As Elise’s consciousness slowly got clearer, she prayed in her heart that she would wake up to find herself back in her room in the castle, that the experience of drowning was just a bad dream. However, when she opened her eyes, what greeted her was not the intricately carved marble ceiling of her room, but rather dark green tree tops.

It seemed like her prayers had failed...

Her whole body ached so much that even breathing hurt. She felt as if she had been tossed around and stomped on by giant beasts. She tilted her chin down to look at the dark coloured blanket covering her before she extracted her arms from under the cloth.

She lifted her hands weakly and studied the slim, white fingers. She then picked up the strands of light blond hair that have been brought to the front of her chest.

Tiredly, she closed her eyes. There was no need to use a mirror. Elise was sure that this body was not hers. Even though she was a Mage, she was also proficient with a bow, so her hands were rough and filled with cuts, unlike the white and smooth hand in front of her now. As for the hair, one was as black as the night, while the other was so light it was almost white. There was no need to compare.

She had heard of magic that allowed body switch. However, it was only something in theory. Magic that allowed a person to take over the conscious of another living thing was dangerous and could potentially result in more issues. However, luckily or unluckily, research in that area  was met with many walls, and it was never successfully done.  

So why did she manage to experience something that experts have all failed to complete?

Desperately, she tried to recall the events leading up to this situation. The last thing she remembered before she fell asleep unintentionally and waking up in the water was her being mysteriously attracted by the full moon.

What has happened in between the time she fell asleep and when she woke up in the water?

“Have you woken up?” A low voice came from a short distance away from her. Elise recognised it as the person who had saved her before she fell unconscious.

Elise tried to sit up, but her muscles could not cooperate and she fell back again.

She braced herself for the impact, but instead, she felt a rough but warm hand holding her naked shoulders.

“Don’t rush. Although your life is no longer in danger, you are still weak.”

Elise turned to look at the young man holding her. He looked to be his early twenties with russet coloured hair. His eyes were also of the same dark brown colour with orange tinge. His skin was tanned, showing that he was a person who spent a lot of time outdoors, and she could see defined muscles on the arm holding her.

“Where am I, and who are you?” She asked. Her voice was hoarse and it cracked at some points, but it was enough to convey her question.

“Before I answer that, you should wear your clothes first.” Although the sun was setting and the visibility had worsened, Elise could still see that his cheeks had turned red.

Elise then realised that she was naked. Given the situation, she could roughly guess that the young man had taken her wet clothes off and covered her with a dry blanket so that she would not catch a cold.

Andric thought that the girl would get embarrassed and scream or hit him. After all, it was unbecoming for a man to take off the clothes of a woman, even if it was to help her. However, the girl did not seem upset and only asked calmly, “I understand. Where are my clothes?”

He quickly retrieved the clothes hanging over the campfire. Thinking that it did not make sense leaving wet undergarments on, he had taken everything off, and hung them close to the campfire to dry. Of course, he had avoided looking as much as he could during the process.

He passed the dry clothes to the girl before he turned around so that his back faced the girl.

Seeing this, Elise could not keep a corner of her mouth from turning up. Should she be glad that she seemed to have been saved by a gentlemanly guy? Although she still had not gotten hold of the full situation, at least the person behind her did not seem to be hostile towards her.

She collectedly wore the clothes that were passed to her. Her outer garment was a simple short sleeved, light blue dress with a dark brown belt around her waist.

“I'm done,” she said as soon as she finished.

The russet haired young man who waited at the campfire stood up and walked over with a wooden bowl in his hands.

“Eat this. It will help you to restore your strength,” he said as he handed the bowl to her.

Elise looked at the contents of the bowl. It seemed like it was a pottage made with root vegetables. She took the spoon and tentatively licked the contents off the spoon.

“It's not poisoned and I think my cooking skills are pretty good you know,” the young man said wryly when he saw how careful she was being.

Elise did not reply to his statement, but she felt slightly apologetic for her distrustful action.

