Painful.
God forbid! Her body ached as if the hounds of hell have trampled it multiple times.
Lia struggled to open her eyes. The glaring light coming from all directions blinded her.
'Huh. Is this the afterlife? Too bright. Ugh. This is hurting my eyes. They should have an off switch for this.' Lia thought to herself.
The last thing she remembered was feeling resigned and decided to sleep permanently after taking some pills.
Lia tried to block the light by putting her hands in front of her. However, instead of the slightly tanned and rough hands that she was expecting to see, in front of her was a pair of fair, smooth, and unblemished ones.
'What the hell? I didn't know my hands were this beautiful. Totally hand model material.'
Suddenly, as her eyes finally adjusted, it was not her hands that caught her attention anymore. Lia stumbled out of where she was because of the shock.
"Sh*t! Am I still dreaming? Where the f*ck am I?"
Her usually hyperactive brain was lagging at that moment. Lia tried to scramble out in her mind what happened the previous day before she decided to just end everything since all of it was pointless.
Right. She resigned from work. She lost interest in it and couldn't bear to stay another day. On top of that, she hadn't been sleeping too well for the past months and was feeling utterly exhausted with everything. When that thought came to her, Lia acted on it almost immediately.
"I guess overdoing the sleeping pills does work. But what is this situation? Why did I wake up again?"
She murmured to herself while taking in every detail of the room she was now in. Lia could only describe it to be lavish but not too overdone. It was elegant even. The cream-colored walls were patterned with stencils of roses pairing well with the old rose color of the ceiling. They were in-laid with precious gems giving off understated sparkles which were a pleasure to look at. Lia marveled at it.
The afternoon sunshine reflected at her French windows illuminating the rouge sofa set. There was also a study table in a far corner along with a shelf of books. Pia turned her attention to where she was sitting down. The soft and pristine bed she was in had billowing gauze canopies creating an illusory feel. The entire ambiance reminded her of an Old English room. Suddenly, it struck her.
'This is not my world. Did I transmigrate? What's with this scenario? Am I freaking living a transmigration novel here? Oh my gosh! My inner otaku is rejoicing! Waaah!'
'Stop getting distracted, Lia! Get yourself together!'
Just as she finished reprimanding herself, she settled down and faced reality. Lia's head suddenly ached. It hurt to the point where she was drenched in cold sweat and had difficulty breathing.
Countless images flashed in her mind, similar to how a film reel was played.
Lady Chalice Solveigh de Amaranth. That's the name of the body she was in now, the only daughter of Duke Alaric Silvann de Amaranth and Duchess Lyana Charlotte de Amaranth. Much to the dismay of everyone, Chalice did not live up to her father's reputation nor inherited her mother's genteel grace and courage.
She was the wayward, brash, and man-chasing daughter of the duke. Lia was flabbergasted at this revelation. This girl was notorious for going after guys with good looks. Because of this she has often gotten herself into trouble and brought shame to her household. She even got into an accident while chasing the Crown Prince.
"This dumbass died because she chased after the Crown Prince and ended up trampled under his horse. Ugh! Seriously?! Can you get any more stupid than that? There's something called subtlety." Lia cursed under her breath.
'Well, at least she didn't voluntarily choose to go straight to Hades.'
She snickered at that. Even in her manner of death, Lia felt it was uneventful. She could have died a little bit more grandiosely. Then again for someone who chose to volunteer herself in the journey to the afterlife, she only has so a few choices regarding the method. That aside, her personality thoroughly clashed with her new body's personality. Bragging aside, she would never be as dumb. Not that she was averse to chasing guys. She was a typical 21st Century woman having that certain degree of feministic morals, after all. In the modern world, it was already pretty common for women to make the move on men.
"But anyway, this is who I am now. I highly doubt I could ever go back to Earth. Well, that doesn't matter. Hmm. All right Chalice, it's decided. I am going to redeem you and live your life to the fullest. I will make your name glorious in this world."
After she said those words likened to an oath, Lia sighed. She wasn't that happy to get another lease on life. What if she accomplishes everything and then suddenly loses all motivation to remain breathing? Wouldn't it be her previous life happening all over again? It would become another cycle that tired her out. Anyhow, maybe she could make sure that in this new she'll never run out of interesting things. Maybe this time around, Lia could find an everlasting reason to live.