Chapter 2: Was I Transmigrated?!
—CELIA—
I woke up to peacefulness, and that alone was enough to tell sothing was wrong.
It was not my usual kind of silence either. Mine ca with distant traffic, neighbors existing too loudly, and the occasional reminder that I lived in a very normal, very affordable place. But this silence felt different. It felt clean and wide, like the space around had more money than I did.
I frowned, slowly opened my eyes, and imdiately realized the ceiling was not mine.
It was high and carefully detailed. My ceiling at ho had a crack I kept aning to deal with but never did. This one looked like it had never experienced stress, neglect, or poor life decisions.
I pushed myself up slowly, and the bed shifted beneath which made pause. It was too soft.
"That’s not a good sign," I muttered.
My bed should not feel like they are trying to impress .
And so I looked down at myself and froze.
I was wearing silk.
Not "kind of nice fabric" silk. Actual silk.
I touched it just to be sure, then imdiately wished I had not. It was light, smooth, and far too delicate for soone who once ruined a shirt with instant noodles.
"I don’t own this," I said, mostly to keep myself grounded.
Then I paused and looked at it again.
"...I also cannot afford to own this," I added.
And that was when my brain took a sharp, completely unhelpful turn.
Kidnapping.
That had to be it.
There was no other reasonable explanation for waking up in a luxury museum wearing silk and financial anxiety.
I got out of bed so fast I almost forgot I was a functioning human being. My feet hit the floor, I steadied myself, and then I moved toward the massive doors like survival instinct had personally taken the wheel.
"Okay," I muttered to myself. "Stay calm. Assess threats. Find exit. Possibly file report later."
I pushed the doors open.
And imdiately stopped.
A group of won in matching maid uniforms turned toward at the exact sa ti, their expressions shifting from neutral to alard in perfect synchronization.
Behind them stood a man in a very formal black suit that looked unnecessarily dramatic, like he had been designed specifically to appear in serious situations involving wealth and judgnt.
Everyone stared at .
I stared back.
There was a long pause where no one moved, and I briefly considered whether I had walked into the wrong building entirely and sohow offended an entire workforce.
Then the man spoke, voice rising in panic.
"My lady! What is wrong? Why are you outside wearing only your nightgown? Please return inside imdiately or the servants will begin spreading rumors about you!"
I blinked.
Once.
Then again.
"...Rumors?" I repeated slowly.
My brain tried to catch up, failed, then tried again.
"I think I missed sothing important," I added.
The maids looked even more alard now, like I had just said sothing deeply concerning.
anwhile, I looked down at myself again.
Silk. Soft. Expensive. Definitely not pajamas from my apartnt.
Then I looked back at them.
And very calmly concluded, "Okay. So either I have been kidnapped by extrely polite people... or I have died and this is the afterlife’s custor service departnt."
Neither explanation made feel better, not even a little.
"Lady Aria, please," the butler said, recovering faster than everyone else, his tone calm and steady. "Allow the servants to escort you back inside so you may dress properly and prepare for breakfast."
I opened my mouth to argue.
"How could I be—wait."
I stopped as sothing in what he said finally caught up to .
"Aria?" I repeated, slower this ti. "Did you just call Aria?"
The butler’s expression shifted, not quite alard but definitely concerned. "Yes, my lady. You are Lady Aria Valen, the only daughter of Duke Valen, the most powerful and influential duke in the land."
There was a pause.
A very long pause.
My brain tried to process the sentence like a normal person would.
But it failed.
"...No," I said.
Just... no.
"I think there’s been a mistake," I added, because that felt like a reasonable thing to say when soone assigned you a whole noble title without consent. "I’m Celia. I live in an apartnt. I pay rent. I have instant noodles in my cabinet. This–" I gestured vaguely at everything "–this is not my tax bracket!"
No one laughed and that was my first problem.
The butler only inclined his head slightly, like he had just confird sothing concerning. "My lady, perhaps you are feeling unwell."
"Oh, I am extrely unwell," I agreed imdiately. "That part is accurate."
But even as I said it, sothing cold started creeping up my spine.
Because this felt familiar.
Not the situation but the details itself
I looked at him again, slower this ti.
"Say it again," I said.
"My lady?"
"My na."
The butler paused hesitantly.
"Lady Aria Valen."
And that was it.
That was the mont everything lined up and brain finally stopped pretending.
Aria Valen.
The villainess.
The one I had just read about.
The one who stood in a courtroom while everyone decided her fate like it was already written.
The one who...
My stomach dropped.
"...No," I whispered.
I took a step back, shaking my head.
"No, no, no, that’s not–"
My thoughts started tripping over each other, too fast to follow, and before I could even form a proper sentence, I had already turned around and rushed back into the room. I pushed the heavy doors shut behind and locked them without thinking, like that alone might fix the situation.
It didn’t.
I went straight to the windows and pulled the curtains aside.
The view hit imdiately.
It was not my street. Not my building. Not even remotely close to anything familiar. Instead, there were vast gardens, trimd too perfectly, stretching out toward structures that looked like they belonged in history books and very expensive paintings.
I stared.
Once.
Twice.
Hoping sothing would shift.
Nothing did.
"No," I said under my breath. "No, this is not real."
But it was.
There was no traffic. No noise. No sign of anything that resembled my actual life.
Just this place.
This... setting.
My grip on the curtain tightened.
"No. This is not a prank," I said, louder this ti.
Was I...transmigrated?!
"Oh, no."
The realization hit so hard it knocked the air out of .
"I’m in the novel."
The words left my mouth before I could stop them.
And the mont I said it out loud, sothing inside snapped into full panic.
Because I knew exactly what that ant.
I knew what happened in this story.
I knew what happened to the villaness.
And now...
That was .
"AHHHHH!!!"
User Comments
0 comments from readers