"Stop this right this instant!"
Maid Lucy's loud voice startled her.
Lucy had picked up the long wooden ladle used to add hot water and raised her hand to do her usual thing.
[Ugh!]
"Okay," she smiled and looked up.
With nothing to hold the water above, it reached the floor. Since maid Lucy was in the way of the water, she got wet.
Water doesn't have eyes or a mind of its own, anyway. It would just flow from high altitude to low altitude.
[Not my fault! I did what I was told to do... Eh!]
She shrugged.
"You worthless wastrel! For someone who's going to die in the hands of the Brute, you're too-"
Worthless... Die..?
She blanked out once more.
She felt as if her soul is getting yanked out as she went back.
The sneering voice of a man came from above her as she was kneeling on the ground. Her chest felt heavy as if she was underwater holding her breath. She tried to focus to see his face but everything was blurry. She only heard his voice.
'You worthless weasel! You're not special... DIE as the worthless being you are!!!'
The haughty sneer of the man echoed as if they were standing in an empty cave. But she saw the brilliance of gold shining around him as if they were in the Throne Room.
[Die? I don't want to die! Certainly not as a worthless being!]
She took a deep breath.
"Shhh!" she closed her ears. "Stop screaming, Lucy... You're making me mad," she pressed her lips as her sapphire blue eyes trained on Lucy now dripping like a wet mop. Lucy started to shiver for some reason.
[Maybe because the temperature dripped low out of nowhere? Is this my doing too? I am marvelous!]
She hid her pride. "You don't want me mad," her voice got lower as her eyes glistened with attitude and her lips curved to a smirk, unconsciously.
The water that got splattered on the floor started rising up like needles. The entire bathroom floor appeared as a bed of nails.
Lucy shrank as she took a step forward. Of course, the water manipulated to become sharp nails didn't hurt her as they turned to cushions for her feet. Lucy hunched and started shaking as she knew she is screwed.
"Who am I, Lucy?" she asked.
[I should have a name, right?]
Shivering, Lucy tried to look up. But then she bowed her head unable to meet her eyes.
"You're Lady Felixa Gillian Zamfir, the eldest daughter of Claude Zamfir – the Duke of Riza."
It was hard for Lucy to even admit that but she did it anyway.
Fear is a great motivator!
[A Duke's daughter? Isn't that wonderful? But why was I treated so badly?
Ah, wait...
I already started treating this as my body, huh?
Yeah, why not? I feel pain when the hair from this body is pulled. So it is my body too, right?
Sorry, Wispy! I'll borrow your body until I figure out who I am. I just want to survive somehow. You don't mind, right?
Right? Say something...
Nothing?
Okay, then! I'll take your silence as consent.
From today onwards, I am Felixa Gillian Zamfir!
And I will Survive!]
"So, you remember who I am and yet dared to treat me like this, huh?" Felixa walked to the full-size mirror.
It reflected her form pretty well and she was surprised.
[Guess they are rich to have this good a mirror in their home. But what am I seeing here? Eek...]
Needlessly long wavy blonde hair that reached her derrière, sapphire blue eyes, small nose, and lips... And flat everywhere else. She could count the bones in her chest as her ribs were protruding and her stomach was sticking in. As for breasts, they haven't developed properly yet.
No matter what, it didn't look like the appearance of a beautiful woman.
[Eh...Why am I in a ten-year-old malnourished girl's body?
At least I am alive, right?]
[Wait... Lucy talked about sending me to the Brute or someone, right? About needing a virgin? What kind of civilization sends ten-year-olds to serve a man? Or am I going to be sent as a slave or as a sacrifice? Which one is worse actually?]
"How old am I?" Felixa asked as Lucy who was wringing her skirt dry with her hands.
[She won't doubt me after I ask her these weird questions, right? Will she doubt that I might not be Felixa?]
"You'll be twenty-two this winter," Lucy said without even looking up.
[What?]
"Don't lie!" Felixa furrowed her brows. "how can I be anywhere near that age? I look like a ten-year-old!"
Lucy sighed. She looked exasperated. Felixa didn't understand the indifference in her face though.
[ Lucy sees no changes in my attitude? Does Wispy act like this too? Or does she not care?]
"Stop procrastinating and sit there. We don't have much time," Lucy dragged her to the chair after wrapping her with a towel.
"Am I really twenty-one?" Felixa asked as Lucy started to dry her hair. This time all her acts were a little gentler.
[As expected, fear is a great motivator.]
"Don't pretend anymore, Lady Felixa. Let's forget everything that has happened till now. You're to be sent as the bride of the Brute as you previously wished for. You always wanted to leave this place, anyway. You have to be ready soon. His Lordship will..." Lucy went on.
[Previously wished for..? So it was Wispy's wish to become a bride? Wispy? Heh! Isn't she the real Lady Felixa? Aren't I the fake?]
She sank into her thoughts and there it was it again... the sinking feeling.
[She had a life and somehow I ended up taking it... Isn't that selfish of me?]
Slowly she sank lower and lower and her vision started to blur. Her limbs felt light and she felt like flying, except she was sinking.
Slowly, she reached the bottom of the pond or wherever she is...
She saw the little wisp she saw before, rising up and floating upwards. She extended her hand to touch it but it eluded her this time too and it reached to the top.
Before she knew it, she was surrounded by darkness as she drifted alone. Her eyes felt heavy and she wanted to close them as her back touched the bottom of the pond.
[Should I slumber more?]
She closed her eyes.