anger problems and a rude attitude. Everyone considered her strict, although technically she only followed the rules of society. At first, she was a social queen, even when she was expressionless and behaved with dignity; but after the protagonist appeared and won the prince's heart, many turned their backs on her. They called her names behind her back, even excluded her from the society.

"Welcome, Lady Allen," the lady greeted with a bow. "My name is Alicia, I am the Head of Staff," she introduced herself and then turned to the man in the suit. "This is Neil, the butler. And he is Evan, who will be your temporary escort," she said as the knight bowed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," I said with a smile.

I thought that would calm the atmosphere a bit, but their gazes still looked puzzled. "I'll take you to your room," Alicia spoke a few moments later. I nodded and followed behind her.

The mansion was big but the lobby alone was bigger than a two-story house. The walls were decorated with paintings of strange people, all of them serious. There weren't many decorations and there was little natural light. We went up the stairs to the third floor, to the second room on the corridor.

Alicia opened the door and ushered me in. The room was even more incredible. If the lobby was the size of a two-story house, the room was the size of an entire floor. A kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, even a normal-sized bedroom could fit here. If arranged, it could even fit an office.

The first thing in sight was a living room, the furniture in beige and coffee colors made a beautiful harmony. The bed, which was a few steps from the living room, was made up with olive green sheets. There were three more doors in the room. I assumed that two of them would be the closet and the bathroom.

I opened the first one and a bathroom the size of a room for two greeted me. There was a large tub that could fit at least three adults. I imagined myself peacefully taking a bath there, with soft music playing. Ugh, now that I notice it... There are no phones in this world and it was. No phones, no music, no internet. I sighed heavily.

"Is something wrong, my Lady?" Alicia asked worriedly. I looked at her with a nervous smile on my lips and shook my head.

I left the bathroom and opened the second door. Being my suspicions certain, it was a closet. There weren't that many dresses, since there hadn't been an owner of this room for a long time. "If you wish, I can call the designer to order more dresses, my lady," Alicia said, looking at me.

"No, it's fine," I said with a smile. Even if there weren't that many dresses to fill this whole closet, there must have been at least 20. The room was so big that even if there were 50 dresses it would still look empty. I headed towards the third door, but it was locked. "Where does this door lead to?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Ah..." Alicia looked at me unsure whether to answer or not. But a few moments later she spoke - "This door leads directly to the Duke's room." she said. I instinctively walked away from the door. Alicia seemed surprised by my act and I smiled at her.

"Thank you for your guidance, but I would like to rest a bit," I said.

"It's my pleasure, my lady. I'll leave you to have a pleasant rest," she said with a bow and left the room.

When I no longer heard her footsteps, I sighed heavily. I took off the uncomfortable dress and put on a nightshirt that came in the suitcase. After that I fell onto the bed. Finally I could rest after so much trouble. I had just arrived in this world and had to travel for 2 weeks. I closed my eyes and let sleep take me away. Tomorrow the real fight would begin.

The wedding is tomorrow.