But... the sounds surrounding me slowly changed. The strange gibberish faded into a low hum.
My vision cleared. I was no longer in the dining room or the bedroom. I was stranded in a completely unfamiliar place, sitting at a round table.
The room was filled with books, lined with towering bookshelves. It reminded me of Father's study or perhaps the family library, but everything was wrong. There were objects emitting light brighter than any candle or fire I had ever seen, casting a harsh, artificial glow.
Before, the Dianoia usually brought me to someone's personal room. But now, it had brought me to a library.
I noticed voices in front of me. Three girls sat across the table. They all wore the same attire: a white shirt on top and a blue skirt on the bottom, with a blue necktie. I looked down at myself. I was wearing the same attire. It looked like a uniform.
I couldn't understand a single word they were saying. They kept talking while I sat silently, confused by their chatter.
However, amidst the flow of foreign words, one sound stood out. I knew it immediately.
"Ainur."
They looked at me, repeating the word "Ainur" at the beginning of their sentences, as if trying to call me or ask me something.
One of them slid a book across the table toward me. I couldn't read the title on the cover, but I opened it anyway.
At first, the text inside was just squiggles. But suddenly, the letters rearranged themselves, constructing words I could understand. Everything became clear—except for the title.
I started to read.
I noticed immediately that there was one character in the book who was remarkably similar to me. The book told a story about "me" as the main protagonist, though it never explicitly named this version of me.
This protagonist character was struggling against another character who was also similar to me. She was being bullied, harassed, and blustered by this other version. I assumed the character bullying her—the one like me—was the main antagonist.
Even the four children from the alley—Felix, Alecia, Aelia, and Alicia—were in the book. They were saved by the main protagonist, but not in an alley. They were saved in an orphanage. Their names were not Felix, Alecia, Aelia, and Alicia, but something else entirely.
I kept reading, turning page after page, until I caught a glimpse of the ending.
It was brutal.
The character similar to me—the antagonist—was accused of killing her own father. Her punishment was horrific: she was shoved into a sack filled with wild animals, and then the sack was drowned in a river.
I was shocked, my hand trembling over the page.
Is this the book Gena and Delia were talking about?
But Gena and Delia were not written in this book. Even Nona, the Goddess of Fate they mentioned, did not appear in the text.
I felt dizzy after reading it. The words seemed to swim before my eyes.
One of the three girls came over to me. She said something, but again, I didn't understand a single word. She placed her hand on my forehead, checking my temperature just like Sofia usually did. She looked back at the others and nodded.
Immediately, they dragged me out of the chair and out of the room.
As they pulled me along, we passed rooms I had never seen before. Bright lights were everywhere, illuminating strange, sterile corridors.
We arrived in a room with three beds. They dragged me to one of them, lifted me up, and laid me down.
Out of the blue, a wave of exhaustion hit me. I felt incredibly sleepy. Within minutes, I fell asleep.
…. … ..
In my sleep, the long dream where I was in the ballroom resurfaced in my mind.
All the faces were still unidentified blurs—except for one.
The blonde-haired man. He was the Crown Prince.
The dream played out exactly as before, but this time, I knew who shoved me into the sack. It was the Prince.
The girl beside him, however, remained faceless and unidentified.
I woke up with a start.
I was lying in my own bed in my room. Beside me, Mother was sleeping in a chair, her head resting near my shoulder. Her hand was still holding mine tightly.
I tried to sit up. The movement woke Mother immediately. She blinked her eyes open and looked at me. Her face was red and swollen, with traces of dried tears on her cheeks.
"AURELIA!!!" she screamed, her voice loud and raw.
She threw her arms around me, hugging me fiercely.
The sound of the doorknob turning echoed through the room. Father, Gena, Sofia, the twins, and Adel rushed in. Their faces were etched with worry, all showing signs of recent tears. The twins looked especially rough; their faces were blotchy and red from crying.
Ophelia and Aurelio immediately jumped onto the bed beside me, clinging to my waist. The others surrounded the bed.
Mother immediately ordered Gena and Sofia to examine me. She told the twins to get off the bed, but they refused, insisting on staying close.
Gena helped me sit up, propping pillows behind my back, while Sofia began her examination.
"What happened today?" I asked while Sofia checked my pulse.
I saw Sofia glance at Mother. Mother simply nodded at her.
"It is not today that My Lady is referring to," Sofia said gently. "But three days ago."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You have been unconscious for three days."
