บท 2: 2. Life Story
Ellie began to feel a gentle touch on her hand.
She felt the hand caressing her with love and affection.
Ellie slowly opened her eyes and saw a handsome middle-aged man next to her bed, with a concerned expression on his face.
"Uh..."
"Ellie! My daughter! Doctor, please come quickly and check if there's anything wrong with my daughter."
After a thorough examination, the doctor informed the middle-aged man that the fainting episode was likely caused by high levels of stress.
"In a state of excessive stress, our bodies can react by releasing stress hormones that can affect various systems in the body, including the nervous system," the doctor said with concern, "this could explain why Miss Eleanor felt confused and fainted earlier."
"Oh, thank goodness nothing happened to you. Don't be sad, my daughter. That damn Lucas can't tell right from wrong."
"Lucas?"
'And who is this person? My daughter? The maid mentioned his name earlier, Duke Ashford. I'm sure I didn't mishear it. Then, what did he say? Eleanor? Oh God...'
A sense of unease began to creep into her heart—a very bad feeling.
To make sure, she asked, "Lucas Lancaster?"
Duke Ashford and the maid who had accompanied Ellie exchanged glances.
"Doctor, is it true that there's nothing wrong with her?"
Duke Ashford looked at the doctor sharply.
"No, My Lord. It's just excessive stress," the doctor wiped the sweat off his forehead anxiously.
Then, Duke Ashford instructed everyone in the room to leave.
"Ellie, my daughter... What's wrong with you?"
Ellie remained silent for a moment, gazing at the man in front of her, who was deeply concerned about her.
Her mind was filled with questions, and she was afraid of the answers.
'Wow. What is this feeling?'
Ellie held her chest, which suddenly felt warm. It felt like lying on soft cotton candy.
Throughout her life, she had never experienced someone being so caring toward her.
Ellie raised her gaze to the man in front of her, who was still holding her hand.
She looked at him with a complex gaze. Her feelings were mixed.
"Sorry, but can I be alone for a moment?"
Duke Ashford was taken aback by Eleanor's attitude because it's unlike her to be so cold.
"Very well, if you need anything, Father is outside, my dear."
He smiled sadly, kissed Ellie's forehead, and stood up, leaving her alone.
'Let me think for a moment. The last thing I remember, I had a nightmare, woke up, tried to sleep but couldn't, and ended up taking too many sleeping pills.'
'Then, am I dead? Is this heaven? Maybe because I got too carried away with that novel, my heaven turned out like this?'
'But this is more like hell than heaven! Ah... Or is it another dream? Wasn't I always dreamed about the people in that novel?'
Ellie began pinching her cheek hard.
"Ouch..."
"It seems real."
But how is it possible? However you think about it, it doesn't make any sense.
Ellie realized that she herself had changed. When she touched her face, she was surprised to find her skin smooth and flawless.
She looked at her hands and realized that her fingers, which were ordinary before, now appeared slender and graceful.
She was truly in a different body.
With a pounding heart, Ellie crawled out of the luxurious bed.
She walked towards the mirror and how shocked she was when she saw herself in the mirror.
In the mirror, there was a beautiful woman, incredibly beautiful. It's not an exaggeration to call her a beautiful disaster.
Where is the ugly woman? Where is the plain woman? All she could see was a woman whose beauty was beyond comprehension.
She had never seen a woman as beautiful as this, even in her previous life.
She had silvery white hair that shone like moonlight and her fiery red eyes like blazing rubies.
Her snow-white skin didn't look strange or pale at all. Her face looked incredibly smooth, without any blemishes.
Her lips looked full and had a natural pinkish hue, like beautiful cherry blossoms.
The thick and pearly eyelashes around her eyes added to the beauty of her fox-like eyes.
It felt strange to admire herself, but at the same time, the image she saw was not herself.
Eleanor Ashford.
Her face was nothing like how it was described in the novel.
Ellie started to think, 'Is Prince Lucas blind? If I were a man, I would marry her and keep her hidden in the house where no one could ever see her.'
