I blinked several times, as if I couldn't believe what I saw. But the same gloomy walls were all around me, as before Isaac's tricks. I was still sitting on the edge of the bed, my hand slightly raised. Realizing this, I immediately placed it on my lap—I'd had enough of making a fool of myself.

  Isaac was still there, too, only he was no longer a boy or a teenager. He was now the exact same man as in the last scene I'd seen—only this time without the mustache and the dangerous silver shackles. Remembering the latter, I immediately grabbed my wrist and began examining it. But I didn't find any traces of thread or the familiar mark from the old burn. That was both good and bad.

  Belatedly, I suddenly realized I felt calmer, despite the unfamiliar surroundings, the oppressive room, and the incomprehensible tricks. The panic and suspicion didn't completely go away, but... It was as if I simultaneously recognized and didn't recognize everything around me. After all the visions, it wasn’t suprising that everything now felt oddly normal—my body was probably just exhausted from stress and panic.

  I looked more closely at Isaac—he immediately bowed humbly. But I managed to notice one detail: his gray eyes had changed to a dark amber. Little devils are dancing in them, I thought.

  “My lady, I apologize for using the memory beacon spell so suddenly, without proper preparation,” Isaac said, not straightening up. Now his voice sounded lower and without the childish notes, but something in it remained that bothered me. A certain muffled quality. “Unfortunately, the consequences of the improperly performed ritual affected you more severely than I expected, and it also affected your memories. As your guardian, it was my duty to restore your memories as quickly as possible. It was a risky move, and I am prepared to accept the punishment for it.”

  After these words, Isaac closed his eyes and froze in a half-bow. He was taller than me, and this admission of guilt made me feel deeply awkward. Part of me perceived the man's behavior as expected, but not quite... right? I didn't know how to explain it to myself. As well as my condition after the fog tricks in general.

  Oddly enough, my inner turmoil helped me speak to Isaac quite calmly, even sounding a little like a proper lady:

  “Rise, Isaac. You did as duty and experience dictated. Besides, you yourself said the ritual was performed incorrectly, and I, too, apparently, was too confused. Formalities are formalities, but you know what comes first.”

  God, I didn't really understand what I was saying, and it all sounded pretentious. If I'd known where fate would take me, I would have at least watched or read up on aristocrats manners.

  And now I had to cope as best I could. I needed to smooth things over so the unrest in this house would subside and I could be alone with myself. There was a lot to consider.

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  Isaac straightened and nodded understandingly.

  “You are right, my lady. And yet, it was my fault that the ritual went wrong. Perhaps I missed something, or an unaccounted-for creature was in the garden that interfered with the performance. I am ready.”

  He bowed his head slightly again. This made me remember the scene I saw with the threads. I swallowed nervously. I really wanted to think that something else had happened there, but my mind, which could not bear horrors, stubbornly suggested the same thing. And I definitely didn't want to see that kind of punishment in real life.

  But something told me it would be very difficult to convince this man. And I was already finding it hard to call him human. Luckily, a simple idea occurred to me.

  “Well, if you think it's the ritual or the garden, then go ahead and do that. Go over everything and find the mistake,” I said as calmly and confidently as possible, trying to imitate the manner of the woman from my last vision. “Then report everything to me. For now, I need to recover.”

  I'm sure Isaac had already done something similar or was in the process of doing it when he was called to me. But I just wanted to be away from him now, and that was the most logical reason. Besides, I need peace now, to calm down and process everything. Otherwise, I'm about to panic again.

  “Alright, my lady, I'll check everything again,” Isaac agreed. Bowing a final third time, he hurried out of the room. At the door, he turned and added, “Don't forget to take your medication. You're weakened right now due to the ritual and the spell I cast, so extra protection wouldn't hurt.”

  After that, he called Fimi and informed her that the lady wished to rest and was therefore not to be disturbed.

  Well, that worked to my advantage.

  I looked with distrust at the box of dried herbs left on the tray. For protection, hmm... No, I'm not ready to risk drinking who knows what just yet, even if my inner skeptic had reluctantly come to terms with the existence of magic. Perhaps there was no malice involved after all.

  To avoid arousing suspicion, I dissolved the crushed herbs in a glass of water—it turned a pale gray. Well, now at least I could pretend that, yes, I'd taken their medicine. I lay back down on the bed, trying to clear my head.

  Of course, my previous theory about it being a prank began to seem ridiculous and insignificant, though my mind still tried to cling to it. Sure, everything I'd seen could still be explained by special effects or a feverish dream—but that was a huge stretch. The dream theory had been ruled out right from the start. And in my opinion, you'd have to be a rich, eccentric idiot to pull off such a joke. Which, in my life, was also impossible.

  And although, despite the chaos in my thoughts and the desire that periodically overwhelmed me to simply give free rein to my panic, I now felt much calmer and more reasonable, my new assumption made me even more nervous. Previous versions were at least somewhat understandable and realistic.

  I'd never been a fan of these kinds of stories because they all seemed the same and boring to me. The heroine wakes up in another world full of magic and tries to adapt to life amidst intrigue... That usually didn't appeal to me. But now I thought back to those stories, and to my surprise, what happened to me felt very much like the premise of one. Did what Isaac did and what I saw in the fog influence me? Perhaps. I couldn't say. But after returning from there, I was acutely aware of two things.

  Everything that was happening was entirely real. And the young woman named Nicolette, whom I saw, who reached out to me—in some incomprehensible way, I had taken her place.