The scent of jasmine clung to the air, heavy and dizzying.
Golden sunlight filtered through silk curtains, casting a warm hue across velvet sheets.
Her body felt soft. Foreign.
This wasn't her room.
Sera's eyes fluttered open. Her breath hitched.
Where was she?
She tried to sit up, but a sharp ache pulsed behind her eyes—like her skull was splitting open.
The last thing she remembered…
That book.
The cursed one she found on the train.
Black leather. No title.
Pages filled with ancient ink and strange, whispering words.
> "Is that... what did this?"
Was this a dream?
---
A voice interrupted her panic.
"Lady Sher, you're awake!"
A woman in a nurse's uniform rushed to her side—warm smile, brown eyes wide with relief.
"Thank the gods. You've been unconscious for two days."
Sera blinked. "Lady... Sher?"
Why was she calling her that?
"I'm Eliya. Your personal nurse. I'll fetch the Duke and young master—"
"Wait!"
Sera grabbed the edge of the blanket. "What's happening? Where am I?"
But Eliya was already gone, calling for someone down a marble corridor.
Sera's heart pounded in her chest.
Sher.
Who is Sher?
She turned toward the ornate mirror beside the bed.
What stared back wasn't her.
Pale skin. Crimson-rimmed eyes. Wavy dark hair spilled across silk pillows.
She touched her face. The reflection did too.
This isn't me.
> Maybe it's because of that cursed book…
But why this body? Why this person? I need to find out who Sher is.
---
The heavy doors opened with a cold creak.
Duke Cassian Verrien Darevell.
He walked in like a storm sealed in flesh—military coat draped over broad shoulders, eyes as cold as unmelting ice.
The room stiffened.
Cassian:
"So… you've decided to wake up."
Doctor Halem (hesitant):
"Your Grace… she may need rest—"
Cassian:
"I didn't ask for your opinion."
He approached her bed, gaze sharp and unyielding.
Cassian:
"Are you ready to speak again, Sher? Or do we continue this game of silence?"
Sher—no, Sera—met his stare, mind whirring.
Sera:
"Huh… who are you again?"
Gasps rippled across the room.
Even the usually stoic Doctor Halem froze.
Cassian (low, dangerous):
"...You're joking."
He stepped closer.
Cassian:
"You've forgotten your husband?"
Loren (whispering):
"She's never called him anything but 'you' or 'get out.'"
Doctor Halem:
"Perhaps memory trauma… though her injuries were minor."
Sera's gaze never wavered.
> So he's her husband?
Was he always this cold… or did she make him this way?
It seems like their relationship was broken from the start…
> But more than that—are these people connected to the two who were writing in that cursed book?
---
Loren:
"My lady… this is Duke Cassian Verrien Darevell.
And your son—Karthius—is at the estate. He's five."
She paused.
"Would you… like to see him?"
> She has a child too…
Sera's throat tightened.
> I feel bad for that kid.
He lost his real mother because of that book.
Sher (softly):
"Yeah, sure."
Another wave of stunned silence.
The maids looked as if their souls had left their bodies.
Eliya (blinking):
"She said yes?"
Cassian (quietly to himself):
"How convenient."
Cassian:
"Bring him."
---
Sera watched the door, confused at everyone's reaction.
Why were they so shocked?
What kind of woman was Sher before all this?
---
[Hallway – Moments Later]
A small boy with silver-blonde curls sat quietly with a wooden lion in his lap.
Maid:
"Young Master… your mother has asked for you."
He stiffened.
Then rose—slowly.
---
[Back in the Bedroom]
Karthius stepped inside.
Small. Solemn. Uncertain.
Karthius:
"... I'm sorry?"
"I just came once to see because you weren't opening your eyes. I won't come near your room again."
His voice was soft. Nervous.
But it wasn't hard for Sera to read the fear behind it.
She stared at him.
Her heartbeat slowed as everything else faded.
It wasn't hard for someone like Sera to understand the situation.
> T
he boy described in the novel.
The boy who became destruction.
Now stood before her.
Fragile. Real.
Her son.
She hadn't just woken into a story.
She had woken into a world on the edge of ruin.