...transaction?
The vortex of voices, darkness, and a numbing cold clung to her for time unknown.
It was an excruciating feeling but gradually it all disappeared like the morning mist from a lake.
She slowly blinked her eyes open to the beautiful face of a young lady. Her hair was very long and wavy, they were in a beautiful shade of brown. Her eyes were something in between blue and green, and deep like the ocean. Her clothes indicated towards royalty.
The princess looked at her with worried eyes and poked her head.
"Does it hurt?"
"No...Who are you?"
"Oh dear, it seems like you have lost your memories! I am Johanna, you are my handmaiden. How much do you remember?"
Johanna was a name from 'The Damsel of Death'.
"Johanna Awington...?"
"Yes, do you remember?" she smiled brightly and clasped her handmaiden's hands, Johanna was so relieved that happy tears lined her eyes, "You frightened me! Your heart had stopped beating for a moment, If something happened to you I wouldn't be able to live!"
"Oh well...uh thanks"
'The handmaiden' couldn't understand why the princess reacted like this, but she was naturally touched by this gesture and such genuine affectionate words. It was as if she really was Johanna's lifeline.
Johanna seemed a bit confused, then shook her head.
'The Handmaiden' looked around at the vast luxurious room. The daylight was softly streaming inside through the curtains and by looking at the instrument on the bedside table, she concluded that 'she' was being treated for concussion.
"You fell down the stairs," Johanna explained after following her gaze.
She nodded and thought for a while.
Johanna is clearly very close to the character the reader has transmigrated into. That must mean that the reader received the body of Ophelia, the protagonist, but Ophelia was never Princess Johanna's handmaiden.
The only person who was shown close to Princess Johanna in the novel was Ophelia.
The handmaiden noticed a hand mirror on the table and took it. The reflection of a beautiful lady looked back at her. Her eyes went wide when she saw herself.
"I-I look like….How are there two Johannas?" she looked back at the princess, "You are not supposed to have a twin?"
Johanna blinked in confusion.
"Huh...? So you have not completely recovered your memories?"
The handmaiden slowly nodded.
Johanna sighed and leaned back on her chair, her gaze lifted to look outside the window. This position gave her a mysterious and beautiful aura.
"We met five years ago, I had sneaked out in the market when I met you. You were struggling in life, and I was the princess but the one thing common between us were our faces. You used to have black hair back then, we became friends and decided to switch places sometimes. So you became my handmaid, that way we were always together"
"That was not in the novel..." the reader wondered, "But how come no one suspected your handmaiden? Since she was always by your side..."
"All the maids of mine wear veils..." Johanna whispered, she was thinking something before her eyes widened with realization, "What novel...?"
"Ah.."
"..."
"..."
"...Do you, by any chance, know 'Damsel of Death?"
"Yes-you! Who are you?!"
"Oh wow this is awesome!" Johanna sat up from the chair, "I was getting so alone in this world! But you are like me, right??"
"I made a wish,"
"So did I," Johanna lifted her hand, "My name is Amber actually"
"Oh I am…" she blinked her eyes, "I-which character is this?"
"You will be Nesrin from now on."
Amber seemed to be wanting to ask something but then she decided against it and the tone of her voice changed into a more serious one. There were more urgent matters that needed to be tended first.
"Look I will get straight to the point. This place is not safe for us and we need to find a way to get out of here."
"Well…" Nesrin shifted uncomfortably, "I don't know about you but I am dead. Leaving here simply means death for me…"
"I died as well, but the least we can do is get away from this plot! I don't understand what is happening but I came here a month ago and the story is not going how it should be. Something weird is happening…I don't have a good feeling about this"
Nesrin frowned, Amber looked seriously worried about this and she was not just paranoid.
"I don't really understand what can go wrong. We both know how the story ends so can't we just avoid all the troublesome things?"
"...but it's no longer the story I wrote."
Nesrin raised an eyebrow. The world was indeed a small place. Not only did she met someone who was like her, but she met the writer herself.
