Page 2 of Is It Wrong to Escape My Fate? (Dealing With Fate #1)

As it turned out, two weeks was enough time to acclimate to your new surroundings.

That was a lie.

I really thought it was a huge, elaborate prank. Or maybe a drug-induced nightmare. But no, it was very real, and I was very much transported to this vague medieval fantasy setting, complete with magic, monsters, and annoying nobles.

Like in stereotypical roleplaying video games.

That was the first thing I made sense of when I let my head rest and my panic subside. No point in making a scene where I could be branded as crazy or possessed, and risk getting executed for it. That was how it usually worked, right?

So, for the past two weeks, I tried to understand as much as I could about this world, about the people around me, and especially about me .

The new me.

The old me was Bea, a nineteen-year-old woman, recently graduated from high school and about to attend state university.

She lived in a cheap studio apartment and had an okay job as a fast-food worker.

She had parents living in their home province and had an older brother finishing his diploma for his psych degree.

The new me was also Bea, a nineteen-year-old woman, about to attend a magic academy.

She lived in an opulent mansion, complete with maids, butlers, and several staff who worked for the barony.

She had loving parents busy governing the estate and had an older brother finishing his schooling in the same magic academy.

Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either, that I laughed like a wild banshee when I put the information together. Thankfully, I was alone in my room that time.

Another fact was my pseudo parents were barons, the lowest in the hierarchy of nobles.

Despite that, we had enough money to employ at least fifty people in the manor alone.

The barony encompassed this town plus the three villages surrounding it.

In the modern world, they'd probably be called a mayor, or something similar.

We were still considered the “poorest” of the nobles, though. That was a fun fact.

These were the most important info I gathered so far. Noble ladies like me didn’t go out of the manor’s gates out of nowhere, apparently, even for the sake of research. The one time I tried, five of our guards stopped me, while my governess scolded me.

“You must stay inside, Miss Bea!” she had said, hands on her hips. “If you must leave, at least bring your knights with you.”

I had my own freaking knights .

While I was sure they would accompany me, I didn’t want to bother them. Watching the manor’s knights at the training yard made me wonder which ones were mine because hot damn , it was like everyone was cursed to have good looks.

Anyway, most of my time was I stayed within the confines of the mansion. Perused the library, found out I could read the language well enough. Realized I already knew the important bits the library could offer me. Original Bea was an avid reader.

That was another thing …

“Are you excited for school, Miss Bea?” Mia asked me with glee as she brushed my new shoulder-length, bouncy peach-pink hair. Couldn’t say I missed my lame and limp brown hair, but I digress.

“A little bit, maybe,” I hedged, since I wasn’t sure if Original Bea liked the concept of studying magic.

I loved it.

“But tomorrow I’ll be even more excited,” I added, giggling with Mia.

As my personal maid continued grooming and pampering me for the day, I stared at myself through the golden-framed mirror on my vanity dresser. Like everyone around me, my face was also very attractive: large and round yellow-orange eyes, a cute button nose, full pinkish lips, rosy cheeks.

There was nothing natural about the pink hair and orange eyes, and yet, they were as real as they could be. Even my pubes were pink. Yes, I checked.

I looked like a side character’s love interest in a game about a magic school. In reality my status was nowhere near; a nobody, even among the noble families. Aside from my brother, I just had one noble friend, and when we got older, we also drifted apart.

And it wasn’t really me .

My sense of self regarding my actual life was still present. I was Bianca Guzman, my parents were Diego and Evelyn, my brother was Alexander.

I was Beatrix Gadreel Havenglow, my parents were Jenson and Ellen, my brother was Alecsander.

I couldn’t make that shit up.

In the two weeks I had been here, my search for answers to the important questions was futile — why was I here? How did I get here?

How do I go back?

Teleportation magic existed, although it was very complex. Only a small percentage of people could reliably cast it. Even if I were capable of casting it, it would take me years to study, not to mention I doubted it worked through different dimensions.

Or universes. Realities?

I couldn’t even tell where here was.

This town was called Baybluff, on the southeast edge of the Kingdom of Orithlum. Despite being next to the ocean, building a port was impossible because of the long cliff edge. Instead, the estate’s source of income was its plentiful iron mines —

I knew these things already. The here was about this — this — setting? Domain? Realm? Plane of existence?

