Chapter 6 - New Life

The girl's eyes fluttered open as she found herself waking up in the room she had previously gone to sleep in— her room. The gentle rays of sunlight were bursting through her slightly opened window curtains, but to her newly opened eyes, it was but an annoyance.

Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the new brightness it had been met with as she pushed her body into a sitting position and looked around. The room was empty, as she usually didn't wake up this early in the morning; most of the time, she would be woken up by a servant.

But she felt much better than she normally felt today for some reason. Her body wasn't as weak as it usually was, and she didn't feel like dying the second she woke up. 

That wasn't to say she felt energetic; she still did not feel like getting out of bed, and her body ached when she tried to move too much, but it wasn't as bad as it had been before.

It was as if her eyes didn't drain the amount of energy it would usually drain, giving her even the slightest bit of energy she would require to not be constantly bedridden.

Something had clearly changed, and that weird dream definitely had something to do with it.

'Was it a dream?'

She questioned the possibility of what happened within that dark space being nothing but a dream that took place in her fractured mind. It wasn't impossible, but at the same time, it didn't feel like a dream.

The memories of what happened in the darkness were blurry. The time she spent wondering what had felt like years now felt like nothing at all when she tried to remember it.

The being she spoke to, the conversation they had, the fact that she ate it, she could remember all of it in clear detail, but it didn't feel real— it felt almost like a memory she made up.

A dream— those types of dreams that you have that you wake up and still feel the emotions from. 

She shook her head and removed those useless thoughts from her mind; whether it was real or a dream, it didn't matter right now. Her body had clearly gotten better, and that meant something had changed.

Change for her was a good thing because if she remained unchanging, she would die in less than a few years.

'Where is that maid.'

As the Willows family was a very powerful noble family within the Empire, they naturally had countless servants and workers under them, helping around the house, business, and more. 

Seraphina was no different.

She had a few servants who worked for her, or rather, were provided to her by her family to make life easier. They primarily did things like cleaning, washing, cooking, helping her change, making sure she was kept well, and the like.

As someone who was never truly healthy, her servants were tasked with making sure she could be as healthy as possible without straining her body.

Above all, the servants that were provided to her were her personal maid, who was provided by her mother, the first wife of the Duke.

She was tasked with caring for her and making sure everything the girl wanted was accomplished, such as the task assigned by her mother when appointing her.

However, things weren't that simple.

Regardless, the girl stretched her arm over to the bedside counter and pulled on the rope that hung from above. It was connected to a bell that would ring in the servant quarters to notify them of her calling.

Most nobles had something like this in their rooms, but she had one, especially because movement was difficult for her, and calling loudly would strain her normally. Plus, it was used in the case of emergencies.

The bell rang out in the servant quarters, notifying them of her calling, although the girl could not hear the bell from her location.

A few minutes passed by quickly, and soon enough, a maid entered the room. A young female dressed in simple maid clothing was wearing a white dress with a black overall.

Her shoulder-length blond hair had been tied up using a piece of white cloth, revealing her appearance boldly. 

The girl couldn't be called average, as she had a slim face that was exaggerated by her hazel brown eyes and red-tainted lips. Slight freckles added to her youthful appearance.

Even as a maid, her skin was silky smooth without a form of blister on it, her face held no blemish or marking of sleeplessness, and her hands were unscared or battered. 

She even wore small, hanging golden earrings.

"You're awake, Young Miss. It is much earlier than you usually awaken. How are you feeling?"

The maid addressed her in a formal manner and was as respectful as she could be, with care in her words that showed worry for the girl's well-being— but Seraphina knew enough to not fall for it.

See, while she may look and act kind, the maid before her was nothing but a sly informant who had been placed by her side by her own mother in order to monitor her.

Seraphina, the previous version of her that is, already had an idea of this from the way the maid dressed and spoke when she thought she was unable to be heard, but she never had the power or health to worry about it.

Now, with both memories combined and a new Seraphina born, she could tell right away that the maid before her was nothing but a sly fox who was acting in her role quite well.

"I'm feeling somewhat better than I usually do. In fact, I think I'll leave my room a little today."

Seraphina had no reason to lie as it would simply limit her movement, and now that she was actually feeling somewhat better than she had all the years before, she wanted to make use of it the best she could.