Dying is a strange experience, especially when you're absolutely aware of everything's that happening while your life flashes in front of your eyes. Well, what flashed before my eyes wasn't my life, but rather the sudden outburst of light that the lightning carried with it.
'Man what sort of magnet of bad luck am I?' I asked myself.
The electricity current travelled through my body faster than the blink of an eye and I was left half cooked on the ground. I was somehow still alive, surviving a lightning was something I could've bragged about for the rest of my boring lonely life at school, but instead the universe had the absolute audacity to strike me yet one more time with lightning.
That did it. I felt my last breath leaving my body and everything went dark. Maybe walking outside on the rain late at night was a bad idea...Anyways, while I went over my recent memories. I felt as if something pulled me from the inside out. Oddly enough, it didn't hurt at all and it was over in an instant and I lost consciousness.
When I woke up, I was lying in a strange dark room. There was a singular bed in which I was resting in. I could feel my head burning and throbbing, there didn't seem to be anyone else in there so I just stood up from bed and walked over to what I thought was a mirror. Thought everything was just so...Big.
'What the hell is this?' I thought, amazed by the reflection that was in front of me.
It was a young girl, probably around seven or even eight years old at most. Red hair and crimson eyes, soft lips and tender white pale skin, a small nose and a very faint blush on her cheeks. The reflection I saw corresponded with a very interesting character I had grown to love on my past life, the evil villain of the novel I had just finished reading.
"Evelyn?" I asked out loud, noticing it was me speaking, I couldn't help but jump in place from the surprise.
'What the...Is this a dream?' My head started to go in circles. What the hell happened? Why was I in Evelyn's body? And why the hell wasn't I dead?
My thoughts were overrun by the sharp pain in my head, and just then did I notice the bandage that was wrapped around my forehead. It hurt like hell, and I couldn't quite recall what caused it. My memories were getting more and more blurry, and soon enough I couldn't withstand the pain and fell unconscious for the second time.
I woke up in the bed again, this time there was a butler sitting in a wooden chair by the side of the bed. He didn't quite notice me waking up at first, but once he did his expression looked strangely calm, as if he was used to see this body...My body in bed for a long time.
"Lady Evelyn, you woke up already?" He asked. His voice was rough but oddly soothing, something inside my head gave me the feeling that he was a trustworthy fellow.
"Where am I?" Since I was in Evelyn's body, by whatever reason, I couldn't ruin her reputation, so I tried to do my best imitation of her blank expression and cold voice. The butler seemed to smile a little, it probably worked.
"You're in your room, Milady. You've been in bed for a full day after you fell from a tree yesterday. The rest were quite worried about you." He explained the situation quite easily.
When I tried to recall the situation, I could indeed remember. I remembered everything from Evelyn climbing up the tree to falling down on her head. It was strange since I wasn't remembering it from the book, but rather from Evelyn's point of view. As if they were my memories.
Just then did I start to notice that most of my past life memories were slowly blurring away and being either replaced or mixed with Evelyn's. It was the most odd feeling I had felt since the lightning strike that killed me. Clearing my throat, I decided to ask a few more questions, to make sure in which part of the novel I was currently at.
"Could you remind me of the date again? My memories are quite...Dizzy to say the least."
The butler seemed a little worried about the comment on my memories, and who wouldn't when the most powerful person in the whole manor was a young child that couldn't even do her bed herself. Or at least that was the Evelyn in the novel's early days.
"It is currently the 3rd day of Mirden and the year is 765, Milady. Are you feeling unwell? Should I call for the doctor for a check up?" He seemed honestly worried, and that thought made me remember something important.
765? That was a date mentioned only in the few starting pages of the novel! It meant that I was currently about to live through the worst part of Evelyn's life. Her Childhood.
"Was the Count here, by any chance?" The butler seemed to feel a chill down his spine due to the question he was asked, nonetheless, he took an audible deep breath before speaking.
"No, Milady. But I'm sure he-"
"Of course he didn't..." I cut him off before he could finish.
You see, Count Ravenclaw, Lord Arthur Ravenclaw the Third, was what many could name a drunkard, womanizer and a complete inept. Evelyn was a "mistake" he had made with a prostitute, and he took her in only to keep his position as the head of the family secured. She was considered a bastard, and as such, she was treated like shit around her family.
She often sook refuge in her servants and those close to her, but they could be easily counted with one hand. And they would leave her side one by one as she plummeted further and further into the role of the villainess in the book. Her childhood was mentioned as empty and cold, her father often beat her when she made any sort of mistake or simply when he was a little too drunk for the night.
And that would go on until she reached the age of nineteen, when she would finally snap and stab a sword right through her father's chest, ending his life there and then without a single hint of remorse in her face. It was a really badass scene in the novel, but I doubt I could ever kill someone like that.
It didn't matter right now, instead of trying to delve into the future events I decided to get used to my new life as Evelyn, assuming this wasn't some kind of weird dream of course, and only gave the butler a nod of my head, to which he responded by standing from his chair and helping me up.
"Bring me my usual clothes. I'm going for a walk around the estate." I ordered, since Evelyn's nature was starting to mix with my memories, it was easier to channel that cold demeanor she often used to shield herself against people. It felt awful, but it was needed to proceed.
"Yes, Milady." Despite him looking a little worried about me, the butler seemed quite excited about this whole ordeal. Maybe I could trust him a little more from now on? Despite his name never being mentioned, it suddenly came to my head and I smiled a little inside my head.
"Oh, and Edwards...Thanks for staying with me."
"Of course, Milady." He smiled some more. Even if small details like these weren't mentioned in the Novel's explanation of Evelyn's backstory, it's good to know that she wasn't completely alone in this damned house.
Without further ado, I wore the clothes Edwards brought me and I headed out of that dark room and onto the rest of the estate that would become my new home. First stop: The dinning room.