I awoke (again?), feeling like someone had hammered my whole body with fiery nails. My skin felt dry and brittle, and my head thundered with each breath. I stayed laid down until the sensation subsided, attempting to open my eyes, but even then it was turning out to be a hard task. The cold touch of my fingers on my temples helped to soothe the tingling sensation running free within me. And although I didn't feel brave enough to open my eyes, my head no longer throbbed.

"I feel weird..." I faced the pain and opened my eyes. My voice was really weird. It sounded too small, too weak. Too unlike mine.

Then, before I could dwell on the weirdness of it all, I heard a door open.

It was also at this time that I realized the room I was in was definitely NOT my room.

Far better in quality, more pompous, regal, and somewhat old, this room of golden and pink tones was a world's difference from my tiny grey one. I peered above to see I was resting in a four-post bed snow coloured. Around the corner, near a window with the moon as a witness, was a vanity of rose gold and white details. Painted with lilac and pink flowers, the walls were elegant and warm, while the tapestries on the floor were fluffy and inviting. It smelled of freshly picked flowers as if someone had drenched every single nook of this place in perfume. I felt this was the kind of room a fairytale princess would live in.

Everything was too much and too.... sweet... and wrong. Very wrong.

Astonished by the richness of the place, I didn't notice at first the girl who had entered the room. The girl, dressed in maid clothes, a blue seamless dress and a white apron, was barely a teenager. She had copper hair braided intricately and tied to the side of her head. Her face had yet to lose her baby fat and had healthy rosy cheeks.

When her eyes registered mine, they expanded to double their size, before she went and covered her mouth with her freckled hands.

Most likely, to prevent a scream. After what seemed to be an eternity, the girl rushed to my side, crying while hugging me. Without thinking, I hugged the girl back as I tried to recall how I ended up in this place.

"Oh, my lady! You have awoken! You shall not know how much concern you have put this house on. Your sister has been crying nonstop since you have become... sick..." Her sobbing speech seemed real to me, although it brought more questions than answers.

Who is she? And who is this sister? I am an only child. Wait...

The fog in my head lifted a little and a man of incandescent purple eyes came to mind... a deathly beautiful man with a deep voice... he spoke something... I just needed to try harder to remember what he said.

"My Lady, what is the matter? It is me, Fanny, your maid." She said, having retreated from our hug to watch my face. Lines of worry appeared in the corner of her mouth as she studied my expression. However, she would find no answers in me, like I found nothing from this place or her.

She then, with a huge sobering effort, spoke again, this time slower, "Your ladyship, do you perhaps not know who I am?"

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I shook my head. Strangely, seeing her so concerned made my voice disappear.

"Dear Goddess! But I am sure you remember your kind sister. And your father, the Great Lord of this house." she said, tearing up again.

"I am sorry... " was all I could say.

The fog was still there. Hiding something that wanted to be free.

The girl ran out of the room, leaving me with only these words, " I shall warn the duke of these happenings. Oh, my poor lady!"

Duke? The lord of this house was a Duke? I didn't know why, but that information caused the hairs on my back to rise. Although it explained the over-the-top room design.

Now alone and without prying eyes, I left the enormous bed after spotting a large mirror in the corner of the room. Golden and almost touching the ceiling, it leaned next to a door and was turned to another from where the girl had left.

When my feet touched the warm carpet, it left me with chills. They were too small; I was too small, and everything else too big. Drenched in panic, I ran to the mirror, finally seeing what my mind already knew, but my heart refused to believe.

I was a child. A CHILD!

And then the veiled fog of my mind dissipated, and I could hear the voice of death, ethereal and unreal, roaring away in my mind. "I intend to send you to this body. Worry not, as it is youthful..."

Indeed, it was. The child that faced me from the other side of the mirror couldn't be older than seven, maybe eight years old. And that was not even the strangest thing, since my long and shiny hair was grey and my eyes sparked gold like two brazen suns.

I was an incredibly cute child, for sure, with rosy cheeks and a face of an angel. But it was all insignificant when compared to how fucking messed up was this situation.

I was a child!!

There is nothing worse than being turned into a powerless kid.

Well, I was wrong about that, so very wrong. Out of the blue, a young man, in his late twenties or early thirties, with ruffled bright blond hair and deep ocean eyes, came into the room. He had his hands in the air and tears on his unbelievably gorgeous face. He saw me and in mere seconds was hugging me and crying his eyes out. Shocked and confused, I stayed quiet while a grown-ass adult tried to squeeze my soul out.

"My beautiful Lucreatia! To see you recovered brings me so much joy. I could cry endless tears."

Please don't.

Clearly, this man was the lord of this house. The duke. However, I hadn't expected him to be this beautiful. Or this loud.

He dressed himself sharply in a long navy coat and beige pants, now wrinkled by such an intense hug.

When I said nothing, he continued. "Oh... to think that such a fortunate event would be stained by another step back! Have you forgotten your father, my dear?" he asked, finally freeing me of his hug and setting his teary glance on my confused face.

"Lulu!!!" called a child, not much older than this body, with a shade of blond equal to that of the duke and with the same teary blue eyes as his. She came rushing through the open door followed by Fanny, the maid, who sniffed quietly. As the little girl wept and yelled my name, my mind froze, unsure of what to do. Until I realized my best option was to do nothing and say even less.

"Jennifer, please be careful. We may scare your little sister." Said the grown-ass man, crying his eyes out.

The girl, who wore a matching blue navy dress with a voluminous shirt and a corset filled with little white bows, nodded in silence. She still had her baby fat and her cheeks were full and rosy. Though the last may have been because of the crying, it was undeniable she was as cute as a button.

"Oh, the tragedy that befalls the Mountnero family! To think that my precious daughter would not recognize me!" The duke took a dark blue handkerchief from one of his pockets and handed it to Jennifer, who stood behind him.

While she dried her tears, she looked at me with hopeful eyes. Although I was not feeling hopeful.

Mountnero?

Wait...

I have heard that name before...

As well as Jennifer and Lucreatia...

No, no, no. NOOOO.

It cannot be, for sure, it is a mistake. I am dreaming... I cannot be Lucreatia Mountnero.

No... She has a miserable life! And dies in a bloodbath!

Then I realized... I had been wronged by death!

Twice!

That son of a bitch!