Chapter 4: I Am Back?

Sera jolted when there was suddenly a light after a long time of darkness. She slowly opened her eyes and she saw a familiar figure walking towards her after she parted the curtains.

"Young lady, are you alright?" Mary walked towards Sera with a worried look on her face.

"Young lady?" Sera mumbled.

She touched her neck and looked around. The white walls, the shabby bed, and pillows, the pungent smell of old books stacked on the shelf in the corner. Indeed, she was in her room.

"Why am I here?" she asked when she turned to see Mary watching her with a concerned look.

"Though you came from a servant mother, my lady is still the daughter of Duke Fiore. It might not be as luxurious as the others, but this place is my lady's home now." Mary's warm and gentle voice was reassuring but Sera's mind was still a mess.

What was she doing inside her room? The last thing she remembered was her brother chopping her head off. Did she go to the afterlife? Did Mary follow her here?

She tried to get off the bed but she stopped when her feet couldn't reach the floor. Her face turned pale when she looked at the pair of small hands in front of her.

"Mary, can you hand me the mirror?"

Mary's brows furrowed at the sudden request but she moved to take the hand mirror at the vanity table near the bathroom.

"Is there something wrong with your body, my lady?" she asked as she handed the item.

Sera's eyes grew wide when she saw her reflection. Her silver-gray hair was back to shoulder length and her clear gray eyes that shined gold under the sun were in her childhood face. Her hands trembled as she put down the mirror and she couldn't hide her surprise when she asked her maid.

"Mary, how old am I?"

"You just celebrated your tenth birthday last month, my lady."

Sera's mind was in a blur. How did she go back to the time when she was ten? What happened after the execution? Did she need to go through every lonely experience that she had once again?

"Mary, please slap me,” she said with a determined voice.

Her servant took a few steps backward with a confused expression. "How could I dare lift my hand against my lady?"

She giggled. "It's fine. No one sees me as a child of this house, anyway." She slammed her body onto the bed and sigh. "Why am I here again?"

Mary sat beside her. "My lady, are you sure that you are fine?"

"Of course, I'm alive and I'm still well. There's no reason not to be fine." She smiled though it didn't reach her eyes.

"I'll prepare your breakfast then."

She couldn't point out what the swirling feeling inside her was. Was it rage? Disappointment? Fear? Relief?

She couldn't understand anything at the moment. Of all the possible timelines, why did she have to go back to the year when she was in the Fiore Family?

She jumped off the bed and walked towards the curtain-covered windows. She peeked through the gaps in the curtains and she saw her favorite view— the flower garden at the back of the annex.

Was it a dream? No, it felt too real to be one. She could still feel the frightening sensation when Andric yelled at her and she could vividly remember their piercing glares and the coldness of Xander’s blade.

She held her neck once again. Would she die at that time? Would they accuse her again of killing a woman whom she never met before?

Sera let out a sigh as she walked to the bed. It was the same as before. Though it wasn’t as luxurious as the main house, it wasn't that bad compared to when he was with her mother. The annex had been her home since then and it seemed like it would be her home once more.

She laid down on the bed and closed her eyes. Was she still dreaming? If she was in a dream, she’d rather wake up fast than watch that tragedy slowly unfold once again.

But what if it was the reality? What if she truly traveled back to the past? In her mind, there was only one way to know.

Sera looked outside the window and saw that there was a bush below. If she was in a dream, she’d wake up from it after falling from that height. If she truly went back to the past and that was her current reality, she’d end up with a few broken bones at most.

She laughed softly when she realized what she was about to do. Maybe she lost her mind after dying once that jumping from a window didn’t scare her anymore.

She looked around, hoping that there was no witness to what she was about to do. After making sure that she was alone, she pushed a chair towards the window and climbed.

“I must be crazy, right now,” she mumbled as she stood at the open window and heaved a sigh. Her heart was beating fast, but she knew it was out of excitement.

She closed her eyes and braced herself on the fall. She could feel as if her soul was left up there as her body dropped. She closed her eyes tighter as she prepared herself for the pain.

She felt that her body stopped dropping but she didn’t feel any pain. Was she dreaming? She somehow felt disappointed that she wasn’t given a second chance in life but she was relieved that she wouldn’t have to re-live her life.

“How long are you going to stay in my arms?”

Sera opened her eyes when she heard an unfamiliar voice. Her eyes grew wide when she saw a beautiful-looking boy in front of her.

“Should I drop you now?”

His question snapped her back to reality. She was back!

“Please put me down,” she mumbled. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she ran immediately and never looked back until she reached the entrance of the annex.

What did just happen? Why is she back to her ten-year-old self?