Waking up as Cinderella’s Stepsister

Waking up as Cinderella's Stepsister - Chapter 1

When I first woke up here, I thought, why am I lying in a themed hotel room?

I don't even sleep in such cumbersome pajamas, and in 21st century Korea, there are no other places other than hotels where you can see medieval interiors like this.

Did I drink so much that I lost consciousness?

Then maybe a one night stand?

I've never had a one-night stand, but there was no other way to explain it, so I had no choice but to look around with a puzzled face.

Wearing the wrong clothes could only be interpreted as meaning that someone had taken off my clothes and changed them.

But I was the only one lying on the spacious bed. There was no such man with a wide back of a man with tight muscles over his raised eyelids.

Maybe he already left?

I was caught in anger and snorted. I was exhausted from working overtime for three straight days, and as soon as I got home, I immediately collapsed and fell asleep. No matter how much I thought about it, I didn’t remember drinking alcohol.

So then what happened?

I had no idea what had happened, so I laid down and blinked, but the door quietly opened with a knock.

‘It’s time for you to get up.’

The woman who opened the door was a blonde foreigner. Her fist-sized face was so pretty as an angel and she was wearing a dress.

I hope she's not a real angel.

Although I only thought it was a joke at first, the corners of my mouth soon hardened. It was because I had led a life that would not be strange even if I died from overwork.

While it would make sense if there was a grim reaper wearing a black hat, there was no way that a blonde angel would appear to me as a Korean. I shook my head to and fro, but nothing came to mind.

As I continued to linger in bed, she looked at me curiously and motioned for me to get up.

I picked myself up and decided to follow her for now.

As I went down the long stairs that Scarlett O'Hara must have walked, a spacious yet empty living room appeared. The architectural style itself was not something you would see in Korea.

After passing through the living room, I walked a little further in and found a space with a large table and a fireplace. There were dishes and cooking utensils on the shelves, proving that it was a kitchen.

Two red-haired foreign women sitting at the table were looking at me. I approached timidly over and asked where this was and who they were.

Each time they spit out a sentence, they looked at me with increasingly strange expressions. When I heard the answers they gave me, my face seemed strange as well.

As the tail-to-tail conversation began to come and go, I was soon plunged into uncontrollable confusion.

The blonde girl was named Ella, and the red haired girls were Trimaine and Drizzela.

As I recalled the name, I realized that it was the name of Cinderella, her stepmother, and her daughter.

At first I thought these people were swindling me. So, now, what are you trying to scam? I laughed out loud.

However, as we talked, I suddenly realized that I was able to speak a foreign language so well. Because the conversation we had together was not in Korean.

Although the fact that it was a foreign language was clear, it was not clear whether it was English or French. Even though I knew it was a completely different language, I couldn't tell if I was hypnotized.

Anyway, it was amazing that a foreign language came out smoothly out of my mouth. It was because due to the harmful effects of cramming English education, my heart pounded when I saw foreigners, so I was busy avoiding them on the street if there were signs that foreigners would ask me for directions.

The words that were being said clearly became slower and a cold feeling came rushing in.

This isn’t happening, it's ridiculous, my heart was pounding strangely as I shook my head.

And the moment I looked at the mirror hanging on the living room wall, I had no choice but to imitate the expression in Munch's 'The Scream' as I ripped off the red hair on my head.

I rubbed my eyes and looked again, but there was a completely different face standing in the mirror.

I felt like I knew what it felt like to be speechless when people were so stunned.

Whatever it was, it was absurd. Because in real life, this is impossible to happen.

How dumbfounded I was, I instead wished this place was the afterlife. Then I will be able to meet my parents who died in an accident in high school.

Perhaps… is this a dream?

Yes. I am dreaming That's why I was able to speak a foreign language ​​of unknown nationality.

Then I felt relieved and was able to sweep my chest down.

That’s right. Does this make sense?

I cried, laughed, and made a fuss, and those next to me looked at me like I was a crazy bitch.

It didn't matter though. This is a dream that will disappear after waking up anyway.

Reassured, I began to eat the food set on the table.

But even though it was a dream, the food really didn't taste good that it even gave me goosebumps.

