***WARNING: This Chapter contains abuse and foul language.
***Alright Now Continuation Of Chapter 1...
"Do you Nania Abendroth take Damien Zachary Reynolds to be your ledged husband?" (Priest, asked)
An old grey-haired, green eyed priest asked the stunned bride.
"I-I" (Han Jea/Nania, said)
Nania the blonde-haired, blue eyed bride who was clearly dumbfounded by the situation she was in, stared at the priest with stuck words.
'Now your probably wondering what on earth is going on right? Yeah me too...'(Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
Let's start off with how I died.
My real name is Han Jea, I was a twenty-three-year-old kindergarten teacher. I was walking on my way to school near the front of the school.
When I happened to bump into one of my students across the stoplight. However that little boy, Junwoo had not seen me yet because he happened to be distracted playing video games on the newly released console that had just aired.
Without a thought, he had crossed the crossroad as a truck approached him at a fast speed.
At that moment the only thing I could do was to throw myself at Junwoo in hopes to push him away.
In this heroic sacrifice, I had managed to save my student Junwoo but it was too late for me.
"Honk, Honk"
Truck noises.
"Oh my that person just got run over!" (People, yelling)
"Someone call an ambulance! Quick!" (People, yelling)
All I heard were screams, I couldn't afford to move my body very much since I was already in immense pain. However I could still turn my head a little towards Junwoo's direction to make sure he was alright.
"There's a boy here too, lucky he's alright!" (People, yelling)
A small bitter smile formed her lips seeing he was okay.
It had seemed that he was alright besides some scratches that would heal with time.
I turned my head again to look at the blue clear morning sky.
'Is this the last time I'll see the sky?' (Han Jea's inner thoughts)
She continued to smile bitterly as she heard countless yells, somehow she couldn't tell what they were saying.
"Hurry she's~~~~" (People, yelling)
"When is the ambulance ~~~~~~" (People, yelling)
"~~~~~~~~~~" (People, yelling)
"~~~~~~~~" (People, yelling)
'It's funny that at the moments I'm losing my life I don't feel so scared anymore...I used to be afraid of dying.' (Han Jea's inner thoughts)
"~~~~~~~" (People, yelling)
'Moving to countless homes and returning back to the orphanage it was better that way. I always fell upon people who mistreated me and abused me.' (Han Jea's inner thoughts)
'I kept moving forward all to survive and found myself back again taking care of kids just like the orphanage...but I know my death was better than watching a poor child die.' (Han Jea's inner thoughts)
"~~~~~~~" (People, yelling)
'He has a family to return to...unlike me'(Han Jea's inner thoughts)
'Drip, Drip'
Tears began to flow down Han Jea's eyes.
In truth it was all a lie, it was a lie to say she had gotten over the fear of death, it was a lie that it did not bother her that she'd have to die this way but what else could she do than to pretend to be brave?
After all that the only way she could keep moving was to keep pretending but it was all too late for her.
'Drip, Drip, Drip, Drip'
Crying.
'If only...I could live again, a nice life where I too can be loved and appreciated.' (Han Jea's inner thoughts)
Her last consciousness all faded away and not long after that pain became less and less hurtful.
But what waited for her was a cold wake-up call.
'Splash'
Water splashed
"Haaa" (Han Jea/Nania)
Breathing heavily
She opened her eyes in alert and within seconds her body shivered furiously.
She was soaked in very cold water.
And who had splashed her was non-other that the four maids standing in front of her.
"You think you can sleep there and lay lazily like a pig while we have to wake up early just to prepare you?" (Maid Dona, asked)
She spoke arrogantly as she stared at Han Jea/Nania.
It was obvious who the culprit was who had splashed her. She was holding a rustic old brown water bucket with dirty grey metal holding the bucket together.
That maid seemed to be around twenty-six years old, she had red hair with brown eyes.
"We told you to be up by the time we came" (Maid Erica, said)
She was annoyed as she crossed her arms looking at Han Jea/ Nania.
This maid had short green hair and purple eyes.
Contrary to her complaints Han Jea/ Nania had seemed more confused by where she was rather than the angry maids or their actions.
'Didn't I die just now?' (Han Jea/ Nania's inner thoughts)
'Where is this place and who are these ladies with maid uniforms?' (Han Jea/ Nania's inner thoughts)
She scanned the room quickly with her blue eyes.
The room looked like an abandoned storage room with a small window to her left.
Just looking at the scene she had gotten a clue of time.
'Ha it's even dark-' (Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
The maids did not like Han Jea/ Nania ignoring them as if they weren't there.
