PET 01

Chapter 01

 Catching a Glimpse of My Future Self in a Dream

It was a rainy night, with drizzle steadily falling outside.

Someone’s bedroom.

The room was clearly spacious, and the furniture filling it was luxurious, yet for some reason it felt cold and barren. On the bed in one corner of the dark room, someone was asleep.

Looking closer, it seemed the child was having a nightmare, sweating coldly and writhing in distress.

The child, who appeared to be the owner of the room, twisted restlessly in bed as if trying to wake from the nightmare, but it did not come easily. Meaningless words slipped from their lips in murmurs.

Soon, a single tear ran down the child’s face.

A moment later, lightning struck the sky with a deafening crash, as though it would shake the entire world apart.

At that instant, the child’s eyes flew open.

“Haah… haah…”

Still breathing heavily, the child slowly calmed their racing heartbeat and sat up in bed. Then, for some unknown reason, they hurriedly looked around the dark room.

As if they could not believe reality itself.

What…? Was everything I experienced until now just a dream?

Still confused, the child suddenly turned toward the sound of a door opening.

The person who entered the room immediately turned on the lights and approached the child sitting on the bed.

“You didn’t answer no matter how many times I knocked, so I came in. A huge lightning strike just hit outside—Young Lady, are you alright?”

“Ella? Is that really you?”

Ella assumed her young mistress had simply been frightened badly by the thunder.

“Of course it’s me, Ella. Young Lady Stella, were you very scared?”

Despite Ella’s words, Stella still could not believe it. She grabbed Ella’s hand and examined her carefully, as if she still believed this place was part of a dream.

“That can’t be possible… You…”

Stella could not believe the Ella before her eyes was real.

Because Ella had already left the ducal estate in the capital a long time ago.

“Young Lady, are you feeling unwell? Shall I call for the physician?”

After a moment of thought, Stella shook her head.

“No, I’m fine. Besides, the physician of the ducal estate is probably somewhere else right now.”

“Young Lady…”

“And Father must be there too.”

Ella could not say anything in response.

Because Stella was correct.

The physician of the ducal estate had gone to Camilla, who had awakened in fright because of the thunderstorm. Duke Ister Adin was there as well.

For a brief moment, Ella felt pity for Stella, but then she became puzzled by the word Stella had used.

“Young Lady… Why are you suddenly calling the Duke that? Usually you call him—”

“That’s right. I used to call him Father. But you know, Ella. I was only imitating Camilla.”

As she said that, Stella wore a self-mocking smile far too mature for her age.

“Young Lady…”

Seeing Ella’s worried expression, Stella forced herself to smile brightly in an attempt to reassure her.

“Ella, could you bring me a mirror?”

“Right away.”

Through the mirror Ella brought, Stella was finally able to objectively confirm her own appearance.

Just as I thought.

The Stella in the mirror had shoulder-length pink hair.

No—because black roots had begun growing out noticeably near the top of her head, it could not truly be called completely pink.

Unlike her twin younger sister, Camilla.

I even dyed my hair, desperately trying to imitate her somehow. Thinking maybe then they would give me even the slightest bit of attention… even just a tiny amount.

Stella had also deliberately grown her bangs long to partially cover her eyes.

Her golden eyes were the same as her father Duke Ister’s, but completely different from Camilla’s.

She had wanted, even for a moment, to draw Ister’s gaze toward herself.

But it was all useless. Even after I copied her appearance, they only despised me more.

The current Stella now clearly understood what emotions filled Ister’s eyes whenever he looked at her.

And she also understood that, for the Stella of the future, it had already been too late.

After thoroughly confirming her face, Stella handed the mirror back to Ella and asked:

“Ella, how old am I right now?”

“You turned ten this year, Young Lady.”

“Ten years old…”

Unable to understand why Stella was suddenly asking her age, Ella simply stared at her mistress in confusion.

“Young Lady?”

“I’m alright now, so you should go get some rest too.”

“No, Young Lady. I’ll stay by your side tonight.”

Stella had asked strange questions all evening, and she felt somehow different from before she had gone to sleep. Even when told to leave, Ella found it hard to walk away.

Still, Stella tried reassuring her and gently urged her out.

“I’m really alright, so you can go.”

“Then if anything happens, you must call for me immediately, Young Lady.”

After repeatedly making Stella promise, Ella reluctantly left the room, extinguishing the lights behind her.

Listening to Ella’s footsteps fade into the distance, Stella slowly lay back down on the bed.

But her mind remained filled with the events she had experienced in the dream.

“If what I experienced in that dream was truly the future… then that means I die ten years from now.”

Stella’s eyes no longer belonged to the ignorant ten-year-old she once was.

Everything she had seen in the dream was engraved vividly into her mind.

The ten years she had spent blindly imitating her twin sister Camilla…

And the future self she had become ten years later.

Though they had been born twins in the Adin Ducal House, Stella and Camilla’s circumstances had been completely different from the very beginning.

Everything started the moment the Duchess of Adin gave birth to them.

Tragically, the Duchess lost her life while delivering the twins, and Duke Ister Adin—who had loved her dearly—fell into overwhelming grief.

After losing the wife he loved so deeply, he looked upon the surviving twins.

