It all happened in a blur. One morning, I woke up in the body of some noble lady, and that same evening I was on my way to some remote territory said noble lady was supposed to manage.

“My lady, are you alright?” A knight, whose name I did not manage to memorize asked.

We had been riding in a carriage all afternoon, and I was starting to get motion sickness. The carriage itself was far from uncomfortable, with soft velvet seats and clean, retractable, windows. My current issue came from the state of the roads in what I could only assume was my domain.

Some part of me still wasn’t sure if all of this was real but being reincarnated into a different world was everything I had ever dreamed of. So, I wasn’t about to complain.

The carriage hit another bump, and I had to raise my lavender-scented tissue to my face, in order to mitigate the motion-sickness as much as I could.

“My lady!” The knight exclaimed, before reaching out to help me straighten up.

I gestured him to stay where he was. The last thing I needed was someone blocking off what little oxygen access I had. As soon as I regained my composure, I knocked on the carriage ceiling, hoping that the driver would understand my request. The vehicle did indeed come to a halt, but it was so sudden that I almost fell off my seat. Thankfully the knight was there to help me this time.

“My lady, is everything alright?” The driver had gotten down from his seat and walked around to my window.

“How much further till we reach the estate?” I asked, in my best imitation of a posh British accent. I’m not sure why I had decided to fake an accent, but I had been at it almost since my awakening in this body, and it somehow felt wrong to stop now.

“We shall be there tomorrow morning.”

I did my best to hide my expression of despair. I must have done a horrible job at it, judging by how the face of my driver went pale and he looked away.

“I apologise, my lady, you see the condition of the road isn’t ideal, and if I were to go any faster-”

“Unfortunate your castle is the closest to the border, so we couldn’t even spend the night in one of your fiefs.” The knight added.

I nodded. The was nothing I could say to that. There was nothing I could say or do about any of the situations that had happened to me today. But I was not about to spend the whole night in this stuffy and shaky carriage.

“And this road leads straight to it?” I asked both my companions.

“Yes, my lady. It branches off at several points to lead to some minor cities, but this main road does indeed lead to Allverburg, where your castle is located.”

I nodded again.

“Knight, could you fetch a cape, a blade, some coin, and a set of less conspicuous clothes from my luggage? We shall head there by foot.”

“But my lady!” The driver tried to protest.

“I shall do as the lady commands.” The knight said, cutting off the driver.

A few minutes later, I was all dressed and set for a long walk. I was planning on spending the night in someone’s house. A farmer or a merchant were bound to take me in in exchange for some coin, in the hypothetical absence of an inn. I awkwardly attached the longsword I had been handed at my waist. It was more for show than anything, truly. I had never used any cold weapon in my life.

“Knight, shall we depart?” I asked.

“My lady,” The knight bowed, “If I may?”

“Speak.” I gestured awkwardly.

“I do not wish to go against your orders, but considering your swordsmanship, as well as your magic abilities, wouldn’t it be more reasonable for me to stay with the envoy and guard your belongings?”

Right, I allegedly had magic powers. This wasn’t the first time I heard those words, but so far I hadn’t had the chance to test them out, so it wasn’t really something I could rely upon for protection. However, as much as I didn’t want to venture into this world alone, I also understood that if I arrived at my new home without any belongings, it would only cause trouble for everyone involved.

“I understand.” I agreed reluctantly. “If anyone at the castle asks about my absence, tell them I wanted to see how my people lived for myself, and that I shall be back by tomorrow evening at the latest.”

“Of course, my lady.” The knight bowed before getting back onto the carriage.

I watched as the carriage rode away into the distance, occasionally jumping up and down off the irregular surface of the road. I let out a sigh and took in a deep breath of fresh air. Today had been a long and confusing day, but I had a long walk ahead of me to process it all.

