Her heart leapt up to her throat. Was someone trying to kill her twice in one day?! Still sitting in the water, she twisted around stiffly, dripping like a soggy mop.
A girl stood there with both hands on her hips, fuming. She had short brown hair tucked neatly behind her ears and wore what could only be described as a maid uniform, a classic black and white, a frilly apron, and a stern face that screamed, "I do not get paid enough for this."
She looked… seriously pissed.
"Seriously! Is this your way of hiding, my lady?" the girl snapped.
Min Ji blinked at her blankly. Was this an angel?
Is this how angels dress nowadays?
"Are you even listening to me, my lady?" the maid barked, stepping a little closer, shoes clicking against the stone path.
Min Ji's eyes slowly drifted around the empty garden. It was just the two of them here.
So… she was being called my lady?
She raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Wait. Are you… talking to me?"
The maid's eye twitched. She gave a smile that was clearly glued on by pure willpower. "No, I'm talking to the person behind you," she said with sarcasm thick enough to butter toast.
Min Ji lit up. "Ah, got it! Sorry to bother you, then."
The maid: "...???"
Then, in dramatic horror, the maid clutched her face and collapsed onto the grass like the weight of life had finally broken her.
"My lady… your madness! It's come back, hasn't it? Oh my god!" she gasped, covering her mouth as if she'd just witnessed something tragic and noble.
Min Ji didn't say anything. Not because she was hiding anything, but because, honestly, she had no idea what the heck was going on. She just sat there in the water like a confused cat, blinking slowly.
The maid sniffed once, then stood back up as if nothing had happened. Her emotional switch must've been set to turbo mode.
"Well, anyway," she huffed, dusting off her skirt like a soldier returning to duty, "please get out of the pond, my lady. Are you a fish or something?"
She extended a hand toward Min Ji, like this was the most normal thing in the world.
Min Ji stared at the hand… then back at the girl.
So she was talking to her. And the maid really thought she was someone important.
"…Why do you look like you know me?" Min Ji asked cautiously, finally accepting the hand and letting herself be pulled out with a wet squelch.
The maid looked her up and down with narrowed eyes, her gaze sharp as a blade.
"My lady, I've served you since you were twelve. Of course I know you. Did you hit your head again?" she muttered, already pulling a lace-edged handkerchief from seemingly nowhere and dabbing Min Ji's dripping sleeves with the urgency of someone dealing with a toddler covered in jam.
Min Ji's lips parted slightly. "Well… I did hit my head when I fell…"
"You fell?!" the maid gasped, horror exploding on her face. "When? Where? How? Are you alright?? Did your head crack open?!"
Min Ji just stared at her.
The maid didn't wait. She leaned in and pressed both hands to Min Ji's scalp like a nurse in full panic mode. "I see your skull's still intact…" she mumbled in relief. "No blood. That's good. We can still hide this from the young master."
Min Ji raised one brow. This girl just said she'd been serving her since she was twelve. But that made zero sense. She didn't know this girl. She'd never seen this garden. She was supposed to be in her garbage-filled apartment, bingeing sad webnovels and slipping on beer cans.
Her eyes narrowed slightly. Maybe this isn't heaven after all. Maybe it's hell. And this overly dramatic maid is the devil pulling some twisted prank?
"Do you…" Min Ji started carefully in a low voice, "Do you know who I am? Like, my name?"
The maid paused. Her face twisted like someone trying not to scream.
"Vivienne Hart. Your name is Vivienne Hart, my lady," she said, her voice dropping into a tired sigh. "You are the precious daughter of Count Hart, so please… value yourself. Falling into ponds like a koi fish won't help your noble image."
"Count Hart…? Vivienne…?" Min Ji repeated slowly.
The word 'Hart' sounded oddly familiar.
And then something strange tickled at her brain.
Wait.
She froze.
Why wasn't she speaking Korean?
The words she was hearing, and even the ones coming out of her own mouth, weren't in her native language. Yet somehow, she understood everything perfectly.
Even stranger, she was speaking it effortlessly.
That's when it hit her.
Hart family… it means…Xavier Hart…The second male lead from Cold Duke's First Love.
Her eyes twitched. Her body stiffened like a statue. She felt her heart drop into her stomach, then jump back up again in full panic.
No. No way. No freaking way.
Her lips parted slowly as realization smacked her like a flying sandal. "Don't tell me…"
The maid tilted her head, concern washing over her face. "My lady?"
Min Ji looked up at her with wild, twitching eyes.
"…Don't tell me I've transmigrated?!"