Chapter 3

SHEBA'S POV

Just like clockwork, a knock fell on the door, I jumped.

My eyes were still fixed on the woman in the mirror when I heard the sound again.

I stared at the door, for a few seconds, I didn't say anything. I was still trying to understand what was happening.

Who is this woman? and why am I in her body?

How did I even get here?

Was it some kind of witchcraft?

How on earth did I die and end up inside another woman's body?

The questions kept piling into my head, each one more ridiculous than the last. I turned back toward the mirror.

The unfamiliar woman stared back at me.

She was beautiful.

Far too beautiful. Her features were delicate, her skin flawless, and everything about her looked completely different from the woman I had known my entire life. She didn't look like me at all.

Now I was standing in a strange room, wearing clothes I had never seen before, looking at a face that didn't belong to me.

"Your Highness?"

The voice came from the other side of the door.

I froze.

"Good morning, Your Highness. we are here to prepare you for your daily activities."

A maid.

That was definitely the voice of a maid.

I swallowed.

My mind was still spinning.

I didn't know what to say, I didn't know who this woman was supposed to be, and I certainly didn't know what I was supposed to do.

Then the voice came again.

"Princess Alera, are you alright...?"

My heart stopped.

Princess...

Alera?

All this made no sense, it made no sense at all...

"Your Highness?"

The maid called again.

I closed my eyes.

I need answers.

And the only person who could possibly give them to me was standing on the other side of that door.

"Yes."

My voice came out quieter than I intended.

I cleared my throat.

"Come in."

The door opened almost immediately.

Seven women walked into the room.

Seven.

I stared at them.

They were all dressed like maids, their movements orderly and practiced. The moment they entered, they lowered their heads and bowed.

"Good morning, Your Highness."

I didn't answer immediately.

I was too stunned.

This was insane.

One of the maids straightened and looked toward me cautiously.

"Are you feeling unwell, Your Highness?"

I shook my head.

"No."

The lie came automatically, I had no idea whether I was well or unwell.

I wasn't even sure I was alive.

The maids immediately began moving around the room as though this were a perfectly ordinary morning.Some went toward the wardrobe, others began preparing my bath, one arranged things on a table. Another opened the curtains.

I just stood there, watching them work, Nobody questioned why I was behaving strangely, nobody seemed surprised.

Because to them, I was obviously their princess. Their actions were so natural that my stomach twisted.

One of the maids returned with a dress.

Another began preparing what looked like everything I would need for the day.

Daily activities, bath, dress, servants, princess I looked around the room again.

The furniture, the bed and the unfamiliar clothing, all of this felt foreign yet everything suddenly felt much more real.

This wasn't a hospital, this wasn't my house, this wasn't even my world.

Then it hit me.

The name.

Alera.

I stared at the maid who had called me that, my heart began beating faster.

Princess Alera.

The daughter of King William Von Asta of Astria

the most powerful kingdom in the nation.

My mind immediately went back to the book.

'They Will Always Protect Me.'

The book read before I died, the book that annoyed me so much that I had spent half the night complaining about it. The book whose characters I had become far too attached to.

My breathing quickened.

No.

No, no, no.

I knew that name.

I knew that family.

I knew that princess.

I knew exactly who Princess Alera was.

She was the villainess.

The woman who married the prince, the princess from the powerful nation whose marriage was supposed to strengthen the prince's kingdom.

The woman who was continually humiliated because of the heroine, the woman everyone.....

...... eventually blamed.

The woman who......... died.

I took a step backward, my legs suddenly felt weak. One of the maids immediately moved toward me.

"Your Highness?"

I barely heard her, my thoughts were moving too quickly.

The accident.

The darkness.

Waking up here.

The strange body.

The maid calling me Princess Alera.

There was no way.

There was absolutely no way.

But everything fit.

Everything.

I turned toward the mirror again.

The beautiful unfamiliar face stared back at me.

And suddenly, I recognized it.

Not because I had ever seen this woman in real life, but because I had imagined her while reading. I knew what she looked like, I knew her story , I knew her fate and I knew I knew exactly how it ended.

My stomach dropped.

"Oh my goodness..."

The words barely left my lips, I looked at my reflection again.

Princess Alera.

The daughter of King William Von Asta.

The princess of the most powerful nation in the region.

The villainess of They Will Always Protect Me.

The woman I hated watching suffer, the woman whose death had barely mattered to the heroine or her precious men.

And now...

I was her.

I covered my mouth.

My eyes widened in horror.

I spent the previous night wishing I could enter that world, wishing I could protect Ezra, wishing I could change the story, wishing I could save my favorite character.

But I had never imagined this, I never imagined that I would actually wake up inside the novel.

And worse...

Much worse...

I knew exactly what happened to the woman whose body I was in, I also knew how she would end and it made my blood run cold

I was in a novel.

And worse is I ended up in the body of the villainess who ends up...

DEAD.