"What do you mean?"
"Have you heard of the butterfly effect?"
Butterfly effect meant small causes that create bigger effects, Nesrin recalled this but couldn't understand it's connection with this world or the novel.
"This is a world of a novel...wasn't everything planned already? So how could it just change?"
Amber shook her head and explained.
"I decided to visit the forests a few weeks ago and there I met an injured raven. So I took it back to my castle and healed it. Apparently, that raven was a dark magician whom I have forgotten soon after writing and eventually I removed him from the main plot."
"And then?"
"That ba***rd tried to make me his wife until I somehow managed to throw him down the tower!" Amber shivered, "He swore that he will make me his and remove anyone who comes in between."
Nesrin accepted the glass of water Amber gave her and listened to the story she continued.
"Remember how the healer's valley massacre is a major plot point for the protagonist Ophelia? Even that changed!"
In the novel, the massacre was the place where Ophelia first meets the villain, Emperor Izekiel. He has murdered most of the valley only because their leader refused to heal the emperor's father. When Ophelia witnessed his cruelty and lost her family to him, a spark of rebellion was ignited inside her.
Amber rubbed her temples and spoke.
"Well some weeks ago, I met a very sad merchant. He was robbed and needed to reach the capital. In the original novel he went to the capital after a week to poison the emperor's father. But I didn't knew he was that person and out of pity I gave him some money and he finished his job too soon, unlike in the original novel where the massacre occurred on the night of autumn festival, he brought the doom earlier"
Nesrin nodded slowly.
"And since the massacre happened earlier, Ophelia was captured too. The king of Iyanora and my 'father' has to betroth me to Izekiel soon because of that as well. And now we are in the imperial capital!"
~~~
When the emperor's father was poisoned by a poison from the healer valley, the emperor was enraged and came to the valley himself, he commanded the leader to cure his father. But the leader had his pride, he denied Izekiel.
"I will never help the sinful" he had said, and those were his last words.
The emperor, Izekiel, massacred more than half of the valley all by himself. No one had expected this, even though Izekiel was the strongest man in the whole empire, the healer's valley had their own reputation. This place was abundant in magic and powerful faeries.
Since the valley comes under Iyanora Kingdom, the king of Iyanora had to interfere. But the king was not powerful so he can only beg Izekiel to stop. He said he would be willing to do anything, if Izekiel leaves the innocent people alone.
The emperor smiled, a devilish smile that has charmed many, but scarcely meant anything good.
"It is said that no one can rival Princess Johanna's beauty in the east"
The king became pale.
"Pardon me, your majesty...but, but Johanna is already betrothed to Prince Agnus"
"Hm. We can't make Agnus angry..."
Izekiel nodded and simply dragged his blood stained sword towards a trembling girl. She was Ophelia, her heart stopped beating the moment she met his dark cold eyes. There was no mercy in them, she was nothing in his eyes, just a weakling he can easily kill. He raised his sword.
"No! Please...your majesty!" the king cried, "She is just a child...have mercy..."
"They are the reason my imperial father was poisoned. Are you saying I should just let go?" his voice darkened,
"P-Princess Johanna shall marry you," the king was covered in sweat, his feet trembled when he thought about Prince Agnus's rage.
Izekiel snickered in response,
"Are you not scared of offending Agnus?"
"I only serve his majesty, if my head is the cost of fulfilling your wish, then I shall do so" the king replied solemnly, what other choice did he have?
The reply satisfied Izekiel.
~~~
Amber shivered when she remembered the day her marriage has been fixed.
"Anyways, some other small incidents occurred as well and they were too little at first to make me worry but I can see the direction of the story changing. All I want to do is bring the story back to its track and avoid getting involved with the main plot to stay on the safe side"
"Well you did kill a lot of people in the original story, guess we are not safe after-all"
"Just try to stay away from all the main characters"
"Well I am sitting with a main character"
"..."