MVH 02

2-

The refreshing scent tickling my nose slowly awakened my consciousness. Was I in a hospital room? It didn’t seem like the smoke-filled room from before.

As I shifted my heavy body and opened my eyes, the unfamiliar ceiling that came into view jolted me fully awake. This wasn’t a hospital or my room—it was a place I had never seen before.

“Where… am I?”

Where is this? What happened? Where the hell am I?

All I could think about in this spacious and luxurious room, which was neither a hospital nor my room, was that one thing. Waking up in a place I’d never seen before, I was so panicked I froze.

As the question “Where am I?” looped in my head, I instinctively curled up and grabbed the blanket tightly.

“…?”

Along with the soft fabric in my hand, I noticed something else strange. Blinking, I saw long strands of hair spread across the blanket up to my neck—not the light brown I was familiar with, but a deep navy blue. I shot up.

Looking at the long hair cascading past my chest, I threw off the blanket—and gasped.

For some reason, I was wearing clothes I’d never seen before, and the body beneath the thin silk nightgown clearly wasn’t mine.

My hair had never been this long or this dark. And my arms and legs—so slender and pale—definitely weren’t mine either.

Feeling like my mind was spinning from confusion, I clutched my head. The soft strands of hair caught between my fingers felt foreign.

Had I been sold somewhere and turned into a test subject? Did those people finally go through with it?

Lately, I had complained about being broke… Maybe they used the explosion incident as an opportunity to sell me off.

“Ah, shit—huh?”

I couldn’t help cursing, but was struck by yet another realization.

What’s up with my voice?

The voice that came out of my mouth was thinner and higher than usual. Shit. Did they even mess with my vocal cords? My voice used to be closer to an alto—now it was a mezzo-soprano.

So they even swapped my vocal cords and completely cooked my body like stew? Just who the hell bought me and made me into this kind of test subject?

Still half out of my mind, I looked around. The room was far too fancy and clean to be some human trafficking lab. Honestly, it looked more like a rich girl’s bedroom straight out of a drama.

“Don’t tell me… I’ve already been completed and sold overseas as a finished product?”

Selling such test subjects domestically would be risky, so they must’ve sold me abroad where they could charge more. So… am I in America? Europe? Or some far-off country?

If someone bought a test subject like me, they must be rich—but definitely a weirdo with twisted tastes.

‘I don’t even know English…’

They say as long as you know English—the global language—you can survive anywhere, but sadly, I only knew a few basic phrases and some body language.

How was I supposed to communicate and get out of this mess?

What if someone from the household walked in right now and shouted, “You can’t run away!” I’d probably just hold up my hands and cry, “No!”

I just hoped I wouldn’t be subjected to any weird torture. Escaping or not—I had to survive first.

“Please let someone who speaks Korean come…”

Gripping my head and rolling my eyes in panic, I suddenly heard footsteps outside the door. My stiff face instinctively turned toward the sound. There was a soft clatter, and then the door opened slowly.

I, who had been planning out all sorts of gestures and phrases, stared blankly at the person entering with a silver tray. I met the gaze of a woman whose pale brown eyes widened in surprise at the sight of me.

“Um…”

“Young Lady!”

“…Huh?”

“L-Lady Roenna! Master Steward!”

When I accidentally called out to her, she dropped the tray in shock and ran out of the room, yelling. Towels and a water bowl clattered onto the floor. I replayed what she just said.

…Young Lady? Young Lady?

It really seemed like I had been sold to some rich family. But was there a need to freak out like that? Oh, right—she must’ve run off to report that the “test subject” had woken up. Classic rich house setup: even a head maid and a head butler.

Still… she called me Young Lady. Who calls a test subject that?

Could it be that the owner of this house bought me to replace a daughter who died young? Like one of those novels where a grieving father lives with a girl who looks exactly like his lost daughter.

…Maybe I’ve read too many novels, but that seemed plausible. What else could explain this situation?

I lost consciousness in an accident, woke up in a strange place, and my body had changed. Anyone would suspect something weird.

The real problem was what came next. What was I supposed to do when the head maid and butler showed up?

Maybe they’d wash me up and prepare me to meet the master of the house. I just hoped he was a fatherly type who adored his daughter—not some creepy pervert.