Not tasting any strange substances in the food, Elise started scooping the thick pottage generously into her mouth.

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Back at the castle, because of her royal blood, it was not strange for people to eye her and put poison into her food. Hence, she developed the habit of testing all the food and drink she is served with. Even though the young man most likely had good intentions, she trampled on them unintentionally.

Elise was aware that the young man was watching her eat closely, but she ignored him and focused on her food. She had examined her body while changing, and concluded that the body was underweight and malnourished. In addition to that, she had spent a lot of energy struggling in water, so it all resulted in her current painful condition, so she need to eat as much as she could to gain her strength back.

Looking at the ravenous girl, Andric could not help but mutter, “wouldn’t it had been better if you had not tried committing suicide in the first place?”

His words were soft, but the girl seemed to have caught onto them and looked up suddenly. Her pale grey eyes that reflected the campfire behind him shone with a strange light before she asked in a surprised tone, “I committed suicide?”

Andric frowned. “You jumped into the lake with all your clothes on. If that is not suicide, do you plan to tell me you were going for a swim?”

The corners of the girl’s lip curled up a little, but it quickly returned to her previous expressionless manner.

The girl looked down on the ground for a while, seemingly in deep thought.

Andric could not help but feel perplexed. He thought that he had saved a girl who wanted to commit suicide and that she would have a stronger reaction when he revealed about her clothes. However, none of his predictions were right.  The girl was extremely calm and her face was an unreadable mask.

Just as he thought that the girl might have fallen asleep, she looked up. To his surprise, tears had rolled down her pale white face.

“I… I don’t remember…” She stammered with a wavering voice.

Looking at the pretty girl who had started crying, Andric was at a loss.

“Wait, don’t cry so suddenly… C-calm down...” He said quickly. “What do you mean by you don’t remember?”

“I don’t know what happened to me. Will you please tell me what you know?” The girl asked.

Andric cleared his throat quickly and started his narration of the situation as requested. The girl wiped her tears and was prepared to listen intently.

He introduced himself first, saying that he was an Adventurer returning back to the town from a quest in the late morning when he saw her jumping into the lake. When he saw that she was struggling in water, he rushed over to save her. After she fainted, he brought her to the forest to set up camp where she had been resting for around eight hours before her conscious returned.

“Do you remember what happened to you now?” He asked carefully after he had finished his explanation.

The girl shook her head slowly. “I don't remember. Can you tell me where are we?”

Did she lose her memories? He had heard of stories about how people had lost their ability to recall  things after a traumatic event. Given that the girl had almost drowned, it could have caused her memories to become disordered.

“We are now in Spider Forest. It is part of the Perenia Kingdom. Around north west from the capital.”

The girl only looked lost at his words.

“Do you remember why you came into this forest? This place is dangerous and riddled with magic beasts. It is not a place for a young girl to wander around alone,” he said as gently as he could.

The girl shook her head once again.

“I don’t remember…” She said softly.

“Then at least your name? Do you remember your name?”

“My name is Elise,” the girl replied after pondering for a moment.

At least she remembers her name. Andric thought in relief.

“How about your family? Do you know where you come from?”

Elise shook her head. “No, I don’t remember. I only know that my name is Elise.” A deep crease had appeared between her brows, and her grey eyes were downcast.

After prompting for a few more times, and realising that she was really unable to recall anything else, Andric decided that it would be better to let her rest first, and decide on what to do the next day.

Remembering that he had picked up some items by the lake side earlier, he passed a brown messenger bag, a woven rucksack and a pair of calf skin boots to her.

“These are probably your belongings. I found them at  the area where you jumped into the lake. Try and see if you can remember anything when you are going through them.”

The girl nodded as she hugged the items close to her. “Thank you.”

Andric let out a difficult smile. “I was just doing something I felt was right.”

“Sleep soon.”

Turning away, he walked towards the other side of the campfire where his things were at.

With his back facing her, he did not manage to catch the calculating glint that flashed across the girl’s eyes.