Chapter 1

The rain tapped softly against the window, a steady rhythm that filled the quiet room.

Alina Hart barely noticed it.

Curled up on her bed, wrapped in a thin blanket, her eyes stayed locked on the final pages of the novel resting in her hands. The lamp beside her cast a warm glow, the only light in the room, as the rest of the world faded into silence.

She had told herself she would stop at the next chapter.

She didn’t.

She never did.

Because this story—this world of crowns and war, of love and betrayal—had become more real to her than anything else.

Especially him.

Prince Caelion Viremont.

Her fingers tightened slightly around the book as she read his name again, her chest aching in a way she couldn’t quite explain.

“Why does it feel like I know you?” she whispered softly, almost laughing at herself.

The rain grew heavier.

Thunder rolled somewhere in the distance.

Still, she read on.

In the story, the kingdom was falling.

Betrayal had already begun to spread through the palace walls, and the heroine—the one destined to save everything—was nowhere to be found. Every time Alina reached this part, frustration bubbled inside her.

“Why are you so useless…” she muttered under her breath, flipping the page a little too quickly.

“If I were there, I’d do something.”

The moment the words left her lips, the lights flickered.

Once.

Twice.

Then everything went dark.

Alina froze.

“…Hello?”

Silence answered her.

Even the rain seemed to stop.

Her heart began to pound as she slowly sat up, the book still clutched tightly in her hands.

“This isn’t funny…”

But no one was there.

No sound.

No movement.

Just darkness.

Then—

A faint glow.

It came from the book.

Alina’s breath caught as she looked down. The pages beneath her fingers began to shimmer, the ink shifting as if it were alive.

“What…?”

Before she could pull away, the light burst outward.

The world twisted.

Her body felt weightless—like she was falling and being pulled at the same time. The room around her disappeared, replaced by something she couldn’t understand. Wind rushed past her ears, loud and endless.

She tried to scream.

No sound came out.

And then—

Everything stopped.

Cold.

That was the first thing she felt.

Cold, hard ground beneath her hands.

Alina gasped sharply, her eyes flying open as she pushed herself up, her breath uneven.

“…Where…?”

Her voice trembled.

This wasn’t her room.

Stone walls towered around her, lined with tall pillars and flickering torches. The air smelled different—older, heavier. The ground beneath her wasn’t soft or familiar, but rough, like carved marble.

Her heart began to race.

“No… no, this isn’t…”

She turned quickly, her eyes scanning everything, trying to make sense of it.

The architecture.

The silence.

The way everything felt like it belonged in another time.

Her fingers tightened against the fabric beneath her—and that’s when she noticed it.

She wasn’t wearing her clothes.

Instead, a long, flowing dress draped around her, its fabric unfamiliar, delicate, and far too elaborate to be hers.

Her breath hitched.

“No… this isn’t real…”

Footsteps echoed suddenly from a distance.

Alina’s head snapped toward the sound.

Voices followed.

“Search the area. She couldn’t have gone far.”

Her entire body went still.

That line.

She knew that line.

Her blood ran cold.

Slowly… painfully slowly… she turned her head toward the hallway.

“I know this scene…”

The words barely came out.

Because she did.

She knew exactly what came next.

This was the moment the guards were searching for the missing heroine—the one who was supposed to appear here.

The one who would change everything.

Her hands began to shake.

“…No way…”

A terrible realization settled deep in her chest.

“This… this is the novel…”

The footsteps grew louder.

Closer.

Her heart pounded so hard it felt like it might break.

“I didn’t just imagine it…”

The torchlight flickered across the stone walls.

“I’m inside it.”

A shadow appeared at the end of the corridor.

And just before the guards turned the corner—

Alina Reyes took a step back.

Not as a reader anymore.

But as someone who had just become part of the story.

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