The Likely Choices

A silence descended on the room. Confusion erupted within the mind of the young woman. Confused that her provocation was ignored. Confused that the once prideful Duke practically admitted to being a disgrace. Finally, confused as to what the man before her meant by a dark void. Seeing the contemplation getting her nowhere, Michael decided to continue.

"I will attempt to clarify for you. I am and I am not Duke Michael Asher. I am simply because this is the body of the duke you know as well as his memories within my mind. I am not the duke you know because I have fully intact memories of another existence within me."

Briefly the confusion lessened on the young woman's face before it sank in more deeply than previously.

"My name is Michael Asher just like the duke you are familiar with. I believe that commonality is the main reason that I am able to be here today. Even after sorting through a lifetime of memories after awakening here, I failed to find any other similarities between myself and the past existence."

Although the confusion never left her face, the young woman began to relax her body bit by bit as she continued listening to the man claiming to be and not to be the duke at the same time.

"In truth, both myself and the duke you are familiar with should be dead right now. Although I am unclear on why you attempted to take his life, I do truly owe you thanks. Before coming here, I was trapped in a void after I tragically lost my life in an accident. How long I was trapped I am unsure. Now that I think about it, calling it an attempt on his life is incorrect. You did in fact kill Duke Michael Asher."

Finally, the young woman decided to speak. She was finding no answer to her confusion while listening after all.

"You truly expect me to believe this story?"

"Hahaha! Whether you believe me or not is your choice and your choice alone. I cannot force you to believe me anymore than I can force the reputation I have inherited to change. All I can do I be patient and put in the effort to rebuild this city and my own life."

"If everything you've said is true, why would you care about this city any more than the duke had? After all, you would have no ties to Astra or the people in it."

"That is a valid point. After all, my soul is not even from this world so why should I care about the places and people in it? The answer is rather simple. My previous life was uneventful, and I spent it alone. This is my second chance. A chance most will never be afforded. I don't know what or why I was brought here, perhaps God took pity on my previous life.

What I know is that I will do better this time around and not squander this chance. For that I will need to rebuild the image of the body I have been given and I would like to ask you to help me."

Listening to the explanation, everything seemed like a possibility. Although there was a plethora of questions she wanted to ask, one, in particular, stood out the most.

"What could I do to help you? I am a lowly commoner with no background. I earn my keep by accompanying men around the city just to be able to feed myself. What value could somebody with nothing to offer have to a noble such as yourself?"

A smile began to creep its way across Michael's face. It was gentle and held no malice. The young woman sat before him had just asked the one question that he wanted to hear. A question that implied she has considered believing his story.

"Don't cut yourself so short. Although I do not know the exact reasons you had for taking the life of the Duke, I am positive they were valid reasons. With that, you came up with your own plan to achieve what you wanted and even managed to pull it off flawlessly. Someday, I hope to know your reasons so I can try to remedy them but for now, I will not ask.

You are far more intelligent than you give yourself credit for. You are also bold enough to chance after your desires. As for your current line of work, it has allowed you to become familiar with the people of this city as well as the social conditions. That alone is reason enough for me to seek your advisory."

Michael decided to lay everything out before him. There was no point in try to hide anything from this woman. He came here to seek her assistance as well as stay another possible attempt on his life once she learned he was alive.

"Now, I will take my leave and return to my estate. I will not pressure you for you answer but form my perspective you have limited choices. Choice number one is the one that I desire. You accept that I have been entirely truthful with you and accept my request for your assistance in improving the state my predecessor left this city in.

Choice number two, you still assist me, but you never fully accept my words as truth and for that the progress of improvement is drastically slower. Although not ideal, I would still prefer this option over the next ones.

Option three is you believe nothing I have said and decide to flee the city out of fear for your life. For many, this would be the most likely option they take after seeing the man they had killed walking around again.

Your finally viable choice in my opinion is to make another attempt on my life. For this, I can only advise you to reconsider the other options. As I stated, I am not and will never be the man you knew. Whatever actions of his that lead you to the first attempt are being forgiven because it gave me this second chance at life. The same will not be said for any future attempts. I lost my first life miserably. I will not lose this one as well."