"Wakey wakey, sis."
I opened my eyes. Someone must have moved me to my bed. I must have been asleep for quite a long time. Judging from the screen that I saw, it must have been seven days or so. Still, how many days had I been asleep, to be exact?
"How long have I been asleep?" I asked, with a soft voice coming out of my mouth. My throat felt so dry.
"A week. We almost thought that you died, but you're still breathing, miraclously. Couple that with mom saying that you're still alive but under an influence of some sort of dark magic. I'm not sure, to be honest. I'm just glad you're still alive," Beth said.
"Still alive? How was my health?"
"Mom said there was no sign of malnutrition whatsoever. Your vitals are still functioning as it should be, but mom said that your digestive system had slowed down significantly. In conclusion, dark magic, not disease."
As I listened to Beth's explanation. An interaction menu-like screen appeared in front of me. It displayed a mannequin-like figure that looked exactly like myself but hollow. On the side of it, it displayed my health status.
[Displaying Health Status]
[All: Post-Brain Replacement Ailments]
[Brain: Machinery Replacement]
I hovered my finger over the "i" button next to each displayed status. My sister looked at me weirdly, pointing my finger at thin air, but I was sure there was a screen there, and it felt like holding a real screen.
Post-Brain Replacement Ailments: Your body adjusts itself to the newly made non-organic brain. The brain will start adjusting its output to your body in five hours. Ailments will include intense pain in most vital organs. Painstopper isn't ready for the next twelve hours.
Machinery Replacement: Your whole has been replaced with a more advanced version consisting of a very tiny attomachinery to store the data from the retrieved Project Calamity book. This new brain will manipulate your vision, your movement, etc. It will also pump attomachinery to your entire body as both a diagnostic and repair tool.
"Cathleen, why your hands are moving around like that?" My sister finally asked about the anomaly.
"I just feel itchy."
"Can you walk? Not that I'm forcing you to walk. Our mom asked me to ask you to do that if you can," Beth said.
I moved the blanket out of my way and stepped my feet to the cold floor. My feet felt stiff as if I was trying to bend a fork. It was painful as my muscles weren't moved for a week. Still, eventually, I was able to move my feet freely.
"You can walk?" Now she asked me that, disbelieving what she just saw with her eyes.
"Yeah, I feel fine."
I walked out of my bed, trying to wiggle my feet around. It suddenly felt a little bit better in a split second. Was it the work of the little machinery inside of that thick book? Well, I would assume that. Otherwise, what else?
I also realized something. The outfit that I wore, it was another of my sleep gown. One of the maids must be responsible for it. It couldn't be one of the butlers. Should I go to the bathroom, or should I go back to the library?
Or, should I go to the terrace? My mother was always there, but I rarely greeted her. I didn't know why, but it felt wrong. I didn't know her that much, then again, she was my mother, and she was always at home. Maybe I better go there first.
I walked out of my room. One of the maids stopped me from coming out when I got out. She looked concerned. Why shouldn't she be? I was asleep for seven days straight. Seeing me walking around the mansion must have been weird for her.
"Young miss, you shouldn't get out of the bed yet," she said politely while lowering her stance to my shorter stature.
"Did my mother say that?"
She paused for a second, then looked left and right, "Yes, madam said that." She was lying, judging from the way that she said that.
"But I want to see my mother," I said. "Where is she?"
"She's in the terrace, as usual, but don't blame me if she got angry at you."
"Ok."
Well, why would she be angry? Because I was sick and I shouldn't move from my bed? If the health status was to be believed, then I was very much fine. Unless the machinery messed up with my neural system. To be honest, my hands felt jittery, as if a short amount of electricity was passing through them.
I walked towards the terrace. My mother was sitting on one of the white chairs in her lime-colored long dress. She was holding a cup of tea with her right hand and a book in her left hand. Honestly speaking, she looked so elegant.
"I'm glad you're ok," my mother said while sipping her tea.
I was expecting some kind of hug, but not. It was a little bit colder than expected. I sat down right next to her, grabbed a cup of tea, and sipped it slowly. She then looked at me sharply, with both of her eyes squinting at the scar on my head. I was injured, and that was it.
She stood up from her chair then slowly caressed my head. "I'm worried for you, you know. You seem to be changing after you fell off the cliff. Your sister is worried sick about you, not interracting with anyone."
