Prologue

Gulping for air, I swallow and inhale water instead. There is no way I can escape from this vast sea. I try to swim but the cramp in my foot prevents me.

The water drags me deeper until I can no longer see any light. Flashbacks of my life play like a slideshow inside my mind as my body surrenders to the forceful undercurrents. My eyelids close as I am embraced by the murky waters.

I don't want to die.

***

"Beatrice, wake up!"

Groaning, my eyelids open to meet an unfamiliar ceiling. Where am I? I am certain I drowned to death.

Slowly, I sit up and glance around. The room is strange and alien to me. My eyes meet a woman who doesn't look much younger than me. She has tear stains on her pretty face. I have never seen anyone as beautiful as this woman with long blonde hair and innocent blue eyes.

"W–who are you?" I ask nervously. "Where is this?"

"Beatrice, are you okay?" She asks worriedly, reaching her hand out to my forehead. "Your fever is down."

I blink at her in confusion. "What did you call me?"

She stares at me oddly, "Are you still ill Beatrice? This won't do. I'll call the doctor again."

Before I can say anything else, she quickly leaves, holding up her long pink dress. Why is she wearing a ballgown?

As I lie my head down again and stare up at the ceiling, I think about what could have happened. All I know is that I definitely died. I close my eyes. Is there anything I missed?

"I remember!" I say aloud as the images which I had seen whilst I was asleep come back to me. It felt like I was watching someone else's life story from a first person point of view. They called me Beatrice, the same name the woman called me.

In the images, Beatrice seemed to be a much hated person. She was engaged to a dark haired man since young and as she approached her adolescence, this man visibly showed his disgust and hate towards her. His eyes were a mesmerising chocolate brown shade but they were always full of disgust when he looked at her.

I would have pitied Beatrice but she was an evil antagonist who used all the tricks and evil schemes she had up her sleeve to prank and humiliate her step sister, a beautiful blonde woman with innocent blue eyes. Her step sister was the perfect heroine and would be a princess in any fairy tale. She was the complete opposite of the notorious Beatrice.

Since her step sister's real mother had passed away, Beatrice's father doted on and favoured her, angering Beatrice who would be neglected time and time again by her father's love which she yearned for.

To add the cherry on the cake, Beatrice's fiancé turned out to have fallen in love with the younger step sister.

There was something else I saw whilst I was asleep earlier. It was a nightmarish scene of Beatrice's fiancé plunging a knife through her chest, successfully ending the wretched woman's life.

On trembling legs, I slowly walk over to the long floor length mirror on the other side of the room. The green eyes as enchanting as emeralds widen in the reflection; the blood red hair flowing down her back in waves and the elegant looking hands which touch her face anxiously.

I pinch my cheek and the beautiful, unfamiliar woman in the mirror copies. I tug at my night dress and so does the woman staring at me. Shakily, I move my legs and arms and each time, the woman in the reflection does the same.

With trembling limbs, I stumble back to the bed. What is the meaning of this? I am still alive? But that isn't me. That woman staring back at me wasn't Scarlet Mayer. Who is she?

Didn't the woman earlier call me "Beatrice"?

"Oh for fuck's sake!" I groan aloud as I sit on the edge of the bed. Have I somehow reincarnated or transmigrated and inhabited the body of the villainess Beatrice Hatter whose memories I watched? It doesn't make any sense at all. How is it possible? Don't these things only happen in webcomics and fantasy novels?

"Beatrice Hatter, watch your language!" A middle aged woman walks into the room. I've seen her in the memories. She is Beatrice's nanny, the only person who truly cares and loves her.

"Sorry Matilda." I say quickly. Since I have no choice but to be Beatrice Hatter, I will have to make the most of my second chance at life and prevent my doom which I saw before. It won't be fair if I have to die twice.

Matilda, the middle aged, grey haired nanny who had looked after Beatrice since she was an infant looks surprised. "Are you feeling better Beatrice?"

I nod, "Yes I am. Could I have some water please Matilda?"

She gives me an odd look before disappearing. I should see if I can find any clues about other aspects of Beatrice's life. This must be her bedroom. It is twice the size of my tiny room back home. The Hatter's are arrogantly rich.

Making my way to the desk, I open the single drawer and find a notebook and pen. I start jotting down what I can remember from Beatrice Hatter's memories so I can come up with a plan to counter attack my death and survive in this world.

I am not sure how long I have until the day my so-called fiancé kills me but if I want to flip the tables, I don't have any time to sit around idly and waste. Out of anyone I could have reincarnated as, why the hell did it have to be an antagonist?!

If I had been born as the protagonist, this life would have been easier and I could have enjoyed it but I don't even have time to enjoy my new world due to the underlying fear of death.