BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
She 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 found the bathroom locked. She groaned and knocked on the door hard.
"Sis, hurry up! I have to go to morning practice."
"Ten more minutes! Make me some coffee while you wait!"
She sighed and headed downstairs where her mom was sitting at the kitchen table. She was eating breakfast already and looked at Ilanna as she made a cup of coffee.
"Don't you have morning practice?"
She simply nodded as she placed the cup of coffee across from her mom.
"Sis is still in the bathroom," Ilanna explained and headed back to her room.
She looks at the nightstand that had a small book on top. She 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.
She jumped up and ran to the bathroom. Finally, able to leave the house, She 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, She looked at the light and saw it was still red. She 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 She fall backward which made the student land on top of Her as the car honked angrily at them passed them.
She 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 Her. A second later the student's face turned bright red.
"OMG! I am so sorry! Are you okay?" The student quickly got off Ilanna and helped her up.
"No biggie. I bruised a little but it's nothing serious." She laughed as she brushed the dirt off herself. She looked at the student and asked, "you are okay, though?"
The student nodded furiously and held her hand to get 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 lifesaver!"
She 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, She quickly ran across and headed to her club room. She glanced back and noticed the student was jogging towards the teachers' office.
'What a sweet person.'
School ended and She walked out to find the student this morning looking at the students as they left the school grounds. Their eyes lit up when they fell on Ilanna and walked up to meet Hers.
She smiled and greeted 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..."
She smiled awkwardly as the student was rambling on. Finally, She grabs their hand, which makes them silent.
"Sure. My name is --- "
She 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.
She instinctively put an arm between Her friend and the robber. She nodded and glanced at her friend to hand their bag to Her.
Slowly Ilanna handed her and her friend's bag to the man.
"P-please don't hurt us," her friend cried as they held Her arm.
The man snatched the bags and rummaged through it. She 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. She moved her body and completely covered her friend. Her friend screamed and the man ran away with a petrified face from them.
She 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 Her and lowered her to the ground. She touched the warm thick liquid and brought it to her view.
It was blood.
'This will be hard to clean.'
She looked at her friend and saw tears streaming down. They were yelling and saying 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. She smiled a little at her friend to reassure them.
"Ha do-ont cr-y," She could barely say, "the po-lice shou-ld be co-"
She 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 Ilanna! It is time to wake up for your lessons."
Ilanna 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 hair pulled 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.
Ilanna, 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 had long brown hair that reached her back. The young girl had lifeless blue eyes and a sunken face.
'Is this me?'
Ilanna placed a hand on her reflection and her face only to see it did the same.
'I'm a child?!'
Ilanna looked at her small body and noticed small cuts and bruises all over her legs. Horror and disgust filled her face when the woman grabbed Ila's arm.
"We don't have time for this unladylike behavior," she scolded, and she tightened her grip.
Ilanna winced in pain as she was dragged into a bathroom. The woman began to get Ilanna 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 for them.'
Ilanna silently followed the woman to an empty dining room. There was silverware and food set up at the table. Ilanna sat at the seat and looked at the food. A small bowl of soup and a small piece of the 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.'
Ilanna took a sip of the cold soup and a bite of the bread. Barely able to swallow, Ilanna forced herself to eat the food. The woman watched Ilanna coldly. She tapped her finger and finally snapped.
"Alright, you had enough. If you eat anymore, you will be fat"
She pulled Ilanna out of the chair and dragged her to the library. Ilanna stumbles after she 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 walked past them. Ilanna watched the man go out of view. Behind him was a young woman with blonde hair and dark brown eyes. She glared at Ilanna when she stood in front of Ila.
"You don't even know how to greet your father or 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.'
Ilanna sat in the library writing everything she had gathered so far. Before Mrs.Cunnings dragged her to the teacher where she was supposed to take the exam. Weirdly the test answers came to Ilanna naturally. But this made the teacher furious enough for them to smack Ilanna with a cane. A maid called the teacher away and hasn't been back so now Ilanna is all alone in the library. She put two chairs that had cushions and rested her legs on them. Then she grabbed a piece of paper and began writing.
'I died and reincarnated. I am Ilanna 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?'
Ilanna 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."
Ilanna dropped her pen. The older man scolded her for being unladylike and took her to where he was, but Ilanna's mind was 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 onto the floor.
"I see you are still annoyingly quiet," the boy arrogantly said. He folded his arms and glared at Ilanna after sitting down on the chair.
"Feed me cookies."
Ilanna stared at him and examined his appearance. He was still young, but there was no doubt about it. He was the male lead of that book Ann gave Ilanna.
'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 leads 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 because of love or friendship. The villainess was the fiancé and childhood friend of the crown prince... Ilanna Vellet. Nooooooo!'
Ilanna immediately fainted on the spot from shock.
The crown prince jumped down and ran to Ilanna's body.
"Somebody help! Lady Ilanna fainted!" He yelled as he held her head up.
A maid came in and gasped when she saw the prince teary-eyed holding Ilanna's limp body. The maid quickly picked Ilanna up and carried her to her bedroom. Following close behind, the crown prince noticed cuts on Ilanna's legs.
After a few hours, Ilanna 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.'
Ilanna 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 at Ilanna 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 this morning to protect you. Mother filled my morning with more sword practices."
Ilanna stared at him before looking out the window. It has become night now. Ilanna 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," Ilanna replied.
Bertran flinched when Ilanna said punish as he knew what happened to her when his mother personally punished Ilanna. Ilanna noticed how he felt discomfort when she was blunt about it and placed a hand over his. He looked up at Ilanna and saw her smile.
"I'm okay," Ilanna paused not knowing whether she should even ask but decided to anyway.
"Did father hear?"
Bertran looked back down and shook his head. Ilanna sighed and sank into the covers.
'Of course, he wouldn't care even if he did hear about it. In the future, he will play a key role in the demise of Ilanna Vellet. He uses her to take advantage of the empire but soon disowns her after her engagement is broken off.'
Bertran let Ila's hand go to pull a small package out from his pocket. Ilanna 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 it away for you. It's not much this time, but next time I'll get some candy."
Ilanna smiled and thanked Bertran before taking a bite.
After finishing the food, Bertran left to sleep which left Ilanna alone in a big cold room.
'I miss my mom.'
Ilanna was overcome with sadness and the 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 sobbing and looked down.
"I have failed you, Ilanna," he whispered before walking away.