Into the Novel

"Artemis, dear. You're up already? It's still early and winter is fast approaching. It's not good to be here when it's cold," Suddenly, a voice came behind Artemis as she was about to open her mail.

"Thank you, ma'am. But I'm okay. Rather, what about you and your son?" She asked. That bitter dream is the only one to blame for her unusual schedule of sleeping. Really, it's so frustrating.

"Ay, you know how kids are. My son just suddenly wanted to visit the park and I have no choice," The old lady sighed, yet the spoiling tone in her tone was not hard to miss. She held her son's hand who was throwing a slight tantrum. Seeing this, Artemis can't help but smile, contrary to the hollow feeling in her chest. What a lovely family.

"Well, we'll be off now, dear. Take care of yourself," The old lady bid a quick goodbye before they disappeared before her eyes, heading for the entrance of the apartment.

Artemis waved before turning her attention back to her mailbox and slightly shivered from the winter wind which was slowly becoming evident. The air felt chilly and nice at the same time. She really loved the winter. The air feels fresh and it was nice to pay low bills since she was not using the AC. More reason to love winter.

Artemis opened the mailbox and was disappointed at what she saw. No sign of packed mail was in sight and only a piece of shabby paper laid there. It had already been months since she ordered the limited-edition merchandise of Love Me. The set of merchandise had allegedly included posters that were only available through this set and she had spent countless weeks earning pocket money to buy this. She just hoped she wasn't scammed. The seller had a five-star rating service and even a verified icon. Surely, that was enough reason to not doubt the seller's credibility, right…?

"Sigh…" Artemis did not even want to think about such depressing thoughts. She grabbed the piece of paper inside and glanced at its contents which were incomprehensible scribblings of what looked like made-up words. Seeing this, Artemis can't help but let out a breath of ridicule. People even use mailboxes to throw out their trash? People nowadays are seriously getting worse every day.

Artemis crumpled up the paper and was about to throw it out the garbage can beside her when suddenly, her hand started burning hot. It came so suddenly, like being hit with boiling oil. Artemis quickly let go of the paper, her face pale from the pain. What's wrong with that paper?

Artemis had let go of the paper, yet the burning pain still remained. As the minute passed, the pain only grew stronger, stretching from her hand up to her neck and down to her chest. It became dangerously suffocating, her chest tightened and her vision blurred. She gasped, trying to scream for help but it was as if her mouth was blocked, refraining her from screaming out in pain. Artemis looked at her palms which just grabbed the paper and saw no signs of redness or even signs of pain whatsoever. If she weren't experiencing such harsh pain, she would've believed that she was not experiencing this.

The pain spread all throughout Artemis' body until it had reached her head and rose to the point of tears coming out of her eyes. Her body gave up under such pressure and she blacked out.

.

.

.

Darkness surrounded Artemis except for the bustling city of modernization in front of her. It was a panoramic view of her city, with a detailed outlook of everything happening. College students could be seen going out of the university with a wide smile on their faces as they hang out with their friends. White-collared workers were busy walking along the rowdy sidewalk with a gloomy and stressed face, perfectly representing how being an adult isn't all sunshine. Artemis watched all of this happening from the darkness and felt a crushing sense of isolation and loneliness that made her think about her idling thoughts.

Truth be told, Artemis had never led a satisfactory life during her life until today. It was not filled with exciting events but rather a dull and constant need to improve from her average lifestyle to a more comfortable one. Ever since she was a child, she had already felt the need to earn money for the sake of a happy lifestyle that suited her. That was why she had lived her life growing anxious at her own shortcomings and had always been stressed about how she could reach that dream of hers.

This led her to become much more introverted than she had anticipated and had a hard time catching up with her circle of friends who expected her to be on the same level of mindset as them. Because of her constant need to improve, she had sacrificed her present happiness for a future that was uncertain. And she felt a lingering feeling of abandonment all throughout her life—like she wasn't meant to be that way to fit into the world's standard.

With this thought, Artemis bitterly smiled from within the darkness. That sudden and mysterious pain from before had caused her to have weird dreams once again. And speaking of, Artemis was curious to know as to what caused that pain. Was it perhaps sickness or condition that she didn't know she had?

'I should get my check-up earlier this month and check what's wrong,' she thought.

As Artemis found entertainment in watching the metropolitan city like a game of city-building simulation, whispers of condensed voices suddenly appeared beside her out of nowhere. She whipped her head from side to side, trying to find where the source was. But, as expected, there was only darkness that surrounded her. Yet the voices were growing louder and perceptible. Artemis furrowed her eyebrows, trying to figure out what the voices were saying.

"Lady Artemis, His Highness Prince Ian just arrived. Shall I guide him to the garden now?"

…

"Greetings His Highness, Prince Ian. It's an honor to have you visit our manor today."

…

Again. It was the characters of Love Me that she was hearing—both Artemis the villainess and Ian the male lead of the book. For some reason, they were the only characters that she kept having in her dream. With no signs of the protagonist.

The voices continued and Artemis noticed her surroundings slowly change. The empty black plain beyond her reach gradually turned into bits of lights starting from the corner of her vision. The once cold and chill-biting sensation she felt on her skin disappeared and replaced with the warm touch of the sun.

Birds chirped in the distance and the wind gently breezed through the breathtaking garden full of different-colored roses. Artemis found herself sitting on a marble bench, in front of an exquisite marble table filled with freshly baked biscuits and chocolates. She was holding a cup of steaming tea in her hands and as she looked down, she discovered her extravagant blue lily-colored dress that gleamed in the sunlight. And just opposite her was… Ian. Prince Ian Jvis San Servon that Artemis had only dreamt of meeting in her dreams.

…what the fu-