The evening slowly fell over the peaceful forest I was walking through. The sky turned a gentle pink, then purple, and finally, mere minutes after the sun set behind the treeline, it became a deep, dark blue. Clouds began gathering here and there, sheltering away any stars. For some strange reason, I wasn’t afraid of the tall, eerie trees around me. Maybe it was because I still thought this might have been a dream, although it had gone on for too long and felt way too real.

I was walking slowly, so as to avoid any “irregularities” in the paved road. The word “irregularities” was putting it nicely, they were more like baby hills and valleys. It was as if the road had gained a life of its own, and had tried to detach itself from the ground beneath it before a wizard came and made it stay in place for good.

I smiled. That sounded as plausible as everything that had happened to me today.

I had woken up in an unfamiliar bed. Several women in maids’ uniforms had pulled me from bed, washed, and dressed me. At first, I thought it was a prank from one of my friends, but as the maids led me to the dining room of what they referred to as my parent’s house, I realised none of my friends had the determination nor the money to pull such an elaborate prank.

Two people, presumably my new parents, greeted me, and we made small talk about some event I was to attend at lunchtime. I lied about how excited I was, and they told me they were proud of the woman I had become.

The maids came again with a change of clothes after breakfast. They helped me put on a complex and ornated dress. When they finally gave me a mirror, I couldn’t recognise the stranger looking at me. That woman was tall, broad-shouldered, and heavy-chested, although the latter might have been a trick of the corset she was wearing under her gown. She had somewhat refined traits, but a rather flat face which for some reason was clean of any makeup. Her hair was a golden colour and her indigo eyes stood out against her tanned skin. There was an aura of authority around her, something that commanded respect. That aura was strong enough to remain even after someone else had taken control of her body.

The ceremony seemed to be of the religious kind. I had to kneel in a church for over an hour before the head priest bestowed Leticia Avene Vandreik-Hoffen with a sealed parchment. I accepted his offer in the most sincere way I could fake and thanked him for bestowing me with such an honour.

Then things went south.

The priest asked me when I wanted to “lay my eyes and heart upon the blessed land” to which I answered, “whenever his eminence wishes”. It turned out the priest wanted me to get to my land ASAP and spread the word of his god there. That’s how I found myself sitting in a carriage that same afternoon, in yet another different outfit, and my new parents wishing me farewell and insisting on how proud they were of my decision.

Thus, Lady Leticia Avene Vandreik-Hoffen had become the sole ruler of a significant piece of land previously belonging to the church. She had been bestowed of the title of Great Duchess and did not require to marry or produce any heirs to maintain control of the land. This honour was bestowed upon her as a thank you and reward for her military achievements.

I learned all of that in the carriage, after reading that parchment the priest had handed me earlier. And although I still had many questions, I felt like I should not go around asking those right after receiving land and power. After all, I did not want to end up in jail for being a witch, a dimension traveller, or whatever else the locals might accuse me of.

My peaceful train of thought ended as hit my foot against a protruding rock, and almost fell over. The night had fully fallen now, and I could hardly see anything.

“Come on magic, now is the time to manifest.” I stretched out my hand and shook it, hoping a flame or some sort of light would appear in my palm. Unsurprisingly, none of that happened.

“Dammit Rose, you should have watched more fantasy movies or something, maybe then you would have known how to act in this situation.” I reprimanded myself.

It might seem surprising to you, but I wasn’t too upset over my predicament. Being a duchess had a lot of advantages, like money, power, good food, and a nice house. I was used to working hard, and I had handled administrative documents on occasion, so I wasn’t too worried about my responsibilities. The only thing that bothered me was that wouldn’t be able to see my friends again. But it wasn’t as if we met regularly anyway, since my job required a lot of traveling, sometimes to remote places with no Wi-Fi.

I noticed a light in the distance, it looked like the light produced by a torch or a campfire.

“Great, maybe I’ll find a place to sleep.”

Not that I was tired; on the contrary, after all the events of the day, I had way too much adrenaline to fall asleep.