Oh, it was just my feeling. She might be overwhelmed with feelings. She then held both of my shoulders. She pressed her head closer to my head. Her white hair touched my ears, so soft. Then her mouth came closer to my ear.
She then said, "Cut the crap, you're not Cathleen."
My heart stopped beating. What? How could she come to that conclusion? She then walked back to her chair. I was still locked in place, unable to react. I tried to act normal, I sipped on the tea again.
"Mom, what are you talking about?" I asked.
"Dear, I'm sure there's something wrong with your health. Should we go into my room, checking one thing or two?" My mom smiled, but this aura of suspicion came from her smile.
I wouldn't be able to refuse. "Yes, mom."
My mother stood up from her chair then I followed her from behind. She kept her demeanor, but she also kept her sharp glare at me. What was going on? Well, I would be able to find out once I arrived at her room.
My mother opened the door to her bedroom. I entered the bedroom. It was large, really large. Her bed was this kind of majestic bed with curtains that could be used to cover the whole bed. Heck, this bedroom was as large as my whole apartment combined.
"Mom, what are we going to do here?" I asked my mother, pretending not knowing anything.
"Cathleen, dear, as much as I love you, you should have been dead."
Wait? Say what now? You should have been my mother. You weren't supposed to be saying that in the first place. Or, you did notice something weird with me and you just decided that something was out of the ordinary from me.
She grabbed a book then opened it. I recognized that book, it was the atlas of human anatomy. She then opened the page containing my brain. "Your head hit hard, right in here." She pointed at the Prefrontal Cortex of the brain, one of the parts that stored memory. Should I be worried now?
"This included a deep laceration as big as 10 centimeters alongside with quite a severe hemorrage thanks to skull fracture after you fell from that hill which was probably 30 meters tall, head first," she explained.
Basically, what she was trying to say to me was my brain should have been mush mush and I should have been dead. I knew how fatal a brain injury could be, and this was no exception. She was right, it was rather a miracle.
"You were treated by one of my colleagues who managed to stabilize you by stopping the bleeding to prevent further damage and fix your skull. Even then, he did say that your chance of survival was slim, probably 5% or so."
5%? Some people would prefer to be dead at that point, considering how useless the procedure would be. Still, what she was trying to explain at this point? I was confused, like, really confused.
"However, an anomaly happened. You healed up with some damage in your Prefrontal Cortex which I expect that you will have a major memory loss. However, something was not right. You seem to be a different person."
Alright, time to strike back, "But mom, what's the problem if I'm a different person? You still love me, don't you?" I could pretend to be crying at this point, to be more convincing. However, she wouldn't believe my bullshit.
"Of course I still love you, my dear. If I don't, I wouldn't cover your back. You know, ever since Prince Leupold came here, everyone has been asking whether you are a different person or not?"
"What do you mean?"
"Leupold and you are always fighting. However, when both of you don't even fight each other. Everyone becomes concerned, including me. Then, there's the change of behavior, for the better, of course."
"Such as?"
"Joseph is no longer complaining that his little sister is a pain in the ass. Beth complained that her little sister becomes less clingy and prefers reading non-fiction than reading romance book with her. Of course, I said that you have some degree of memory lost, but there was a limit to that."
"How so?"
"It does not include a radically different personality change. Of course, some people have asked me whether you are changed or not, and I answer no. However, there is one explanation for this. Do you want to hear?"
"Yes, I guess?"
"Your symptoms are consistent with something called "Animae Transferendis" or "Animae Dualitas" Have you ever heard of that?" My mother asked me.
I shook my head. Never had I heard something like that, both in this world and on Earth. It seemed to be some kind of disease. I really didn't have any idea, was that a bad thing or a good thing?
"It means "Transfer of Soul" and "Soul Duality. Do I have to become clearer or are you just playing stupid at this point?"
"Mom, I really don't know."
"Lost of magical cognitive function, radical change in magical veins, radical change of personality, partial memory of previous body user, unexplainable regenerative ability. Look, Dear, all of the symptoms are there, and you really can't play stupid with me, so tell me, after covering your backs from everyone's suspicion, are you still going to be like this with me?" My mother sighed.
"Mom…" I begged one more time.
She kneeled on her knee, "Dear, please, tell me, I promise I'll keep it a secret."
Fine, she seemed trustable. She was a doctor too, we might feel a connection to each other. Well, time to spill the beans for her, and just for her. She had the suspicion from the start, and yet, she didn't tell anyone about it. I should have been more grateful, eh?
