I didn't sleep after that.
Every time I closed my eyes, the same images came back—rain on the road, the blur of headlights, the moment right before everything went dark.
Morning came anyway.
Maids entered my room like they always had, or at least like they always had for her.
They bowed, called me Lady Elara, and moved around me carefully. Too carefully. I let them dress me without arguing, even when the layers felt heavy and wrong on my body.
As they worked, I tried to think.
This was Elara Viremont's life now. Or mine.
I wasn't sure where the line was anymore.
In the book, she was cruel from the start. Sharp words, cold looks, threats made without hesitation. The kind of character you were meant to dislike. I remembered skimming some of her scenes, annoyed but detached.
I wasn't detached anymore.
I caught my reflection in the mirror—dark hair, steady eyes, a face that looked confident even when I didn't feel it. That face belonged to someone who would be executed in front of a cheering crowd.
My stomach tightened.
Where am I in the story? I wondered.
The big disaster hadn't happened yet. That meant I was early. Early enough to mess things up. Early enough to save myself.
Breakfast was quiet. The servants kept their distance, like they expected me to snap at any second.
That alone told me plenty about the woman I'd replaced.
So this was her reputation.
Good.
At least I knew what people expected.
I thought about what was coming—the saintess, the prince, the rumors, the slow slide toward ruin.
The book had laid it all out so neatly. Step by step. Mistake by mistake.
I set my spoon down, appetite gone.
"I'm not doing that," I muttered.
If this world really followed the story I remembered, then I had an advantage no one else did.
I knew where the traps were.
I knew which choices led straight to death.
I didn't need to be clever or powerful.
I just needed to not be her.
That thought settled something inside me. The fear didn't disappear, but it stopped shaking me apart.
The story had already decided how the villainess would end.
But I wasn't ready to accept that ending.