The first thing you wake to is pounding on the bedroom doors.
Not knocking.
Pounding.
Once.
Twice.
Then hard enough to rattle the gilded handles.
“Your Highness!”
A woman's frightened voice cuts across the enormous bedchamber.
Morning light spills through towering velvet curtains.
An unfamiliar ceiling stretches overhead. Painted angels, gold molding, a chandelier dripping with crystal.
Silk sheets.
A wedding ring.
And beside the bed, an embroidered robe bearing the golden crest of House Velthorne.
The doors open.
Three maids hurry inside.
None of them look you directly in the eye.
One is pale.
Another is trembling.
The eldest maid bows quickly.
“Your Highness…”
She falters.
“Lady Lucasta Sellick was poisoned during breakfast.”
The name lands first.
Lucasta Sellick.
The heroine.
The beloved female lead of the otome story.
Then everything else follows.
This palace.
This body.
This title.
The Crown Princess.
The villainess.
The woman married to Crown Prince Taren Velthorne.
The woman destined to be condemned for trying to murder Lucasta.
The maid goes on, voice dropping.
“They found nightshade in her tea.”
Another maid grips the fabric in her hands.
“And the same poison was discovered in Your Highness's private apothecary.”
Silence.
The first poisoning.
Already.
There is no time to understand how you got here.
No time to learn what this body did yesterday.
No time to know who can be trusted.
The eldest maid looks toward the open doors.
“His Highness has already been informed.”
Footsteps approach from the corridor.
Heavy.
Measured.
Then a royal guard appears in the doorway.
He bows once.
“Her Highness, the Crown Princess.”
His expression is unreadable.
“By direct order of Crown Prince Taren Velthorne…”
He raises his head.
“You are summoned immediately.”