Hot flashes rushed through Elaine. Her body felt heavy and ached everywhere. She tried opening her eyes and moving her fingers but could not summon the energy.

“Is milady going to recover?” A worried young female voice inquired.

“Don’t worry. The healer is working on her.” An older man’s voice reassured her.

Milady? Who are they talking about? Am I in the hospital? Did someone inform my parents?

Questions swirled in her mind as Elaine attempted to gather her thoughts. Her head suddenly experienced an unfathomable, excruciating pain. Tiny sparks of strange memories stabbed her brain, merging with her own.

These were not hers. But whose memories were they?

Minutes passed by, and Elaine’s body felt lighter and lighter. The pain and heaviness receded. She opened her eyes.

“Milady is awake!!!” cried a young girl dressed in a medieval dress. Tears rolled down her eyes.

Elaine sat up on her bed and studied her surrounding, bewildered. She was in a room with architecture and furniture from a Baroque painting. Strangers in medieval outfits circling her.

Where is this? A movie set? Why didn’t they take me to a hospital?

Elaine dared not to speak, fearing a sudden attack from a room full of, in her view, lunatics.

A woman rose from the crowd and stood in front of her. The woman was in her mid-thirties with beautiful, refined features and light golden locks pulled up into an intricate braid. Radiant multicolored gemstones and elaborate black laces adorned her crimson gown, further accentuating her ivory skin and curvy figure. The woman’s golden eyes glared icily down at Elaine, displaying her displeasure.

“Do you repent?” She commanded.

Repent? For what? Who was this lady?

“AHHHHH!!!” It hurt.

Elaine started screaming and holding her head, surprising everyone. Strange memories and the excruciating pain reappeared, piercing her mind. The woman yelled something at her. However, the throbbing in her head rendered Elaine disoriented, unable to focus.

A muscular, towering man emerged from behind. Heavy steel armor covered his entire body. The man’s hair grayed, and wrinkles lined his face, revealing his age. He approached and knelt before the woman. “Duchess, forgive my rudeness, but the healer only treated your daughter recently. Please allow her time to recover.”

In her current state, Elaine could not hear the man’s words. However, it seemed he was helping her. She gave him a small appreciative glance and continued keeping her head down.

“Fine. I will deal with this disgrace later.” After a moment of silence, the woman finally agreed. She gave Elaine one last inimical glance and left. Everyone else slowly followed except the young, crying girl from earlier.

She closed the door and returned to Elaine’s bedside. “Milady, please lay down and rest.”

Though still hurting, Elaine understood based on her gestures and lay back down on the bed. Time passed, and the pain she felt subsided. She closed her eyes and reorganized the fresh memories that continued to trickle in.

This world was no longer her own but one with kings and nobles, mystical creatures, and ancient magic—a bizarre yet familiar world.

Transmigration, a popular genre among young males and female readers, not in a million years would she have thought to encounter the same situation. Yes, she had transmigrated into the world of her favorite book and inhabited the body of Estella de La Croix, a side villain in the story.

Of all people, why Estella? Anybody would be better than her.

Estella was the daughter of the Duke of Geris, Gerard Romaine de La Croix, one of the three most powerful noble houses in the Étoile Empire. Her mother, the beautiful golden-eyed woman Elaine recently met, Liviane Castia von Kleist, was the first princess of a small vassal kingdom in the west. Her parent’s marriage was political, and her father soon took many mistresses. Hence, the dukedom required her to produce a male heir to retain her power and position.

Unfortunately, instead of a male child, Estella was born. Her birth disappointed many and delighted others. One of the duke’s mistresses bore him a son a year later. From then on, the Duchess viewed Estella as a source of shame and a constant reminder of her failure.

After a few years, the Duchess finally gave the dukedom a male heir, Estella’s younger brother, Armes Ludwig de La Croix. She poured all her love and hope into him. The duke, also filled with joy, began grooming him as his successor.

The young Estella grew up with everything she wanted, except for parental love. As a result, she became resentful, resenting her younger brother, her parents, and even the children of the duke’s mistresses.

For as long as she could remember, Estella understood her fate. An inexorable fate shared by all noblewomen in the empire, a political tool for alliances. A mere puppet controlled by her family, with no thoughts or freedom of her own.

Estella decided. Even as a puppet, she will become the empire’s most beautiful, most respected puppet. She will become the crown princess.

The current empress was the duke’s cousin. So, naturally, he supported Estella’s endeavor. The emperor, similar to her father, sired many children. However, only one of his other sons could compete with the crown prince, the third prince, Alexander Henri de Castellane. Alexander’s mother, lady Maria Claris d’Amboise, was from another prominent dukedom. The younger sister of the duke of Lévis and the male protagonist’s aunt.

Even though they assisted the empire’s founding several hundred years ago, the two dukedoms regarded the other with contempt and frequently clashed. Only the third dukedom, the house of Marche, forever neutral in its stance, could balance the power and mediate between them.