A young girl ran through the crowded streets, trying to escape the figures chasing her. Exhausted and covered in cuts and bruises, she pushed herself forward despite the pain. She turned corner after corner, searching for a way out, but the twisting streets led her into a dead end.
"You have caused enough trouble, young lady. This is where it ends."
One of them stepped forward. The knife in his hand caught the faint light, leaving no doubt there was nowhere left to run.
With no strength left, all she could do was accept her fate when a trembling voice cut through the terror
"Lady Alteraz, you are awake!"
Her eyes flew open and the alley vanished.
A pounding headache throbbed behind her eyes as she slowly took in the unfamiliar room. Everything felt hazy and distant, but as her vision cleared, she noticed a young woman in a maid-like outfit standing by her bedside. Startled, she immediately sat up.
"W-who are you people? Where am I? What... what have you done to me?!" she demanded.
"Y-Young miss, it is me… Atila," the maid replied nervously.
"I don't know you."
The answer came too quickly. Panic flashed across the maid's face as she hurriedly ordered the others to summon the head physician. When he arrived, the elderly man approached cautiously.
"Do you remember who you are, young miss?" he asked, as he carefully assess Alteraz's condition.
"Of course, I know who I am—so, who are you? Why am I here? What is happening!?"
She knew exactly who she was. What made no sense was why these strangers were calling her by a name that did not belong to her, why they were dressed in costumes like this, or why she was here.
Fear gripped her as confusion took over, leaving her thoughts scattered. The last thing she remembered was being stabbed. Had she been kidnapped? Trafficked? Or had she finally lost her mind? Before anyone could answer, she threw aside the blankets and bolted from the bed. Soon, the room erupted into chaos.
She sprinted toward the door, shoving past startled maids and knocking over a small table. Pain shot through her body as old wounds reopened, but she ignored it. Voices called after her. Maids and guards rushed in pursuit, but she paid them no attention. As she rounded a corner, she crashed into a group of people carrying a large glass case. The collision caused the case to slip from their hands as it shattered against the floor with a deafening crash.
Sharp shards sliced across Alteraz's arms and legs as she fell hard onto the floor. Dazed, she reached for her head and found herself staring into a fragment of broken glass.
A face stared back, but it wasn't hers. No matter how long she stared, the reflection remained that of a stranger.
What is happening!?
The palace guards, Atila, and the physician rushed toward her. Seeing them approach, Alteraz forced herself up. She grabbed a shard of broken glass and held it out like a weapon.
"Stay back! Don't come near me!"
Everyone immediately froze on the spot.
"Lady Alteraz, it's me, Atila. Your maid. Do you not remember me?" Atila pleaded, her voice shaking as the others also tried to calm her.
""Alteraz?" she snapped. "What kind of shitty name is that? I'm not Alteraz. What have you done to me?!"
The guards exchanged uneasy glances. When one of them took a step forward, she immediately raised the shard to her neck.
"Take another step and I'll slash this open!" she said as the tip scrapes her neck.
The threat stopped everyone in their tracks, leaving them unsure of what to do. Then a calm voice broke through the tension.
"My lady, please calm yourself. Grandmaster Zhangxuan is on his way. Do you remember him?"
Zhangxuan?
The name made her pause as she remembered something. Slowly, she lowered her hands, and the maid let out a relieved breath as the shard was no longer pressed to her neck. Instead of resisting, Alterazbegan asking questions, focusing on Atila in particular.
"Hey... you called me Alteraz, correct?" she asked. "What is my full name?"
Atila answered immediately, afraid she might do something again.
"Alteraz... Alteraz Montemari Contese de Florencia."
The name dawn on her like a physical blow.
"A-and the one who's coming?"
"My lady, it is your master, Dane Zhangxuan de Florencia."
As the name settled in her ears, the shard of glass slipped from her hand and clattered onto the floor. Alteraz's knees gave way as dizziness washed over her. She knew those names. They belonged to a novel she had read countless times.
"I… I am Alteraz?" she murmured to herself, unable to accept it.
The truth struck her with terrifying clarity as she sat motionless on the floor. Those around watched her with distress, their voices fading into the background as her mind struggled to keep up with everything.
Alteraz Montemari Contese de Florencia was a lesser villain in the story. She was also the disciple of Dane Zhangxuan de Florencia, her master and the story's male lead.
Then, another memory surfaced instantly. She remembered how Alteraz died in the original story. Her life was brought to an end when she tried to kill her master, and the female lead delivered the final blow.
Thinking about this, she could not help but feel aggrieved. She had only just died, and now she might die again. But as she thought it through, she realized that since she was now Alteraz, she could still avoid that fate.
A strange mixture of fear, disbelief, and excitement stirred within her.
She had not lived an easy life before this. Survival always came first, and comfort was something she never knew. Somewhere along the way, she became a con artist, relying on countless lies to live. It was never her ambition, but she had no choice. In the end, her deceptions caught up to her. The people she had fooled came for her, and she died while trying to escape.
Then, as if her desperate prayer had finally been heard, she was given a second chance.
The world she once knew as fiction now unfolded before her. A story where she had once wished to be the female lead herself. For the first time since waking, a single thought rose above the chaos—everything that woman had, she would take it. Even if the course of the original story itself would not allow it, she will bend the world until it breaks and make this life her redemption.