Chapter 142
The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes was the familiar wooden ceiling above me.
For several seconds, I simply stared at it, trying to understand why it looked so familiar. Then the faint scent of herbs reached me, followed by freshly brewed tea and something sweet baking downstairs.
Why does this place look familiar?
I slowly turned my head, taking in the room around me. The old wooden furniture, the faded curtains, the small table beside the bed, and even the ridiculous little vase, with the flowers inside it looking as though they had given up on life several days ago.
I pushed myself up, immediately regretting the decision when a dull ache spread through my head.
"Ow."
I pressed a hand to my temple and squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, waiting for the throbbing to ease.
What was happening?
The last thing I remembered was... nothing.
I frowned, trying to force my memories into place, but my mind felt strangely foggy. I looked around the familiar room again, hoping something would explain why I was here.
I slowly stood from the bed, but the moment my feet touched the floor, a wave of dizziness swept through me. I grabbed the edge of the bed to steady myself, but before I could even understand what was happening, my vision blurred.
Then the images came.
Not one memory.
Not one life.
But Two.
I saw myself as Amanda.
I saw a young girl sitting in a classroom, surrounded by unfamiliar faces that somehow felt painfully familiar. I saw school corridors, textbooks, friends, laughter, ordinary days, embarrassing moments, quiet sadness, and pieces of a life I had once thought I knew completely.
Memories came rushing through me one after another, each one belonging to the girl I had been before everything changed.
Then the images shifted.
I saw a little girl.
Cassiane.
She was hiding behind a pillar, peeking into a room where the King and Queen were laughing and playing with a young Lysenne. Cassiane watched them from a distance, wanting nothing more than to be part of the happiness she could see but never touch.
The scene changed.
She was surrounded by noble children who had come for Lysenne's tea party.
Their words were cruel, their laughter even worse.
They called her names and mocked her until tears streamed down her face.
She ran away and hid inside a dusty storage room, curling herself into a corner as she tried to make herself invisible.
Another memory flashed before me.
Cassiane was running after a rabbit, completely unaware of where she was going until she collided with someone.
The King.
His expression turned furious.
I watched as he ordered Martha to take her away and never allow her to the gardens.
My stomach twisted.
The vision changed again.
Cassiane was older now.
She had discovered the truth.
The King was her father.
I watched her run, tears streaming down her face, until she could no longer catch her breath. She stopped near the lake, trembling and overwhelmed by everything she had just learned. Her vision blurred. Her knees buckled, and she fell into the lake.
At that exact moment, somewhere in another world, Amanda fell into a river.
The two images collided.
Water.
Two girls.
Two lives.
And then everything went black.
I gasped and stumbled back onto the bed as the visions abruptly disappeared.
My hands were shaking.
The pounding in my head slowly began to fade, leaving behind a strange silence. I sat there, breathing heavily, trying to make sense of what I had just seen.
What on earth was that?
I looked down at my trembling hands.
Then the realisation hit me.
I remembered everything.
Not just Amanda's life.
Not just Cassiane's.
Both.
Every memory I had carried from my old world, every memory of the life of Cassiane, every moment of fear, loneliness, happiness, pain, friendship, and love.
They were all mine.
As if, somewhere along the way, the two of us had become one.
I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of the door opening.
An elderly woman stepped inside, carrying a steaming cup of tea in her hands. She stopped when she saw me sitting upright on the bed, and a warm smile spread across her face as though she had been waiting for this exact moment.
For a few seconds, I simply stared at her.
"Miss Ann?" I whispered, unable to hide my surprise.
"You're awake."
She looked exactly the same.
Maybe a little older, perhaps, but still unmistakably Miss Ann. The same calm expression. The same warm eyes. The same woman who had somehow managed to make me feel both safe and thoroughly interrogated whenever I stepped inside her inn.
She walked over and placed the cup on the table.
"How are you feeling?"
I continued staring at her until Miss Ann raised an eyebrow.
"Cassiane?"
I swallowed, still unable to convince myself that this was actually happening.
Maybe I was still unconscious.
Maybe my brain had decided to give me one last pleasant hallucination before finally shutting down.
I looked around the room again.
Everything felt too real.
Miss Ann tilted her head.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Is this heaven?"
For a second, Miss Ann simply stared at me.
Then she laughed.
She shook her head, clearly amused.
"Last time I checked, you were terrified of me and my inn. Now you've decided I'm waiting for you in the afterlife."
"So I'm alive?" I asked, still struggling to process everything.
"That would certainly be the case," she replied calmly, handing me the cup of tea. "Drink."
I stared at the steaming cup for a moment before taking it from her with both hands.
"How?" I asked, looking back at her. "What happened?"
Miss Ann pulled the chair closer to the bed and sat down, watching me quietly.
"The kingdom framed you. You were sentenced to death by poison, and your sister saved you."
I furrowed my brows.
Miss Ann continued, "She had figured out you were in danger and reached out to me discreetly, seeking my help. I gave her the essential herbs-enough to fool someone into believing you had been poisoned-and she switched them."
Ohh...
That's what happened.
I lowered my eyes to the tea in my hands, trying to put everything together.
"But... do those herbs have side effects?"
Miss Ann's expression remained calm.
"I mean, I'm having these visions and memories..." I struggled to find the right words. "Memories that aren't mine. Except... they feel like mine."
I looked down at my hands.
"It's as if..." I hesitated. "As if I entered someone else's body, but somehow..."
I couldn't explain it.
As if I hadn't simply woken up in Cassiane's body.
As if I had somehow found something that had been missing from me all along.
"As if what?" Miss Ann asked quietly.
I looked at her.
"As if... I belong here."
Miss Ann had been listening to me in silence. Now she leaned back in her chair and calmly crossed her arms.
There was something in her expression that made my stomach tighten.
A knowing look.
Not surprise.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
"Perhaps," she said slowly, "those memories don't feel like they belong to someone else because they never truly felt separate from you."
I stared at her.
Miss Ann tilted her head slightly, studying me.
"As though you didn't simply enter this life, Cassiane."
She paused.
"As though you had somehow returned to it."
My breath caught.
Miss Ann's lips curved into a faint, knowing smile.
"Am I right, Cassiane?" she asked.
Then, almost casually, she added,
"Or should I call you Amanda?"