Arrgh!
My stomach...
It hurts...
A hazy dream filled with inaudible voices shattered in an instant. Linda Roy, in her sleep, felt an abnormal pain coming from inside her stomach, as if her abdomen being torn from within, something desperately trying to crawled out.
Arggh...! In her stupor, Linda attempted to move. Circling her waist, forcing herself to sit up.
However, she was unable to move her limbs, no, her whole body seems to disobey her commands.
Is it... that time again? It was never been this worst before! I even forgot to bring one with me!
As a woman, Linda wasn't unfamiliar with such pain swelling in her abdomen, in fact, she would diligently prepare for such an occasion. But cramps in a level of what she's currently experiencing, It couldn't be casually dismissed.
If this continues.. I wouldn't be able to attend my work! Wait. Wasn't today, Sunday?
Huh? No! What am I even saying? Argh, but it's so painful!
It wouldn't hurt to take a leave of absence right?
No! I'm the secretary!
I've just taken a leave one month ago! I will surely get fired this time!
I need to wake up. Now!
Mustering up her immaterial strength. Linda's eyes fluttered open, finally freeing herself from the shackles of darkness and confusion.
The scenery first presented itself to Linda in a blurry image, before gradually becoming clearer each moment.
Tinged with pale red, she saw floral patterns adorn the ceilings. Roses and vines intertwining in graceful symmetry filling the room's interior walls.
Attached to the walls are small metal curved tubes which extends into the unlit gas lamps, about half the size of a person's head, it features a transparent glass as it's inner layer and black metal grids outside.
Behind her, she felt waves of cloth, circling around her in a gentle manner. It's surface could be describe as a velvet cover made of sheep wools.
To her right, a curved limb mahogany closet, with large double door on top and four cornered drawers below stood at the corner of the room.
Next to it was a similarly designed bookshelf, half a size of a person, containing pale colored books arranged neatly in an arbitrary height. With grey-white vase above, featuring varied species of flowers.
Turning her head once more. She saw a door, presumably leading to a hallway, etched on its surface are intricate patterns consisting of leaves, vines, and petals. Accentuating it's presence amidst the floral interiors.
On the corner, between Linda and the door is a dresser, it's mahogany base design indistinct from the previous furnishings, containing a vertical shaped mirror above and four cornered drawers below adorned with flower carvings.
Beside her is a glass quirk bottle, it's cylindrical mouth extends into it's spherical body. Blood stains loomed over it's translucent surface.
Blood? Bottle? Linda was stunned. Finding herself in a foreign room designed with lavish furnishings when just moments before, she was inside her apartment.
At that moment, the sharp, indescribable pain resurfaced.
"Argh...!"
Linda's face contorted, slightly in control of her body, her hand shot instinctively for her abdomen.
She felt a pair of slightly curvaceous rods covered in viscous substance. Her fingers traced it's shape, eventually settling onto her skin.
It felt smooth and silk. Skin extending to her abdomen that bore a hole to the touch.
A hole...!!!
Alarmed, her head shot forward. At an instant, her heart sank.
Before her, rib bones turned upright, lungs and heart in the open, and blood continuously flowing from the evisceration.
T-This can't be real!
How!? How am I alive!?
It's just a dream! Yes! It has to be! A luxurious room such as this is far beyond my expenses!
It's a dream that just so happens to be so surreal!
I need to truly wake up!
Please wake up! Please!
Linda shut her eyes tightly, trying to summon the chilling breeze from the ac, the noise pollution coming from the city, and the occasional chattering of neighbors, anything that can be normal.
However, the indescribable pain persisted. Reminding Linda of her body.
After a moment, her consciousness began to fade. Her thoughts spiraled on urgency. Incapable of any actions, all she could do is settle her final words.
Mom... Dad... I'm sorry.
I wish...
I could hug you both once more...
At that moment, translucent tendrils began to appear around her abdomen. Each tendrils mingled with each other. Reforming her upturned rib, replacing her torn flesh, regaining her former skin.
Huh? It wasn't that painful anymore?
Confused, Linda held her head down. Her breath paused, eyes widening at the sight.
The large area that which seemed like it was feasted by predators now reveals a healthy silk-white skin. As if all was just an illusion.
I'm... alive...?
She froze, heartbeat ramming her throat. How could such a thing even be possible?
Retracting her gaze, her mind stirred as she stared at the ceiling once more. She couldn't process what had happened. The lavish room adorned with Western decor, her disemboweled body, and...
Linda paused momentarily. Her mouth trembled open.
In the stillness of the wind and the presence of coldness, she whispered a name, donned by her own.
"Linda... "
...!? The sound startled her. The melodic and enchanting voice definitely wasn't hers.
C-Could I perhaps...
Throughout her years as a secretary. Mundane moments arrives when one least expects it. Reading webnovels at such occasions were her momentary entertainment to pass time.
As such, she would eventually encounter genres of novels concerning a human being transferred into an alternate world. After all, it is a popular genre for many readers.
Gathering her thoughts, in silence she recounted. The lavish room, the blood spilled quirk bottle, disemboweled body and the sudden shift of familiarity in her voice. All indicates one thing.
