"Miss!"

"Miss Alexandra!"

Who's that?

"MISS ALEXANDRA!"

Aiko sat up groggily in...bed? No, something wasn't right. The last thing she remembered was the stench of gasoline and the crunch of crumpling steel. What happened after the car crash? She quickly scanned her surroundings.

Cream-colored walls with ornate molding. Large open windows framed by fluttering white curtains. A walnut vanity and matching armoire lay at opposite sides of the room. The bed she was on felt impossibly soft but the baby pink bedspread brought back nightmares of frilly lolita lace. This place was very obviously NOT her room. The biggest indicator of this fact was the horde of black-clad women gathered at her bedside.

What was this, a maid café?

"MISS ALEXANDRA!" Suddenly all Aiko could see was a mop of curly brown hair and two worried green eyes. 

"Marie, stop crowding the young miss!" an older maid scolded, pulling the green-eyed girl, Marie, away from Aiko. Which brought up an excellent question. Who the h*ll were they talking about? Young Miss? Alexandra? Who were these people? Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a haze of red.

Blood?

No, hair.

Wait...hair?

Outside, a humble gardener dropped his clippers when he heard an ear-splitting scream echo from inside the large manor house he tended.

***

Two of the maids rushed forwards to steady Aiko as her upper body threatened to collapse back into the pillows. Her mind was racing. Since when did she have red hair? Was this a prank? A dream? Or worse... was she dead? Had she died in the crash? 

And if so, why was heaven a maid café? Aiko really hoped that God wasn't some pervert.

"Young Miss?" Marie put a hand to Aiko's head but Aiko flinched away. She cleared her throat a couple of times before finding her voice.

"Y-young Miss? Who's that?" she asked, evoking identical faces of pure shock from the maids. 

"Oh no! The young miss doesn't remember anything!" Marie freaked out. Aiko pointed a shaky finger at herself.

"Me? I'm the young miss?" 

Her words only served to make the maids more worried. One of them immediately called for a doctor. He was a kindly old man, but that didn't stop Aiko from being wary. First of all, in what world did doctors make house calls? Second of all, his equipment was extremely primitive. Didn't he ever go to medical school? After he had looked her over, the doctor turned to the oldest maid, the one that had pulled Marie off of Aiko, and said, "Miss Alexandra seems to be suffering from short-term amnesia. She should remember everything within the week." At this, the maids looked relieved, but Aiko was still confused. Miss Alexandra? Was that what they were calling her? And why did she have red hair now? Nothing was making any sense!

"Hey...Marie?  Where am I?" she asked. 

"The Sinclair Estate, of course!" the maid responded anxiously. 

"And where is that?" 

"The kingdom of Iridia."

Sorry, the kingdom of what now?

This had to be a prank, there was no such thing as a kingdom called Iridia. However, the name sounded familiar. Where had she seen that before? Oh, wait...there was no way...

"Hey...Marie...could you hand me a mirror?" Aiko was beginning to have a sinking feeling in her stomach. She held the mirror up and gasped. 

Wavy scarlet hair and golden eyes. That was a very familiar face.

"MISS!" the maids cried out as Aiko fainted for the second time that day.

***

Alexandra Sinclair. 

The sole daughter of the esteemed Duke and Duchess Sinclair. Older sister to Elias Sinclair. And...the villainess of the otome game A Lady's Love.

Although she is the oldest child of the Sinclair household, she is neglected in favor of her younger brother, who is expected to become the next Duke. However, she is a talented mage and scholar. She is known for her love of extravagance and her near-obsession with main male lead and fiancé Nicholas Aelius, the second prince of the country. 

After the lost daughter of Viscount Belmonte, Ella Belmonte, enters into high society, Nicholas falls in love with her and Alexandra begins to scheme against and bully Ella in an attempt to drive her out. Eventually, Alexandra is stripped of her titles and exiled when Nicholas publicly annuls their engagement and chooses Ella. 

Flashes of memories played through Aiko's head.

Four-year-old Alexandra awakens her magic with a minature whirlwind that tears up the garden. It is an amazing power, but she is scolded for mussing up her dress.

Eight-year-old Alexandra watches her brother study to become the next duke. She knows that she could do it better, but since she's a girl, the duty falls to him.

Twelve-year-old Alexandra sits at a silent dinner table, ignored by her father and mother. They are talking to Elias about politics and economics. Even though she understands the subject material, Alexandra does not dare to join in the conversation.

Thirteen-year-old Alexandra meets Nicholas Aelius in the palace gardens. He offers her a hand up and a kind smile, and Alexandra is immediately charmed. After three months of continuous begging, the Duke arranges an engagement with the young prince.

Fifteen-year-old Alexandra, two months away from her societal debut, falls unconscious when her carriage overturns and she hits her head on the cobblestones. At that moment, her soul leaves the world and another soul enters it. 

More familiar memories begin to flash by.

Four-year-old Aiko watches a kendo match on TV. When she grows up, she wants to do that too.

Eight-year-old Aiko realizes that becoming a warrior is difficult when you're a girl in a patriarchial society. She doesn't let that stop her, and works even harder.

Twelve-year-old Aiko is told to stop her unladylike shenanigans and focus on school since she won't make it as a kendoka. 

Fourteen-year-old Aiko meets then-first-year Kentaro Nakamura. He tells her that she can be a kendoka, even if she is a girl. She resolves to work even harder to prove to everyone else that she can and will become who she wants to be.

Sixteen-year-old Aiko, Vice Captain of her school's Kendo Club, is on her way back from a successful tournament when her car is hit by another. Aiko Suzuki dies on impact, but her soul is given a second chance.

Aiko's eyes open with a flash.

"Aw sh*t, I'm the villainess."