chapter 2

When she opened her eyes, she was expecting to be in a hospital bed, but instead was met with a large room that was filled with red walls, chandeliers and other luxurious furniture. Even the bedding felt like real silk and her body was in complete relaxation.

"Huh, where am I?" She said to herself.

Sitting up, she realised there was a young woman sleeping beside her, holding her hand. Gently waking her up, the woman yawned before rubbing her eyes.

"Nina! Oh gosh, I was so worried for you! I told you not to overwork yourself or you'll be sick. Don't ever do that to me again, ok!" The women leapt on to her, crying on Nina's shoulder.

Nina unsure of what to do, silently comforted the female stranger, patting her back.

"Umm, thank you for doing this for me, but...who are you?" Nina asked the woman.

"Wait...do you really not know who you are?" The woman asked.

Nina nodded her head.

"Holy shit...did you isekai too?!"

-----

After Nina gave the woman an account of what happened the day before, whose expression went from shock to anger to sadness, the woman introduced herself.

"My name is Lillian Hill, well it's Lillian Kinstone now since I married the Duke. And you've been officially reincarnated into a novel called, 'The strongest princess'!"

"I'm so glad I'm not the only one here now. You've been reincarnated as my personal maid, Nina Thundral. Don't worry, you'll get your memories soon since it happened to me as well."

"So, you're telling me that I have somehow reincarnated into some cliche web novel... as a maid?"

Lillian nodded her head.

"Well, shit alright," Nina said, shrugging her shoulders. It was always a handy trait of hers to be adaptable even in the worst of situations.

"Now, if there's one thing about these novels, I need to know everything about the story to survive. Quite frankly, I haven't heard of this novel but I think I can figure out the cliches. Since there's a duke in it, there must be some heroine, and if it's not you, that means you're either a villainess or you're gonna die. And I'm probably just some background character with 3 lines, and I die also. And I do NOT want to die again."

"You're half right. To be honest, I'm not even the main villainess or villain. Since I read the story the basic plot goes something like this. The Duke and I were childhood friends and we married due to our families. In the novel, I secretly had feelings for him but never confessed. I kinda turn bad when he hangs out with the heroine, Estelle who is the princess of the kingdom. Then karma gets to me and I die from poisoning because I bullied the princess."

"Well then, what happens afterwards? What's the ending?" Nina asked.

"I can't exactly say since I didn't get a chance to finish the novel. I died before I could. The last thing I read up to was that my character died and the Duke and heroine form a group with these other top knights and they fight the real villain. But I'm gonna say that the Duke and heroine end up together, happy ending and all."

"How about me? Does my character die also?"

"Umm...I can't really say. In the novel, you were a maid gifted to me by the Duke. I suppose you were loyal to me but I think you survived since you know, you didn't drink the poison."

"I guess that's kinda good for me, but bad for you, sorry. How long have you been in this world for?"

"I think a couple of weeks now? I've been trying to convince you to run away with me since I'm going to die soon."

"Wait, what? You're going to run away? Okay, I have too many questions I want to ask right now, but I'm really hungry. Do you have some food by any chance?" Nina asked shyly, stomach grumbling.

--

After calling some maids for Nina's lunch, who also cried with happiness when they saw her, ("Oh Nina, I'm so happy you're okay"), Nina was given a bowl of warm chicken broth and freshly baked bread.

"So...what's all this about escaping? Like I don't get it, you only die because you bullied the heroine. If you don't bully her then you're fine." Nina asked, eating between bites.

"Well, it's not really all about that. I just don't want to be some Duke's wife you know, there's just so much responsibility, duties and things I have to do. It's too controlling. In my previous life, the one thing I regret was not following my heart. So I decided in my new life, I'm going to be free!" Lillian said enthusiastically, throwing her hands in the air.

"Why don't you just divorce him?"

"Divorce? Well, you see...I did try, but it didn't exactly work out. The Duke just laughed and dismissed me, so this is basically my only option." Lillian laughed awkwardly, scratching her head.

"Oh damn, okay. Well, I'm sick of people controlling me and following orders as well. I'll definitely help you in escaping. Count me in!"