The moment Huo Yichen said it—
"You're not supposed to exist"—time seemed to freeze again.
But not in the beautiful, romantic, novel-worthy kind of way.
In the kind of way where your heart drops into your stomach, and your survival instincts start screaming: RUN. NOW.
I swallowed hard, trying to keep my voice calm. "What… did you mean by that?"
He didn't answer. His eyes locked onto me with that same unreadable intensity, but now—there was suspicion. Recognition. And something else I couldn't place.
Li Suna, who had been silently watching, finally stepped forward, putting herself slightly in front of me.
"Huo Yichen," she said sharply. "You're scaring her."
"I'm not trying to," he replied, his voice low but unwavering. "I just need to understand something."
I looked at him. "You think I'm her, don't you? Li Suna."
He stared. "You're… not?"
"No. I'm Xiao Xinya. That's what everyone's been calling me since I woke up in this body. And before that…" I stopped myself.
Before that, I was just a regular girl. A reader. Someone who read this novel.
Except this wasn't the novel I remembered anymore.
Later that night, back in my room, I stood in front of the mirror again.
The beautiful girl with piercing blue eyes stared back, just like before. Her beauty was surreal—too perfect to be ordinary, and yet… completely unfamiliar. There were shadows in her eyes now. Emotions that didn't feel like mine. Thoughts that flickered in the back of my mind like static on a forgotten radio channel.
I whispered, "Who are you really, Xiao Xinya?"
Because this wasn't just a body swap.
This wasn't even just transmigration.
This felt like a corrupted script. A novel rewritten mid-print. Characters out of place. Timelines shifted. Dialogues happening too early.
I sat on the bed and pulled open the drawers of the nightstand, searching for something—anything—that could give me clues about the real Xiao Xinya.
I found a journal.
Bingo.
It was leather-bound, tucked away beneath a silk scarf. I opened it with trembling hands.
The first page had her handwriting—beautiful and looping, like calligraphy.
"If you're reading this, then something went wrong."
I froze.
What?
"They think I'm fragile. They think I don't know. But I do. The dreams are too real. And I remember another life—a different one. A girl who wasn't me, but who lived somewhere else. A girl who read books and loved stories. Maybe that was you."
I covered my mouth.
No. No way.
"If you ended up here… in my body… then be careful. Not everything in this world is what it seems. And definitely not everyone."
I closed the journal, hands shaking.
She remembered me? Or someone like me? That meant…
Xiao Xinya was already connected to the real world. To my world.
This was never just random. She had been remembering things from Earth, maybe even before I arrived. Had we somehow swapped places? Was she living in my body now?
If so… did she know what was happening?
And most importantly… who had done this to us?
There was a knock at the door.
"Lady Xinya," a voice called softly. "The master has returned from his trip. Mr. Xiao is requesting your presence."
My father.
Or, her father.
Maybe… the one person who could give me real answers.
I stood up and straightened my clothes. "I'll be right there."
As I followed the servant down the hallway, I couldn't help but feel it—
This wasn't just a transmigration story.
This was a trap.
A story that had already been tampered with.
And someone didn't want me—or anyone—to find out the truth.