The Useless Duke's Daughter Saves the World

♧ [V1 || Chapter 03] ♧

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"DON'T GO—!" I shouted, my eyes immediately flew open. My breath was rapid as if I had previously ran a marathon, and my right hand stretched out like I was just about to grab onto something.

"Wh— what is this?" 

I brought my hand to my chest, trembling as I tried to process everything at once. Why am I in this strange, unfamiliar room? Where am I?

Slowly adjusting my eyes to the darkness, I realized that I was lying down in a canopy bed in the middle of a large room. On my right side, stood a wardrobe that reached nearly to the top of the ceiling and also a very large mirror. On my left side, stood a bedside table and a door leading to an outdoor balcony.

The door was fully opened, and the curtains were swaying gently in the cold wind. As the clouds moved, the moon peeked out slowly until it revealed its' entire body. The faint glow of the moonlight shone gently onto my face. It felt oddly comforting like it was caressing my cheek and assuring me to calm down. My breathing slowed a little.

"Hmm?"

Looking at the moon, it felt like deja vu. I had seen a similar view before this but, where?

BANG!

I jumped, startled at the sudden sound of the door bursting open.

"MY LADY?" a woman screamed at me. She was dressed in a long black dress and had a white apron over it. The woman looked to be around her mid-twenties and had brown hair tied neatly into a bun. Her green orbs shone with panic and anxiety. 

I became even more confused. Who was this person? And why is she dressed as one of those old-fashioned maids? Was I kidnapped by cosplayers?

The woman covered her mouth with her hands and her eyes began to glisten as tears rolled down her face. Her voice shook as she spoke.

"M— My Lady is finally awake!"

Why is she crying?

Flustered at the sight of a pretty woman suddenly crying, I waved my hands around wildly. I've always been bad at comforting others especially when I'm caught off guard.

Wait, shouldn't I be the one crying here? After all, I don't know where I am or how I even got here. I should be one in distress here!

"Oh my! Where on earth is my head? I have to tell Master Alcmene and the Madam about this!" she suddenly gasped. Before she turned around, she looked at me and said, "Don't go anywhere, My Lady!"

Where am I supposed to go? I don't even know where I am!

I hesitantly nodded, unsure whether I should respond to her. It didn't matter anyway, as the woman had already ran off to find whoever she wanted to call.

I contemplated running away before the woman brought more people over. What if this was a kidnapping and she called the head of the operation here? Thinking about it for a bit, I shook my head. 

Isn't that kinda irrational? It'd be strange to be kidnapped and then, bring the kidnapped person into a place that looks richer than my combined worth. Not to mention, I'm completely unrestrained. If I really had been kidnapped, I certainly wasn't treated like one.

"—!"

Hang on!

"Did she say ... Master Alcmene?"

My eyes rounded, now realizing what the woman had said earlier. It can't be, right? Was the surname Alcmene common where I came from? Wait, where I came from—?

All of a sudden, my head throbbed like an iron mallet was hammering itself on my skull. Images flew into my head—a woman, man and a boy laughing and sitting down at the dinner table, a two-story house that sat at the corner of a residential area, a single bed where a girl was lying down and reading from her phone, a blue bus that arrived at the bus stop in front of the school dorm, and....

The accident.

Drip, drip!

Without realising it, tears had fallen from my eyes, leaving circular traces onto the dark blue blanket that was covering the bottom half of my body. That's right, I remember now—

"I died"

I felt like reality doused my body in cold water. It was too shocking to process. I remembered the immense pain and also the sadness during my last moments. My heart ached so painfully. I had died before I even made it to my twenties. I was on the way home from boarding school because it was the start of summer break. But, the bus I was on had flipped over in an accident and my body was....

My hand subconsciously went to the spot where the metal rode had impaled through. Strangely enough, I couldn't feel a hole in my body nor any evidence that it had happened. There wasn't a single bump or a scar.

How is this possible?

How am I still alive?

"Evangeline," someone gasped softly. My confused expression turned slowly to the direction of a man and woman standing at the front of the door, and behind them were a couple of other people I also don't recognise.