She became curious about Ava Sinclair's appearance, the woman who captured the Crown Prince's heart.
Because Ellie believes that if there was a woman more beautiful than Eleanor, she wouldn't be considered a human anymore.
Questions started haunting Ellie's mind.
How could she be in this place? Was this just a dream or her imagination because she was starting to go crazy? She tried to understand everything that was happening, but it all felt like a mystery.
Then suddenly, she fell to the floor, clutching her head in pain.
A series of fragments of memories gradually enter her mind like a short documentary film.
"Ugh..."
As the pain in her head subsided a little, she screamed.
"Oh, my God!"
Then the maid who had accompanied her entered.
"Lady Ellie! Are you alright?"
The maid helps her up and was startled by her cold body.
"Oh my! Should I call Duke Ashford?"
"No need, Lyra."
Yes, she recognized the maid's name in front of her. Eleanor's memories spun in her mind.
It felt strange to have two different memories in her mind.
It felt like watching someone else's life story, but at the same time, it was also her own story.
"Can you leave for a moment, Lyra? I'm feeling dizzy and need some rest."
Lyra smiled, "Alright, My Lady," while guiding Ellie back to her bed.
First of all, there were two things she realized. First, this was not a dream, and she wasn't dead.
Somehow she suddenly entered the novel she was reading.
And second, this was real. This was reality. This world is no longer just words on paper because she could see Eleanor's life story from her childhood.
Things that were not told in the novel.
In her memory, Eleanor's childhood name was Ellie, which somehow matched her own name.
Then everything made sense, and she understood why Prince Lucas didn't like her.
Eleanor had liked Lucas since she was seven years old and Lucas was ten.
They met at the royal palace when Eleanor accompanied her father on a visit to the palace.
At that time, Eleanor was playing in the royal garden when she bumped into a boy.
The boy scolded her, "Don't you have eyes?"
"I'm sorry, it was an accident."
"Sorry? Do you even know who I am? Sorry is not enough."
Little Eleanor started to panic, and her big eyes welled up with tears.
"Hey, don't cry, I—"
Suddenly, Lucas arrived and stood in front of Eleanor.
"What's this? Is it your hobby to bully a little girl? I saw it from a distance. Leave her alone."
The boy looked at Lucas with a sharp gaze, then turned and left.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah..."
Young and easily touched, Eleanor fell in love with Lucas at that moment when he helped her.
And her love for Lucas continued into adulthood.
The visit of Eleanor's father at that time was an invitation from the Emperor to discuss the engagement of Eleanor and Lucas.
Eleanor was overjoyed upon hearing the news, and Lucas was also satisfied because Eleanor was a cute and lovely little girl.
However, everything changed when Lucas visited Ashford Duchy after returning from the Academy.
Eleanor was not like other noble girls because Ashford Duchy was from a knightly family, so she enjoyed practicing swordplay.
At the age of fourteen, while suffering from a condition that caused her face to swell and break out in rashes due to eating something she was allergic to, she was practicing her sword skills on the training field.
When she heard that Crown Prince Lucas was visiting her mansion, she immediately ran to meet him, sweaty and in dirty clothes.
Eleanor missed him because they hadn't seen each other for seven years.
During that time, they only exchanged letters because crown prince Lucas was studying at the Academy.
She wanted to see how he was, his condition, and ask if he missed her too.
But contrary to her expectations, when Lucas saw her, he immediately distanced himself.
"What happened to you? Why is your face like this?"
"Huh? Oh, this... It's nothing, in a few days-"
"Stay away from me, your face is disgusting."
Those words struck her heart like lightning thunder.
Since then, their relationship has become strained. Eleanor's shattered self-confidence, destroyed by Lucas, was difficult to restore.
Wherever Eleanor went, she always covered her face with a veil, revealing only a small part of her eyes.
She believed that her face was ugly, no matter how many times her father told her she was a beautiful girl.
When Ellie saw that memory, her heart also shattered. And in her heart, she cursed Lucas.
"Poor girl..."
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