【Good news】: She transmigrated into the world-famous "The Phantom of the Opera."

【Bad news】: She landed in the horror movie version!

　　When Lily Bennett woke up, she found herself in the nineteenth century.

　　Heavy smog, rampant tuberculosis, appalling hygiene, and horse manure everywhere—the nineteenth century.

　　To make matters worse, she had become a performer in a circus.

　　—A performer disguised as a man.

　　This was an era when women with short hair and pants would be harshly judged. No one doubted her real gender; everyone just thought she was an unusually delicate-looking boy.

　　However, as time passed, she grew taller and her feminine features became more and more obvious... With so many people in the circus, sooner or later her secret would be exposed.

　　Before leaving, she dragged along a boy from the circus who had suffered much abuse, planning to start from scratch and form a new troupe with him.

　　·

　　What Lily Bennett didn’t know was that the boy was cold, eccentric, and suspicious like a mad dog, always ready to kill her.

　　In his eyes, Lily Bennett was timid, greedy, and lazy.

　　Someone like that would abandon him sooner or later and find another way out.

　　Even if she truly wanted to team up with him, once she saw his face, she would leave him.

　　—If that’s the case, why not kill her first?

　　That way, he wouldn’t have to see her panicked expression.

　　But unexpectedly, she was neither timid nor lazy. On the contrary, she was smart and calm, showed no disgust at his appearance, and didn’t mind his odd personality.

　　They became a perfectly matched pair of partners.

　　Unfortunately, dreams always come to an end.

　　One afternoon, he stood behind the door and heard her say to a young, handsome man:

　　"…If you keep talking like that, I’ll get mad. I’m single right now."

　　"Eric Carter? He’s my brother." She laughed in surprise at whatever the other person said. "We’re so far apart in age, how could we possibly be married?"

　　·

　　From that day on, Lily Bennett began to have intense hallucinations, always feeling that someone was secretly watching her, their breath close at hand, as if right behind her.

　　The hallucinations grew stronger and stronger.

　　Later, even with her back pressed against the wall, she felt as if someone inside the wall was watching her.

　　The gaze became more blatant and more intense with each passing day.

　　It seemed as if it could break through the wall at any moment and come to her side.

Chapter 1

　　Lily Bennett opened her eyes with a splitting headache and found herself in different clothes—a shirt, vest, and long stockings.

　　The workmanship and fabric were rough, some places even had loose threads, the stitching was crooked, and there was a strange smell of sweat.

　　Where was she?

　　Who changed her clothes?

　　Lily Bennett instinctively propped herself up, lifted her shirt, and looked at her abdomen—no wounds.

　　She rolled up her sleeves—no needle marks on her arms either.

　　Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, a sudden deafening bang came from outside—Bang!

　　Immediately after, there was a burst of malicious laughter.

　　"This kid’s got a backbone. He was dragged behind a horse for so long and didn’t make a sound…"

　　"Let’s shoot him between the legs and see if he’s still so tough!"

　　Another round of raucous laughter.

　　"Can’t do that," someone said. "If we cripple him, the manager will kill us… He’s the circus’s cash cow."

　　"Cash cow? Him? He’s just a kid who hasn’t even grown all his hair yet!"

　　"He’s got real skills," the man laughed, then turned his head and whistled like calling a dog, "Hey, Eric Carter, show everyone your ventriloquism, your singing, those tricks of yours…"

　　Whatever that "Eric Carter" said, the laughter outside stopped abruptly.

　　Everyone fell silent. For a moment, only the sound of horses pawing the ground remained.

　　Someone gave a cold snort, then shouted "Hyah!" and sped up his horse.

　　No one spoke again.

　　But Lily Bennett felt a chill in her heart—if she remembered correctly, that "Eric Carter" was still being dragged behind a horse.

　　What made her even more uneasy was that the people outside were speaking English.

　　She lived in Los Angeles, but their accents were clearly not West Coast—they sounded more like… French?

　　Had she been kidnapped by the French?

　　Or…

　　Lily Bennett squeezed her eyes shut and lowered her head.

　　The moment she saw her own palm, her mind went completely blank, the back of her head tingled, and her heart pounded wildly.

　　—This wasn’t her hand.

　　She was a bit of a neat freak; her nails were always clean, neat, and pink.

　　But this hand was rough and red, the knuckles swollen as if frostbitten, black dirt wedged in the creases, and several brown calluses in the palm.

　　What do people look at most every day?

　　Not their face, but their hands.

　　Lily Bennett had never imagined that one day she would wake up and see someone else’s hand on her own body.

　　…It was like something out of a horror movie.

　　What on earth was going on?

　　"…Hey, Polly, Polly, look at me!"