I woke up feeling a bit sluggish. I tried to remember the things I did last night but all I could muster to recover was this throbbing headache. Maybe this is just a hangover from the endless drinking last night.

I sat up from my bed and felt different. I clasped my head and felt that the texture of my hair felt different. My hair was a bit longer and it was red. Again, I tried to remember when I dyed my hair but not a speck of memory came back from me. Was it another reckless decision that I’ve made last night?

I shifted my attention to my hands, it was a bit smaller than usual and it was smoother. This time I can feel that it was different than before. I can feel my heart beating faster as I tried to breathe calmly. I was starting to feel the anxiety taking over me. I hurriedly looked around and realized it wasn’t my room and it wasn’t an emergency room either. It was a room that was decorated with the old Victorian furniture that you usually see in museums. I grabbed a mirror from the nightstand just to confirm my speculations, as I looked at the mirror it was another person rather than the normal-looking girl I used to know.

“This isn’t me!” I yelled at the mirror and threw it away. I stood up but I couldn’t move my legs like they used to be. I was struggling to stand up like my legs were paralyzed. But still, I managed to stand up while holding myself to the nightstand.

Suddenly, a stranger came rushing into the room and she was wearing a maid outfit. She was looking at me with a smiling face as if she was so happy to see me. But her expression immediately shifted to crying and she lunged at me with a hug.

“Your Grace, thank the heavens you’re already awake!” she said between her cries.

I tried to break free from her embrace but she was gripping me tightly.

“Can’t- -breathe” I said to her and she immediately loosened her embrace and was panicking when she realized that she was gripping me too tightly.

“Goodness, I am so sorry your Grace! It's just that I am so glad that you’re finally awake. It’s been years since you were awake.” She said, almost crying.

“Years? What do you mean I was asleep in years? And why are you calling me like I am some kind of a noble?” I asked her abruptly.

“Oh no, this can’t be. Did you perhaps lose your memories, Your Grace?” she said as her eyes started to tear up again.

My memories? I remember that my name is Gracelyn and I am 24 years old and I was a college student. The last thing I could remember is I was drinking near a cliff and I was depressed about being rejected again by publishers. I’ve dedicated my years to writing my story but all I got was rejections and revision of my book. While I was drinking I was searching for my phone but I felt dizzy, then I stumbled and fell…

“Wait a minute, it can’t be. Did I die from falling off the cliff?” those were the only words I could utter from my mouth after the realization.

“Your Grace, you’ve been asleep ever since you got into a carriage accident at the ball from the capital. You’ve been in a coma for 2 years and we- -”

“What do you mean carriage accident and a ball? Are we in some kind of historical setting or something? Also, why do you keep calling me ‘Your Grace’? Wait, it can’t be.” this time I accidentally raised my voice at her because I am freaking out. Then, I felt my legs wobble and lose their strength to carry my weight. I fell to the floor and the maid rushed to help me stand up. She assisted me to my bed to rest and I just stared at the floor trying to process the situation I was in.

“Your Grace, please calm down. I shall call the doctor in a moment.” She didn’t answer my question and she just ran outside in a panic, while I was also in a panic.

Is my mind finally losing it this time? “Ball? Carriage accident? Where the hell am I? WHO AM I?”

“I, Sophia Grace Rosewood, swear to regain our family from its ruins.”

Suddenly a memory flashed into me and along with it was a pang of pain in my head. The pain was throbbing in my head, but the memory was so clear and as if it was mine. The woman in my memory has the same face that I have right now.

“Wait if I died falling from the cliff while drinking, does this mean this is my afterlife? Or did I reincarnate in this body?” I asked myself hoping someone could answer me but sadly no one was there but myself. After my adrenaline rush dissipated, the strength to stand up again was nowhere to be seen. I was struggling to move my legs unlike earlier. Maybe this is due to a coma for years, then how should I escape now?

As I crawled to the floor just to inspect the room, I inspected every corner if there was a camera or if people were hiding. Maybe this is just a prank set-up or some kind of acting set. But after searching every nook and corner, I only found dust and spider webs.