Transmigrated? The thought resonated within her. As if a noise had resounded across a majestic hall, this single word made a ripple within her mind.
Minutes later, as if reclaiming a lost composure, she muttered to herself, trying to find some humor from her situation. I hope it's not going to be one of those demon-hero cliches..
If it weren't for the intense pain that seared into her memory, caused by her previous state. She would have dismissed all of the events that had happened and assume that everything was but a dream she gained lucid of.
Calm down.. calm down... Linda's body still trembled, but the shaking had dulled—no longer obvious.
Okay, breath in... Breathe Out. In. Out..
Her first breath staggered, the second smoother, before it gradually stabilized as moments passed by.
Finally regaining her clarity. With her body and mind now calmed. Fragmented memories began to resurfaced, like an isolated trees in a foggy world, revealing one after another.
Selina Ivory, twenty years old, an aristocrat of the Northern Continent's Loen Kingdom. Living in a town of Milo situated in the valley of Winter County. Between Amantha and Mirminsk mountain ranges, at the Tussock river's farther end...
With her family consisting only of her mother Filicia Ivory and her father Vincent Ivory, they occupy a manor estate in the outskirts of the town...
The family name Ivory is part of a group of aristocratic families, which dates back from the mid Fourth Epoch, disclosed to her by her father. It consists of the Ivory family and along with other aristocratic families which her father kept from Selina, but because of her persistence, he gave her an example of one of them, the White family...
Her father rarely speaks of their lineage, due to personal reasons. But according to her mother, her father, refused a certain ancient tradition that defines their families as a group, which caused him and her to live in the rural town of Milo...
Nevertheless, her father managed to sustain a credible life for her and her mother. Owning a fifthy acre fruit tree plantation, which he inherited from his late father...
As a daughter of an aristocrat. She was personally educated by her mother through books and taught by hired tutors on etiquette and mannerism in preparation for her future...
As the memories progressed, reaching the current year, Linda's thoughts began to form hazy distortions, causing the subsequent flashbacks to become disjointed and unreliable.
I guess that's all I can remember... Recovering from her reverie. Linda gradually propped herself from the bed's mattress.
Selina is currently living a fulfilling life... I'm envious. Linda mused silently. But upon hearing herself, she quickly added, B-But slightly...
After organizing her thoughts it began to swirl once more as she was still eluded by the mystery of her transmigration.
Okay, Linda think.. Are there anything you did before that might have caused your transmigration? Rattling her mind, she began to respond to her own question.
Well, there is this old street merchant that sells antiques on the side of the road.
Maybe because I feel bad for him? That I bought one of his 'antiques'?
Back then, It was an ancient looking hand-mirror. Its edge have a design similar to ocean wave patterns, above it is a small chamber, probably where it's gem is supposed to be, presumably stolen.
The merchant said that a certain prayer can activate the mirror, enhancing their luck for the next five years.
It was obviously a fake advertisement, so I didn't think much of it before.
But after a month, I began to experience bad luck, suddenly catching a cold that lasted weeks, which resulted in my leave of absence.
Maybe it was those desperate moments that I chanted a revised prayer to the hand-mirror, thinking it wouldn't work...
And yet... it worked. Linda sighed in exasperation.
If I knew this would happen... I wouldn't have obliviously chanted a made-up prayer to that suspicious mirror. She added with a tinge of regret, but later resumed, Note to self... Don't take stranger's advice to heart, less an antique abduct you while you sleep.
Realizing this, she muttered silently, But If I can replicate what I chanted with a similar looking antique from this world. It... might bring me back!
It was a fragile sense of hope—but was enough to make her emotions slowly settle.
Anyway, finding an ancient hand mirror would be difficult... It might take years for me to search one. Her mind wandered momentarily, anxious about the days it would take for her to return, a sudden realization hit her. The basement!
From Selina's memories, her father possessed some of the family's heirlooms, mostly inherited from his side of the family. Some were impractical to be displayed, while others have gathered dust within the basement. Contained in those heirlooms is a hand mirror which seemed to originate from ancient times.
Rekindling her hope, she was abruptly halted by the state of her dress, the silk white fabric bore a huge teared hole in the center, evidence of her previous state.
Considering how she might catch a cold. She settled internally, I should change clothes first...
Lifting her head, she realized that the room is much more spacious. With a rather wide couches that occupies the center, standing above the intricate mats, the room exudes timeless elegance amidst the glowing crimson of the night.
Crimson? Linda was slightly taken aback.
But unlike her current situation, it wasn't comparable to being transmigrated into a foreign world. Rather, it is to be expected.
Gaining a much clearer view from before. She decided to examine the room once more.
Her gaze hovered through the lavish furnishings and onto the floral interiors.
They were all illuminated by a tinge red glow, filtering from the left side of the room.
Subconsciously, Linda's gaze traced the shimmering lights..
Pointing to the veiled windows.
Curious, she approached the window's rails, undid the latches, and threw both of the glass panes open.
In stillness, against the backdrop of the 'green velvet curtains', a moon draped in crimson hung high, shining silently over the land.