"Are you ignoring us?"(Maid Fanna, asked)
She had curly dark blue hair and black eyes.
Han Jea/Nania turned to look at Fanna and Wendy who were side by side.
'Their hair color-' (Han Jea/ Nania's inner thoughts)
'Clack ,Clack'
Bucket noise.
Dona had hit the water bucket to get her attention.
"Do you know how-" (Dona, said)
But Han Jea/Nania had talked over Dona.
"Who are you?" (Han Jea/Nania, asked)
Truly she wanted to know who they were and how she even got there.
"Gasps" (Maids)
They gasped as offended.
And the fourth maid Wendy was left to speak and began to yell at her.
"How dare you! Do you think you can talk to us like that just because you marring Duke Damien Reynolds!"(Maid Wendy, yelled)
She had corn-yellow hair styled in a thin ponytail and brown eyes.
She pointed at Han Jea/ Nania while screaming.
'Why are they so rude, I asked because I had no idea where I'm at. I thought I was dead and woke up in an unexpected place on top of that they dropped water on me... what have I done to them?' (Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
It was actually quite normal for her to not be bothered by the maid's actions, she was used to the abuse after all but somehow....
'Duke Damien Reynolds? Wait why does his name sound so familiar...'( Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
She had heard it somewhere but anyway looking at the situation now she was her own person, which meant she was a person who had the liberty to make her own choices, and these maids who mistreated her sure were gonna hear it.
She was used to it but she had grown brave to stand up for herself.
'Creak'
Bed noises.
She had stood up and glared at the maids.
"What gives you the right to treat me like this? Have you never heard of respect before?" (Han Jea/Nania, asked)
She continued to glare at the maids.
"Young miss, I think you forgot how to behave. Just because the master hasn't hit you in a while doesn't mean you can be so arrogant with us." (Dona, said)
Dona snickered with an attitude.
"The only reason why he hasn't laid a hand on you is because we can't turn a disgraceful bride to the duke. What will he think the moment he sees his wife as a mess?" (Dona, asked)
She mocked Han Jea/Nania.
At the same time, Fanna was near the opened door talking to someone.
"What did you say?" (Han Jea/Nania, asked)
"What bride?" (Han Jea/Nania asked)
She frowned and looked at Dona.
"Of course you who else?" (Donna, asked)
She mocked with a laugh.
"Wha-" (Han Jea/Nania, asked)
As soon as she was about to ask Donna she was held by a very strong grip. Someone had grabbed her whole arm.
It was a tall brown-haired brown eye knight.
'Step, Step'
Walking.
The knight had forced her to walk without saying a word.
'Halt'
Stop walking.
Reculant to go Han Jea/forced her strength to stop.
"Let go of me!" (Han Jea/Nania, yelled)
She yelled with all her might but the knight's grip was too strong.
"Let's not make this difficult, remember your purpose miss. You'd hate to cause an embarrassment so don't do anything to embarrass marquess Abendroth and cooperate" (Fanna, said)
Fanna had come from behind the knight passing him and positioning herself a few feet away from Han Jea/Nania facing her.
This precise moment was where this last name clicked. She knew what this last name meant.
'Abendroth? This name...no way'(Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
Without giving her a chance to take the information the knight forcefully dragged her out of her shabby room.
'Step, Step, Step'
Walking.
He continued to shove her as they walked through a long luxurious hall.
'If it's the Abendroth's there's only one answer to my name' (Han Jea/ Nania's inner thoughts)
'Step, Step, Step'
Walking.
Her face had turned pale in worries, yet she still raised her head and looked at the knight.
"Excuse me what's my name?" (Han Jea/Nania, asked)
She was hoping he'd give her another name.
The knight continued to walk only dropping his eyes down where she was.
"Tsk, I knew the dead mistress was stupid but who knew the daughter was as stupid as her mother" (Rico, said)
He answered rudely and looked back up again.
'Step, Step, Step'
Walking.
There was no need for him to answer her, she had just confirmed who she was.
'Halt'
Stop walking.
Rico had halted his step because he had reached the front of two tall wide doors.
'Clack'
Door noises.
He had opened the door with his left hand and held Han Jea/Nania's hand tightly with his right hand.
'Push'
At that moment Rico released her and pushed her giving her momentum almost tripping her.
Luckily she manage to hold her balance and when she looked up the first thing she spotted was a mirror.
'Step, Step'
Running.
Without a thought, she ran towards the mirror to look at her reflection.
In front of her was a beautiful blonde-haired woman with sparkly blue eyes. She had pale skin and a really skinny body.
