"Stay away from me… "I spoke words in my sleep, I opened my eyes and felt sunlight hitting my eyes, did I forget to close my curtains? I just had a horrible dream, tch, what a bad timing ruining my mood for the day.
I had a horrible dream about Ann inviting me to eat at McDonald"s, but third-wheeling between her and Andrei is too much for me, so I decided to eat at KFC. As I was already eating solo but a couple behind me began flirting loudly, that I lost my composure I tried to tell them off, but dreams being dreams, I saw that it was actually Kazutrash and his new girlfriend - the convenience store girl sitting on that table.
It had me very irritated that I embarra.s.sed myself further by las.h.i.+ng out on him, and I just got what I deserved when he opened his mouth and revealed his bad personality, I knew him for years so I should have seen this coming and wouldn"t have been affected and just threw a witty comeback, but hearing about the name of his new GF was a big shock, that I ended up running out and was almost got hit by a truck but Kazutrash heroically saved me anyway.
"But, Yui… Yuri, it"s pretty the same right? Could it be that… "
I muttered as unnecessary thoughts appeared on my mind, what the h.e.l.l am I thinking? He"s right, it"s not the same name, and it"s just a coincidence and there shouldn"t have been other meanings behind it.
I know him more than anyone, he"s not a shallow person, even if he flirts everywhere like a dog in heat, his heart would always belong to the one he offered it to in the first place, and won"t just fall in love because of measly things like names.
If there"s anyone who would do something like that it would be me, who hired someone to pretend as my boyfriend in order to spite him. Deep inside I wanted him to go after me but it backfired and he totally moved-on to the convenience store girl... Ahhh I"m feeling gloomy again, wait why am I treating it as something that has happened? It"s just a dream! A dream yes! I don"t even know the name of the convenience store girl, it"s just my mind playing with me.
"And as a proper ex I should be happy for him right? I shouldn"t be immature"
I wiped the tears falling from my eyes, thinking about how horrible my mind was to give me a dream of the past, a dream of someone who"s very close to my heart.
"I can"t believe I cried, from just a dream"
Usually, when I had dreams like these, I would have called him immediately and he would take away my worries not be consoling but by telling me harsh words to slap me of reality, he"s not the type of person who would be comforting me with flattery or with shallow words, he speaks directly to my soul, straightforward, without missing any detail, frankly, even though hearing it makes me cry sometimes.
"I prefer it that way though, it saved me many times"
I smiled, thinking about the past, even though a year has pa.s.sed our moments to me feels like it has just happened yesterday, he was my everything, yet I played with his heart, and karma pays me back by making me regret it, I don"t deserve to be loved by him anymore or stand by his side.
I finished wiping my face with the back of my hands but observed something odd. Isn"t my complexion much better and whiter than before? and my face and hand feels much smoother.
"Ohhh… I don"t even use much beauty products, am I reaping the benefits of not using makeup and not patronizing facial cleaning services?"
I squinted my eyes and stood up, as I lazily got up from my bed and went towards the window, the source of the light I can barely see. By using my sense of touch I scanned around with my hands to feel the thick cloth, but I"m having a hard time finding it, or more like…
"It"s been ten steps already but I haven"t touched anything yet, am I really going towards the window? I should have known my room like the back of my hand, this is irritating… okay time to give up, or I would worsen my day further"
I turned away from the window and woke up myself by slapping my cheeks.
"Yuri, you need to send those reports immediately, mom is killing you if it gets late again this time"
To get familiar with my mom"s work, I usually take on some of her tasks, this is just like having a part-time job while in college, which gives me a monthly salary which I use to buy what I want, and to treat Ann and Andrei so they could secretly tell me about my Kazutrash.
"Ah he"s not mine more, isn"t he?"
Even as an executive"s daughter, mom only gives me an allowance suited for a college girl, even though their net worth is in millions, but I think I already have enough privilege to be not paying for a condo under my name and there are groceries being sent monthly, it"s like a pseudo average life my parents created for me to teach me the essence of independence.
With my cheeks red from slapping, I opened my eyes as I stared at the bed in front of me.
"Huh? Did I change the beddings? And what are those colors? Ew, really red beddings with brown linings? It even has frills all over!"
As a true connoisseur of minimalism the vulgar beddings in front of me further added to the list of "what made my day bad today".
"Who the h.e.l.l changed my sheets!"
I shouted, but wait, isn"t my voice different? My matured lady voice sounds cute right now, I held my voice box to feel it, am I sick? But my throat doesn"t hurt, why do I sound like an irritating little girl? I remember the voice of Yui in my dream that felt so real that it"s making me feel gloomy inside.
As I was recalling that part of the dream that made me gloomy, my attention was diverted towards the strange bed, don"t tell me…
I scanned the room to make sure if it was indeed my room.
"Wait! It isn"t! What the h.e.l.l is this! This isn"t my room!"
The room was large enough for one person, all of it were wooden but were well crafted, the walls are made of bricks, and it"s even carpeted on where I am standing, I can"t tell if this is luxurious or too out-of-date? What happened? Why am I here?
"And what the h.e.l.l is with this voice! It"s irritating..."
"Could I have been kidnapped? Was my real ident.i.ty known and someone kidnapped me for ransom?"
I placed some of my hair between my lips, as I put my hands into my chin, it"s my mannerism when I try to organize my thoughts, wait…
"Why is my hair black! Who the h.e.l.l messed up with my chestnut smooth hair! It doesn"t even smell like it was dyed! Is this natural black hair? How is that even possible!"
The changes in my voice made it strange enough, but also my hair has changed?! Could I have been abducted and they changed my appearance so they could transport me without suspicion? Alright, let"s look for a mirror! I stood up and tried to search for a mirror within the bedroom, but could only find the window gla.s.s, as I tried to go towards it to see my reflection, I heard footsteps going to my room.
