“Where … am I?”

Arianne woke up in a strange landscape. It was dull. She could not see the blue in the sky or the green in the grass. All her eyes could catch was grey, even after she scanned around.

“What exactly happened, and why am I here? This is certainly not the heaven or hell I imagined them to be,” Arianne mumbled. She scratched the back of her head, feeling the warmth of her skin.

So, she was not dead. Not yet, at least…?

She stood up, feeling her body as light as ever. She was about to take a step when the scenery suddenly changed into that of an unfamiliar place that strangely resonated with her.

“What now … Am I really in heaven? It’s strange. Last time I remember, I was … right. I fainted.”

Arianne walked around the unfamiliar small room. It was still dull, except for the only source of color in a small rectangle held by a girl.

“What in the world…” Arianne exclaimed as she saw the girl’s face. It looked exactly like hers! The only differences were their hair and eye colors—Arianne’s were pink and sapphire while the girl’s were all black. Her features were the same as Arianne's.

Arianne walked closer to the girl, noticing her focusing on the small rectangle that emitted strangely familiar voices.

Wait … is this not Aldwynne’s voice?! Arianne widened her eyes. It sounded slightly different, which she suspected came from the echo. Yet, she could always recognize her husband’s voice in an instant.

So many questions, yet she could not find the answers.

She ended up inching closer to the rectangle, finding Aldwynne on a screen with some strings of words which she guessed were his dialogue. Weirdly enough, she understood each and every word despite only having seen it for the first time.

She giggled whenever Aldwynne blushed, smiled whenever he did, and tensed whenever the scene changed unpredictably. She had not realized that the girl who held the rectangle showed the same expressions too.

“Huh? Wait… No, no way…” Arianne exclaimed. She was in disbelief when the screen changed, showing the happily ever after of Aldwynne with a familiar face. The hair was not pink like hers, but it was blonde. It was Lilianne.

“Why… What is this thing showing me?”

Arianne could feel her heartbeat in the now quiet room. She was no longer aware of the environment, not even realizing that the scene had changed once again and that she now sat in the cloud with a figure approached her.

“You appear to be surprised, kid,” a strange voice called out to Arianne. She looked up, finding an unfamiliar old woman in all white holding her hand out to her. She took his hand, surprising even herself that she did not feel wary of her presence when she clearly understood nothing of everything that had been happening in this strange space, including his presence.

“…Who are you?” Arianne asked. She followed the strange woman to the only hut in the middle of the cloudy surface that made it look out of place.

“Hmm, where do I begin?” The unfamiliar woman poured two cups of tea and slid one to her.

She took the teacup, feeling the warmth radiating from its ceramic. “Anything is fine. I need clues. Am I dead already?”

“I’m sure you know the answer already,” the woman said. She leaned against the wooden surface in a relaxed manner.

“…So I’m still alive,” Arianne responded. “Then, why am I here? What do you want with me?”

The woman did not answer immediately. She took his time to sip the tea.

The gesture made Arianne feel impatient. What’s with this old woman?

“Hey, grandma, I think you owe me an explanation. I have a feeling that you’re the one who summoned me here.”

“Oh, you have a good feeling then, young lady,” the woman chuckled. She neither admitted nor denied. Arianne, although frustrated, was already used to the cryptic way people used to communicate. After all, that was how the aristocrats talked.

“Why are you summoning me?” she repeated her question.

“Hmm… Young lady, what’s your take on the scenery you just witnessed?”

“Pardon?” Arianne was taken aback. Although she had expected her question to be answered with another question, she was unprepared that he brought the whole rectangle show topic she had pushed back in her mind. “I’m not sure how to answer this…” she answered quietly. Her eyes showed uncertainty.

The woman did not respond. She kept his eyes on her as if waiting for her to continue.

“Uhh…” Arianne tried to work her brain, thinking of various possible scenarios. “This may sound wild, but … is the world not the real world?”

“Which world did you mean?”

“That world, the world I’m in?”

“And? Which one would the world you’re in be?”

Arianne did not respond immediately. She kept her eyes on the tea swirling in the cup. Analyzing both the woman’s words and the appearance of the girl, an even wilder possibility came to her mind. “Was the girl … me?”

The old woman only smiled at Arianne’s question, earning a bitter smile from her. That pretty much confirmed her whole assumption.

Giovanne was right, she thought to herself. “I wasn’t supposed to be born, then.”

That was part of the conclusion she came up with.

“The world—I mean the one the Kryndelia Empire is in. It was not a real world, was it? It came from a romance game the past me used to play … no, play is an extravagant word, considering it was a paid game and I was an orphan who could only watch through a streaming app,” she continued, “Aldwynne is one of the love interests, and Lilianne was the heroine.”

Arianne did not get a response. Yet she could not care less about it. All she cared about was letting everything out.

“Father was there, along with Mother, who died giving birth to me. Giovanne and Lilianne … the four of them made up the picture of a happy family. I wasn’t supposed to be in the equation. No wonder my family initially abandoned me; I was the murderer who ruined what was supposed to be their happiness.”

“My apologies, it was all my fault,” the old woman said, holding Arianne’s hand. “I was the one who asked for your soul to be brought here.”

Arianne immediately shifted her eyes to the woman. She saw the apologetic look on her face and immediately felt her emotions raging. “Why…?” she asked, her voice hoarse.

She did not understand anything. Not her past, not the world, nor the woman in front of her.

Why would she be here when she was not supposed to exist?

Why did she have to be born to take her mother's life?

And … why did she marry Aldwynne?

Was it all fate’s doing, and was everything she did predetermined?

Did all her actions stem from her nonexistence?

Too many questions and emotions jumbled in one center: her existence.