4

She couldn't understand; she couldn't make sense of it. Her mind struggled to decode everything happening around her. She had to be in the middle of a bad joke. All these people had to be playing a cruel prank on her, but they weren't. It didn't take long for her to accept the reality, because everything was so overwhelmingly real that she now questioned how she had ended up here in the first place. She was trapped inside a novel! Everyone around her was nothing more than a character from the book she had been reading.

How could this even be possible? How could she enter a novel she had been reading so casually the night before? And even if she did, why did she have to enter as the villainess? It seemed her intense rage toward Maria while reading had ultimately manifested her inside Maria's body. Her hands trembled with anger; she was thrown into an utterly incomprehensible situation. Had she died and fallen into a coma? Was she currently living through one giant nightmare? She didn't know; all she knew was that the situation was anything but normal.

She looked at the body reflected in the mirror with deep hatred. This woman had ruined her mentally and emotionally. She was now a prisoner in the body of a woman she had despised while reading. She needed to get rid of this body as soon as possible. She didn't know how, but she had to find a way.

She inspected the body from top to bottom. She wasn't overly tall, but she wasn't short either. Her body was slender and curvy, with black hair, fair white skin, and striking green eyes. She was a beautiful woman, there was no denying that. But she wasn't like Lisa, the novel's main character. It wasn't hard to understand why Yusuf was so infatuated with Lisa; Lisa was as lovely as a fairy, a true heroine in every sense of the word. Even if she wasn't, the woman whose body Su was trapped in could never be the leading lady. Her heart and soul were wicked. There was no evil scheme she hadn't resorted to in order to tear Yusuf and Lisa apart.

She took a deep breath as the door creaked open slightly. After the midwife left, chaos had erupted in the house. Lisa had fallen ill, and as soon as the head of the house heard the news, he flew into a rage, turning the entire place upside down. Su was terrified of the man she didn't know; he had lunged toward her, and had his wife not stopped him, he would have struck her.

In the book, after Maria and Yusuf were caught together, everyone had turned heavily against Maria. Of course, back when Su was reading it, she hadn't felt the slightest bit of pity for her. On the contrary, she thought Maria deserved it all. The last part she had read was where Yusuf and Maria were about to marry. She didn't know if they actually got married or not because her sister had taken the book from her hand before she reached that page. Now, she was at the part where everyone learns about Maria's pregnancy—living the events five or ten pages prior to where she had left off.

Pulling herself out of her deep thoughts, she turned around and saw an unfamiliar woman she had never seen before. An older woman had entered and scanned her body with brown eyes. Under that gaze, Maria shifted uncomfortably, feeling as though she were sitting on pins and needles. It had only been a few hours since she fell into this nightmare, yet she hadn't seen a single person look at her with warmth. In everyone's eyes, there was only hatred and disgust reserved for her. She didn't blame them; she hated this woman herself.

"Yusuf sent word," the woman said coldly. "He will come within a week with the official to perform the marriage."

The young girl knit her brows. What did this mean now? Was it really in such a rush? She strained her mind to remember: how did this part go in the book? It didn't take long to recall; back then, too, a one-week deadline had been given to the woman, deeming it necessary to marry before news of the baby spread among the people. She remembered how she had screamed in anger while reading about Maria's squeals of joy at the time.

***

Two days had passed. For as quiet as a storm lingered in the house over those two days, the storms raging within her were deafening. She was on the verge of losing her mind from overthinking. No matter how much she pondered, she couldn't figure out how she had fallen here or how to escape.

A heavy silence hung over the dinner table, and she couldn't put a single bite into her mouth because of intense nausea. Perfect! That woman was the one who committed the deed, yet she was the one suffering for it! It felt like a joke; to be pregnant without having been with anyone, without a single soul touching her skin! Her nerves were fraying rapidly. Maria hadn't just upended Yusuf's life—she had ruined her life as well.

Her gaze shifted to the girl sitting across from her. She sat in her chair with a sunken face and exhausted body, unable to gather her strength since that day. And she was right to be that way; the woman who was supposed to be her sister had stolen the man she loved. Su couldn't help but feel deeply sorry for her. While reading, she had wanted to hold Lisa tight and shield her in her arms; the author had described the tempests inside Lisa so sincerely that Su had wept alongside her over her fate.

The moment Lisa felt she was being watched, she raised her eyes. Her sister was looking intently at her face. The instant their eyes met, the young girl flinched, pulling her gaze away and lowering her head. Lisa couldn't help but feel astonished by this gesture; she had expected her sister to stare straight into her eyes and gloat in her face.

Su quickly averted her eyes the moment she was caught. Even though it wasn't her fault, she felt guilty whenever she looked at the girl. She took a sip of water to soothe her dry, stinging throat. She was in a strange environment, and this alien feeling was searing her heart. Even though she felt like crying inside, she held herself back; she didn't want to give anything away to anyone until she found a way to leave. If she told the people here that she wasn't Maria, they wouldn't believe her and would call her mad. She couldn't handle the label of madness on top of all this chaos; anyone wanting to get rid of her could easily hide behind the excuse of her being insane.

Dinner was eaten in silence, and everyone retired to their rooms. No one talked to her, not even the servants in the house. Everyone avoided her at all costs. Because of this, Su withdrew deeper into her shell, feeling completely alone in the wide world. In truth, she was living exactly as Maria had lived; no one loved Maria, and she didn't have a single friend in the entire book. While even Lisa's schoolmates were given space in the novel, not a single person close to Maria was ever mentioned.

In reality, this was completely normal. Maria was a woman who looked down on everyone and degraded them, constantly hurling insults at the household servants and giving them useless tasks. It was only natural for her to be alone; she had created her own isolation and had no right to cry over it. Still, Su had never read a single instance of Maria complaining about it. On the contrary, because Maria believed everyone was as evil as herself, she considered solitude a great blessing.

Exhausted, she stretched out on the bed. The large bed was so comfortable that she spread out completely. As her hand rested on her stomach, she let out a deep sigh.

"I wonder where your real mother is?" she breathed anxiously. If she was in Maria's body, was Maria's soul in hers? She didn't know; there were so many things she didn't know...

She felt sad for the baby in her belly, whose presence she couldn't even feel yet. The child was bound to have a wicked mother and a father who didn't love her. Yusuf loved Lisa, not Maria. She sighed once more. Even though she felt sorry for the baby, she too wanted Yusuf to be with Lisa. Their love was vast and enchanting; they truly loved each other. Maria had set a trap for them and torn them apart, causing a child who would never be loved to be created just to claim the man for herself.