"Gasp! Where are you? Please…"
'Should I just stop hiding now?"
I jumped off the tree, dusting off my bottom. The maid who was searching for me was, unfortunately, crying at this point. I had to stop avoiding her. Spotting a pine cone at the edge of my feet, I stomped on it repeatedly. Surprised from the sounds, the woman whipped her head left and right.
"I'm here."
The dishevelled woman gave a big sigh of relief as she wiped her sweat off her forehead.
"I finally found you…"
Pricking my conscience, I avoided her gaze.
She spoke as she sobbed.
"I really, uh—I've been looking for you for so long. If you weren't here, I would've been…"
She quickly put a shawl on me.
"Oh my, what is this? Even a five-year-old wouldn't walk around with just her undergarments on! Sigh."
"What do you mean undergarments? It's just a thin one piece. More importantly, stop crying. Tsk. You messed up your pretty face. Tears can cause your skin to age faster."
"Please, don't talk to me about aging. Your Highness, you're only 13!"
As I tried to comfort her by sitting down next to her, she chastised me for I would be sitting on the grass. What excellent work ethic. I had no choice but to pat my bottom awkwardly.
"I apologise."
A grown lady who had no clue as to her fate in this world was now guilty of the crime of running away.
"Were you afraid that I would get scolded by Bassy?"
She sniffled before replying, "No. I'm sure she already hates Your Highness. W-where have you been, Your Highness? Why were you up a tree?"
"Ask your questions one by one. One by one. I was going to see Hans, the guard at the gate."
You all were bragging about how handsome he was.
'I heard that you could surround yourself with handsome men when you transmigrate to a fantasy world.'
Those were all lies. I hadn't even seen an adult male yet. It looks like the basic rule of there being handsome men in a fantasy world doesn't work for me. There were only women in the palace I was living in.
The only men in the vicinity were the soldiers guarding this place. Apparently, I could see them if I walked for 20 minutes from here… Since I made Hannah cry just by coming this far, it seemed like I would never get to see men.
Hannah fixed her eyes on me. Her blue eyes that were filled with tears were quite pretty.
"Were you worried?"
She sniffled before replying, "Says you."
"Sorry. I was just about to go back. Seriously."
"…"
"I'm being serious."
I wetted my handkerchief in a nearby pond. While I did that, the ribbon that had been tying up my hair fell. Instead of picking up the ribbon, I stared at the surface of the water.
"Hm…"
Ripples formed in the water as I dipped my finger inside. The surface of the water that had been distorted and crumpled was reflecting an image of me. Like a mirror.
A girl with blonde hair and purple eyes was reflected in the pond.
It was 'me'.
Soon, the calm water reflected a still image of me like a mirror.
"Your Highness? Is something wrong?"
"Ah… It's nothing."
Instead of giving me a 'buff' to lead a comfortable life here, the world gave me a 'debuff'.
"I was just wondering if there was something on my face."
I gave a huge sigh. There was a thick scar running down my face that didn't seem to be disappearing. Wasn't that a little harsh? I may have lived in a tough reality in my previous life but my face was clean of any scars.
The scar ran from my temple down my cheeks.
This was why I couldn't get used to it. The reason why I was having troubles in my reincarnation was because of this face. It was because my face had this long scar. It even turned away priests sent by the palace. Even well-intentioned ones. This scar was never going to heal through normal means.
"Let's get back."
When I left my company, I thought I was the unhappiest person in the world. And when I failed the civil service exam again and again, I desperately wanted a black hole to swallow me up.
Saaaa—
"The wind's blowing."
But after all that happened to me, nothing much occurred. So I had no bad feelings towards my previous life. My friends would tell me habitually, 'Let's just live realistically' or 'We have to look at the reality.' On the day I lost my job, I realised I had no need for money or a prince in my life. Even when I died, I had no regrets. That's why I never dreamed of getting a second chance at life.
"Your Highness, we have to hurry back to change your clothes."
"Alright, alright."
That's right, I should be grateful for whatever life I was given. I had a large palace, maids serving me, sweet-smelling perfume emanating from my head to my toes and I received money (pocket money) every month. It was a huge improvement in status.
Not even a while back, I was told I wouldn't be useful for political marriages since there was a defect on my face.
But isn't that good? That makes me a rich, unemployed, and single princess…? I was grateful for the defect that I had been blessed with and accepted it.
I may not know the faces of my parents but I had everyone else. Everyone felt sorry for the abandoned little princess and cared for her. The 7th and 6th Prince often came to play since they lived nearby so I had no time to be bored. There was nothing I was lacking.
'This was so different from what I dreamt.'
Usually, when someone transmigrates to a fantasy world in a web novel, the main character would be an outstanding beauty or have some unique hair colour, making her one of a kind in the entire continent. Or there would be a handsome Male Lead 1 who was willing to put himself on the line for the main character. Something like 'You are my destiny!'. I thought that would've happened for me.
But it looks like fate was feeding me medicine to wake me up from my hallucinations.
***
"Taking a walk is not a serious crime."
The nanny was really good at nagging. I may have been thankful to her as she was nagging for my sake. But I was actually over 20 and having this nanny who was way older than me nag me like this, only made me feel annoyed. I'm sorry that the soul residing in this princess' body was of an adult.
'The people here are too protective of their children.'
That was the shortest way to spoil a child.
"Your Highness, are you coming out soon?"
"Yes, I'll be right out!"
As I shifted my gaze slightly, I made eye contact with my chubby self in the mirror. To put it nicely, I looked cute. To put it badly, I was a plump but still a cute child.
I was reborn when the Princess was 10 and it had been 3 years since then. But all the memories I had of the Princess's life only started from when she was 6. It could be because the princess was still an infant then. That's why I didn't remember anything from before she was 6.
My bright and glassy purple eyes which reflected light brilliantly was said to have been inherited from my mother. My thin, long hair was coloured light gold. Unlike in my previous life—where people's hair colours were predominantly dark like black or dark brown—here, hair was bright in colour.
I gave a sigh.
"The world that you had to choose and send me to was of a novel's."
For a long time, I had forgotten I had been reincarnated due to my confusion between my current and previous lives.
I used to be generally oblivious to my surroundings and didn't smile very often. But now because I was a child, there were a lot of people who thought that there was something very wrong with me. They thought I had something like a developmental disorder? Hence, they were overprotective of me.
Don't they think that it was too much of them to treat me like this? This misunderstanding from their part had continued till now and I have continued to be overprotected.
Because of this, I became aware of my reincarnation quite late. It also took me a long time to realise that I was a character in a novel. Of course, I was far from being a main character.
I came out walked along the corridor with Hannah who had been waiting outside.
"Your Highness?"
"What is it?"
I replied Hannah right after leaving my room. I never blamed them for their overprotectiveness though. Thanks to their sheltering, I didn't change much despite the fact that I knew they were fictitious characters.
"Why are you looking at me like that, Hanna? Is anything wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just that you were so quiet, I wondered if there was anything wrong with you."
"What could be wrong."
We were currently moving as the palace was being cleaned up.
"Is it because you didn't want to be cleaning? Then, should I arrange for you to transfer to work at the Terrent Palace?"
She shook her head fervently.
"No. I'll clean. I want to clean."
I wonder what would happen if I told this pretty maid here that we were actually living inside a novel. That we were just unnamed extras. Wouldn't that be cool?
'Will they think I was delusional on top of having a developmental disorder?'
Seriously, God was so mean.
"You don't look well, Your Highness."
"Oh, I just thought of something scary."
"Something scary?"
Yup. I thought of an evil God. I shivered.
"I had a nightmare."