In a dresser, I found a picture of Sophia Grace. I slowly climbed myself to grab the picture frame. Luckily, after how many tries I was able to grab it. She was just a teen in this picture frame, a subtle smile was shown on her lips but still, she was beautiful. Her red crimson hair was also beautiful as well as her ocean blue eyes. I couldn’t help but stare at her picture as I was trying to accept my fate and thought what will I do now and what would I do with this woman’s life? Could I have the right to live as her? Or should I escape and live freely?

“But who is this Sophia Grace, anyway? The maid earlier called me like some kind of noble, is she a princess?” I mumbled to myself.

I slumped back on a sofa and all I could think of was various escape plans if I ever regain my strength to walk again, but my thought of escaping was suddenly disturbed by someone running down the hall and slamming the door in my room.

“Your Grace, I have brought the doctor!” the maid from earlier came back with an old man.

The doctor did his medical inspection on me, it was all normal inspection until his hands started to glow blue and I felt heat on it. I flinched back when I saw that because that was the first time I saw a doctor with glowing hands.

“W-What are you trying to do, old man?!” I said as I stepped back from him.

“Your Grace, I am using my special magic to inspect your internal organs. It’s part of the check-up, please rest assured.” He said.

“Magic? Inspect it inside like an x-ray?”

The doctor furrowed his brows in confusion and said; “X-ray? What is that?”

He looked at the maid and the maid shrugged her shoulders at him, and now I look like some kind of idiot or crazy human being to them. I couldn’t explain to them what an X-ray is, nor could I even explain to them that I was a soul reincarnated in Sophie’s body. I gave up my wariness against them and let him inspect me further. I couldn’t tell whether there was a problem or not because the doctor’s face stayed expressionless and was more focused on inspecting me.

After his inspection, the doctor sighed deeply. I was nervous that maybe he found out that I was not Sophia. Will they send me to prison if they know that I’m not her?!

“Just as I suspected, she lost her memories because of the accident.” The doctor said in a serious tone.

“Her body is also weak from the vegetation stage, she needs to eat more and exercise her body. Also, it is advisable that she goes to places she’s been before and meets people that she’s close with to regain her memories. If she had a journal or maybe a diary before, she could use that to regain her memories. The memory loss is not serious, but just to be careful you should visit the magic tower to regain your mana and maybe that could help regaining your memories.”

“But doctor, she doesn’t have any friends or she doesn’t go out in this castle.” The maid said worriedly.

Damn, Sophie. What kind of life do you have?

“I think I have a journal,” I mumbled.

Both of them looked at me and were kind of surprised when I told them that. “Did you say you have a journal? Do you remember where it was?” the doctor asked.

I showed them the journal that was hidden under my pillow. It was locked but surprisingly I know where the key is. The doctor and the maid showed relief knowing that there was hope in regaining their master’s memories, but little did they know I just found her journal by accident while inspecting the room earlier.

“That’s great! You’ll recover your memories in no time, Your Grace!” the maid said happily.

“Mary, may I have a word with you for a moment?” the doctor said and gestured at the maid to talk to him outside. The maid nodded and they excused themselves from me. I sensed that the doctor was hiding something from me, so I tiptoed going to the door and eavesdrop their conversation.

I couldn't hear much but slowly I opened the door and heard them clearly;

“You must tell the Grand Duke that her Grace is awake. She needs all the support she could get especially now she’s recovering.” The doctor said.

“I already sent a word to the office but those higher maids are not doing anything, Sir. I tried to find Sir Albert but he’s out of town while the Grand Duke is still away for like five months or so.” She replied.

“Five months? That’s too long, she needs to consult an archmage immediately because her mana is deteriorating her body. I’ll inform Sir Albert about her Grace's condition, maybe we could ask for his help.” The doctor said worriedly. Wait, I have mana? Like magic? What is this world anyway?

