What is this cold feeling? My body suddenly felt lighter, as if the flesh that bound me and the bones that held me down were no longer there. The cold soon turned into a warmth I hadn't felt before.
Then the lightness disappeared, replaced by a heaviness so suffocating it made me gasp for air, but there was no way to breathe.
The cool moonlight graces my skin, greeting me once more. I raise my hand from the ravine and find my fingertips are no longer purple.
When I touch my throat, there is no trace of blood, let alone a scar, but the Prince slit my throat, and the Duke fed me poison, so how can I still be.
I can still feel how the cold blade felt against my burning skin, a welcome reprieve to my suffering.
The sound of hurried footsteps snaps me out of my stupor, "Lady Gardenia!" multiple voices shout from the horizon. "My Lady, please shout if you can hear us!"
"Would she even be able to answer us?" a disgruntled voice asks.
"What else are we supposed to say?" A voice that makes my spine twitch and my hair stand on ends continues, "Just keep searching." The hurried footsteps get further from the ravine.
Could something have happened to the Marquese's fourth child? What does it matter? I should be on my way, but my legs are still too heavy as if rocks were weighing them down.
"My Lady!" a chirpy voice calls out. I lose my balance. When I look up, a bright-eyed girl looks at me with a mixed look of relief and confusion. "My Lady, since when can you walk?"
I tilt my head to get a better look at the girl and realize this is Isa, Lady Gardenia Honeysuckle's personal maid. What madness is this? I look towards my feet, finding the scar I got when I was ten is gone, and when I look at my reflection on the water's surface, I find the face that looks back at me is not my own.
Silvery white hair has replaced my once raven hair cascading down my side, while emerald eyes have now turned the color of amber.
No wonder Isa looked at me with confusion. Lady Gardenia Honeysuckle hadn't been able to walk since she was five when she fell off a horse at a hunting festival. Not only that, but she had been far too timid, and most believed her to be mute.
Yet now she stood, or I should say I stood before her maid with a bitter hatred in my eyes. It seemed the once wicked Lady Astra Cross was no more, but that's alright, for in eight days, Lady Gardenia will meet her end, or so the true villains believe. The original owner of this body may be gone, but I have no intention of dying once more.
I will avenge myself and ensure my survival as Lady Gardenia Honeysuckle, the forgotten fourth daughter of Marquese Honeysuckle.