TVHLHM 04

Even if the embarrassment was real, the alternative was far too extreme.

I turned to Anna with another question.

“Is there anyone I might have spoken to about the tiara or the potion?”

Judging by her behavior, we didn’t seem particularly close. There was a baseline of respectful distance that felt more like a servant dealing with her employer than someone familiar with me personally.

Would Anna even know something that private?

No, someone else probably knew me better than she did.

I can’t exactly ask the Second Prince, not when he’s no longer considered my lover…

Maybe I should try asking the young ladies I used to be close with.

“You know who I used to be friends with, right?”

“You mean you, my lady?”

“Mm. Who was I closest to?”

The fact that I have to ask someone else who my friends were…

A bitter smile tugged at my lips.

“I’m sorry… but I don’t think there was anyone in particular.”

“What?”

“No one really comes to mind. I’m sorry.”

“You’re saying I don’t even have any friends?”

It was hard to believe.

It felt like there wasn’t a single person in this world who might take my side.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door. I told them to come in, and the butler stepped into the room.

He glanced between me, still dazed, and Anna, clearly trying to read the room, before delivering his message.

“His Highness the Second Prince has arrived, my lady.”

“The Second Prince?”

“He says he came to inquire after your well-being.”

The Second Prince. The man who was supposedly my lover, yet apparently no longer was.

Andreas’s visit was completely unexpected.

____________.𖥔 ݁ ˖𓆰♕𓆪 ֶָ֢. _________

“Are you feeling all right?”

It was my first time seeing the face of the man who, in this strange world, was supposed to have been my lover.

“I heard your breathing stopped.”

“My… breathing stopped?”

“You didn’t know? They said it stopped for a moment.”

That was news to me.

I had assumed I was simply unconscious after taking the potion—but if my breathing had actually stopped, wasn’t that practically the same as dying?

And yet no one had reacted like I’d come close to death.

So they said all that to someone who had nearly died?

I thought of Milan, scolding me the moment I’d woken up.

And my father, too—he seemed more concerned with the tiara than with the fact that his daughter had almost died.

The tiara had been one of my mother’s cherished possessions, and I understood it was a keepsake my father held dear as well. I had treasured it too.

But shouldn’t a person’s life come first?

All he did was question where I’d lost it.

It was hard not to feel hurt, even if I’d already suspected these weren’t really my family.

“You don’t look too pale,” said Andreas, closely observing my face.

“I’m fine now.”

“I’m glad. It would have been very inconvenient for me if something really had happened to you.”

“You were… worried about me?”

That was unexpected. His rejection had been clearly written in my diary.

And after hearing from Anna how I had behaved toward him, I hadn’t even dared to think of facing him again.

“Of course I was. You collapsed because of me.”

He was more cordial than I had expected. I’d feared the worst, but maybe it wasn’t so bad.

What a relief.

Just as I was starting to feel hopeful, he continued.

“But still—how could you go so far as to take that potion?”

Andreas frowned, clearly displeased.

“If the plan was to make me come running, congratulations. It worked. But the more you do things like that, the more people will mock you.”

Displeasure. Annoyance. Frustration.

Those emotions quickly replaced whatever concern had briefly flickered across his face.

“And since I’m the one you’re chasing after, all that mockery lands squarely on me.”

So this was the real reason he came.

He wasn’t here out of genuine concern. He came to confirm I was alive—just so he could warn me not to cause trouble again.

“Get a grip, my lady. You’re already known as the problem child of House Burkel. Have you no regard for the family’s reputation?”

“Your Highness…”

“Even your brother, the Count of Tetzel, is ashamed of you. That’s the reality.”

The more I listened, the more unfair it all felt.

The Andreas I knew had been my lover—or at least, someone I’d shared romantic feelings with, even if it hadn’t been long.

I knew he would be different in this world, but still…

“If something truly had happened to you, I would’ve lived with that guilt for the rest of my life. I doubt you were aiming for that outcome—but it’s time you came to your senses.”

It was too much.

“I didn’t do it to die.”

The words spilled out before I could stop them.

“Your Highness, didn’t you just say I was in serious danger?”

I calmly repeated his words back to him.

“I get it—you didn’t want to worry. But is this really something that needs to be said here, now?”

