BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Ila leaped up with open eyes only to shut them immediately from the bright sunlight. Her eyes adjusted to the light and saw her room. Instinctively, she turned off the alarm clock and got out of bed. She trudged to the bathroom, but find the bathroom locked. Ila groaned and knocked on the door.
"Sis, hurry up! I got to go to early practice."
"Ten more minutes! Make me some coffee while you wait!"
Ila sighed and headed downstairs where her mom was sitting at the kitchen table. She was eating breakfast already and looked at Ila as she made a cup of coffee.
"Don't you have morning practice?"
Ila simply nodded as she placed the cup of coffee across from her mom.
"Sis is still in the bathroom," Ila explained and headed back to her room.
She looks at the nightstand that had a small book on top. Ila picked it up and placed it in her bag.
'I don't understand why Ann loved this book. It is filled with nothing but clichés and cheesy romance. Not to mention how the only sensible character dies off with no further explanation. '
"Okay, I'm done!" Her sister hollered down the hallway.
Ila jumped up and ran to the bathroom. Finally, able to leave the house, Ila ran to school.
She reached the street the school was on and waited for the light to turn green. As she gathered her breath and straightened out her outfit, she saw a student looking at their phone walking forward. Confused Ila looked at the light and saw it was still red. Ila noticed a car speeding down the road and realized what was going to happen.
Quickly she grabbed the student's arm and yanked them back. The force of the pull made Ila fall backward which made the student land on top of Ila as the car honks angrily at them passed them.
Ila groaned in pain from the fall and looked down at the student to see if they were alright. The student a little dazed from what happened, looked up at Ila. A second later the student's face turned bright red.
"OMG! I am so sorry! Are you okay?" The student quickly got off Ila and helped her up.
"No biggie. I bruised a little but it's nothing serious." Ila laughed as she brushed the dirt off herself. She looks at the student and asked, "you are okay, though?"
The student nodded furiously and held Ila's hands up.
"Yes! Thank you so much! I cannot believe that the first day I get here I already cause problems. Are you sure you are okay? Should we go to the nurse? Let me pay for any medical fees. You are a life savior!"
Ila chuckled and saw the green light.
"I am okay really. Glad you are okay. I must go now. I'll see you later!"
With that Ila quickly ran across and headed to her club room. Ila glanced back and noticed the student jogged towards the teachers' office.
'What a sweet person.'
School ended and Ila walked out to find the student from this morning looking at the students as they left the school grounds. Their eyes light up when they fell on Ila and walked up to meet Ila.
Ila smiles and greets them.
"Hey, what's up?"
"I wanted to thank you for saving my life. Please let me repay you! I mean, of course, you don't have too..."
Ila smiled awkwardly as the student was rambling on. Finally, Ila grabs their hand, which made them silent.
"Sure. My name is --- "
Ila followed her new friend and walked toward their house. The sun was set, and the streetlight barely lit the road. They were chatting and were unaware of the dangerous figure that was watching them from around the corner.
They started to turn the corner when the figure jumped out with a knife and a black hood over their head.
"Give me everything you got and you won't get hurt!" The man yells as he points a knife at the two of them.
Ila instinctively put an arm between her friend and the robber. Ila nodded and glanced at her friend to hand their bag to Ila.
Slowly Ila handed her and her friend's bag to the man.
"P-please don't hurt us," her friend cried as they held Ila's arm.
The man snatched the bags and rummaged through it. Ila motioned her friend to move back slowly to gain some space between them. Her friend took a single step back and landed on a twig. The snap startled the man and swung his knife out. Ila moved her body and completely covered her friend. Her friend screamed and the man ran away with a petrified face from them.
Ila felt something thick soak her skin and shirt. Every breath started to feel painful. Her legs lost all strength and she fell backward. Her friend caught Ila and lowered to the ground. Ila touched the warm thick liquid and brought it to her view.
It was blood.
'This will be hard to clean.'
Ila looked at her friend and saw tears streaming down. They were yelling and said something to her, but their voice was so distant. Breathing felt more of a chore with each breath feeling like thousands of needles pricked her body. Ila smiled a little at her friend to reassure them.
"Ha do-ont cr-y," Ila could barely say, "the po-lice shou-ld be co-"
Ila closed her eyes and felt everything fade away from her.
'right I'm dying now. I guess I do not have to do my math homework now.'
"My lady, it is time to wake up."
'My lady? Who is she talking to? Also, did hospital beds always felt so silky?'
"Miss Ilianna! It is time to wake up for your lessons."
Ila opened her eyes slowly and saw a red canopy. Slowly she sat up and looked around the room. White silky covers, dark wood furniture, and glittering gold vases on top with red roses inside. An elder woman with pulled hair into a high bun and a dark gray simple gown with a white apron tied opened cream-colored curtains and headed towards a door in the far left.
"Come get ready now. You have a test today and you still need to finish your homework. You don't want to cause problems, do you?" She coldly asked when she came back out with what appeared to be a dress.
Ila still dazed from where she was, slowly got out of bed. She walked towards a mirror that hung next to a big window and saw a young child. She was thin and long brown hair that reached her back. The young girl had lifeless blue eyes and a sunken face.
'Is this me?'
Ila placed a hand on her reflection and her face only to see it did the same.
'I'm a child?!'
Ila looked at her small body and noticed small cuts and bruises all over her legs. Horror and disgust filled her face until the woman grabbed Ila's arm.
"We don't have time for this unladylike behavior," she scolded, and she tightened her grip.
Ila winced in pain as she was dragged into a bathroom. The woman began to get Ila ready and dressed her in a long dark green dress. It had gold embroidery along the edges with gold flecks scattered on the skirt.
