"Kazuha… Please help me…"
The damsel's eyes opened and right before her, there was nothing except darkness.
"Who's there?"
"Don't end up like me, Kazuha. Please…"
"End up like you? Who are you?"
There was no reply to her question. She tried to look around to find the source of the voice but everything is dark. All of sudden, she could hear a female's voice that she had never heard before close to her ear.
"My lady! My lady!"
'Who's there…?'
The lass opened her eyelids and saw another girl with long black hair wearing a maid outfit right next to her.
'Who is she? Is she doing cosplay?'
"My lady! Finally, you're awake!"
"Awake? Did I fall asleep?"
"Miss! Did you forget? You said that you wanted to take a short nap but you ended up sleeping for eleven hours!"
'Eleven hours?!'
"What time is it?"
"Twelve, midnight."
"What? Midnight? Are you serious?"
The girl jumped out of her bed and when she was about to look for her slippers, a strand of hair blocked her vision and that's when she noticed something was off.
"Pink?"
She looked down at her own toes and noticed that her toenails had been painted red. A question arose in her mind, when did she paint her nails red? She never did that in her life. Realizing that everything looked different and unusual, the lass ran to a door across the room. When she opened the door, she saw a very luxurious bathroom with an enormous mirror above the sink. The girl walked closer to the mirror and was startled when she saw her own reflection in the mirror.
"O-Oh my! Who is she?!"
The reflection of a young lady with an extraordinarily beautiful face, petite body, and long pink hair appeared in the mirror.
"My lady!"
The long black-haired maid who had woken her earlier was now standing at the door with a worried look.
"My lady, what happened?"
"I-I…."
"Miss, didn't I warn you not to drink any liquor? See the aftermath!"
'Me? Drink liquor? When?'
The maid embraced the pink-haired lass tightly.
"If only you listened to me, miss. I'm sure things like this wouldn't happen."
"Erm… What happened? W-Who are you?"
The maid's face immediately changed to the look of someone who had just seen a ghost. Her face turned pale and the maid covered her mouth using her own hands.
"M-Miss…! Have you forgotten the servant who has served you for more than five years? Is the effect of the liquor that made you like this? Are you having amnesia? It's me, Linette!"
"Linette?"
"Exactly! Did you forget everything that happened this afternoon?"
Innocently, the girl shook her head. She didn't know anything, especially her own identity. The only thing that she remembered was that night after purchasing her allergy medicine, she was walking to a restaurant for her welcoming dinner party and while she waited for the red light, across the street she saw a man who looked very much like her father then suddenly everything went dark. When she woke up, she was already somewhere else.
"Linette. Tell me what happened this afternoon, right before I took a nap."
Linette took a deep breath before opening her mouth to recount what happened that afternoon.
"Before you took a nap, you attended your engagement ceremony with Marques Sylveryn Ralli. However, you suddenly picked up a glass of wine on the tray and chug it up. A moment later, I saw you were staggering and suddenly fell unconscious. The Duke was the one who caught your body right before you fell and brought you back to your room. I tried to wake you up earlier but you told me that your head was dizzy and you wanted to take a nap."
"Then I ended up sleeping for eleven hours?"
"That's right. The Marques was concerned about you, miss."
"Hold on a second. I attended my engagement ceremony with the marques but the one who caught me right before I fell was the duke?"
"Yes, exactly. It was Duke Seibert. "
"How could that be? Wait a minute… Who am I?"
Linette's facial expression couldn't explain how surprised she was after hearing the lady's question.
"Miss! Are you kidding me? I didn't know that alcohol could cause amnesia! Do I need to call the doctor?"
"No… There's no need for that. Maybe I just haven't fully regained my consciousness yet… Please tell me…"
Linette felt that something was wrong with her lady but since it was an order, she had to obey it.
"Miss, you are Her Royal Highness, Princess Rosaline Annesley Ronchessac. The heiress to the royal throne and the second child of His Majesty the King and Her Highness the Queen."
Rosaline Annesley Ronchessac? What kind of name was that? A name that was really difficult to pronounce which made the girl's tongue convoluted when she was about to say the name.
'Wait a minute… I think I've heard that name somewhere…'
Suddenly, memories of her during her childhood time with her grandmother appeared inside her head. When she was a child, there was a book that her grandmother often read to Kazuha. The book was about a princess who was extremely wicked and she hates it when she saw others' happiness. The princess ended up dying tragically.
'T-The voice that I heard before waking up in Rosaline's body…'
"My lady? What's on your mind?"
Awakened from her reverie, Rosaline shook her head.
"Nothing." At the same time, her stomach growled so loudly that made Linette laugh heartily.
"Gosh, my lady! Apparently, you're thinking about what food you want to eat for dinner. Wait here and I'll be back with the food."
"Wait, Linette!"
Rosaline held her maid's hand, "Let me come with you."
"But my lady…"
"I… want to see what kind of food the palace chef will cook."
"W-What?! Miss, you want to go to the kitchen?"
The princess' attitude surprised Linette. All this time, the princess had never wanted to go into the kitchen because she thought that a kitchen is a dirty place and not worth visiting. This will be the first time the princess sets foot in the kitchen.
Honestly, Linette becomes afraid of Rosaline's behavior. However, as a loyal maid, she had no choice but to comply with the wishes of her lady.
"Follow me, miss."
The two then walked out of the princess's room and during their walk to the kitchen, Rosaline looked mesmerized to see the interior of the palace which was so luxurious. This is her first time seeing things that are so grand.
"It's so beautiful…" muttered Rosaline who was actually possessed by Kazuha.
Her maid noticed the princess's behavior and quietly, Linette shuddered in horror.