As Celia went to bed in Rowena's body, she still couldn't escape the thought that this was all some sort of delusion, despite the fact that she had every reason to take her pain seriously.

'I might just wake up in a VAULT issued hospital bed and, in that case, a shitty one,' she imagined, 'I should probably enjoy this bed while I have it.' Who would stand to disagree?

Maybe she was just in another country? But if this character existed as a real person, wouldn't she have filed a copyright lawsuit against the author of the book?

In a moment of shock, she opened her eyes in the now darkened room. 'Sarah Dent!' Of course, how could she forget? If this was the world someone had imagined, how had she ended up there?

Was it the eccentric author who had somehow brought her here? The theory might be lacking, but it was the only thing that added up in her mind.

What was this? Her heart had stopped beating back then, she clearly felt it, which was impossible. But could it have happened if her soul had actually traveled to another body? In that case, would she have broken the contract she had with Pan?

'Maybe that's why he's gone,' she mused, but didn't want to go in that direction any further.

It was hard to acknowledge the fact that she had left her body behind. To admit that this was real, that she had actually woken up in the body of another, as well as in the world of a book, would be to admit that there really was another world besides her own.

But if Rowena had died as in the book, why did Celia wake up and live in a body that was already dead? If there were three weeks left of her punishment, that meant she had already served the first week and should have died approximately today.

"Souls carry life," Celia remembered as she thought about that fact. That's what they taught her in fourth grade.

It meant that the Visitors had originally been souls cannibalizing each other in the World Beyond the Surface. The moment they did that, they would have turned into a spirit that lived for consumption. They craved the energy of life and followed its scent all the way to the world of the living, where there was an abundance of it.

They became smarter and more vicious as they grew more twisted. But souls did not interest them. Once they had turned into a will-o'-the-wisp, they came for the living.

'So there definitely was Life Force that could have helped, but...' Her thoughts got complicated. "Would that be enough?" The question fell softly into the empty room, with no one to answer it.

'Indeed,' a deep male voice invaded the space in her head, "it would be enough to bring the body back to the brink of life."

"Sure, makes sense, but what if the body's so trashed it won't make it anyway?"

'Then it will revive still, only to die again.'

"Sounds horrifying..." Her words trailed off as her tired brain suddenly jumped back into a fully capable working mode.

She sat up straight on her bed, her heart racing as fast as a mouse's. "Pan?"

'It is I.'

'Where have you been? What happened?' Celia tried not to speak out loud in her excitement, lest she alarm anyone who might be wandering the halls of her annex.

For a long moment, silence filled the bedroom again. She almost thought she had imagined his voice, for she had wished for him to be there.

'I have followed your soul.'

'Wait, so my soul really did travel somewhere? Seriously?'

'It is as it seems.'

'More words, please. We have a situation here.' Her urgency should have come through even though she usually hated talking in her mind.

'There is nothing more to be said.'

'Of course there isn't.' Though of course there was.

Rolling her eyes, she settled back down and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

There was so much to say, so much to ask. For starters: How could her heart have stopped? Surely Pan would know. But she couldn't be bothered asking, because he had already said that there was nothing more to say, which meant that he would be silent now anyway.

She had known him long enough that her frustration about this behavior had long since ceased to exist. After all, he wasn't a person, so why should he feel the need to be personable?

Getting angry was just a waste of energy. He would talk when he was ready. And knowing why it had happened wouldn't change anything for her anyways.

An invisible weight had been lifted from her shoulders, so much so that she felt lighter already. Her eyes almost didn't want to stay open - thanks to the certainty that she hadn't been alone in this after all.

It made her so relieved that she became naive, thinking that maybe this wasn't actually such a big deal. In fact, she hadn't slept with such relief in a long time. When she woke up, she felt like a newborn.

It had an absurd aftertaste because she had taken over someone else's body, but looking at her elaborate canopy after opening her eyes had told her that it truly hadn't been a simple dream either.

Her thoughts from the night before returned and she sighed as she ate a hearty breakfast that was quickly prepared for her. This morning, another servant had joined them.

