Darkness' Touch

Chapter 1: Acceptance

"This life is so uneventful," the girl with long raven black hair sighed in exasperation while looking out the window of her room. It has been two days since she woke up inside a different world, and she still couldn't stomach everything that happened.

After waking up in a strange place, She got so stressed that she wasn't able to sleep; in addition to that, She was sick for two days. She let herself fall back on the bed before slowly drifting to sleep.

(two days ago)

"...dy?"

She thought she would never open her eyes again.

"...lady?"

But why is she sitting in this place?

"My lady?-"

"What do you want?" Annie retorted sharply, causing the servant who spoke to flinch in surprise. She was sitting on her bed, her palms squeezing her head in frustration, while the maid was standing on the side, nervously fiddling with her fingers.

"Can I ask why–"

"Where's Lucy?"

"P-pardon?"

"Lucy. Bring Lucy here." She looked around the room, unsure of what she needed to do. "No. Take me to Lucy." She quickly turned to run to the door, but the moment her feet touched the floor, strength left her legs, making her unable to stand up.

"BRING LUCY HERE NOW!!" she commanded, getting impatient as seconds went by. The maid was on the verge of crying, not in fear but out of worry about her mistress's state.

"B-But miss. The prince is currently at the palace."

"What?"

"I'm sorry-"

"Stop! Apologizing. I..." she trailed off when she just finally noticed something strange. She was so preoccupied that she did not pay attention to the LONG DARK RAVEN locks that have been there all along. She grabbed it fast and gave it a powerful tug to pull it off. But pain is the only thing that she felt.

"What the–?!" she exclaimed. It seems like it was attached to her scalp, and it willl hurt to take it off. Or is it her real hair?

It can't be. Even if it was dyed without her consent, she has never grew her hair. And it will take months to grow it that long. 

She bit her nails, feeling the anxiety, but she was surprised to see them long and colored, and the same is true with the hair. She's always putting her projects as her first priority; any unnecessary things will just get in the way. Then why was it like that? 

"Are you sure you're okay, miss? I can go out to tell the head butler that you have woken up." The maid worriedly looked at how Annie stared intently at her hands. She abruptly stood up from being seated on the floor and went in front of the mirror to confirm her suspicions.

It was not her face, nor was it her body.

"Who..."

It was a body that belonged to another person. Long seaweed-like raven black hair, porcelain white skin, sharp nose, plump lips, a beauty mark beside it, and the most unusual of them all, fierce-looking thin and sharp bloody red eyes. It was far from what she looked like the last time she checked herself in front of a mirror. Her hair used to be short brown, and her eyes were clear chocolate back then.

"Is everything okay, miss?" She ignored the maid's question and opened a small drawer in front of her to find any belongings that would tell her who the person she was seeing as herself was. She saw a small black notebook in one of the drawers, so she picked it up and opened it to see if she could find anything. Thankfully, the texts are written in English, and she was able to read and understand what was written inside.