Chapter 8
Her eyelids felt heavy, as if she had been asleep for a very long time.
As her senses slowly returned, Lee Yeorae realized that her body was shaking violently. Even with her eyes closed, she felt dizzy, as if she were riding an amusement park ride.
She had been tired for several days now. No wonder she had such a strange dream.
Trying to wake herself completely, Yeorae took a deep breath.
But the smell in the air was unfamiliar.
Soil? Or wood?
She could not tell.
It was too fresh to be soil, yet too rough to be wood.
Her hearing returned a moment later.
The sounds that had seemed distant, as if coming from behind a wall, gradually became clearer.
There was the rhythmic creaking of a wooden structure moving.
And other unfamiliar noises followed one after another.
What is this?
Instinctively, Yeorae felt that something was wrong.
Before facing reality, she took a deep breath.
Then she opened her eyes.
Light entered her pupils, and her vision slowly became clear.
“……”
Yeorae was speechless.
She was trapped inside a very narrow wooden box-like space.
The ceiling was so low that her head would touch it if she moved even slightly.
Both sides were completely enclosed, making her feel dizzy.
Where am I…?
Before she could even understand the situation, her hand suddenly moved on its own, as if controlled by invisible strings.
It pulled open a curtain hanging on the wall.
Bright sunlight immediately poured in.
The light was painful to look at, but her body, which was not under her control, did not even flinch.
Beyond the small glass window, an unpaved road rushed past.
Every time the floor shook, her body swayed with it.
It only took a few seconds for her to realize where she was.
A carriage.
A carriage? In twenty-first-century South Korea?
At that moment—
“Ah…!”
A terrible headache suddenly struck her, as if someone were squeezing both sides of her head.
At the same time, she heard a sharp click inside her ears.
Her vision turned black.
A cold feeling spread through her chest.
Like an electronic device being reconnected to power, her senses gradually returned.
For a brief moment, Yeorae thought she saw something like faint smoke escaping from between her lips.
“Hazel… Rive?”
The voice that spoke those words sounded completely unfamiliar.
Her fingers twitched.
The moment she realized her body was finally under her own control, the first thing Yeorae did was bite her tongue.
“Ugh…”
It hurt terribly.
At least that meant this was not a dream.
She tasted blood on her tongue.
Even though she had regained control of her body, everything still felt strange.
Even the air entering her lungs felt different.
Then suddenly, something hard bumped against her calf.
Yeorae lowered her head to see what it was.
A large trunk, about the size of a child’s upper body.
A strange sensation ran through her.
Following an instinct she could not explain, Yeorae opened the trunk.
Its contents spilled out like a landslide, but she did not care.
Among the scattered items, she spotted a silver hand mirror.
Without realizing it, her hand began trembling as she reached for it.
Swallowing nervously, Yeorae slowly picked up the mirror and looked at herself.
The moment she saw a completely different woman staring back at her, chills ran through her entire body.
“M-Mom…”
Crash!
The mirror slipped from her weakened hand and fell.
To stop herself from fainting, she quickly bent forward and buried her face in the pink skirt she was wearing.
When the headache had struck earlier, fragments of unfamiliar memories had entered her mind.
Hazel Rive.
Twenty-two years old.
Only child.
Citizen of the Levatein Empire.
It was impossible.
It made no sense.
But the memories told her otherwise.
This was undeniably the world of the novel.
And she had entered someone else’s body.
Yes.
The very same novel where Leandros had come from—
The Song of the Sea and the Skylark.
But Hazel Rive?
That name had never appeared in the novel.
Not even once.
Taking a deep breath, Yeorae desperately tried to remember what she had been doing just before this happened.
The image of Yeonju standing on the stairs flashed through her mind.
Immediately, another painful headache struck her.
“……”
This time, instead of her vision going dark, tears fell from her eyes.
The owner of this body—Hazel—worked as a mail sorter at the post office.
After working there for three years, she had grown bored with her life.
Then, after receiving a recommendation letter by chance, she decided to change careers.
To become…
A maid of the Duke Etsina Family.
I need to know more. Much more.
Yeorae closed her eyes and tried to pull more memories from her mind.
