She yawned as her eyes started to water. Last time she looked, it was 3:18 AM and she ought to sleep if she wanted to wake up on time for university.
She just finished the last chapter of the manhwa she was reading. Now, she needed to wait for a week for another update.
"I wish something magical happens to me, too. Unlike those heroines, I really wouldn't mind waking up to a world in a book," she muttered, looking up to the roof of her room. She recalled the Isekai manhwas she binge-read for the past week. "Maybe if I put myself onto oncoming traffic, truck-kun would transmigrate me as well." She laughed bitterly at the thought because however absurd, she really wanted to do it. Or anything, for that matter, if it means she would be able to get out of her miserable life here.
Ding!
A notification popped on her phone. She read it, "Dreamscape? Do I have an app like that on my phone?" She didn't, but she clicked on it anyway.
It redirected her to a website. First, it was just black. Then, the word Dreamscape soon appeared on bold letters at the center. It moved up and an invitation took its place.
You are cordially invited to have a magical life!
To enter, do these steps before you sleep:
1. Lay down in a comfortable position and try your best not to move.
2. Envision yourself in front of a portal leading to a magical world of your choice.
3. Step into the portal.
4. Feel your surroundings change.
5. Open your eyes to a magical life!
She frowned at the message. The white text on pitch-black screen started to hurt her eyes, so she exited the website and turned her phone off.
She closed her eyes, thinking about that ad. She never heard of such nonsense, and it might be because she just spent a whole day on an illegal website for her to read ahead on her manhwas. It was probably a virus.
It was rubbish for sure, she thought.
But what would she lose if she tried?
"Ah, fuck it," she muttered before splaying her hands on her sides. She made herself comfortable and tried hard not to move.
She felt herself relaxing, melting into the bed. Then, she imagined a portal in front of her just like what the ad told her. It was a glowing, dark violet portal with an ominous energy field filling it up inside. She took a couple of steps to get to it. Her body twitched on its own, but she didn't mind. She stepped into the portal, and her body felt hot.
Then her head was spinning. Her heart was beating out of her chest. It felt like she was being burned and all of her nerve endings were on fire. She felt like she was convulsing and falling into an abyss.
What is happening?! She was panicking, and her heart was on her throat. How does she make it stop?! The ad didn't say anything about any of this!
She continued falling and falling and falling. She felt like her soul was being sucked out by a vacuum and it was loud—her heartbeat, the vacuum, the air.
Then, there was nothing.
She opened her eyes.
It was still the same ceiling she stared at earlier. She was still in her room. She was still in the same boring Earth living her miserable life.
"I knew it was rubbish," she told herself, chuckling at how foolish she was to even attempt to do it. "Whatever." She turned to her side and covered herself with her bedsheet. The vibrations, warmth, sounds, and sensations were all gone. Then, she slept.
——————
"Hurry! Give me the basin!"
"Yes, my lady!"
"Make haste! Her highness is awake!"
Shuffled footsteps flooded the room, while voices she never heard of harassed her eardrums. It was too early for the people across the street to get on their daily bustle. What made them start early? And why are they doing it in her room?
"Ugh, cease the chatter!" she grumbled as she turned to her side, taking the pillow under her head to cover her ears.
Miseok is making such a fuss so early in the morning, she thought. This is why the maids feared her.
"But your highness—"
"Give it a rest, Miseok! It's not like I have to depart anywhere soon." She rolled to the other side with her eyes still closed.
Then, it occurred to her. Who was Miseok and why did she know her? And did she just say depart and cease? She has never used those words in her life.
And was she being called your highness?
Her eyes shot open as she threw the pillow covering her face away. She looked around the room—which, she realized, wasn't hers. It was spacious and it didn't have molds on the ceiling. Instead, it has gold linings and floral, almost regent, wallpaper. And two girls in a maid's uniform appeared to be waiting on her with a basin and a fabric on hand.
"What is happening?" she looked at everyone, confused.
"Whatever do you mean, your highness?" A lady in black clothing asked her. Her hair was tied into a neat bun and her hands are gracefully intertwined in front of her. Her posture was straight and she demanded excellence with her aura alone. And she called her in her mind as Miseok, her nanny.
But the thing is she never had one. And she had never seen that woman in her entire life.