The maid, Mary, was tearing up and I felt the urge to comfort her. Is she close with Sophie? Does this mean I could trust her and the doctor? It looks like they’re the only ones who care for her.

“Poor Grand Duchess, she’s been disregarded ever since the Grand Duke- -” the doctor saw me peeping at the door and they immediately changed their subject.

“Your Grace, what are you doing?” the doctor's eyes were in shock when he saw me eavesdropping.

“Your Grace, you should take a rest while I prepare you a warm meal,” Mary said as she wiped off her tears and smiled. They both escorted me to my bed and they immediately left my room. On the other hand, I was still trying to connect the dots from the information that I had gained from their conversation earlier. So, Sophia Grace is a Grand Duchess, then does this mean that the Grand Duke they were talking about was...

“HER HUSBAND?”

I grabbed her picture from the dresser and asked; “Girl, you’re married?!”

If this picture frame could talk, she would look at me like a weirdo. But I couldn’t help it, she was married at such a young age. I looked at myself in the mirror and it looked like my body was 19 years old.

“Wait, how old is her husband? Don’t tell me she married an old man?!”

Because I was worried about this Grand Duke, I immediately grabbed her journal and unlocked it. The key to her journal was the necklace that I’m currently wearing. It was a gold necklace with a rose pendant and was embedded with rubies. I learned that the key was her necklace because of its obvious pattern matched to the lock of the journal. After unlocking it, I was kind of scanning every page and searching an entry about the Grand Duke but a few pages were about him. I suddenly noticed that her journal was written in an unknown language, but surprisingly I could understand it and I could write the same language as theirs. I read the paragraph that was about the Grand Duke and it says:

“The Grand Duke finally agreed on my conditions. He was willing to marry me as long as I gave my word, we wrote a contract that shows our agreement about this marriage. Yes, this is a contractual marriage. I only agreed to this because Reagan said so. To my surprise, he prepared the wedding very well. He prepared the wedding gown and it was the most beautiful gown I have ever worn in my entire life. Maybe, just maybe I could be happy for this wedding even if it’s just contractual. I just hope this would go all well.”

“Reagan? Who’s that?” I asked myself.

I flipped to the next page and it was about her wedding day, I was kind of expecting a happy wedding but it said:

“I thought I could briefly be happy at our wedding, but I was wrong. He was cold and was leaving me as he attended our guests. But who am I to complain? I am just a bride for the convenience of his power. Even though he was cold, the Grand Duke was strikingly handsome at our wedding. I wish he could smile. I wish this wasn’t a contractual wedding. I wish he could just love me and let this contractual marriage be real. I wish Grand Duchess Sophia Grace Rosewood-Griffith wasn’t just a name in a contractual paper.”

I flipped another page, but all I could read was the maltreatment of her husband. On her birthday, she would spend time alone in her room and starve. The Grand Duke never called for her nor talked to her after their wedding. He would only visit her if he had matters to attend to her and leaves immediately after talking to her briefly. The maids in this estate weren’t even serving her like a Grand Duchess but like a prisoner. She wrote about the bullying and the food she ate was all disgusting. The budget that was allotted to her was not given to her. She tried to ask for help for the Grand Duke but the asshole turned a blind eye at her. The only people who were there for her were the maid Mary, the Doctor, and Sir Albert. Those three were the only people who showed sympathy for her, even at the times she was struggling. For 3 years, she endured all of this and during these years the Grand Duke did nothing. I felt disgusted and angry at those people for maltreating Sophie. I may not know why, but it was still brutal treating her like that. As I read more, I learned that she loves the Grand Duke, but she never mentioned how old he is. All she ever mentioned was about him being cold and distant, he was also avoiding her like a plague, he also didn’t care if she was bullied by the maids and he often came home from his estate. Maybe the maids saw that the Grand Duke wouldn’t side with her that’s why they thought they could abuse her since she’s powerless. I hate those kind of people. I closed her journal and also decided to do something for Sophia.

“I feel so sorry for you, Sophia. I hope wherever you are, you’re finally happy.” I said to the picture of her.