I couldn't believe my eyes.
Just a moment ago, above me had been a white hospital ceiling, the smell of antiseptic, and the steady beeping of an IV drip. And now, a blue sky flooded with sunlight. So bright that my eyes hurt.
What?..
I blinked. Once. Twice. The sky didn't disappear.
"...Hazel, Hazel!"
Directly above me, a desperate cry sounded. Someone's blurry face leaned over me, but I didn't have time to make it out. Everything swam before my eyes, and darkness swallowed me again.
When I came to for the second time, the first thing I saw was a crack in the white ceiling.
I was lying in some room. The furnishings were poor, almost destitute. The bed creaked, the blanket seemed thin, and the walls gave off dampness. And most importantly, this room was completely unfamiliar to me.
This definitely wasn't my hospital room.
"Hazel... You're finally awake?!"
I flinched. Beside the bed sat a girl about twelve years old. Light platinum hair cascaded down to her waist like a waterfall, and her blue eyes glittered in the light like precious stones. Even in simple clothes, she looked like a princess. Or like an angel who had accidentally descended from the heavens.
And, most incredibly, I recognized her immediately.
"...Amalia?"
My voice broke into a rasp when I suddenly said the name of a novel character, like a madwoman.
But the girl, to my surprise, smiled angelically and nodded.
"Yes, Hazel. I'm here, beside you!"
"..."
"How do you feel? Does anything hurt?"
That was exactly when I realized that I seemed to have gone a little mad.
And how else could I explain...
How could I explain that I had suddenly woken up in some novel?!
***
Until recently, I had been lying in a hospital.
But I wasn't dying, wasn't suffering from a terminal illness or anything like that. No, I had just broken my leg after slipping unluckily on a banana...
Tomorrow was supposed to be the long-awaited day of my discharge. I fell asleep thinking that I would soon return home, eat properly, and finally sleep in my own bed.
And I woke up here...
How is that even possible?!
I had ended up in a novel I had read in the hospital to pass the time. It was called "The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity." A typical romantic fantasy. The title embodied the journey of the female lead, who went through many hardships and in the end bloomed like a beautiful flower.
The female lead, Amalia, was the daughter of Grand Duke Sirinix. But for a long time she didn't know about her origins, because she had been kidnapped by her family's enemies when she was still an infant. She spent her childhood in an orphanage.
The villainess was Erica Blackwell. Her childhood friend. They grew up together in the orphanage, but due to irreconcilable differences their paths diverged. Later they became sworn enemies.
And the cause of their enmity... was me.
More precisely, Hazel Brown.
A commoner. An orphan. The shared friend of Amalia and Erica. That very tragic side character whose terrible death at the beginning of the story becomes the spark from which the enmity between the heroine and the villainess ignites.
Simply put, a walking plot device.
She appears. She dies. After that she appears only in memories.
A great role, you can't say otherwise!
I couldn't believe that I had really become someone like Hazel Brown. But the evidence was obvious. When I looked in the mirror, I saw a twelve-year-old girl. Chestnut hair to her shoulders, big brown eyes, a cute but absolutely unremarkable face.
An extra. A typical extra.
It took me several days to at least somewhat come to terms with it...
More precisely, I still haven't come to terms with it.
But I had no choice.
Amalia visited me every day. She stayed by my side, adjusted the blanket, and sometimes brought sweet fruits. Even though we were the same age, she took care of me as if I were her younger sister.
"Hazel, you have to eat more. You're so pale!"
"...Amalia, maybe I'll die soon?"
"Don't say that!" She frowned, and her blue eyes glistened. "You just got overheated in the sun. Everything will be fine."
I couldn't tell her that I might soon die according to the plot. How do you tell an angel that you're a future corpse?
Right now I was temporarily in the orphanage's infirmary. The nurse said that I had most likely gotten heatstroke during a walk, but it was better to keep me under observation. I suspected something else: I had entered this body right after Hazel lost consciousness.
And yet...
If I had become Hazel, did that mean I was doomed?
I'm twelve. Only twelve! I don't want to die. I just reincarnated. Is that fair?!
All these days, only Amalia visited me. But what about Erica? By the way, she was also Hazel's friend. Why hadn't she come even once?
Since I had already seen the female lead, now I wanted to see the main villainess too.
Honestly, I didn't make distinctions between them, and I liked both of these characters equally. Regardless of whether a character was positive or negative, the main thing was that they were well written. And the author of this novel had no problems with that.
In other words, I was a fan of both of them!
I kept wondering where Erica could be, and why she still hadn't come to me, even though she must have heard about my condition.
Nevertheless, I unexpectedly managed to find that out on the third day of my stay in the infirmary.
I suddenly became very thirsty. There was no water nearby, and the nurse had gone somewhere. I decided to go out myself. I opened the ward door and froze.
Right at the threshold, sitting on the floor and hugging her knees, was a girl. Dark hair the color of the night sky. Captivating red eyes. A cold aura. So beautiful that in an orphanage for poor orphans she seemed out of place.
"Oh!"
"...You."
Erica. The main villainess. Apparently, she had been sitting under my door like a guard dog. Or like a cat pretending that it wasn't waiting for its owner at all.
I hadn't expected to see her here. And certainly not in such a pose.
"...E-Erica? What are you doing here?"
"Nothing."
"Then why don't you come in?"
"I..." She turned away. "I was just dozing here for a bit. The hallway is cool!"
Cool. On a stone floor. Under the door. Of course...
She quickly got up and left, almost ran away. But I managed to notice that the tips of her ears had turned red.
I couldn't help but laugh.
Was the main villainess really this cute as a child? Shy? Strange? But still cute!
I never did find water. I returned to the ward and dozed off for a while.
But when I woke up, a glass of water was standing on the little table next to me.
The nurse still hadn't returned, so it couldn't have been her.
Suspecting who had actually brought me the water, I smiled involuntarily.
As a child, Erica had been a good kid. So why did she later become the leader of a criminal group? Why did she and Amalia become enemies unto death? Why did everything have to end so tragically?
My heart grew heavy. It felt as if cats were scratching at my soul.
If I know the plot... can I change it?
Or am I still destined to die like Hazel Brown?
I clutched the blanket.
No. I don't want to.
I just received a second life. And I'm not going to give up so easily.
After all, if I'm already here, then this story can have a different ending!