Viviana, now trapped in Liora's body, had been given a small stool-like table, a palm-sized notebook, and a pencil. This concession came only after she pleaded with Kiera, something she had never done before. The request was for the sake of her sanity, as her condition had deteriorated since inhabiting this new body. She hadn't seen the sun in more than a week, and this foreign existence took a toll on her. She couldn't look in the mirror without feeling a disconnect, unable to recognize the reflection staring back. Nightmares haunted her sleep, showing her the hardships and pain Liora had endured, making her feel as if she had gone through them herself. Adding to her misery was the fact that she was locked up all alone without any human interaction.
Viviana had never felt empathy or remorse for anyone else, but now, she found herself feeling bad for Liora. Not because of the sufferings Liora endured, but because Viviana was now living in her body and didn't want to witness the torment Liora had faced. Despite this, Viviana's selfish nature remained; her primary concern was escaping her current situation.
In the notebook, she scribbled relentlessly, drawing faces she saw in her dreams for the past sleepless nights for a whole entire week, She was jotting down the words spoken by each person. Over the days, she had filled the notebook with detailed accounts of her current situation, who Liora was, and why she was disguising herself as a boy. She had also realised the cause of her strange bodily reactions whenever she encountered Magnus, piecing together that he was the reason for her sudden breathlessness. Liora was scared of Magnus, not just scared but horrified by his presence to the point that she had anxiety attacks whenever he was around. The reason was that he had killed her. Not completely but he had made sure she died, Viviana tugged at her shirt, revealing partially two healed marks of bullets on her body just an inch away from her collar bone. She had initially ignored them, thinking they were irrelevant. However, as Liora's memories began to merge with her own, she understood that she had been shot in the chest not long ago. The shooter was none other than Magnus, who had deceived her into believing he reciprocated her romantic feelings, feelings she had harboured since childhood. After shooting her, Magnus had attempted to drown her body to ensure she wouldn't be found. Miraculously, she survived the attack when nearby fishermen discovered her and took her to the hospital.
Her father later found her and asked her to stay hidden, pretending to live as her brother Leo while he took Leo to safety. He promised to come back for her, but when he finally did, she was captured by Magnus's men after she had collided with Viviana at the airport. Now, with her memories and current reality intertwined, Viviana felt a desperate urgency.
"It is about time Grandpa found me! What is taking him so long?!" Viviana muttered, biting her thumb aggressively. The skin around her thumb was bleeding due to excessive biting, a habit Liora had but Viviana never did. It seemed the body was starting to grow on her, merging their behaviors and habits. She tossed the pencil aside and started taking heavy breaths.
The maid walked into the room as she did every day, bringing a pair of clothes for Viviana to take a bath. This time, the maid accompanied her to the washroom, unlike the intimidating guards she usually faced. Viviana slouched, frustrated with everything around her, especially having to see her unfamiliar reflection in the mirror. She entered the washroom, tossed her clothes aside, and turned the water on, standing under it to calm herself. She lifted her face, letting the water cascade down her skin, washing away her stress. After a long time, she turned off the water and opened her eyes, noticing a window she had not seen before.
"Was it always there?" she thought to herself. "How did I never see it before?"
Knock, knock, knock.
"Come out!" the maid spoke urgently, causing Viviana to flinch and look at the door angrily. She then shifted her gaze back to the window one last time and tilted her head. "Doesn't this lead to the back gates of the mansion?" she mused, now recognizing the layout of the mansion with Liora's memories. Slowly, an idea began to form in her mind, and she seemed confident in it. She got dressed and followed the maid back to her room, her mood significantly brighter. As the door shut behind her, she spoke out with a strange tone.
"I will have to do it on my own. I will have to get out of here on my own," she muttered, her gaze fixed on the notebook on the table. Her eyes held a strange determination as she picked it up and flipped back a few pages. She had drawn a map of the mansion, trying to locate an exit route.
She let out a steady sigh, her previously depressed face now glinting with hope. "I can get out of here on my own! Yes, I can try sneaking out of here," she said with renewed determination. She picked up the notebook once more, searched for the pencil she had just thrown away, and began to draw on the paper again, this time with a clear plan in mind.
"I can jump out of the washroom window. I'm sure it is big enough to squeeze this body through. But I have to do it quickly before the guard gets suspicious. As far as the memories suggest, outside the window there is a small pathway for the servants to walk around, and it leads towards the back gates." She spoke hurriedly, as if she would forget the plan if she didn't say it out loud. She continued talking to herself like a mad person, scribbling furiously, drawing a masterpiece blueprint of the mansion with Liora's drawing skills. Finally, she tossed the notebook onto the table and looked at it with a victorious smile, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Yes, I did it!" she breathed out heavily. "Yes!!" she exclaimed.