No, no, no, no, no, Tianshi Xue's mind whispered. This is all just a dream. I am going to wake up. There is no way that I am in this body. I don't even know how I got myself dreaming about this. I know I had wanted to be a princess when I was younger but not now.
The face on the mirror resembled that of the princess'. The face was slim but a little rounded on the cheeks and the jaw. The lips sloped in soft curves, and her eyes… they were so big. Another shocking thing was the straight silver hair the princess had, tangled into knots now.
Where was her beautiful brown hair?! She did not recall going to the doctor and asking for this face! She poked and pulled at the skin. She felt the pain when she pinched the cheek, tinging it red. It followed everything she did.
She shook her head and the person at the mirror shook its head also. "This is not real," she said. "This is not real!"
There were loud knocks on the door. Then it was Prince Xiaodan's (2nd Prince) voice. "Princess! Are you okay in there? Can you please open the—"
"Go away!" she screamed. A plan formed in her head.
She needed to fall asleep and when she wakes up, she would be back in her own body. There was a small cabinet and she pulled out lilac towels. She dropped them to the floor and took another stack that would serve as her pillow.
The knocks got louder and so did the prince's voice. "If you're not going to open this door, I'm sorry, but I'd have to have someone open it."
"Just leave me alone!" she said and that seemed to work because the knocks were gone. Maybe the prince went on to find someone that could help him. By the time that he would come back, she would be back to her body and away from this cursed room.
She closed her eyes and let the tiredness of her body consume her. She felt it everywhere, from the top of her head to her toes. It was not long when she started to feel sleepy. This body wished to rest and it was obvious.
But she could not fall asleep. The pain on her tailbone was too real as it carried her weight off the floor. The stiffness of her neck was too much. The headache kept on pounding on her skull.
All the pain she felt was too real for this to be even a dream. But if this wasn't a dream, then what was it? Surely, this was not reality because there was no way that she was in the body of the princess. She had never even seen this person in real life!
No, she was going to fall asleep and then she was going to wake up and be back in her body.
But before sleep could pull her, the door was busted open and there was a man who was holding a bunch of keys. The prince was right behind him.
"Princess, are you okay?" asked the older man.
Tianshi Xue groaned. "Just please leave me alone."
"We can't really leave you alone," said Prince Xiaodan, stepping up and then knelt in front of her. "You should get in bed so you could rest. I think you're confused. The doctor said you hit your head pretty hard."
Then another plan formed. She would be able to sleep much quicker if she was on the soft bed. All she had to do was play pretend for a short while. "Yeah, you're right." She started to get up but the prince's hand told her to stop.
"Please, let me help you." Then as much as the fairytale goes, the prince slipped his arms on the back of her knees and supported her back.
In a second, she was hauled in the air and her arms immediately circled his neck. She let out an embarrassing yelp that made her cheeks color. In all the movies and dramas she did, she was never the one who got into this kind of position as she was always the antagonist.
"Did I hurt you?!" the prince asked in panic.
"No," she shook her head. "I was just surprised."
The prince adjusted her with ease and she grew consciously aware of how warm he was. He was as kind as the papers say. The prince walked to the bed and gently placed her on top of it. He even covered her with a blanket.
He sat down next to her with a gorgeous smile. "Isn't that so much better?"
The heavenly mattress was hard to deny. "It's good."
"Okay," the prince said and held her hand. She realized how cold her hands were—or should she say the princess' hand? "You better get well soon. We still have a wedding to prepare."
"Who's getting married?"
Prince Xiaodan laughed and it was like the place grew brighter. "Us. Remember?"
Her stomach immediately tumbled. Okay, this dream was too good to be true. Marriage to a prince? She was so tempted to stay but this was not her place. She held out her hand and he placed his beautiful face on it. She could feel the soft texture of his skin. "You were a good dream."
The prince let out a chuckle. "No, my princess. This is reality. I'll leave Howin with you, okay? I have some matters to attend to today. Rest well and I'll see you at dinner."
She nodded and for a second, she felt happy for the princess. It was no secret what happened to her and her empire. It was so great that she was getting married to the kindest prince of all. He got up and waved before the door closed.
Tianshi Xue, even though in a dream, felt like she was on cloud nine.
Now, you wouldn't be able to imagine her frustration that when she woke up, she was still in the body of Princess Yingyue.