When Keris was away, all I could do was stare blankly at my reflection in the mirror.
Sometimes I’d pass the time by watching the maid who came in to clean the room. A few times I watched her like any other day and suddenly caught her odd look, like she’d felt my gaze. Every time that happened I felt a little guilty, but since I was, after all, just an ordinary doll in appearance, the maid quickly stopped paying me any mind and went on with her work.

Weeks must have passed in that monotonous routine. It was unbearably dull. My body couldn’t move, and the restlessness crawled under my skin. I felt proud of myself for remaining still for so long. Why, of all things, did I have to be transmigrated into a doll? As time dragged on, in addition to the wish to listen to Keris’s troubles, little things like this made me ache to become human.

‘Surely I don’t have to spend the rest of my life like this, right?’

Whenever that thought struck, fear tightened my chest. Had heaven taken pity on me?

That day, like any other, Keris returned after finishing his duties. As usual, he climbed into bed and poured out the day’s events to me—the doll—before falling asleep. Watching him sleep, I too drifted into a vague doze. Even as a doll, drowsiness came on.

How long had I slept? While dozing, I dreamed: I was walking beside Keris as a human. How badly had I wanted to return to being a person, that I even dreamed it.

I woke slowly, still feeling the haze of sleep. Thin sunlight filtered into the room. I stretched, feeling the stiffness in my limbs. A stretch was essential for starting the day fresh.

“……”

I froze mid-stretch, my arm held aloft.

‘I stretched? I—can move?’

I slowly brought the hand I’d been holding up into view. There, plainly before my eyes, was a pale, slender hand, blindingly white. An unmistakable human hand. And it moved at my will.

I hurriedly scanned the room. It was still Keris’s bedroom where I had been a doll yesterday. I rushed to the mirror set in a corner of the room. In the glass stood a woman I had never seen before, staring at me with a shocked face. Her skin was as white as paper and her body thin. She had round, blue eyes and long, wavy platinum hair, an almost doll-like appearance. She wore a blue dress ornamented with frills and decorations fit for a doll.

When I put a finger to the mirror, the unfamiliar woman inside mirrored the motion, reaching out in the same way. She was not someone I had never seen, her appearance was exactly the one I had watched in the mirror every day since arriving in this romance-fantasy world: Keris’s beloved doll, Sarina.

‘So this is for real—I’m… no, that doll has become human?’

Understanding dawned. The doll I had been had become a living person.

I had wanted to become human for so long, but to become human so suddenly—still in the doll’s body, was overwhelming. In panic, I glanced behind me, thinking there might still be the doll that had housed me. But nothing remained where I had been. I stood, dazed, staring back at the mirror.

Then, from behind me, something rustled. My body froze. Only then did Keris come to mind. I spun around and saw him beginning to stir as if waking. I tried to hide somewhere out of his sight, but it was already too late.

Keris woke and looked around, then found me, and froze just as I had.  

His expression barely changed. Still, he rolled his eyes a few times, as if trying to work out what had happened. Fully awake now, he fixed me with a hostile gaze and asked, voice sharp enough to chill my blood.

“Who are you, and why are you here?”  

How was I supposed to answer that? I stood there mute, like someone who’d swallowed honey. But would it have been better to say something? Keris’s glare grew sharper at my silence.  

“Lately I’ve heard that people who target noble bloodlines sneak young women into bedrooms.”  

A cold dread hit me, if I stayed silent any longer, he might mistake me for one of those intruders and throw me in a cell. In a panic I blurted out whatever came to mind.

“If you don’t reveal your identity—”

“I’m the doll that used to be here!” 

“What?”  

Keris sounded incredulous. I stammered on, trying to explain.

“The doll that used to be here. I opened my eyes and suddenly I was a person.”  

“……” 

Keris made no reply; he must have thought I was ridiculous. If I felt absurd saying it, how much more so for him? 

‘They won’t think I’m crazy, right…?’ 

I worried, but I had no other plan to get out of this mess.  

Keris kept staring at me without speaking. Then, as if remembering something, he glanced at the spot on the bed where the doll used to sit. There was nothing there. He looked back at me and scanned me from head to toe. Only then did he seem to notice that I wore the exact same face and the same clothes as his doll.  

“So you’re telling me the doll that used to be here suddenly became human? I don’t know where you heard that I have a doll, but stop this childish prank and give me back my doll.”  

“I know it’s unbelievable, but it’s true. I’m Sarina, the doll that was here!”  

At the name ‘Sarina,’ something finally cracked in Keris’s face. That name was known to no one but him. He called me Sarina only when he was alone in his bedroom. It would be impossible for anyone else to know it.  

“You really are ‘Sarina’…?”  

So he was beginning to believe me. Who would have thought naming a doll would turn out to help? Maybe I could earn Keris’s trust. Filled with hope, I opened my mouth to explain more, just then someone knocked on the bedroom door.  

“Lord. It’s nearly time to go to the palace. Aren’t you leaving?” 

Came a man’s voice I didn’t recognize. My face must have gone even paler. Being discovered by Keris was one thing; if anyone learned there was a strange woman in the lord’s chamber, things could spiral out of control.  

Keris looked at me once, then spoke loudly enough for the man outside to hear. 

“I will be leaving. Do not concern yourself.” 

The footsteps outside receded. Had he sent the man away to spare me? Hope flared—I thought maybe Keris believed me.  

But when our eyes met again, what he said next was the opposite of comforting. 

“I don’t know how you learned the name Sarina. Do you expect me to believe that a doll became human? Don’t toy with me.” 

His tone was cold and sharp; his eyes left no doubt he distrusted me. It was clear he hadn’t sent that man away for my sake.  

“So the person you sent earlier was—” 

“Did you think I sent someone for you? If someone saw a stranger in the lord’s room, it would only tarnish my dignity and status. I sent him away for that reason, nothing more.”  

“……”  

“Tell me again. Who are you?”  

“I really am Sarina, the doll that was in this room.” 

“Are you refusing to speak? If you won’t say, then I’ll find out myself.” 

Before I could answer, Keris grabbed my arm and began dragging me somewhere.  

“Where are you taking me?” 

I asked, but he didn’t reply. He led me to a small, storeroom-like chamber I hadn’t known existed. 

‘There’s a place like this here?’ 

Before I could process it, he shoved me in and shut the door, locking it. I fumbled to open it, but it wouldn’t budge.  

“Wait! I can explain everything! Please open the door!” 

I cried, but Keris’s footsteps receded into the distance.