'Blood'

I think it was the last thing I remember after death decided to visit me.

I have always thought about when or where I will later meet the gruesome faith every human feared. As if I didn't care if it was allowed or not.

We will never know whether death is freedom or something that will keep us trapped in one place.

'It's not because I wished for death to come. I have never wanted that. It's just. . . This world doesn't seem to fit me. In short, I didn't live a great life as I was wasted like an insect.'

At the start, I knew that my life was always bound by bad luck.

'. . . Ah, I guess I'm just unlucky after all. At least, I can rest in peace now. In the afterlife, I would be worrying about nothing and finally get my freedom'

When my death comes into presence, my thoughts suddenly have a change of mind. Somehow, the reincarnation story that someone told me keeps going inside my head. It gave me false hope and crazy imagination.

'. . . Is it alright if I wish to be reincarnated as a princess that is loved by the whole continent?'

I asked to myself while looking at the clear blue sky that slowly turned dark.

'Yeah, right. The thought of it was too childish and stupid to come true.'

But, I guess being selfish once in my life wouldn't hurt at all. Especially if the situation is the day I'm going to die.

'God above who art in heaven, at least don't let the rain pour down here. It's just going to make my death more pitiful. . .'

My eyes finally closed as I was slowly being greeted by darkness. As for now, I have met my miserable fate.

-

-- [12 February 774/Present Day]

'That was what I thought.'

In the strange circumstances I'm facing, I abruptly feel certain unfamiliar memories rushed through my head.

Most of the scenes I witnessed were blurry. The only memory I could see was a Kingdom filled with bright red flowers.

'That Kingdom. . . It looks familiar. . . '

In a matter of seconds, my eyes widened by the sudden intense mysterious shock that was now bursting inside my body.

I don't know if I'm hallucinating, but my body doesn't feel sick at all. It was quite the opposite of what I expected. It is very warm and comfortable.

It was strange.

The last thing I was witnessing was the weather became colder and it seemed like the clouds above would be pouring rain later on shortly.

When I realized that my body seemed to be in its normal state, I forced myself to open my eyes even wider. When I opened them, I was greeted by an unfamiliar wooden ceiling above me.

"What . . . Is this?"

The warm feeling that I felt when it ran through my body, instantly disappeared when I opened my eyes wider. As I regained my clear sight, I was astonished at what I had to see about my surroundings.

The room is a bit dark because there is only one lantern that shines through in this small room. Although the light is flickering, it provided enough light for a human's eyes to view.

The room I sat in was also quite small. It was also rather dirty. Despite that, it is filled with many bookshelves and a few books scattered around on the floor.

'Looks like I used these books as a pillow for my head.'

"Where am I?"

I asked practically no one. The room is indeed empty. For now, I'm the only one who is present.

As I observe more, I find that the room has no windows to breathe the outside air nor a door to exit.

However, oddly enough, the things that catch my eyes the most is that this room is only filled with tons of books.

'Hard heavy books to be precise . .'

I stood up from the wooden floor and glanced from side to side only to be greeted by a bookshelf. Inside one of the bookshelves is a small mirror resting beside the books. Like it was meant to be there.

Looking at that, I gulp as my hand slowly reaches the ordinary mirror, silver in color, with intricate lilies and leaves decorations. I could see it was a beautiful mirror.

I can see the reflection of myself. In my current state, I have a pale complexion and aquamarine eyes with long slightly wavy pale blonde hair that reaches down to my waist. It was like a total makeover. All of these features are completely different from my original appearance.

'. . . The person that I'm seeing is clearly not me.'

I sighed deeply before something caught my eyes.

There, I saw my wrist having written number two (2). I tilted my head in confusion but then decided to prioritize my current situation.

'From all the information I receive, I could simply assume that I had already died and got reincarnated like in one of those stories. But could this all just be my imagination? No. All of this felt too real to be just happening in my head.'

I let a long sigh of relief escape my mouth. My lungs are now free from slight suffocation. Now, I have time for myself to think straight. I'm glad that I'm alone in this situation. It was better than suddenly encounter a stranger that could be a potential foe.

'I need to focus'

Once again I looked around into my surroundings. My eyes wander around, looking for either door or window. Nonetheless, the result was the same no matter how much I looked.

All I could see were just walls standing in front of me.

Since I don't know anything about this place, I gaze downwards to look at the book that is scattered on the floor. Some books have its pages opened and some of it have its pages closed.

The scattered books looked very old and dull. The books must have been written centuries ago if they got the book covers like that.

I grew more curious about what lies inside the pages. That's when I decided to sit back on the floor. As I sit comfortably, I continue to grab one of the books.

I was very surprised at the context.

The book contained foreign languages that I don't know. But strangely enough, I could read without having much difficulty and can even understand every letter and word in it.

'Is this an advantage that can be received from reincarnating?'

In the book I chose to read, it tells about the history of a kingdom called Lucretia.

'. . . I'm not mistaken. There must be some kind of spiritual mistake.'

I read pages through pages but couldn't find anything important. Still having no success, I let out a sigh of boredom.

The book is only filled with the founding kings and the kingdom's general history. It was just like a normal history book. Even though the contents are interesting, I'm feeling stuck.

'. . . When putting that way, It makes lesser sense when there is no entrance. If the original body is inside this room, then there must be a someway to enter or exit this room. There is no doors insight so the original owner must have entered from a secret hidden door. Although, the bigger problem is that this room doesn't have anything that allows air to enter. Meaning if I stay longer than I should be, I could die from lack of oxygen.'

Proceeding to act calmly as I could, I began to take a closer look at this small place. I have to search if there's anything strange about the structure and got a hypothesis that things that were hidden from plain sight could sometimes didn't have the perfect cover to blend into their surrounding.

My head turned towards one of the bookshelves and look at it for more than a minute. The closer I look, I could find myself seeing some odds about that one bookshelf. The structure is a little strange and inconclusive.

In a flash of time, I immediately moved all the books from the bookshelf to the floor. Slowly but surely, it was the moment I notice something weird about it.

'If there's a door behind this bookshelf, part of the wall will form like a rectangle. So I have to observe it.'

After seeing that there was some light, I took a few steps back to ascertain whether my guess was right or wrong.

My eyes went wide when my guess turned out to be true. There is one between the bookshelves.

I stepped up and gather all my strength to pull the bookshelf away. With my effort, I could slowly move it and pulled like a door.

When I was able to pull the bookshelf, there was a hidden door. It was exactly what I thought.

I reach my hand to the knob and slightly twist it aside.

Click-!

As the door pushed opened, my eyes went widen at the sight.

"This. . . !"

.

.

.