'Quite a nice dress and it hides the wounds on my legs. How convenient.'
Ila silently followed the woman to an empty dining room. There were silverware and food set up at the table. Ila sat at the seat and looked at the food. A small bowl of soup and a small piece of a bread slice.
'What are you serious? You are giving a child cold soup and a slice of bread. No wonder this kid is so thin.'
Ila took a sip of the cold soup and a bite of the bread. Barely able to swallow, Ila forced herself to eat the food. The woman watched Ila coldly. She tapped her finger and finally snapped.
"Alright, you had enough. If you eat anymore, you will be fat"
She pulled Ila out of the chair and dragged her to the library. Ila stumbling after her bumped into the mean woman when she suddenly stops. The woman bowed when a man in a black suit walked down the hallway. He had dark brown hair and cold blue eyes. His eyes followed the woman and then onto Ila. His face frowned when they landed on Ila.
"My Lord, good morning," the woman greeted.
He grunted and walks past them. Ila watched the man go out of view. Behind him was a young woman with blonde hair and dark brown eyes. She glared at Ila when she stood in front of Ila.
"You don't even know how to greet your father or to me. What a useless child. I will have to punish you for this behavior. No dinner for a week. If you do not want anything worse, you should learn your place already, you wretched thing."
The woman snickered as she walked away.
'So, she is also the cause of my sorry state.'
Ila sat in the library writing everything she had gathered so far.
'I died and reincarnated. I am Ilianna Vellet, the first daughter of the Vellet house... Vellet? Rolf Vellet is a duke and his wife, Molde Vellet, was a countess. I have an older brother named Bertran Vellet and a little sister named Isobel Vellet. They have blonde hair and blue eyes. We are one of the main three duke houses that have high nobility and wealth... Why does this sound familiar?'
Ila wondered why her name seemed so familiar when the door was opened. A butler entered and walked right to Ila.
"His highness, Crown Prince Montgomery, has arrived, Miss."
Ilianna dropped her pen. The older woman scolded her for being unladylike and took her to where he was, but Ilianna's mind preoccupied.
'Montgomery as in the male lead from that terrible book! Wait does that mean I am a character? Who? Oh no! I can't remember!'
Her thoughts swirled and more questions formed. She was not aware she was standing in front of him until she was pushed on to the floor.
"I see you are still annoyingly quiet," the boy arrogantly said. He folded his arms and glared at Ila after sitting down on the chair.
"Feed me cookies."
Ila stared at him and examined his appearance. He was still young, but there was no doubt it. He was the male lead.
'The Starry Sword. A story of a high school girl being magically transported to another world. She falls in love with the crown prince with two other male lead in love with her. She falls into cliché events like needing to be saved from love rivals and random beasts. She only released her powers at the last minute to defeat the villainess and the demon king. The villainess was the fiancé and childhood friend of the crown prince... Ilianna Vellet. Nooooooo!'
Ila immediately fainted on the spot from shock.
The crown prince jumped down and ran to Ilianna's body.
"Somebody help!" He yelled as he held her head up.
A maid came in and gasped when she saw the prince teary-eyed holding Ilianna's limp body. The maid quickly picked Ilianna up and carried her to her bedroom. Following close behind, the crown prince noticed cuts on Ilianna's leg.
After a few hours, Ila woke up. She stared at the red bed ceiling.
'I just died and I'm going to die again. It is like those stories of the reincarnated main protagonist who was a middle-class worker that died in a car accident or something. But they become super-powered or loved by all protagonists. So why is it that I am fated to die as soon as I enter adulthood.'
Ila silently cried as she slowly sat up. The back of her head throbbed in pain. She looked down and saw someone sleeping at the edge of her feet. She quietly gasped which woke the person up.
"You have woken up."
It was a young boy. His golden blonde hair was messy but looked effortlessly elegant. He yawned and looked Ila with his warm blue eyes. He tilted his head and smiled.
"Glad you are okay."
He looked down with a sullen look on his face.
"I am sorry I wasn't there is morning to protect you. Mother filled my morning with more sword practices."
Ila stared at him before looking out the window. It had become night now. Ila mentally sighed.
'He looks to be around 12 which means I might be 8 or 9. '
"It's okay. If you had, she would have found another way to punish me," Ila replied.
Bertran flinched when Ila said punish as he knew what happens to her when mother personally punished Ilianna. Ila noticed how he felt discomfort when she was blunt about it and placed a hand over his. He looked up at Ila and saw her smile.
"I'm okay now," Ila paused not knowing whether she should even ask but decided to anyway.
"What did father say?"
Bertran looked back down and shook his head. Ila sighed and sank into the covers.
'Of course, he wouldn't care. In the future, he will become a key role in the demise of Ilianna Vellet.'
Bertran let Ila's hand go to pull a small package out from his pocket. Ila looked at it as he opened it and placed it in front of her. It was a small sandwich.
"I asked for a midnight snack and put some away for you. It's not much this time, but next time I'll get some candy."
Ila smiled and thanked Bertran before taking a bite.
After finishing the food, Bertran left to sleep which left Ila alone in a big cold room.
'I miss my mom.'
Ila was overcome with sadness and realization that she will never see her family again. She sobbed under the covers of the foreign blankets as quietly as possible.
'I miss mom's cooking. I miss teasing my sister. I miss Ann. I miss my old room.'
As she slowly fell asleep from exhaustion, a figure stood against the door.
Outside her door, stood her father leaning against it. He could hear Ila's sobbed and looked down.
"I have failed you, Ilianna," he whispered before walking away.