In This Life, I Will Protect You

-Chapter 7-

As Mila fussed over my hair, I was lost in thought. It felt like everytime I started to remotely understand something, another thing swept me off my feet. 

In the first place, why was I even here? Where exactly was here? Everything felt real, so it couldn't be a dream, could it? Why did everything seem so familiar? My name, The blonde girl's name, I knew I had seen it before somewhere!

This is getting me nowhere.

I was painfully aware of the fact that I would probably never go back to my old life. But still, I tried to think about what had happened before I woke up here. Everything seemed blurry for some reason, although I had only woken up a few hours ago. The last thing I remembered was staring at the clock face on the wall as the minute hand ticked away, ever so slowly, as I drifted into sleep...

"There!" I flinched, realizing Mila was staring at me, waiting for me to speak. I glanced at my reflection. She had braided my hair and decorated it with little blue clips. It was childish, but pretty. But it wasn't what caught my eye. 

"It looks nice," I said absentmindedly. My gaze was drawn to the back of the mirror, where I could see a small pile of books. I stood up and started walking towards them, ignoring Mila's objections. 

I ran my hand over the cover of the topmost one. The title looked all-too familiar, but the reason elusively escaped my grasp yet again.  

{Blossom of The East}

That was the title of the book. I grimaced, trying  to to remember. Mila said something from the background. Turning around to answer her, I caught a glimpse of my reflection. 

At that moment, as I stared into my blue eyes, book in hand, everything came crashing back. 

Every significant memory from my past life, starting from when I was 5 years old, slammed into my brain all at once. My name,  Seung Kangjeon, my parents, my friends, my job. I remembered it all. I had led a normal life as an Office Worker, and had 3-4 close friends. My parents had retired and moved to Busan when I was 29. I had lived for 31 years being perfectly ordinary. 

Until this!

"My lady! My Lady, are you okay?!" Mila's frantic shout jolted me out of my stupor. As I gained awareness of my surroundings, I realised that my legs had failed, and I that I was holding onto Mila for support. I looked up into her face my mind reeling. I remembered her! But not from Atalanta's memories. No, I remembered her from {Blossom of the East}. 

Mila had been assigned to Atalanta when Atalanta was 8. She was 2 years older than the villainess, and had helped and taken the blame for Atalanta when she was accused of poisoning the Female Lead's friend.  She died at 18 for the crime of murder. 

But...if the same maid from {Blossom of the East} was standing in front of me, then...I was in the Novel?! How?! Why? I thought  this only happened in TV shows! And...if I was right about her age, then that meant Mila would die in 2 years! No! That couldn't be possible! 

As I stood there having an existential crisis, Mila gently shook me until I recovered enough to form basic sentences. 

"My Lady, are you alright? Please be alright! Oh, I knew I shouldn't have let you go out! What will I do now?" Mila Panicked. 

Seeing that Mila was about to break down crying, I gathered my thoughts enough to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Woah, chill, I'm fine. Sort of. I think." 

"Waah, My lady, you most definitely are not okay! You're saying strange things! What do you mean by 'chill'?!" 

Ah shit, I forgot I wasn't in modern times anymore. I was sure they'd lock me up somewhere soon if I continued this. 

"Um, it means not to worry! I read it somewhere, uh, in a book!" I said with a strained smile. 

Mila did not look convinced in the slightest. "Do you think you'll be able to attend lunch, My Lady? If not, I could always bring the food to your room." 

"Uh, I think I'll be okay. Besides, both you and my 'sister' will be there if anything happens." 

"I suppose...but I do worry, My Lady, even if I can't do anything else." 

Surprised, I didn't say anything for a moment. Then I smiled. "Thank you Mila. I promise I'll do my best to make you worry less." 

Mila said nothing but smiled as well. We stayed like that for a brief moment before Mila pointed something out. 

"Oh, My Lady, your hair!"

"Huh? What's wrong with it? It looks perfectly fine to me." 

"But there's a strand sticking out!" 

"It's just one strand, who cares?"

"I care! And besides, it's unbecoming of a princess." 

"Oh shush, stop fussing. No one's going to know." 

"They will!" 

It's fine! Besides, we're already late for lunch! It's 12 minutes past noon!" I said, looking at the big grandfather clock in my room. 

"Oh dear, I do suppose we should go now."