As a matter of fact, the brown ragged dress who was still wet was engraved like glue to her body.
She could tell at first glance that this body lacked nutrition. You could tell the ribs of that woman even from a distance. Her body was more bones than meat.
She had wondered why she felt extremely weak as she had no strength thus must have been the reason.
Han Jea had become this poor young woman. Nania Abendroth, the wife of the male lead Damien Zackery Reynolds who died at his hands.
'No, no how is this possible!' (Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
She got another chance in life but ended up in a worse situation than in her past life.
An illegitimate daughter that was abused by her own family and servants. A woman that was forced to marry a cold man like Damien Reynolds for a political marriage.
That was the excuse at least, but there was a truth behind it all.
She was an illegitimate daughter so if she became the wife of Damien that was like a slap on the face in nobility. It did not stop in disgrace but the emperor himself had ordered her family to serve under his command to become a spy for him in order to kill Damien's younger brother Elliot.
This was the world of a novel called ' My Demon Duke I shall Cure You'. It was a novel I had read in my past life actually.
Damien Reynolds was the male protagonist of this novel, a man that suffered the side effects of a curse a long time ago. The same day he had betrayed the emperor's order.
He managed to resist the curse every day but it only became worse when he married Nania Abendroth. She had constantly pestered him day and night.
And when Nania schemed with Zoa, Elliot's nanny. It was too late for Damien.
Elliot had died at the hands of Nania and Zoa causing Damien to go on a rampage.
He sliced Nania's throat as well as everyone in half the empire.
The curse took a toll on his mental state and it wasn't until he fell upon Rubelia Brayers, the female protagonist of the novel and the youngest sister of the current empress.
She came like a ray of sunshine purifying his evil curse with her divine powers.
And that was how the novel ended, they lived happily ever after....
'I was just a character with a few pages...meaning that I was going to die at the hands of that man' (Han Jea/Nania's inner thought)
She looked down at her bony hands as her face turned pale.
Suddenly a voice was heard from the back.
"How long are you going to stare at yourself?" (Edgar Abendroth, asked)
Han Jea/ Nania had turned her head at his call.
It was no one else than her half-brother.
A twenty-three-year-old red-haired blue-eyed cruel brother, Edgar Abendroth.
Startled she took a step back.
He was one of the main inflictions of Nania's pain.
He was the one that was mentioned to mistreat Nania the most in the novel compared to her father and stepmother.
Even though she was unaware of what exactly he did to her in the novel she was aware this man was pure evil.
As she took a step back as Edgar's lips rose in a satisfied smile.
He continued to smile at her then after a few seconds of staring at her from the distance his smile dropped and turned to the maids and Rico near the door.
"Out" (Edgar, said)
He commanded, it didn't take long for the maids and Rico to dismiss themselves.
'Click'
Door noises.
Now Han Jea/Nania and Edgar were the only ones left alone in the room.
"What do you want?" (Han Jea/Nania, asked)
She mustered her courage and spoke up.
"..." (Edgar)
Edgar remained silent.
'Creak'
Bed noises.
He turned his head and looked to the top of the drawer as he leaned closer since he was sitting on the bed.
He had reached for a large wine bottle.
'Creak'
Bed noises.
"Don't tell me you forgot?" (Edgar, asked)
He had grasped the wine bottle and stood himself up as he said.
"..." (Han Jea/Nania)
She remained silent observing his moves.
'Step, Step'
Walking
'Halt'
Stop walking.
He had stopped right in front of her and looked down at her.
"I came to finish the two hundred count" (Edgar, said)
' What does that mean?' (Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
"Two hundred count?" (Han Jea/Nania, asked)
She asked hesitantly with worried eyes.
"Today is the day I get to mark your two hundred." (Edgar, said)
"So drink up" (Edgar, said)
He smiled like a child as if it was a fun game.
It made Han Jea/Nania shiver taking two steps back.
'H-He's crazy" (Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
"Tsk" (Edgar)
He clicked his tongue dissatisfied at her actions.
'Yank'
He had gotten a hold of her wrists and pulled her with force.
'His grip is so strong...I can't break away' (Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
"Don't play coy with me." (Edgar, said)
'It hurts, it hurts very much' (Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
It was like she was a small insignificant insect at the hands of a giant.
"You're reacting as if this is new. Shouldn't you be glad I can't experiment on you anymore?" (Edgar, asked)
"After today you will be the wife of duke Damien so I won't get to have my fun with you anymore." (Edgar, said)
"However, it much saddens me I came here with good intentions to give you a parting gift." (Edgar, said)
He shook the wine bottle again. Turning his eyes to the label along with Han Jea/Nania.
