***

But then… Olivia opened her eyes.

‘Am I alive? Or is this the afterlife?’

At first she couldn’t comprehend what was happening – couldn’t tell if the reality before her was life or death.

But the warmth of someone holding her hand felt so real, so alive, that a fragile hope blossomed within her —

‘Maybe… I’m still alive.’

‘Maybe it was all just a dream.’

There’s no way Scarlett and Eric would have betrayed her like that behind her back.

There’s no way Eric would have killed her.

No… it couldn’t be…

“Huuuuh! Unnie!”

Just as Olivia blinked, trying to hold on to that hopeful thought, a strange girl’s sobbing voice rang out.

“Unnie, are you awake? Please wake up!”

A girl with brown hair tied in two braids came into view through her blurred vision.

Olivia, who had secretly hoped that the person holding her hand was her mother, the Marchioness of Grosvenor, was taken aback.

When she said nothing, the girl began to shake her hand back and forth.

“Unnie! Wake up! Please, Unnie!”

“W-Wait a minute.”

Olivia said quickly, trying to calm the girl as she pushed herself upright.

The place she was lying in wasn’t her familiar room – it was somewhere completely unfamiliar.

The gray walls were cracked, as if they might collapse at any moment, and old belongings were scattered about the room in complete disarray.

There was a musty, moldy smell in the air.

‘Something is wrong.’

‘This isn’t my room. But it can’t be the afterlife either…’

‘This isn’t the heaven I imagined.’

With a confused expression, Olivia got out of bed and staggered to the dirty mirror hanging in the corner of the room to check her reflection.

“…!”

In the slightly cracked mirror stood a pretty young woman with brown hair.

A familiar face.

“That is Sarah… from the Dandelion Orphanage?”

She was the woman Olivia had once accidentally saved, and they had kept in touch ever since.

Olivia visited the orphanage about once a month, so there was no mistaking her face.

“But why is she…in the mirror?”

Olivia slowly reached up and touched her face.

And in the mirror, Sarah did the same.

Then she shook her head gently from side to side.

Once again, Sarah mirrored the exact movement.

She reached up and gently touched the mirror.

Sarah, on the other side, reached out to Olivia.

The moment their hands met across the glass, Olivia flinched and fell backward in shock.

“Sarah unnie!”

The little girl who had been watching from a distance ran over and helped her up.

Olivia slowly got to her feet, her eyes fixed on the mirror.

Sarah was still mimicking her every move.

“I…became Sarah?”

Then—
‘What happened to the real me?’
‘What happened to Olivia Grosvenor?’

‘Why… why have I become Sarah?’

Her mind could not fully process the information.

Finally, overwhelmed by shock, Olivia lost consciousness again.

***

“Unnie, are you really okay?”

Asked the brown-haired girl, Joy.

Olivia forced a smile and nodded.

“Yes. I’m okay now.”

“Thank goodness! I really thought you were going to die!”

Joy threw her arms around Olivia.

Awkwardly returning the girl’s hug, Olivia thought to herself, heavy with gloom:

‘I really have become Sarah.’

It had been several hours since Olivia had awakened as Sarah.

At first she had denied the reality before her, but soon she began to calmly assess the situation.

For reasons unknown, she had somehow become Sarah – the girl she had known and interacted with before.

According to Joy, Sarah had gone out a few days ago and when she returned, she locked herself in her room and refused to come out.

No matter how much they asked her what was wrong, she would only tell them not to talk to her.

Finally, when she stopped responding, the children forced the door open – and found her collapsed on the floor.

Did Sarah die?

Is that why Olivia’s soul ended up in her body?

And if so, what had happened to Olivia Grosvenor’s original body?

Her mind was a mess, but Olivia forced herself to think clearly and calmly.

“Joy, could you get me a newspaper?”

“A newspaper?”

“Yes. There’s something I need to see.”

“Okay, got it!”

Joy stood up confidently, as if to say, “Leave it to me,” but then suddenly turned back with a gasp.

“Oh, right! Unnie, do you remember that noble lady who saved you before? What was her name? Gro… something?”

“Olivia Grosvenor?”

“Yes! That’s her. She died. Her funeral is today.”

“What?”

“The headmistress said you had to be told… so I… Unnie? Unnie, where are you going?”

Everything after that was a blur.

Olivia ran like crazy, straight to the funeral.

Who in the world goes to their own funeral?

It was heartbreaking. But more than anything, what consumed her was anger – anger at Eric.

‘Eric Anderson should have been arrested by now.’

She had assumed it was only natural.

But when she finally arrived at the funeral, Eric was there, pretending to be a grieving lover, shedding tears.

It was disgusting.

And when she heard someone say that she had been killed by a wolf, she couldn’t hold back any longer – she lunged at him.

Nobles and commoners.

The result was obvious.

“How dare you crawl in here!”

A Grosvenor knight shoved Olivia’s arm away with such force that she nearly toppled over.

Gritting his teeth, the knight had no way of knowing that the woman who had landed on the floor in front of him was, in fact, the very lady he had once served.

“If you insult the young lady again, I will not stand for it.”

Olivia could tell that he meant every word.

The original Olivia Grosvenor had been deeply loved by the knights of her house.

Those who held her dear would probably have no qualms about taking the head of a commoner if it meant protecting their honor.

Olivia gave up trying to enter the funeral hall again and turned away.

‘What am I going to do now?’

When she first woke up in Sarah’s body, she had been determined to expose everything Eric had done.

But in her current state, she couldn’t even tell the truth, let alone prove it. At this rate, she might end up getting arrested for insulting a noble.

‘But still…’

She clenched her fists tightly, the images of her family flashing through her mind – her mother sobbing uncontrollably in her father’s arms until she fainted, and her brother, who couldn’t even cry properly, holding his grief in silence.

For their sake – for the sake of her family – she had to uncover the truth behind her death.

She had to reveal who Eric Anderson really was.

‘But…how?’

Limping as she walked, Olivia suddenly froze at the feeling of someone behind her.

She held her breath.

‘Someone’s following me.’

As she walked, they walked. When she stopped, they stopped.

It wasn’t her imagination – someone was following her.

‘Did Eric send them?’

He was a man who had killed his own fiancée.

Taking the life of a commoner would be nothing to him.

He must have sent someone to silence her – to erase the evidence.

‘I have to run.’

Olivia took off immediately.

“Damn, she noticed. Go get her!”

The men began openly chasing after her.

‘I can’t die like this.’

‘I have to survive. No matter what, I must live!’

But there was no way she could outrun the strong men chasing her.

Their footsteps grew louder, coming closer and closer.

And then—
someone in a hood suddenly stepped in front of her and grabbed her.

“Mmph!”

A handkerchief was pressed over her mouth, preventing her from screaming for help.

She couldn’t even bite the man’s arm.

She kicked and struggled with all her might, but it was no use.

Helpless, she was dragged away and forced into a carriage.

As soon as the carriage door closed, Olivia pounded on it in desperation.

“Please, help me! Somebody, please!”

But cruelly, the carriage began to move quickly.

Just then, a soft voice whispered from behind her.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Olivia jumped in surprise.

The inside of the carriage was so dark that she hadn’t realized anyone else was there.

“I give you my word-you will be returned safely.”

But Olivia knew only too well how meaningless a noble’s promise could be.

Hadn’t Eric also sworn on his name to love her for the rest of his life?