A redhead with a short bob stood next to her. A look of blank disbelief on her face.

"Ah, I have a question," Celia asked before tilting her head. If she had to stay in this body for a while, she should make sure to live as well as possible. "When is the Grand Duke coming back?" Celia had to get used to her role in this place, starting with her name and her family. She never had one, so it shouldn't be too hard for her to accept one?

Of course, there would be no real feelings involved, but if she stayed long enough, she could get along just fine. A family was something she had always wanted when she was younger anyway.

"His Grace will be arriving in about three weeks, as you have already been informed. Your presence at the temple has been requested immediately upon his return." She said more than she needed to remind her mistress why she had been placed under house arrest in the first place.

Norina had the feeling that she hadn't yet grasped the gravity of the situation.

But Rowena knew all too well. 'Yes, the Duke was busy leading his troops against the Visitors in order to defend the Arlen Empire's western border, mainly the Granbell Mountain Range and the great Gloria Forest that was part of it.'

In the original book, the Duchy's Silver Lion Knights Brigade would reclaim that territory as planned, returning not only on time but unexpectedly victorious, only to have the Grand Duke learn of his daughter's demise. 'He's a bit cold, but I know he cared. Poor guy was devastated by the news. But that part of the story is now null and void.'

The picture of a happy family in her mind may have lost some of its luster over the years, but it was still a worthwhile endeavor to her. But Rowena wasn't on good terms with her family, for one reason or another, and she couldn't access the memories of that body at all.

So she had to try to make a good impression when there was nothing she could do about the fact that she had no information about what was going on in that household. What had made Rowena the "crazy daughter" everyone talked about in the book?

'Was it just her appearance?' Nobles were pretty superficial after all.

She should probably do something about this problem first, even if that wasn't the case. "I also need your help with something."

As she had gathered, this was a real world. 'Fucking up my own life was VAULT issued, but I can't have the same shit twice.' With that resolve, she sighed and made eye contact with the two maids, who seemed to be all ears.

'Let's see, how should I put this?' Shifting her eyes, she weighed her options. "Where could I go to be alone for a while?"

Norina and Liza, the second maid, exchanged a few uncertain glances before they came back to their mistress. "You can be alone wherever you want, my lady," Norina assured her.

But not without the bobcut maid clearing her throat. "As long as it's within the annex, she meant to say. With all due respect, my lady, as you know, His Grace's orders are absolute."

"I'm aware of that," she replied nonchalantly, "I was asking for a slightly larger room, one that would be suitable for training."

There was another moment of silence before the two could think of how to respond to that idea. "You want to exercise? Shall we ask Madam Ilona to hire someone to train you?"

Celia immediately shook her head. "No. I don't want it to be something grand, I just," she thought, having to pause on her demands, "I feel like I should do a bit more for my health. You see, if I get any weaker, I might not even be able to walk anymore at some point."

Of course, this assessment was downright hysterical, but it just managed to shut the two of them up enough for her to hear about a room they had in the basement for such reasons.

Getting up from her seat at the dining table in one of the annex rooms, she walked past her two maids until she stopped and turned to ask another question.

"But you could actually ask Madam Ilona to hire someone else for me."

Surprised but smiling, Norina put down the cloth she had used to wipe the table after clearing the plates and stood at attention. 'I wonder what happened. I know I haven't really known her, but it's obvious she didn't care of her health in a while,' Norina had to admit.

It wasn't as if she hadn't heard all the rumors and thought they might be a bit exaggerated, but she was still very suspicious of her new master.

'Thank god she's so different,' was what her maid concluded.

The false Rowena, on the other, thought differently. It was high time for her to take the reins and make some preparations for a brighter future.

As far as she was concerned, it couldn't hurt to know a thing or two about conduct and gain some favor in the process. All she needed was a little bit of trust and support from her "father" to not end up being used by the Emperor as a ribbon tied around a business contract.

'Thank fuck they don't really question me here.' Celia - no, Rowena - was relieved at their attitude towards whatever she said, even if it might have been insincere for all she knew. "I need an Imperial Etiquette Tutor. Can you get me one?"