"It took me two months getting this grape wine with a new poison" (Edgar, said)
"It had some limited editions items which made it harder to be transported. Just thinking about how I paid that merchant guild more frustrates me"( Edgar, said)
"But I thought at the end of the day it's for my cute weak sister why not spend a little more for you." (Edgar, said)
'I'm scared, I'm really scared.' (Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
She couldn't help but shiver at this person's malice.
Sadly he did not stop there.
"I figured if poison Alexir, Sovex, Ronven, Turnas, Eponex, Gustol, and Weven didn't kill you why not try Defoner poison." (Edgar, said)
"Wouldn't that be a new record Nania?" (Edgar, asked)
He finally turned to look at her with a wicked smile.
"P-Please let me go, release my hand it hurts" (Han Jea/Nania, said)
She had never come across such a person like him, even so, she mustered up the courage to speak up again.
She had to be brave as she had always pretended to be.
Contrary to her pleas he ignored her and continued to talk about the poisoned wine.
"I heard this one makes your intestines burn" (Edgar, said)
It was at this moment all the sanity, all that hopelessness, and courage she was holding onto had crumbled.
She had no idea what he meant by the two hundred death count and the thought of the word experiment scared her. She continued to pretend to be ok but it was the last string before it was cut.
She was frozen, she was traumatized, and her body shivered uncontrollably.
She couldn't even look up at him all she could do is look at his black glossy shoes.
His smirk got wider seeing her act this way.
"Don't worry this is the last time I'll be doing this. It's your fault your not dead yet." (Edgar, said)
What sounded like words of comfort were far from it.
'Clack'
As she shivered and looked down Edgar had opened the wine bottle with his mouth.
"But just because I don't have the privilege to do it anymore doesn't mean the duke will." (Edgar, said)
'Shiver' (Han Jea/Nania)
"What do you think he'll do when he finds out you could be a witch? You think he'll just let you go?" (Edgar, asked)
He whispered into her ear.
"So just accept it, who knows he'll probably experiment on you in a different way than me." (Edgar, said)
"He might not push you off the balcony, push you down the stairs, stab your heart or slice your throat like me but he might use equipment himself." (Edgar, said)
"He might try to rip your skin and test it since it self heals so don't be sad you'll have great entertainment there I'm sure of it" (Edgar, said)
"!!" (Han Jea/Nania)
It was too much sudden information to take in.
Finding out all the cruel things he really did to her during the novel, and how her life could be if the duke thought she was a witch.
She herself was in the midst of confusion, anger, fear, and disgust.
It was understandable why the original Nania was the way she was, that women only wanted to survive. Of course, it didn't excuse killing an innocent child but she had no one to turn to for a piece of mind.
'The fact that she couldn't die and self-heal? Then how did she die in the original novel if her own brother had already killed her many times.' (Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
Did this even make sense?
"He'll confuse you as a witch so I'm sure the first thing he'd do to you is stab your heart or slice your throat just like I did but it'll be easier for you to bear since you already have experience" (Edgar, said)
"After all as a brother I have to guide you. You should be great-"(Edgar, said)
'I don't want this life...I don't want to live like this' (Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
'No one is here to help me, I am alone by myself again. I don't have anyone to count but myself' (Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
She looked up with courage as she shivered.
Her eyes seemed to be both afraid and confident.
"No" (Han Jea/Nania, said)
She raised her voice.
At that moment Edgar's eyes shook and he dropped his hand away from her wrist.
"What did you just say?"( Edgar, asked)
He snickered
She did not back down.
"I said no" (Han Jea/Nania, said)
"I won't drink it" (Han Jea/Nana, said)
She glared and shivered.
"..." (Edgar)
'Ha' (Edgar's inner thoughts)
It was the first time she rebelled and he did not like it.
He was not a man of patience.
He grabbed her by her messy blonde hair and yanked her head back making her body arch.
"Ack" (Han Jea/Nania)
"In this house, I rule. No one dares to challenge me and you won't be the first you ungrateful bitch!" (Edgar, yelled)
He yelled furiously as he shoved the grape wine down her throat.
"Huke" (Han Jea/Nania)
She was forced to swallow it.
"Huke" (Han Jea/Nania)
'Thud'
Edgar had let her go as she dropped to the ground in pain.
She crunched down to the floor from the burning pain.
Her eyes were going blurry as she could only tell a glimpse of Edgar's figure.