"Fine, I'm not Cathleen. I'm a different person. Happy now, mother?"
"I think you have more. For starter, what's your name, your real name?"
"My name? Really? Is that even important?" I asked her back.
"Yes, I want to know what you know and what I don't so I can cover your back. Listen, dear, I tried my best, but I can't always cover your back. If someone doesn't believe in our lies, it will be quite a trouble for you."
"My name is Angelica Adkins. I was a trauma surgeon, same as you. I formerly worked in the military, part of one of the AFSOF from a country I don't want to disclose. Is that enough?"
"Military?"
"Yeah, used to be, at least."
"How old are you? From the sounds of it, there's a chance that you're older than me,"
"Nah, I'm younger."
"Really? How far is the gap?" My mother asked.
"Not that huge, I believe."
"Ok, I understand. The point is, both of us are doctors and you were former military and the fact that you are more of my younger sister than my daughter. To believe that my nine year old girl is replaced." She sighed. "Well, the past is the past, I guess? I only have to learn to love you, I think."
"Hey, I still call you mother, alright? Let's keep my physical age as my real age, alright? What happens here, stays here."
"To think that my nine-year-old daughter is giving me an order. Alright, deal."
"Thanks, mom." I put up a smile, putting back my daughter persona for her. Hopefully, my mother could understand the current circumstances. Thinking about it, I should have been more careful.
I was lucky that my mother was the only doctor in the house. If anyone else was a doctor, they might have ratted me out from a long time ago. At least, with knowledge like that, I'd be able to put up a better act in the future with my own mother backing me up.
My mother let me out of her room. Everything should be cleared at this point. Before I left the room, she asked me something, "Herbert will come tomorrow. What do you want to learn?"
"Magic. Just magic."
She gave me her thumb and I closed the door. I was nine, she was forty-ish. To think that she still respected me in this form was just out of my calculation, and for her to believe what I just told her was downright impressive. Not really something I would expect to be honest.
Beth was walking down the hallway while reading the same book as a week ago. It looked like she hadn't finished her book yet. The same book, "The King and The Maid." That book wasn't even that thick.
"Sis, what are you reading?"
"Romance book? Why do you ask? You aren't interested in romance, are you?" My sister asked me back.
"C'mon, don't be like that."
She sighed, "Fine, it's about a prince falling in love with one of the maids serving him. It's a story about forbidden love and nobility usual struggle in romance. I just like it," Beth said.
"Oh, I see."
"Do you want to read it together with me?" Beth offered.
"Sure."
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The book was rather interesting. Beth told me that she had reread it for the 6th times. It was about a prince that fell in love with one of his schoolmates in the academy. The schoolmate turned into one of the maids for the said prince. She worked there because she didn't have any money and she was banished from the nobility.
If you ask me, the book was about the rise and fall of the maid instead of a love story. The maid used to be an asshole, back in the academy, and yet, the prince fell for her. He never got her heart though, until that awkward moment when the maid began working as a maid for the prince.
With the drastic change of character, it was the opposite of the first part of the story. This time, instead of the prince trying to get the attention of the maid, the maid tried to get the attention of the prince by acting kind and redeeming for her mistakes back in the academy.
This time, the prince played her feeling around. Well, one could call it the revenge for what the maid had done to him back in the academy. Eventually, they forgave each other mistakes after too much mischief coming from the prince.
The prince then started treating the maid as special. It sparked jealousy among the servants serving for the prince. Many began to try to dispose of the maid by any means necessary, but the prince noticed it. He fired the jealous characters and the love continued to blossom. Eventually, the ending was they married with the nobility status of the maid returned. Well, not a bad book, to be honest.
Beth seemed to enjoy every single bit moment. She wished that kind of romance happened to her. She then asked me would I like to have a moment like that in my life? I answered yes, but I didn't tell her the caveat. The caveat was minus the banishment and working your ass off just for the sake of getting someone to love you. So basically, a complicated yes.
It was different from the game that I played, so that was not a spoiler event, that was for sure. I would be banished from the nobility far before the game even started for some unknown reasons, and reasons that I hadn't discovered yet.
Well, let's just see what the future held for me. I wouldn't like it if it involved me being in the chopping board, or someone wanting me to be dead so I had to fake my death. There were too many possibilities.