While I was thinking this, the head maid and butler burst into the room, out of breath. The woman had her hair neatly pinned up, and the man wore a pristine butler’s uniform. Both looked shocked as they caught their breath and saw me.

Behind them, other maids dressed like the first girl gathered outside the door, murmuring in surprise. The head maid, who had been called Roenna, approached cautiously.

“…You’re awake, Young Lady.”

“Uh, well…”

I was about to ask her where this was and what would happen to me, but something felt off, and I hesitated.

Come to think of it, the maid earlier—and now Roenna—both spoke Korean. So I wasn’t abroad? Was I with a Korean chaebol family?

But Roenna’s eyes weren’t black or brown—they were a light green.

Korean eyes? Green? Too natural to be colored contacts…

As I tried to wrap my head around this, Roenna suddenly grabbed my hand. I flinched at the unexpected touch, but she spoke tearfully.

“It’s such a relief that you’ve woken up, Lady Tiana.”

“…Huh?”

Who?

Did the master of the house already give me a name? Or was that the name of the dead daughter? But she said it was a relief I’d woken up—like I’d been unconscious for a long time.

Just what kind of twisted backstory did this family have? As Roenna anxiously looked over me, I opened my mouth.

“What… what did you call me?”

“Yes?”

“My name… is it Tiana?”

“Y-Young Lady…!”

Roenna’s face turned pale. She glanced quickly at the butler standing by the door.

The two exchanged glances, and the butler hurried over.

“Young Lady… Don’t you remember Roenna, the head maid?”

“Uh… well…”

“You… don’t recognize me either?”

“No…”

“…”

Like Roenna, the butler’s face went pale. After exchanging another glance, he shouted urgently.

“Bring the emergency crystal! Notify the Duke at once!”

“Y-Yes!”

The maid ran off, and the butler quickly followed. The rest of the staff began whispering, but Roenna quieted them.

“Silence. Only Inabelle stays. The rest of you, leave.”

“But Head Maid…”

“Now.”

At her firm words, the maids hesitated, bowed, and left. Only the first girl I saw remained. She closed the door and approached the bed.

“Head Maid…”

She seemed around my age. Her youthful face was on the verge of tears. As I watched, unsure of what to say, Roenna tried to calm her.

“Don’t cry, Inabelle. You’ll startle the Young Lady.”

“…Yes.”

But that seemed to be the final straw. Inabelle, tears welling in her eyes, turned away and wiped them with both hands.

Roenna sighed and looked me in the eyes again.

Her hand, which still held mine, was warm. The butler had called her Roenna earlier. Her tear-filled green eyes looked at me with sympathy.

“Young Lady… Do you really not remember me?”

“No… I’m sorry. I honestly don’t know what’s happening right now…”

I had lost consciousness in an accident, woke up in an unfamiliar place, and found myself in a completely different body. I’d thought I’d been sold off as a test subject, but now that theory was falling apart too. This didn’t feel like someone trying to replace a dead daughter, either.

I needed answers.

“So… my name really is Tiana?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Then, the Duke the butler mentioned…?”

“He is your father, Young Lady.”

“My father?”

A Duke? My father is a Duke? Do Dukes even still exist? Well, I suppose in some foreign countries, noble titles still exist… but this is Korea, right? There are no Dukes in Korea. This sounds like something from a novel.

Something like “His Majesty the Emperor’s Dangerous Circumstances.”

“…No way.”

“Young Lady?”

Right then, a thought struck me. Just before I lost consciousness—I had been reading ‘His Majesty the Emperor’s Dangerous Circumstances.’ That novel had a Duke in it too. And a character named Tiana.

A strange sense of dread crept in. I swallowed hard and asked Roenna, who looked puzzled.

“What’s my father’s full name?”

“Duke Edwin Quinn Celeste.”

“…Then I…”

“You are Lady Tiana Quinn Celeste.”

“…!”

That familiar name made me flinch. I blinked, stunned, and my gaze caught the deep navy blue hair flowing past my chest.

I raised my head and looked into the vanity mirror across the room—then flinched again. Staring back were shimmering silver-gray eyes. A chill ran down my spine at the unfamiliar sight.

Was this a dream? If I wasn’t sold as a test subject, then this had to be a dream. A dream that felt too real.

If not…

Then there was only one possible explanation.

I had been possessed.