"You should of listen when I was being nice" (Edgar, said)
His cold voice bounded from her ringing ears.
She could see a blurry hand pulling out a brown journal book with a pencil.
'Scribble'
Writing.
"See how easy it was?" (Edgar, asked)
He asked with a laugh.
His blurry face had turned to look in another direction.
"Come in" (Edgar, said)
Edgar had seemed to call the maids to enter the room.
'Creak, Clack'
Door noises.
The maids had entered the room.
Edgar had looked back at Han Jea/Nania in pain laying in a crunching position and turned his attention back to the maids.
"Fix her up she looks disgusting" (Edgar, said)
It was the last words she could recall him say as her pain took over. She had finally closed her eyes and passed out.
'Blink, Blink'
"?!" (Han Jea/Nania)
When she opened her eyes she had found herself sitting down in front of a vanity with a white puffy princess dressing gown. It was full of fluff with a bubble-styled design. It was perfect enough that people wouldn't have known how skinny her body truly was.
Apparently, the maids had finished her makeup. The only thing that seemed to be missing was her hair.
It was now or never if she marries that duke her life would be in danger. She had nowhere to run but anywhere than here or the male protagonist's home was better than anything at all.
'I need to run away!' (Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
The only problem is that she was so weak she could hardly hold a hairbrush and this heavy puffy dress was no help either.
She took a quick glance at the two clear double-door balcony and the table that was near the doors with the grape wine bottle that Edgar had left.
"..." (Han Jea/Nania)
' I can't take the front door because I don't know if somebody is behind it... that leaves the balcony' (Han Jea/ Nania's inner thoughts)
Luckily the maids had not yet noticed that she had woken up since she was peeking a couple of seconds when she got the chance before she got caught.
It had seemed that the maids were flirting with Rico which was a perfect opportunity to fled.
'Creak'
Chair noises
'Step, Step'
Running
'Crash'
She quickly got up and ran toward the balcony grabbing the wine bottle and breaking it.
She held it in front of her face pointing the shattered wine bottle towards them.
"Don't move or else..."( Han Jea/Nania, said)
She knew she could have ran and opened the balcony but she didn't know if it was locked so the best way to protect herself was to hold a weapon to give her time to check if it was unlocked or not.
If she would have just run toward the balcony and the doors were locked without nothing to protect her, all her effort would be in vain.
"Lady put it down" (Rico, said)
It was the first time Rico had sounded nervous as he took a step forward trying to pacify her.
"I said don't move" ( Han Jea/Nania, said)
She raised her voice as she held the brown wine bottle tighter.
"Miss you will hurt yourself" (Dona, said)
Dona seemed to have sounded worried.
'Ha, miss? Since when was I miss to them? What an attitude change' (Han Jea/Nania's inner thoughts)
" Shut up" ( Han Jea/ Nania, yelled)
" I'm not an object, you psychopath's!" (Han Jea/Nania, yelled)
She was furious and scared.
She had just woken up again from such pain and she didn't want to go for another round.
Unfortunately, she had overlooked another factor.
The two maids who were missing.
And when she had least expected Fanna and Wendy had jumped her from the left and right and held both her arms tightly.
"Ahhh let me go! Let me go!" (Han Jea/Nania, yelled)
She yelled in frustration because those maids were stronger than a weak fragile person who had no strength.
She had already used all her strength to run in the heavy dress and break that wine bottle with force.
"Stay still!" (Fanna, yelled)
She yelled as she and Wendy held her tighter.
'Step, Step, Step'
Walking.
'Halt'
Stop walking
'Clack'
Sword noise.
Rico had pointed his sword a few inches away from her face.
"!" (Han Jea/Nania)
Her rebellious screams had calmed down in an instant as she faced Rico's sword.
He glared at her looking down.
"If I must, I will add shackles to y-" (Rico, said)
But before he could finish the door swang open.
'Creak'
Door noises
'Step, Step'
Walking.
'Halt'
Stop walking.
A tall man and a young child had stopped in front of the bedroom.
The tall man had to be around twenty-five years old, he had brown hair and green-bluish eyes with golden circled glasses. He sure looked like an uptight man.
However, Han Jea/ Nania knew who this man was.
He was the male protagonist's right hand. Ulises Samuelz, both his friend and his aide.
And this lovely cute puppy-looking child was no other than Elliot Reynolds, the male lead's younger brother.
He had black curly hair with golden eyes that stood out alongside his black tiny dot near his right corner eye and his right cheek.
He was wearing a black and white tuxedo outfit for children with a golden bow that matched his golden beautiful colored eyes.