Second Female Leads' Playbook

|Prologue|

Blood is sprouting out from my ċhėst. I know I am dying. I am losing consciousness. 

I don't understand why this is happening to me. Why was I kidnapped? Why was I killed brutally? A gunshot through my heart?

I am just a normal girl. My parents are normal office workers. I am a normal university student on semester break. Why?

Why?

What did I do to deserve this?

Just yesterday, my parents were joking with me. They said I would graduate in a year and then they could go traveling around the world with my salary. 

Everything seems so far away now.

Hatred fills my heart. I can feel my life slipping away from the hole on my ċhėst. 

"... want to save her? Give me the Book!" My kidnapper shouted at someone. 

Save? There is no way to save me. My kidnapper shot me directly at the heart. I can already feel my heart stuttering. I didn't die on spot because of my kidnapper's 'leniency'.

"If you want the Book, you can steal it, trick me out of it or fight me for it. Why did you have to drag a passerby into this?" someone replied, his voice filled with bone deep sorrow.

"Don't you know already? It's a double trap. The blood of a vengeful young girl is very useful."

"You have already made used of her enough. Stop!"

"Can you stop me, cousin?"

My kidnapper then starts to scream, apparently in deep pain. 

After a few second of silence, my kidnapper catches his breath from his 'torture'. 

"You didn't..."

"Yes, I did. You can't save her, a soul used in a dark curse will be destroyed. And as you can't kill. I win." The kidnapper laughed evilly. Then abruptly everything returns to silence.

I sputter out more blood. The guy kneels next to me. Did this guy kill my kidnapper?

"I am sorry for dragging you into this. I am sorry."

If sorry can solve everything, what's the use of the police? I want to shout. I want to demand them to give me back my life.

But all I manage to stutter is, "My... parents... mom... dad..."

"I will take care of them. I promise. I am sorry." 

With effort, I try to open my eyes and take a look at the person who promised to take care of my family. 

A shadow of a young man appears in front of me. I know him. It's ... My conscious begins to drift. 

"I am... cold," I mutter. 

I wish Mom is here to hold me. I am cold. I am scared. 

Gingerly I am placed in a warm embrace. Is it mom?

"Mom. Please save me, mom." At least I can die in the embrace of my mom. 

"I will save you." 

Then everything disappeared. 

-------------------------------------------------------

It feels like I am being picked up. 

Pick up? How can someone pick me up? I am human, not an object!

"Don't fret. It's not time for you to wake up yet." Someone comforts me with a gentle voice. 

Then I fall into deep sleep again. 

When I regain conscious, I can finally open my eyes. But I feel weird. It feels like I'm drifting. Like I am not solid. 

I look at my hands and they're transparent.

"You're still under formation. Don't worry, it's normal." The gentle voice from before. A young man appears in front of me. A handsome man with silverish hair. 

My brain (if I have one now) is starting to work. Where am I? Formation? What formation? It's just a nap. I had an afternoon nap and then I became a cloud? I was just taking a nap in my dorm room! I was exhausted after the last exam, I decided to take a nap.

Right. I must be dreaming. I close my eyes and mutter to myself- wake up, wake up, wake up. 

When I open my eyes, I am still in the same place. 

Oh this can't be happening. It must be a dream inside a dream kind of dream. I try to make myself fall asleep again. When I wake up, I must be inside my dorm room. Right? 

"It's real. Everything is real. It's not a dream." A soft voice. So soft that I nearly cannot catch that. It did not feel like I heard the words with my ears, more like the voice just appeared in my head. 

I hope I am not going crazy. The voice just now was most certainly male. 

I am sure I cannot fall asleep under this situation. Defeated, I first open one of my eyes to try to peek at the situation. 

The young man with a gentle voice is still in front of me. He is staring at me. 

"Seems like you're finally awake." He gives me a gentle smile to comfort me. 

"Who are you? Where am I?" I ask timidly. 

"This is my place in the castle. I am Princess Cordelia's cousin, Valentine." 

Princess Cordelia? Valentine? Why do these two names sound really familiar? Where have I heard them? 

My mind still feels so boggled, like I am inside a cloud. Maybe it's due to the fact that my brain has not fully formed yet. 

His gentle voice, his calm expression and comforting smile all make me fret less. But that's not normal! I am human! 

"Do you remember what kind of sea creature you are a spirit of?"

No. Because I am human! Not a spirit of some sea creature. 

"It's alright if you are not sure. You are the spirit of a pearl oyster. See you even have a pearl necklace."

I look at my neck and just as he said a pearl necklace hangs on my neck. It looks kind of like a pearl choker. The kind that was in the trend a few years ago. 

Yes, it is all very satisfying to have unlimited supply of pearls, but just what is going on? This dream is a tad too real. A tad too long. 

If I am in a dream, the colors should not be this vivid. Everything is in high definition even though I am not wearing my glasses. 

Another possible reason starts to form in my mind. What if... No it can't be. Those things are just stories, product of the imaginative minds of authors.

"It may be a bit overwhelming at first, but you'll get used to it. As a newly formed nymph, you do not have a name. Let's call you Ianthe. Do you like it?"

Ianthe? This name rings a bell too. 

Ianthe. I remember it has a meaning that is quite similar to my name. It means violet flower. And my name is Violet. Why do I know that?

Ianthe, Valentine, Cordelia, sea nymph...

Wait... doesn't the novel I read as distraction during my exam period have all these elements? A novel about mermaid princess Cordelia's adventure on land. Valentine, Cordelia's cousin, is the royal sorcerer of the underwater kingdom Ocera. He is also the one who gives Cordelia a potion to change her tail to legs. As for Ianthe, she is the maid of Cordelia. She is a not very important side character. 

But why do I remember her? When she first appeared in the novel, there is a line explaining the meaning of her name. And her name has literally the same meaning as mine, so it makes an impact. But most importantly it's because she died in the end. She is the only character who dies in the novel. Not even the antagonist gets to die, but she does. Why? Because she is such a loyal servant. She saves her princess from an ȧssassination or something. But what does she get in return? The princess marries happily in the next chapter. Not even a single drop of tear from the princess for her poor deceased maid.

I don't exactly remember every single detail of the plot as it is just a short little story I sneaked in between studying. It's supposed to be fun and entertaining, but not memorable. 

So I really doubt that I am having a dream because I like the story so much. It's really not very memorable. See, I don't even remember the details of the plot! But does that mean I transmigrated into a novel? 

I thought my life is going to be fun after exams, but turns out life likes messing up with you.