Though I tried to keep a smile on my face, the disappointment in my voice was unmistakable.

It was one thing to be scolded—but to be treated like this after nearly dying?

“I’m sorry for everything up to now. I promise I won’t do anything Your Highness dislikes ever again. Please… let’s leave it at that.”

Andreas looked at me like he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.

“You mean that?”

“Yes. I promise.”

I had no intention of acting like some obsessive stalker in the first place, so the promise wasn’t hard to make.

“I won’t follow you around anymore. I won’t cling to you, claiming I love you. I swear it on my family’s name.”

He stared at me, as if unsure whether to believe me or not.

Finally, he spoke.

“I’ll believe you—just this once. You don’t exactly inspire confidence, but I’ll take your word for it.”

He rose from his seat, still cautious.

“I hope this is the last time we meet under such ridiculous circumstances.”

And just like that, he turned to leave.

Alone now in the drawing room, I let out a deep breath.

“That was so unfair.”

I truly hadn’t done any of the things they accused me of. So why was I the one being lectured?

I can understand if he was exhausted dealing with it all… but still.

I called for Anna.

“You said I could go out if I took a guard, right?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“I’m going out. I need to clear my head.”

____________.𖥔 ݁ ˖𓆰♕𓆪 ֶָ֢. _________

I left the mansion to try and relieve some of the frustration—but it was a mistake.

I had gone to a café I apparently used to frequent, only to realize just how many noblewomen recognized me.

“I heard you collapsed.”

“You don’t look like someone who just collapsed.”

Some looked at me with thinly veiled judgment, others with pure curiosity. None of them approached me directly, but the whispering was relentless.

It was the worst possible place to wallow in peace.

Instead of feeling better, I only felt worse.

After leaving the café, I wandered aimlessly through the streets.

Please let this be a dream…

I must have looked miserable, because an old woman sitting by the roadside called out to me.

“You look burdened, dear.”

“Me?”

“Come, sit. Let’s have a chat.”

In front of her was a book, filled with illustrations and lines of text—something a fortune-teller might use.

Another one?

I shook my head.

“No, thank you. I’ve had a rather sad experience with fortune-telling recently.”

“I might have a story you’d find interesting.”

“A story?”

“Have you ever heard of another world?”

I froze mid-step.

“There’s another world beyond this one. Like a mirror.”

“Another world…?”

I already felt like I had fallen into an unfamiliar one. I turned toward the old woman and asked:

“Do you know something?”

“Of course. Don’t the people around you feel different lately? Talking about things you don’t remember, acting strangely?”

“Yes!”

I answered instantly, surprised.

“How do you know?”

No one else had understood until now. She might be the first person who truly saw what I was going through.

“What is this other world? Are you saying I crossed over into it? Is that why everything’s changed?”

I fired off my questions, unable to contain myself. The old woman chuckled.

“That’s right. This isn’t the world you came from.”

“Oh my god…”

Her words matched my own theory. I couldn’t hold back.

“How did I get here? And… how do I get back?”

“Look here.”

She raised a finger—and with a snap, the scene around me shifted.

A familiar scene: the party at Count Burtz’s estate.

Across the room, I saw myself.

Above her, an ornate chandelier.

Its cable looked frayed—as though it might snap at any moment.

Just like I remembered…

My other self, smiling, completely unaware.

And then, the chandelier fell.

I turned my head away instinctively. My heart pounded in my chest.

I got hit by that… and lived?

There was no way I had survived that without a scratch.

When I turned back, the old woman was staring at me again.

“You died then. That’s how you ended up here.”

“I… died?”

I had suspected as much, but hearing it said aloud still made my chest sink.

“The body you’re in now—it isn’t the real you. It belongs to the other world’s version of you.”

Then the scene changed again.

“Kyaa!”

“Oops. My hand slipped.”

At the center of a lavish ballroom, I—or rather, she—stood holding an empty glass, her face blank.

The wine had splashed across another young lady’s dress. The girl looked like she might cry before fleeing the room.

‘She’—not me—simply watched her leave.

And the whispers followed.

“She just tripped Lady Chero not long ago, and now this…”

“Look at that face. No remorse. Just because she exchanged a few words with the Second Prince…”

“That one,” the old woman said, pointing. “She’s the Young Lady of this world.”