Definitely not Earth, or the Milky Way, or in any of my reality because the concept of magic was physically impossible!

I had to go back. I would go crazy arguing with myself.

Mia pulled me out of my thoughts as she added the finishing touches to my attire; a set of beautiful topaz earrings gifted to me by my brother Alec. Matched my eyes, his words flashing in my mind.

Jesus christ. I would never get used to this.

Standing up from my seat, Mia dutifully followed me, clutching her hands together in front of her. It was another thing I also had a hard time getting used to: a personal maid who followed you around.

Mia was a little older than me, maybe a couple of years at the least. She had long, auburn hair she kept tied up in a loose bun or a ponytail; pretty, like in a girl-next-door kind of way. She was born and raised as a servant in this household, as was common practice in this universe.

Her mother was my mother’s personal maid, while her grandmother was the manor’s head housekeeper.

Her father used to be the coachman before he passed; the position passed down to her brother.

And as for her other brother? He was Alec’s personal knight he brought to Aerahelm, the city that hosted the magic academy.

Speaking of that.

“Are you excited about school?” I asked, smiling as her face turned scarlet.

“It will be a new experience so I’m looking forward to it,” she answered with genuine honesty.

Unfortunately, Mia wouldn’t be enrolled.

Servants were not allowed to. The academy was only for the children of nobles, or commoners with a significant amount of mana in their bodies, which was a rarity.

But nobles were allowed their servants accompany them through five years of schooling because god forbid they had to dress themselves every day.

I was a hypocrite, because I was bringing Mia with me for the same reason. That, and I hoped I could teach her magic myself using my lessons from school.

She opened my bedroom door for me, and we stepped out to head for the conservatory, where I spent my mornings. Avoiding deviating too much from Original Bea’s habits was necessary to negate suspicion of my new identity, but I found I liked what she usually did anyway, so it wasn’t a hardship.

On the way there, two knights approached us, and the special insignia clipped on their capes immediately stood out — mine. A pink aster flower brooch with a topaz as its pistil.

Their faces were also familiar. And similar. Twins!

They stopped a few feet away and bowed low. “Miss Bea, Mia, good morning,” they greeted in unison.

“Good morning, Sir Robin, Sir Reuben,” I replied automatically, and holy shit it was weird that I knew their names already. “What brings you here?”

At my greeting, their stiff postures relaxed, as if they only did it for formality’s sake. Instead, they smiled, accentuating their handsome faces.

“Just want to make sure we’re still up for tomorrow, right?” Robin asked, the more playful one of the two. “No backsies, right?”

Reuben added, “Of course not. We’re a package deal, you and I.”

I nodded along even though I had no clue what they were talking about.

But it’s definitely about attending the academy with me as my bodyguards, so I said, “I promised, and I don’t break them easily.”

Wait, I could have two knights with me? Not just one like my brother?

“We’ve been training hard for the past two weeks to prepare for this,” Robin grinned, placing his fist on top of my insignia. “We promise to watch over you to the best of our ability.”

“Although we don’t expect anything bad to happen.” Reuben paused. “Much.”

Rolling my eyes at their insinuation that they were only coming to catch fights, they smiled wider as Mia giggled.

I had never seen any fights. Monsters existed for thousands of years, but my sheltered upbringing shielded me from them. All my knowledge came from books, illustrations, or stories.

I had seen a lot of drunken bar fights. Oh, and I had been to a few underground fighting rings, courtesy of whoever tried to get in my pants at the time. Those were always fun.

“We’ll be in the training yard for the rest of the day, Miss Bea,” Reuben informed me, bowing low again with his twin as a goodbye, for now.

“Just let us know if you need us. If not, see you tomorrow,” Robin waved before they both walked away.

Even though I had been here for two weeks, it never really, really sunk in that I was in a fantasy world. Aside from the time Derrick used a healing spell on me, no further active spellcasting crossed my path. I assumed either magic was very precious, or it wasn’t used casually.

But when both Robin and Reuben sprinted out of view in a speed that was impossible for a normal human, it finally clicked that I was in the universe of the impossible.

I had to go back.