"THREE DAYS!!" I gasped. "You are quite amusing, Sofia…"
"Aurelia, what Sofia said is true," Mother confirmed, stroking my hair. "You have been in bed for three days."
Sofia finished examining me and stepped back.
"That is quite hard to believe, Mother… three days," I murmured. "So what happened in the garden during that time?"
"....about that..." Mother hesitated. "The Prince was surprised by your condition... Because you didn't wake up that day, the Prince decided to go back with his entourage to the capital."
"Is there any word from him?"
"No, Aurelia," Mother sighed. "What a waste of a day."
"Your Grace and Madam, can I have a private moment with you?" Sofia asked Father and Mother.
They nodded and followed Sofia out of the room to talk in the hallway.
While they were gone, the twins crawled closer to me on the bed.
"Sis..ter.. Aur..elia.. Are you going to leave us?" Aurelio asked, a whine in his tone.
"Leave you?"
"Yes… Am.. I.. not.. able.. to see you again?"
"What are you talking about, Aurelio? Your sister will never leave you."
Gena walked up beside the bed. "Your sister will never go anywhere," she assured them with a smile. "And she will be healthy and recover very soon."
"Rea..lly?" Aurelio asked, looking up at Gena with big, wet eyes.
"Yes."
"You! Your name is Gena, right?" Ophelia demanded, pointing a small finger. "I heard you are the assistant of Sofia. You better be watching and treating my Sister Aurelia."
"Of course, I will do my best," Gena bowed slightly. "How about the Young Master and Young Lady take a rest? Because it is already late."
"NOOOO! I want to be with Sister Aurelia!" Aurelio shouted, grabbing my bedsheets tightly.
"IF HE WANTS TO BE WITH SISTER AURELIA, SO DO I!" Ophelia declared, grabbing the sheets on the other side.
"Sigh. How about this?" I offered. "If you are well-behaved, and I am recovered, how about we go to the city again?"
"Pro..mise?" Aurelio sniffled.
"Promise. We will go to the city after I recover."
"No. Promise me if Sister Aurelia is recovered again and healthy again."
"I promise. Now, how about you two go to your own room and take a rest? I see Livia and Martia are not here. How about Adel leads you to your room?"
Reluctantly, they climbed off the bed. Adel took their hands and led them to the door, leaving the room with them.
…
Only Gena and I remained in the room.
I leaned closer to Gena and spoke in a low tone.
"I found the book."
"Repeat that again?" Gena asked, her eyes narrowing.
"I found the BOOK."
"What book?"
"The book that you two were talking about."
"You mean the real book?"
"Yes… but there was no you or Nona that you talked about in the book."
"You read the book…" Gena murmured, looking stunned.
"Of course I did. I didn't read the whole thing, but I took a glimpse at the end of the book."
"What was your first reaction to that book?"
"I found it surprising," I admitted. "The book told a story about a character just like me… as the 'Villain' that the book wrote about. This Villain was a bad one, an evil one..."
I paused, realization dawning on me.
"Wait!!! ....Don't tell me!!!! My existence is inside that book. It means... this world, and my life, is just a story in a book."
"Every life is a story of a book. That is what we call fate," Gena explained solemnly. "Even before humans were born into this world, we already had a book about them. We already knew what happened to those humans—in a few years later, or until they passed away. We already knew everything, and their lives were following the story of these books."
"Wait wait wait wait!" I held up my hands. "So what I had been hallucinating the entire time… was that the world of Gods?? So the people I saw in that hallucination were Gods or Goddesses?? Is that why I saw a lot of things that are not from this world I know?"
Gena stared at me, bewildered.
"Wait! You still don't understand at all? You have read the book and you already know the name, and you still don't understand at all? That's weird… We traced everything to you, but why do you still not understand even knowing about yourself?"
"What do you mean knowing about myself?"
"There must be some mistake. I need to meet Delia about this," she muttered to herself. "So may I excuse myself?"
"No you may not," I ordered.
She ignored me and kept walking toward the door.
"I said, you may not excuse yourself!"
She walked out and left the room, shutting the door behind her.
…
A couple of seconds later, Mother and Father came back into the room. They told me that I would be confined to my room for an entire week—maybe even a month—to recover. It was just like before.
Before they left the room, I stopped them.
"Can I have a blank book?"
"What for, Aurelia?" Father asked.
"I want to write something in that book."
"Ah! Is it like a diary you want to write?" Mother asked with a smile.
"Yes… it's like a diary."
"Sure. I will find a book in my room, Aurelia. Your father has countless books; surely there is a blank one," Mother answered.
After that, they left the room.