Miranda lay on her narrow bed, staring at the ceiling. The blanket was half way covering her body. Her mind raced with thoughts one after another.
She was in a maid's quarters in her room; it was a small room with simple furniture. The room had nothing but two narrow beds, a dresser, washbasins, and limited light that came from the small window.
The quietness made it possible for Miranda to think through her current situation, starting to organize her thoughts.
She was inside her novel but wasn't sure if it was a dream or she really is.
She was inside her novel as a maid, not as protagonist or antanogist but as a maid, and she wasn't just a normal maid in a normal mansion but a maid of Terre Verde manor. The manor of the most notorious and vicious Prince of Valtoria. The antagonist of them all out there.
Why?
Why is she a maid at this mansion? If she could remember clearly from the first chapters of Forgotten Melody, she had explained the viciousness of Prince Erian within his manor. How maids were treated, no less just animals or objects, the Prince didn't feel remorse for anything. He was ruthless and dangerous.
As clearly she could remember, the punishment that maids were given was divided into three sections. First, maids who wronged less were sold to the worse, a brothel filled with men like Erian, a beast who awaits to devour. Second, maids would be treated as human prey on hunt games and killed like mosquitoes, then thrown into human dump areas. And lastly, if lucky, you could get the merciless death sentence.
"This is not happening," she muttered to herself; she can't stay here.
After reminiscing all of that detail, how could she still stay? She has to leave and go back to her world by any means. First, she thought, How did she get here?.
Sleeping.
The last memory she remembered was talking to Bianca on the phone and fell asleep again. Then next thing she was here, it should be a dream. She assured herself that this was the dream, and the only way she could go back is by sleeping again. Or at least, trying to wake up herself.
She started by pinching herself, but it only made her experience pain caused by herself, and no results were shown. She tried everything she could, talking to her subconscious and counting numbers, but time seemed to go by until she fell asleep.
The next morning, she woke up and was astonished by the fact that she was still here. In the same room that slept off and woke up to see Sarah's face staring at her gloomy.
"Are you not going to wake up?" Sarah asked,.
"Why am I still here?" Miranda asked as if she couldn't process the fact that she was still sticking in this world.
Sarah ignored her, thinking that it was Miranda's old habit of mumbling things when walking up.
"Just get off the bed before it's too late; we have to work," Sarah spoke.
For the whole day, Miranda stuck, questioning herself about what went wrong and why she was here. It bothered her so much; she wanted to go back to her real life, but she couldn't. Normally, if you dream and want to wake up, you will. But why wasn't she able to wake up into this slumber?
As she was cleaning, realization hit her. Was she dead? And is this hell? Because it seemed like a hell to be stuck as a maid of this mansion. And if she wasn't dead, then she will die here as a maid in the most horrible way.
She started crying out of nowhere; the maids around her who were also cleaning stared at her weirdly, muttering to themselves and calling Miranda weird and crazy.
None of this seemed right to Miranda; she was adamant to do anything to go back to her real world. Even if... It meant death, and dying here in this mansion was a simple deal.
Her mind settled for one mission: to die and go back to her world.
There were many ways she could use to die in this mansion. She only needed just one reason and to be sent straight to her death. What could it be?
Dropping cups and plates didn't work; in fact, she got scolded by the chef.
Diberallety missed a spot while cleaning; she was dragged by a harmful hand to the floor and supervised to clean spotlessly.
Even after many attempts, she failed to find the perfect thing that could make her have a death sentence. As she staggered across the hallway, her legs were hurt. She had been working for more than the hours she used to work in her real world.
As she stood leaning her back on the wall and inhaling a few breaths, two men were seen walking toward her, talking to each other. They didn't seem to care for Miranda as she passed. As they passed her, she overheard the words being spoken.
"Have you taken care of his highness's bow?" Asked one man, and the other one replied.
"Yes, I have."
"Are you sure? That bow is his highness's favorite bow. It could cost your life if anything happens to it," as their voices fade.
A feeling of hysteria rose deep inside her as she heard that, and that was when she realized she had got her number one way to death. A bow that was favored by prince Erian and could cost one's life if tampered with. Was the perfect solution for her problem.
She mind raced to remember her writing in the novel, a bow treasured by Prince Erian. When she remembered, the bow that Prince Erian treasured was the bow called Autumn Fall given by his first love when he was out of the Kingdom.
Miranda almost felt pity to think about what she was about to do. The bow that Prince Erian treasured was the last thing he had to remember his lost first love. And if she tampers on it, it will infuriate Prince Erian, who wouldn't spare her.
And the only place that bow can be found is in the hunting ground.
Miranda started her way to the hunting ground.