The elder sister, Stella Adin, had inherited the Duke’s black hair and golden eyes.

The younger sister, Camilla Adin, resembled the Duchess, with pink hair and pale violet eyes.

Stella’s misfortune began there.

Though their facial features resembled each other as twins should, the difference in their hair and eye colors made them seem nothing alike.

And naturally, Duke Ister cherished Camilla—the daughter who resembled his late wife.

Far more than Stella.

At first, the servants of the ducal estate treated the twins equally.

But the moment it became obvious where Ister’s affection lay, they too began favoring only Camilla.

In that vast ducal estate, the only person who truly cared for Stella was her personal maid, Ella.

Back then, I thought that if I looked like Camilla, they would love me too.

What a foolish thought.

As the years passed, Camilla noticed it as well.

Having grown up monopolizing all the love in the estate, she gradually became accustomed to Stella’s mistreatment and no longer considered her an equal daughter of the house.

Having received such treatment since childhood, Stella could say nothing and could only accept it as natural.

And as time passed, her self-esteem slowly disappeared.

Stella believed people treated her coldly because her appearance differed too much from Camilla’s.

From then on, she began blindly copying everything about Camilla—from her hair color to her clothing.

But nothing changed.

Neither the Duke nor anyone else in the estate paid any attention to Stella.

If anything, she only became a laughingstock.

“I should have given up back then. Nothing I did would ever have been enough.”

And the tragedy truly began in the year Stella turned twenty.

In the year she turned twenty, Stella attended the banquet held at the Imperial Palace for the coming-of-age ceremony.

That day, just as always, she appeared while imitating Camilla.

Her pink hair, grown all the way down to her waist, was tied neatly together, but anyone could tell she was copying Camilla.

Her bangs covered her forehead and eyes, obscuring her face enough to make even onlookers feel suffocated.

Not only her appearance, but also the timidness and lack of confidence surrounding her concealed her original beauty.

In contrast, Camilla was the center of the banquet.

Numerous young ladies and noble sons surrounded her.

Unlike Stella, Camilla’s naturally pink hair shimmered beautifully down to her waist in soft waves, while her pale skin and red lips emphasized her vitality.

And her sparkling violet eyes—

Under the brilliant lights of the ballroom, her beauty shone dazzlingly.

Unlike Camilla, Stella wandered the banquet alone, unable to mingle with anyone.

Some of the young ladies close to Camilla mocked Stella’s imperfect pink hair.

“Oh my, she still has that hairstyle.”

“Doesn’t it bother you that she copies you so obviously, Lady Camilla?”

At their words, Camilla’s gaze turned toward Stella.

Although they were twins, Camilla secretly ridiculed Stella for being so utterly different from herself.

The idea that Stella believed she could become the same simply by imitating her was laughable.

Though watching her like that is entertaining in its own way.

Swallowing those thoughts where no one could hear them, Camilla smiled sweetly and said to the ladies around her:

“I told her many times that her natural appearance suited her better, but she insisted. As family, I thought it would be better to let her do what she wanted.”

Even though she clearly knew Stella was imitating her, Camilla’s act of defending her until the end made her appear endlessly kind and compassionate.

Finally, after the imperial family completed their entrance, the banquet officially began.

This banquet held even greater significance because it also celebrated the Crown Prince’s coming-of-age ceremony.

Thus, the Crown Prince’s dance marked the first event of the evening.

As everyone waited in anticipation to see whom the Crown Prince would invite to dance, he stepped down from the platform and walked somewhere without hesitation.

Naturally, all eyes followed him.

And without the slightest hesitation, he stopped before Camilla and extended his hand.

Camilla blushed shyly before placing her hand in his, and together they stepped forward to dance slowly.

The two looked like the perfect couple.

People could not even bring themselves to feel jealous.

They suited each other that perfectly.

From afar, Stella watched them dance.

The Crown Prince’s neatly combed orange hair framed his ash-gray eyes, which focused solely on Camilla.

And Camilla looked at him the same way.

The two smiled as they spoke together, clearly already familiar with one another.

“They really look good together.”

Stella swallowed the words unlike me before they could escape her lips.

She simply watched Camilla shining brilliantly in a way she herself never could.

After their dance ended, the young noble ladies and gentlemen celebrating their coming-of-age stepped forward to dance with partners of their own.

But there was no way Stella could possibly have such a partner.

As Stella stood there quietly, someone suddenly extended a hand toward her.

When she looked up, she saw a man with fresh green hair smiling gently at her.

Stella only stared blankly at him in shock, so the young nobleman spoke first.

“Would you grant me the honor of a dance?”

“Huh?”

Stella could not hide her surprise.

She had never once imagined someone would ask her to dance.

Still, as the man continued holding out his hand, Stella timidly placed her trembling hand atop his.

The two moved to the dance floor and began to dance softly together.

“I was very worried you might refuse my invitation. On such a special day, it is an honor to dance with you.”

“I… I feel the same way.”

A smile naturally bloomed across Stella’s face as he smiled warmly at her.

After growing closer through their meeting at the banquet, the two soon became lovers.

Stella completely fell for his kindness and the smiles he showed only to her, firmly believing he felt the same way.

At least, until that day.