after a moments contemplation and review of her memories, she was utterly dumfounded. This girl shared an almost similar ill fate to her's if not much worse. She was also a fake heiress but was raised by a general's family from a young age since she looked similar to their lost real heiress until the day they found their real daughter. Over the years they would only ignore her but after they found the real heiress, normal ignorance turned to blatant abuse. The very little she had was taken away and given to the the newfound real daughter. She had also tried to please her new family by showing her talent in martial arts and spirit arts but these was passed off as usurpation of their real daughters luck and talent. Her fiancé, the crown prince, whom she had helped solidify his position as crown prince by going to battle and supporting him with everything she had also betrayed her in brutal way, he drugged her after inviting her to his chambers and invited a servant into the quarters, even though she barely managed to escape, her reputation was utterly ruined. This made her position in the Lin family even worse and they used it as an opportunity if not an excuse to tie up their loose end. She was summoned to the Lin family court that consisted of elders and was banished from the Lin family. After leaving her family, she tried asking for help from those she had done great deals for but was met with a harsh realization, these people were the most ungrateful bastards she had ever met. All her so called friends whose families had almost gone bankrupt and received her help wanted nothing to do with her. She had no choice but to look for a way to earn a living. She later found a job involving accounts in the imperial government office which had began stabilizing her life but then the crown prince showed up asking for her help. Since she still clung to the thought that he still loved her she agreed without hesitation. This must have been the worst mistake of her life since the crown prince's ordeals involved embezzlement so when the offence was discovered she was left to take the blame. This time she was stripped of her citizenship and burnished out of the empire. Since her identity was invalid she couldn't go to another kingdom and was left with no other place to go but the dark forest that was marked as no man's land since no force dared to wander into that place.
---
Seo-lin contemplated of the predicament she had transmigrated to as she walked cautiously through the dark forest, she was hungry, dirty and didn't know when danger was approaching, she was basically a piece of fat meat walking through the domain of hungry wolves. The forest gave off an eerie vibe.
" if i had known i would transmigrate into this love struck idiot i wouldn't have drunk myself to death." she muttered to herself. The thought of calling this girl a lovestruck idiot made her laugh at herself since she was exactly like her. She walked for hours until she heard some noises, it was someone getting attacked. She slowly crept hiding herself behind trees and saw a woman, about 20 years of age, surrounded by group of burly men with hounds as big as cows.
" What the hell??"
She panicked inwardly. From what she had gathered from the original owner's memories, this world was in its middle stage of spiritual awakening hence there were many treasures, cultivation techniques and martial artists hence flora and fauna had undergone mutations under the influence of spiritual energy. She tried pondering any way to assist the woman but all possible routes led to death and or being defiled by those ugly things.
" Wasn't this girl considered a martial genius, why can't i amurs any strength at all??"
She then thought of a way she could help that girl. She walked to further distance of about two hundred meters and pricked her finger using a splinter, dropped a few drops of blood on the tree trunk then quickly teared a piece of her clothing and wrapped it tightly. On the bandits side, the giant hounds got a whiff of the scent and perhaps due to the talent she had before the hounds registered her as a huge threat. Upon the bandits realization that a huge threat was underway they wouldn't risk dragging the woman who would be a burden along with them and simply abandoned her and turned tails and ran. She wasn't expecting such a result but hurriedly ran, took the woman's arm and turned tails and run before the bandits realized they had been played. While running she would occasionally smear her blood on tree trunks to musk their scents and mark of their trail, perks from the tv shows she used to watch about survival in the wilderness. After running for a long while she stopped to look at the woman she had rescued. During the panic she didn't have time to observe but now that she did, she realized, this woman was drop dead gorgeous, even with strips of mud , dirt and tutored clothes, she couldn't hide that molded face and perfectly crafted body. She had curves in all the right places, no wonder that band of ugly bandits risked so much in such a desolate and dangerous place. The woman saw Seo looking at her and finally mustered the courage to talk.
" Hello, I'm Choi Ha-eun, thank you soo much for saving me."
Seo looked at her and began wondering what she was even doing here. Choi Ha-eun seemed to understand her and began explaining. It turns out she was sold by her parents at young age and ended up as a servant in the palace. One day during a state official banquet she refused the perverted advances of a senior official and coincidentally a theft occurred in the palace that same day and the official framed her out of anger and embarrassment resulting in her getting banished from the empire as stealing in the palace where the emperor and his harem lived was a capital offence and being banished to a place like this was practically a death sentence. After listening to her story, she didn't inquire further.
" Well since your safe now I'll be leaving, goodbye."
Before she could take a step, the girl was on her knees tucking the hem of her clothes and begging to follow her. Seo refused saying she could barely take care of herself and didn't have the energy for two mouths. She also didn't intend to trust people any more since she had memories of two people in which she got betrayed in both. Choi sensed this distant but clear caution and suggested forming a soul pact, this grabbed Seo's attention, she then went on to explain that it was a technique that bound two or more people under a pact or agreement together and the party that would go against it would die. After confirming she wasn't lying she agreed and Choi began by placing her hand on Seo's chest, a bright light loomed over both of them for about two minutes after which a mark formed on both their chests. Indeed she felt a connection between the two of them. After a moment of silence Choi then asked,
" I didn't quite catch your name miss,"
Seo called out her full name, Choi was stunned but chose not to ponder further.
" So what is our next move??" Choi asked
Seo tried giving it a thought but seriously, the predicament they were in was impossible, it was even lucky they were still breathing, anxiety stilled her thoughts and in that moment some random numbers appeared on her left field of vision. She tried closing and opening her eyes but it didn't disappear, instinctively she tapped on them and a screen appeared before her. Was this what she thought it was? Yes a system window!!