Anyone would do the same in that kind of situation. Who wouldn't gape and shriek and hyperventilate when one saw a group of unknown people at their bedside staring at them?! Not to mention this fancy, gothic appearance they were wearing and even pulling off so well an aristocratic tone of accent! Juliana just woke up from a nightmarish-kind of state... and this was what she had to witness the moment she was back and breathing?

'Is this some sort of terrible joke?' Because it was not funny at all.

"...Who the hell are you?!" Her confusion was beyond words! She failed to understand what kind of weird circumstances she was in at this very moment!

'Just who are these people?! Actresses? Actors?' Juliana would absolutely reprimand whoever set this stunt on her! If it was another patient, they would have fallen into another set of heart complications from the shock it gave them!

Like her, those people in strange dresses and clothes displayed the same bafflement on their faces, more likely... dumbstruck from her choice of words that had escaped her mouth.

"Did you just say... F-Fuck... a-and hell...?" The matured woman who was still holding her hand exclaimed weakly—horizontal wrinkles appeared on her forehead as her jaws slacked in astonishment. "Marie Juliette... that's not how a noble lady should speak!"

'Who the hell is Marie Juliette?!' Juliana inaudibly exhaled, trying to calm her nerves... Yes, she needed to stay calm. She was lucky enough to live again for Pete's sake! Not to give her some anger issues.

This lady who was evident of fine lines in the corners of her eyes, a high nose, and sophisticated eyebrows, and that well-kept french twist striking blonde hair—she must've been quite beautiful in her younger years... the one who kept calling her that name numerous times already. Her head ached at the stressful environment and with those unfamiliar faces gawking at her... it worsen the onset of vertigo.

'Stay calm...' That was her life mantra now. She recalled what happened to her at the hospital... sorely stressed and tired from overwork, the indescribable pain she felt at that time before she lost consciousness—or was it a near-death experience? She had no idea... But it was too risky getting hyped up because of these unknown people in her room.

Now that she was slowly gaining a bit of awareness, the room was also uncomfortable and needlessly luxurious. The picturesque high-ceiling wall and a moon-like spiral crystal chandelier above were not to her taste at all. She was a person who adored minimalistic interiors.

However, this was not something that her coworkers could afford as a prank. For the record, Juliana wasn't even particularly close to any of them to prop some jokes on her. It was then that something—almost unfeasible, gave rise to her suspicions but she couldn't put a finger on it.

"My name isn't Marie Juliette!" She answered them with her brows furrowed and mouth lightly pressed together to give off a domineering air around her. Just as she would do each time she was put into an unlikely spot.

Far-fetched it was... but this scene, right where she was feigned into, was absolutely bizarre! Waking up in this kind of environment was unthinkable, even if it was for amusement—A very substandard humor at that.

Yet their faces were filled with inexplicable shock stirred with trepidation, as their mouths hang low at the kind of the behavior she was showing them. As if it was the first time they had witnessed it. A misdemeanor, she would say so prior to their barely, exchange of words.

"Look here," a deep long sigh was released in between as Juliana tried to incline herself up from her previously supine position. Although it was hardly hoisted because her body had reasonably languished from the trauma. She also took her arms away from the woman who kept calling her daughter.

"I don't want to joke around. I'm still a sick person so please stop this damn shenanigan right away! And I'm asking who the hell are you people and where on earth am I?"

Just as she ended her statement, the woman who was closer to her burst a whimper, and the ladies who were wearing maid uniforms of the same style and color hurried to her side, consoling the aristocratic lady.

There was only, but one older male amongst them, in a suit and bow tie, looking like the early nineteenth-century gentleman, with a cane on his other hand and rounded thick-rimmed glasses overlaying his aged eyes. He was looking at Juliana so curiously, like she was a new microorganism in a laboratory, completely unminding the missus who was drenched in tears in front of him.

"Oh! Doctor Gibbs! What's happening to my daughter?! Why is she like that?" The crying woman interrupted the gentleman who was called 'Dr. Gibbs'. "Why couldn't she remember us? I thought you said she will be fine? Now, she was talking in a peculiar, horrendous manner! Oh!"

"Yes, indeed, Countess! I must say so myself. I checked the young lady thoroughly and it was only bruises that I found. Nothing really life-threatening or that would affect her mental state," Dr. Gibbs replied and inched closer to her bed, just about leaving an appropriate distance between him and her. Probably just being wary of her while trying to observe her more carefully.

Juliana was greatly perplexed even more! Her eyelids narrowed while glowering at the 'doctor' who had shyly averted his eyes as if burned by the intensity of it. It was too natural for these people to act like they were nobles of Old England which made her think she was mistaken by her first assumption. Moreover, if it was really the case, how would that explain her being there?

It would be hilarious if she transmigrated to a different timeline or a parallel world... but fiction could never become a reality.

To be honest, she was quite mad at the moment. Still lingering on with the blatant dismissal of her earlier question and no one ever responded to her even once!

"Oh... my poor daughter..."

A stubborn groan ran off her dry lips. She had enough of this already! "I already told you, I'm not your daughter—" Her words were caught in her tongue as her eyes captured her reflection in a full-length mirror across the white, ivory canopy bed.

There she saw an unfamiliar figure of a woman staring right back at her... with a small heart-shaped face which matched her small delicate nose, upturned hazel eyes, and long wavy honey-colored locks that lightly splayed on the mattress.

'Who is that pretty lady?!' She wondered, intimately looking at herself... 'Hold that thought!' Julianna ascended her hands with no haste in her action until she reached the face that owned that reflection in the mirror.

'Is that me?' What was going on?! The last time she checked, she didn't look like that at all! She had never been this beautiful, never lost the dark baggy eyes, never achieved the glassy fair skin... and most of all, she was ethnically Asian! The person she was looking at in the mirror resembled that of European descent!

"When...? How...?" Her face lost its vibrant color as she tried her best to comprehend and discern... the impossible.  "Why...? What...?" She just sounded dumb with all the stuttering.

One thing that was swirling around her thoughts at this insane moment... Did she just fucking transmigrate to a different world? Timeline? Or maybe this could even be the afterlife then?

'Damn!' She needed to find out what kind of world this is! This was too much to think for a mortal mind. What was the name of this person again that she was currently in possession of?

As if on cue, she heard the blonde woman speak one more time. "Marie Juliette, dear, are you alright? Dr. Gibbs, please! Help my daughter!"

"Lady Boucher needs to rest more, Countess."

Ah yes, Marie Juliette Boucher. That was the name.