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 in my bed and felt different. I clasped my head and thought 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 to me. Was it another reckless decision that I 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 try 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. I was struggling to stand up if 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's 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 for years? And why are you calling me like I am some 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 34 years old, and I was unemployed. The last thing I could remember was that 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 were rejections and revisions 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 by 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 rebuild 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 were 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 me. 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 to see 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 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 them. 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 a spell to inspect your internal organs. It’s part of checking your vitals, please rest assured.” He said.

“Spell? Inspect it inside like an X-ray?”

The doctor furrowed his brows in confusion and said, “X-ray? What is that? This is an Illuminatory Spell, wherein I can see the internal anatomy of a human being.”

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 had 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 go to places she’s been before and meet people 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 regain 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 had 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 to the door and eavesdropped on 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 arch mage 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, it 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 20 years old or older. My real age in my past life was 34 years old, which is much older than hers.

“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 that matched the lock of the journal. After unlocking it, I was kind of scanning every page and searching for 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 to my conditions. He was willing to marry me as long as I gave my word, and 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 will go all well. Unlike my previous marriage. . .”

“Reagan? Who’s that? And what does she mean by 'previous marriage'? Did she get married before?” 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. The Grand Duke left me alone after the ceremony and attended to the guests of our wedding. 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 for a moment. I want to see him smile at me. I wish this weren’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 weren’t just a name in a contractual paper. But who am I to decide our lives, right? He was only after his revenge.”

I flipped another page, but all I could read was the maltreatment of the people here in the duchy. On her birthday, she would spend time alone in her room and starve. The Grand Duke never called for her or talked to her after their wedding. He would only visit her if he had matters to attend to her and leave immediately after talking to her briefly. The maids in this estate weren’t even serving her like a Grand Duchess, but like a prisoner or an outsider. 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 he was nowhere to be seen. It was said he was busy with his royal duties as the Grand Duke. 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 but work. I felt disgusted and angry at those people for maltreating Sophie. I may not know why, but it was still brutal to treat her like that. As I read more, I learned that she slowly fell in love with the Grand Duke, but she never mentioned how old he is. All she ever mentioned was about him being busy and absent during those 3 years. Also made me question, how did she fall in love if he's always absent? Or they don't see each other often? And maybe the maids saw that the Grand Duke wouldn’t be there for her; that’s why they thought they could abuse her, since she’s powerless. I hate those kinds of people. I closed her journal and also decided to do something for Sophia.

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