"Lady... Lady Penelope."
Sienna groaned softly in her sleep. The woman was really tired. All day long, she worked non-stop and even forgot to eat lunch and dinner. Breakfast was only with a piece of tuna sandwich that she bought at the convenience store and also small strawberry-flavored milk. Even though she felt hungry when she came home, her eyes felt heavy and she wanted to close them. So, there was nothing Sienna could do, other than throw herself on the bed and drift off to dreamland. But, hadn't she just slept for a bit? Why did someone wake her up already?
"Lady Penelope... Can you hear me?"
The voice sounded unfamiliar to Sienna's ears. And again... Penelope? Who is Penelope? She only lived alone in this small room and she also did not have a friend named Penelope. Is this a dream? Yes, this must be a dream. Because of that, Sienna heard unfamiliar voices mentioning unfamiliar names as well. Better yet, she just went back to sleep and ignored her strange dream.
"Lady Penelope, the Duke, and the Duchess, as well as Young Master Ethan, are all here and hope that Lady will wake up soon. Can you hear us, Lady?"
Now, Sienna began to think. The names she heard just now sounded unfamiliar, but at the same time, Sienna seemed to recognize them as well. The woman forced her eyes to open and the first thing she saw was the ceiling of her room.
Wait.
This is not the ceiling of her room. Her eyes then began to sweep around. Even the bed she was currently occupying looked so luxurious. Doesn't she just have a simple little bed that can only be occupied by one person? Then, the decoration of this room is no less luxurious. More than that, this room is so spacious. Maybe the size is equivalent to a simple-sized house that is around where she lives. Then, Sienna turned and locked eyes with several strangers in strange clothes that Sienna had never seen before. Like royal clothes in ancient times. There was a married couple who were seen crying and smiling with emotion. The husband still looked handsome at the age Sienna guessed might be already in his 50. His hair is ocean blue, with bright red eyes. Meanwhile, the wife has light brown hair and golden eyes that look so beautiful. Of course, the woman was so beautiful, like an angel.
Besides the married couple, a handsome man Sienna guessed was in his early twenties, looked at her with both worry and relief. His hair is ocean blue with bright red eyes. It was like a copy of the dashing man comforting his wife right now. His hair was long enough, but only to the nape of his neck. There is a sword at his waist.
Wait.
It's... a dream, right?
"Lady Penelope! can you hear my voice? Does anything hurt? Do you remember what happened to you a week ago? Do you recognize us?"
Sienna didn't answer. She raised her hands and looked at her hands. Her heart was beating so fast, Sienna feared it would explode at any second. Her body trembled and a cold sweat enveloped her. Then, Sienna touched her hair and she gasped. The hair she was holding was ocean blue, just like the two men before her. Then, Sienna touched her face and moistened her bottom lip.
"Mirror ...," she said in a trembling and stammering tone. "I-I need a mirror."
Immediately, the ocean blue-haired young man looked at a maid standing near the bedroom door. "You, quickly fetch a mirror!" he ordered firmly.
"Yes, Young Master." The maid nodded and hurriedly took a small mirror, the one her employer liked the most. She handed it carefully to Sienna.
As Sienna accepted the mirror and stared at herself, the woman froze. The face reflected in the mirror was not hers. Her face had never been so pretty. Her skin was not as white as milk and as smooth as silk as she was looking at right now. Her hair should be jet black, not such a beautiful ocean blue. It was only shoulder length, not over the shoulder and she could feel it stop at the waist. Then, the eye beads that should be black, are now actually golden. Just like the color of the beautiful woman's eyes that looked anxious and panicked where she was right now.
"This..." Sienna touched her face again with one hand. She cries. She panicked. She shook her head firmly. She glared at everyone. "It's not me!"
"Penelope, sweetheart," called the blue-haired, gold-eyed woman. She tried to smile to calm the hysterical Sienna. "Penelope, what are you talking about, hm? What do you mean by this is not you? You… remember all of us and yourself, right?"
"Penelope?" Sienna cupped her face and shook her head again. "No! No! I'm not Penelope! I don't know all of you! Where is this? Please, quickly return me to the way it was! I am not Penelope!"
The husband and wife looked at each other and looked sad to see how their daughter could be like this. Then, the doctor, who had been near Sienna earlier, immediately gave Sienna a sedative, until the woman calmed down and finally fell back asleep. He then looked at the husband and wife in front of him with a regretful look.
"I'm sorry, Duke, Duchess. It seemed that Lady Penelope had some kind of trauma from the accident she had. I will continue to monitor Lady Penelope's progress going forward. Hopefully, she will remember everything again."
Duke and Duchess Askary could only nod and decided to return to their room to rest. Meanwhile, Ethan Askary, Penelope Askary's older brother, chose to stay in his little sister's room to look after the woman. He sat down in the chair previously occupied by their family doctor and reached out to stroke Penelope's hair lovingly. Ethan also wiped away the tears that still left marks on his little sister's cheeks. He smiled bitterly.
"Penny, what exactly happened to you?" asked Ethan sadly. "You used to be so warm and kind. You are adorable. Since when did you turn this mean, Penny? Go back to being the old Penny."
However, only silence responded to the sentence from Ethan Askary.
###
Sienna opened her eyes.
She tried to sit up and look around. This isn't a dream. She was no longer in her original world. The world she knew. And now that she had calmed down, Sienna could think clearly. The people had called her Penelope. Penelope with a picture like herself that she saw in the mirror, was exactly Penelope Askary. A side character, a villainess in the novel 'Entangled in the Love of Two Men' that Sienna always read in her previous life. Remembering that this wasn't her world, but the world in the novel, Sienna felt irritated with herself. That means she is already dead in her previous world. Most likely due to exhaustion from a long day of work.
Now, Sienna must accept her destiny as Penelope Askary. But, that doesn't mean she will stay still when she knows that a tragic end awaits her in the future. She must change her destiny. The woman got out of bed and wore a scarf to cover her upper body due to the cold air. She came out of the room and was immediately greeted by two guards standing at the door of her room.
"Lady Penelope! Are you awake? Do you need anything?" asked one of the guards as he bowed in greeting.
Penelope Askary—by now, Sienna would remember well that she was that woman—nodded with a small smile. A smile that, of course, made the two guards freeze in place. All this time, Penelope had never been kind, let alone smiled, to anyone.
"Yes. Could you please call my family?" Penelope took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling above her. "Because I have something to tell them."