Chapter One: The End and the Beginning

Chapter One: The End and the Beginning

The Previous Life

My life in the previous world was... mere existence. Yes, that's the most accurate term. I wasn't living, I was just breathing and moving like a machine.

My name... doesn't matter now. I was a pizza delivery girl in a small, dingy restaurant, where the manager treated me like a piece of furniture. I worked multiple jobs—cook, cleaner, accountant, and delivery girl—all for a miserable salary that wasn't even enough to rent a small room.

My dignity? I lost it long ago. Every night I slept on the cold pavement, covered in an old cardboard box, dreaming of the day I could eat a warm meal without counting every penny.

On that fateful day, it was raining heavily as I rode my old motorcycle to make the last delivery. I noticed a little girl wearing a bright yellow jacket, standing under the bus stop for nine hours, waiting for her mother.

Nine hours! In this pouring rain!

I couldn't ignore her. I approached her and offered to come with her, despite her natural reluctance—she was right to distrust strangers. But the cold and hunger finally got the better of her.

I delivered the order and then took it back to the restaurant. Thankfully, the manager wasn't there, so I made her a small pizza, and we shared it. For a moment, I felt a strange warmth in my heart—a feeling I'd almost forgotten existed.

But this peaceful moment didn't last long. The manager returned to see me sitting with the girl and began yelling and berating me in front of her. At that moment, I realized from the girl's broken stare that her mother had abandoned her, but I didn't dare tell her this painful truth.

While delivering the last order that rainy night, a truck driven by a drunk driver plowed into me. The last thing I remembered was the sound of crunching metal and a sharp pain in my chest.

The New Beginning

I woke up in a completely different place.

A damp cell, cold stone walls, and the smell of mold filling the air. I realized immediately that I was no longer in my own body. These hands are smaller and softer, and this hair is longer and finer than it was.

Georgina. That's my new name, as if the information had been engraved in my mind in a mysterious way.

The big problem? I'm condemned to death. But not just any ordinary execution—a slow one, left to die of hunger and thirst in this forgotten cell.

Six months. Six whole months without food or water, and yet I'm still alive. Is this normal in this new world?

Temporary Salvation

Just when I thought I was going to lose my mind, the guard appeared with a tray of food. The food looked delicious after those long months of starvation, but before my hand could reach it, a calm voice stopped me:

"Don't touch it."

I looked up to see a well-dressed man with glossy black hair and dark glasses, wearing a butler's uniform. He stood outside the bars with absolute calm.

"Who are you?" I asked, my voice hoarse from disuse.

"Aizen, servant to His Highness Prince Edward." He bowed politely. "And the food in front of you is poisoned."

I wasn't too surprised. Indeed, it's strange that they would let me starve to death for six months and then suddenly offer me a meal.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked.

He smiled mysteriously. "Because my master needs you alive, Miss Georgina."

"Your master? Isn't Prince Edward the one who imprisoned me?"

He shook his head. "Prince Edward is the brother of your imprisoner. My real master..." He paused, "is somewhere else entirely."

The Triple Detention

A few minutes later, I was moved to another cell, larger and less damp. This time, I wasn't alone.

Aizen was sitting quietly in the corner, as if in an elegant salon rather than a dingy prison. In the opposite corner, another man was bound in heavy chains, his hair disheveled and his face scarred by old battles.

"This is Sebastian's master," Aizen whispered, "my former master."

Sebastian raised his head and looked at me, eyes filled with sadness and anger. "So, this is the girl who will change the fate of the kingdom?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to make sense of what was happening around me.

Sebastian laughed bitterly. "In this world, my dear, brothers may fight for the throne. Prince Edward imprisoned you and our Lord Shaw, but he knew that killing you would only anger Shaw even more."

"But why would Prince Edward want to keep me alive if he considered me a threat?"

Aizen looked at me seriously. "Because you're the only one who can completely break Master Shaw's spirit... or save him."

The End and the Beginning

I sat in the corner of the cell, trying to sort out my scattered thoughts. I had gone from a world where I was nothing, to one where I seemed important enough to be used as a weapon against someone named Shaw.

Show... Who is this man? And why do I feel a strange pang in my chest when I hear his name?

And most importantly—why would his servants risk their lives for me?

I looked at Aizen and Sebastian. In their eyes, I saw something I'd never seen before in my previous life—true loyalty and pure love for their imprisoned master. One thing I knew for sure: in this complex game between the brothers, I'm not just a pawn. I'm the key.

Continued in Chapter Two...