Seo-yeon held her daughter against her hip as she turned the rice cooker on. Seo-ah and Seo-jun would be coming over shortly for a pleasant family meal.
The entry door opened and Ha-joon came in. He switched his shoes out for slippers before coming all the way in. He headed directly to the kitchen and planted a kiss on Seo-yeon's cheek before planting one on their daughter's forehead.
"Seo-jun isn't here yet?" Ha-joon asked, looking around for his brother-in-law.
"He stopped by the bookstore first," Seo-yeon answered. She then turned on the skillet for the fish. "He should be here shortly."
The front door opened again. "Ah! You wouldn't believe the traffic!" Seo-ah exclaimed upon entering, struggling to switch out her shoes while holding her keys with one hand. "There was a real bad accident and they have multiple roads blocked off."
"An accident?" Ha-joon asked.
Seo-ah nodded. "Yeah. Hey, Seo-jun! You're lucky you come straight after classes! The bus you normally take crashed over a bridge!"
Seo-yeon felt her blood turn cold and the oil that she had in her free hand slipped to the ground. "Call Seo-jun, now!" She yelled at Ha-joon, who already had his cellphone out.
"What's going on? Why are you acting like Seo-jun isn't here yet?" Seo-ah asked upon entering the kitchen.
"Because he isn't!" Seo-yeon snapped, worry taking hold of her when Ha-joon couldn't get through to Seo-jun. "He was on his way when I called him just a few minutes ago."
Seo-ah turned pale, and her large black eyes turned impossibly larger. "I'll go check!" She said, already running to the front door.
"Go to," Seo-yeon motioned for Ha-joon to follow. "I'll try calling him again."
Seo-yeon sat her daughter down and began dialing Seo-jun's cell. Please pick up, baby brother.
* * * *
Seo-jun woke up. He slowly picked himself up off the bed. Rubbing his eyes gently, he found that he could finally open them, though his vision was severely blurry.
The room that Adrien's mother and the maid, Nadeline, brought him to was a spacious bedroom with a full-size wooden bed with an ivory-green canopy, reminiscent of Countess Mallorne's eyes. There was a writing desk next to one side of the bed while a nightstand was on the other side.
I guess she's my mother now since it seems I'm stuck as Adrien. Seo-jun sighed at the strange predicament that he found himself in.
The room also held a small table and couch. Along one wall was a fully-furnished bookcase. Sitting in front of the window was an easel with a half-painted canvas sitting on it.
Adrien and I have the same hobbies, Seo-jun remarked. This was based on the memories that he had received and the scene he saw before him.
The bedroom he found himself in was quite large. Well, it was bigger than the one room apartment that he and his sisters had lived in when he was younger.
Slowly getting out of bed, Seo-jun made his way to the door where the bathroom was. The bathroom was a bit small for a room this size but far bigger than any bathroom he had ever seen.
Multicolored brown tile covered the floor, pairing well with the dark wood of the cabinets. The ivory sink was large with brass handles. The stand-alone tub was large and oval-shaped with brass feet. This was the first time Seo-jun was seeing a claw-foot tub in person.
He made his way to the large floor mirror that was nestled near the sink. Staring back at him in the mirror was not the ear-length shiny black hair or the almond-shaped dark brown eyes but shoulder-length, shaggy blonde hair with a teal coloring towards the ends. The eyes staring back at him were slightly larger and more feline-like with teal-colored irises. The reflection staring back at him was most definitely not Korean.
He lifted a hand and weakly waved, watching as the blonde in the mirror copied his movements. It seemed he really was Adrien Mallorne now. . .but why did this appearance seem familiar?
A knock sounded on the bedroom door. Seo-jun, now Adrien, made his way to the door and opened it hesitantly. A girl with shoulder-length wavy brown hair and large, doe-like hazel eyes was standing on the other side with a trolley filled with easily digestible food. Nadeline. The girl was the maid from earlier based on his memories.
"Greetings, Young Master Adrien. I've come to bring your food and check up on your wounds."
Adrien moved out of the way to allow Nadeline to enter the room. The maid made her way to the small table and laid the food out on it. "Would you like to eat first or have me check your wounds first?"
"You may check my wounds," Adrien answered, the words and authoritative tone flowing naturally.
After Nadeline rebandaged the wounds on his back and applied an ointment to his face, Adrien sat down to eat.
"How is your head, Young Master?"
Adrien paused in taking a spoonful of the creamy onion soup. "If you're asking about my memories, some of them have returned but not all," Adrien replied honestly.
"Let me know if you have any questions, Young Master."
Adrien pondered for a bit before settling onto the main question that was currently eating away at him-well, not the main question, like how he had wound up as Adrien, but a different one. "Do you know why the Count-my father-" Adrien corrected himself and hating every second of it, "decided to reprimand me so harshly?" Adrien gad memories of the Count beating him but none were as severe as to what he had awoken to.
Nadeline hesitated from where she stood by the couch, probably afraid to say anything that might sound like she was slandering the Count. "Count Mallorne found out that you signed up for the Arts Department for Tris Academy instead of the Physical Department like Young Master Cedric and Young Master Brayden," Nadeline informed him.
"The Arts Department? Does that mean that I am attending school?"
Nadeline gave a brief nod of her head. "All young nobles are required to be home-tutored until they turn seventeen. During the ages of seventeen to twenty-one, all eligible aristocrats must attend an academy. You've recently turned seventeen this year and have been accepted into Tris Academy," Nadeline explained thoroughly, knowing that her Young Master may or may not need the extra details due to his head injury and temporary memory loss.
"Tris Academy?" Okay, that really sounds familiar. Didn't I read a book that took place in a school with that same name?
"Tris Academy is one of the best Academies to exist in our kingdom. It's located in the capital. The other Young Masters are also attending this year, though they will be in a higher year and in a different department than you, Young Master Adrien."
"Kingdom?" Adrien knew that they lived in a feudal system based on the memories that he had retained. "Nadeline, what's the royal family's name?" Adrien had the sinking suspicion that he had been reincarnated into a character inside a book, but he had read many books, and most of them had similar names and places in them, so it was hard for him to know which one he found himself in.
"We are currently in the Velron Kingdom and the ruling monarch is King Asher Velron. There are two queens by his side; Queen Regent Sarina is his first wife. The Queen Regent gave birth to the first and third princes. The second queen is Queen Consort Paulina, who gave birth to the second prince. The first prince is the Crown Prince and his name is Nathaniel Velron."
Nathaniel Velron?!
Adrien was startled upon hearing that name. As soon as he heard it, memories of his life as Seo-jun flashed through his mind. In particular, they were memories of a certain three-part novel series. In that series, Nathaniel Velron was an arrogant prince with flaming red hair and golden-yellow eyes and was the male lead.
The female lead in the series was Lianna Silva. She was the daughter of a poor Baron, but with her outstanding ability to absorb knowledge, she was accepted into Tris Academy, where she became entangled with Crown Prince Nathaniel. The prince fell in love with her at first sight and proposed to her. Lianna accepted it, and together, the two of them rooted out the corrupted nobles.