It was so bland that I could barely stop myself of saying 'Do You Know Kimchi?' coming down my throat.

For good measure, you should have given me something like lobster instead. I mumbled and forcibly emptied the plate, and like a tourist on a European package tour, I looked around the houses like old castles.

After wandering around the large house all day, I quickly got tired. So I went to bed quickly. But when I woke up, it was the same room again.

I felt like the main character in a movie where the same day was repeated every day when I woke up.

I want to believe it's a dream, but the more it went on, the more realistic it became.

As I constantly questioned everything, they gave me detailed information about what I was asking about while making a curious face.

I passed out and woke up several times, but nothing changed.

I realized that no matter how much I struggled, the fact that I am Cinderella's step-sister would never change.

* * * (read on pink-grapes.blogspot.com)

It would be correct to say that we eat in order not to die. Everything I ate really only tasted like the original ingredients.

Longing for the ramen broth, I looked at the people sitting around me as I chewed the dry meat that had no fat.

I could have believed it if I slept and woke up as Cinderella, but when I woke up, I was Cinderella’s step sister.

It was so ridiculous that I just kept laughing.

Tak tak. Ashes flew from time to time along with the sound of burning wood.

Ella's face, sitting closest to the oven, shone as if it were illuminated. She was originally pretty and looked even more beautiful with the lighting.

As soon as I watched it for a few days, the child seemed to have a nice but slightly four-dimensional side. How should I say this? It's like seeing a new employee who never wants to be the shooter?

In addition, although she had the best eating habits among us four, she was maintaining the leanest body maybe because she had a lot of activity.

I’ll have to observe a little more to find out, but it was true that she was a character that was difficult to describe in a word.

Breathing in a small sigh, I shifted my gaze to Trimaine, who was sitting across from me.

She was a mother whom I could not call mother. Suddenly, I felt like Hong Gil-Dong.

Looking at her carefully, her facial features were quite beautiful. She doesn't seem to be a sensitive person, but unlike most portrayals of her, her eyes weren't piercing and her voice was quiet.

Drizella was on the pretty side. The quality of the mirror wasn't very good so I couldn't look closely, but I was also pretty.

Hmmmm.

Perhaps it was beyond acceptance, the last of the five levels of emotional change that humans go through: denial, anger, compromise, depression, and acceptance.

Maybe I have already reached nirvana.

The reason I gave up faster than I thought may be thanks to the female protagonists in the romance fantasy novels I read while diligently running through all my cash.

Maybe I'm half crazy, but I decided to think positively.

Maybe it's because I thankfully wasn't a bitch or dog poop. If that was the case, I might be squatting by the river right now, wiping the pots of a noble person.

My body, which was more than ten years younger, also played a part. In Korea, I was 31 years old, but I suddenly lost 14 years and turned 17.

Of course, I looked a little more mature than Asians, but I was much fresher than when I was 31-year-old Kim Jin-young.

Besides that, there were a few more things I found out.

Even though the household was a bit poor due to the inclination of taxes, I was truly a countess.

But it turned out to be nothing. This was because we were house poor and a real estate poor as we did not have enough cash to eat and spend even though we had a large estate and a magnificent mansion.

I was said that we once led a prosperous life enough to run a fountain in the garden in our house, but income began to decline due to continued business failures.

Nevertheless, Ella's father wanted to protect the social pride and reputation of his noble status, and unnecessary expenses continued to be spent.

After her husband passed away, Trimaine has tighter finances. She was not hungry right away, but she knew that from now on, she had to give up many of the things she had enjoyed as a noble.

Trimaine let go most of the servants, leaving only the bare minimum needed to manage the house. While saving food and clothing, they were aristocrats but were not living like aristocrats.

I didn't like seeing the poor woman character even as a novel character, so I had no choice but to accept reality.

It was the result of realizing early that even if I complained, it would only make it difficult for me and there was nothing to be solved.

I decided to use my strength, remembering the saying that the direction of the wind cannot be changed, but the sails can be adjusted differently.

Now, I no longer have to commute to work suffering from crowded buses, and I don't have to listen to the manager's nagging anymore.

Besides, I was a noble and, above all else, had a family.

It will be hard, but I have to persevere.

In the future, we will have to pioneer a new life here.