But as if mocking her efforts, the headache did not return.
Still, as people said, even a rat hole could receive sunlight someday.
The terror she had felt disappeared surprisingly quickly.
Because if it was the Duke Etsina Family…
Then it was Leandros’s family.
“My goodness… This happened again…”
Suddenly, she had a clear purpose.
Leaning back against her seat, she felt electricity run through her arms and legs as the tension faded.
The fear disappeared.
In its place came an unbelievably strong joy.
You don’t know, do you?
You have no idea how many tears I cried during the week after we were separated.
Maybe this was a miracle created by her desire to see him again.
After all, entering each other’s worlds sounded like pure magic.
Leandros disappeared exactly one week later.
The way they crossed worlds was different, but surely the result would be similar.
Good.
If she only stayed here for a week, it would not cause much trouble when she returned.
“……”
Suddenly, she felt brave.
As Yeorae carefully placed the scattered items back into the trunk, she picked up the hand mirror again.
The unfamiliar brown-haired woman still stared back at her.
When Yeorae tilted her head, the woman copied the movement.
…What kind of reaction will you have when you see me like this?
At first, he would probably be shocked.
Then he would laugh and ask what had happened.
Maybe he would tease her and say her hair looked much nicer now.
It was a foolish thought.
But rather than staying here for only one week…
She wanted to stay a little longer.
By now, the carriage was moving along a winding forest road.
In the distance, a large mansion slowly came into view.
Before long, Yeorae stared with her mouth hanging open at the enormous estate before her.
My God. He lived in a place like this?
She knew from the novel that he lived in a large mansion.
But she never imagined it would be this big.
After staring blankly for a while, she hurriedly got down when the coachman called her.
She took her trunk and handed him a few coins she found in her pocket.
Since he left without complaint, it seemed she had paid the correct amount.
A moment later, a middle-aged woman with neatly tied hair walked out through the large gate.
Yeorae quickly smoothed out the letter in her inner pocket and held it out.
“H-Hazel… um, Hazel Rive. Lady Catherine gave me a recommendation letter.”
“Welcome to the Duke’s household, Miss Rive.”
As the gates opened, Yeorae held her pounding heart and let out a quiet sigh of relief.
I didn’t seem strange, right?
Even saying the name Hazel Rive still felt unfamiliar on her tongue.
But that thought only lasted for a moment.
The second she entered the estate, she completely forgot herself and gasped in wonder.
It felt as if she had stepped into one of those ancient European mansions from a documentary.
She looked around excitedly at everything.
Then she suddenly noticed people watching her and quickly calmed herself.
Leandros.
Wow. Maybe we’re really destined for each other.
The smile she had been holding back since entering the mansion finally appeared when she spotted the figure of a tall man at the far end of the corridor.
But the smile did not last long.
Huh…?
Something was wrong.
As he drew closer, her excitement turned into anxiety.
A dark feeling spread through her chest.
Her heart began racing for a completely different reason.
Soon, Leandros walked right past her.
But Yeorae could not even look at him properly.
Following the maid beside her, she lowered her head.
W-What is this…?
Her entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Her thoughts shattered.
All the things she wanted to say when she met him again disappeared before they could leave her mouth.
With shocked eyes, Yeorae watched his retreating figure.
How many years have passed?
The pure young man she had known at twenty was gone.
In his place stood a fully grown man.
His beauty had become even more breathtaking, enough to charm wild beasts.
But his eyes were fierce.
His strong jaw was stiff with invisible pressure.
A dark shadow filled his eyes.
They carried a coldness that seemed capable of swallowing everything around him.
If anyone stood in his way, he looked like the kind of man who would draw his sword without hesitation.
A ghost wearing human skin.
Then Yeorae suddenly remembered.
How old was Leandros when the novel began?
Yes.
If she had truly entered the novel…
Then right now, he was—
Yeorae could not take her eyes off his figure disappearing into the darkness.
The moment she understood the current date in this world, a quiet sadness crashed over her like a tidal wave.
.
.
.
Ten years had passed since the moment they were separated.
For her, it had only been one week.
But for Leandros Julian Therion Etsina…
Ten entire years had already gone by.