I immediately aborted my plan about going towards the window gla.s.s and jumped to my bed in order to fake my sleep, increasing my chances of survival.
"Tiffania! What is the noise all about!"
A scary woman with a maid following behind her stormed inside the bedroom, speaking an unknown language, but somehow I could tell what she was saying, and somehow I can identify her tone, isn"t she being condescending? And who uses that tone nowadays? Are we in a play or something? Who"s Tiffania?
I decided to find out things based on what I hear and pretend to sleep, but I can hear her getting closer with the sound of her heels in the carpet coming towards me, please don"t beat me up, I have 0% fighting ability, although I enjoy physical activities, when I get into trouble, I would call my ex like a pokemon and have him fight for me.
"Tiffania! That"s improper! It"s already morning, get up already!"
I felt the blanket that I wrapped around me strongly flipped outward and my hand strongly gripped.
"Tiffania Mueller! Wake up!"
I can finally see her face, she looked like a lady in her 30"s to 40"s. She looked young but by wearing gla.s.ses she looked like villain mistresses in plays, as she was biting my head off for being improper I felt a sudden intense headache as a surge of memories came into my mind.
Tiffannia Mueller is the daughter of a duke of the Kingdom of Stizriven, she is a beautiful woman but with nothing much different or outstanding compared to other n.o.ble women, and apparently has been engaged to the prince by the wishes of her family, a poor puppet girl, with her happiness taken away in order to practice the way of becoming a proper lady, she was supposed to be married off to the second prince who has a strong claim to the throne, however, he has seen through Tiffania"s puppet strings, he didn"t want such a weakling to be at his side when he is fighting for the throne.
However the third prince was a special and easy case, TIffania only showed him her charms and scripted kindness and he easily fell for her and proposed the engagement the day later. The poor Tiffania didn"t want to do it, but being crushed by the pressure from her family she easily agrees.
Being sheltered she also doesn"t know much about the outside world, her books that she reads in her free time are the only things that give her joy.
Seeing these memories, could this mean that my life as Yuri has ended already at that moment in the dream? And these memories are from my years of being Tiffania, but in that dream Kazutrash saved me by pus.h.i.+ng me… wait, I can"t remember what happened next.
"Does that mean that even in his attempt to save me I still died?! That useless Kazu!"
Oops, I opened my mouth, and I can see that my mother in this world is glaring at me for not listening to her, she is a matured version of the cute 18-year-old Tiffania, she has the same black hair and grey colored eyes, wearing a burgundy and black southern belle dress I have only seen in plays mom invited me to, in a glance, you would mistake her for a lady in her 20"s but in reality, she"s already nearing 40"s, what is she? A vampire?
"Sorry mother, I just had a bad dream I"ll get up right away!" I spoke and acted in a way I supposed to as Tiffania, the years I lived as Tiffania ingrained the movements into my body that it was so graceful my past self would be jealous of, but there"s a tingling sensation inside of me for speaking in such a way, even when I was meeting mothers acquaintances, this kind of speaking is just overkill.
But I know I have to act ladylike or this mother would punish me by increasing my lessons. As intelligent and educated as I am. I don"t want to act rash and ruin the rest of my life, I"ve been blessed enough to be in a family of higher hierarchy even in this world.
I want to gather information about everything I don"t know and find a way to live my life happily, I might divert from my life as the beautiful and cute Tiffania, but it makes sense rather than being just a puppet for this family. I thank my strong independent mother in my past life who taught me such life lessons.
Okay! I"m gonna live a satisfying life in this world! I"m gonna live without regrets!
But as I readied my guts, the image of Kazutrash popped into my mind, how is he doing? I hope that I was the only one who died, he has his beautiful and cute girlfriend after all. I don"t want him to die because of my recklessness. I hope the doctors looked at my ID, there"s an Id there that says that I"m willing to donate my organs if I were to be found brain dead.
A mix of sadness and happiness welled in my heart, sadness and anxiousness thinking about the man I love, and happiness of him trying to save me in my last minutes, and also celebrating the fact that I have been reincarnated but still, remembering my past life, giving me a new drive in my new life as Tiffania, or else I would have continued to be a puppet forever.
To honor the sacrifice of the man I love, I will live a proper life this time. This time when I fall in love with someone I won"t let him go, I won"t go for something childish anymore and make childish promises, I will treasure him for the rest of my life.
I will marry someone I really love, and live this life as Tiffania - but with a mix of Yuri though, since I remembered my past self after all. I can"t just ignore the lessons that it taught me even in the harshest way.
So first, I have to know about the outside world, and find a way to break this engagement. I will become independent and self-sufficient without worrying my parents. I"ll be a strong independent n.o.ble lady!
I made a guts gesture pumping it, puffing hair from my nose to show my dedication, but as I was in my thoughts I completely forgot about my lovely mother in front of me beating her fan on her palm, as nerves popped in her head as she looked at me.
"Tiffania! What is that unladylike and disgusting face you are making right there!" She said the words slowly.
I regained my innocent and cute Tiffania face expression and apologized in a ladylike manner, I stood up from my bed, pulled the skirts of my nightgown as I made a curtsey.
"I"m sorry, once again mother, my dream last night was just so horrible"
My mother also changed her mood and unfolded her fan and used it to hide her mouth.
"Alright, it"s okay, now get ready! You are meeting the prince for talks about the marriage"
Marriage? Just as I was deciding to live my life the way I want to, this strict mother just bombed me with the outrageous news.
Maybe I should just run and become an adventurer? This world has magic after all.