Morning After (Part 1)

Light shined in my eyes. I was feeling groggy. I slowly pulled myself up from the sofa, the light that wake me up was coming from an open curtain across the room.

"Ouch", my back was stiff from sleeping in an awkward position on the small sofa. That's what I get for being stubborn.

I turned to look at Rebecca. Her hair was a mess, it looked like she was tossing and turning all night. One of her legs was also hanging off the side of the sofa. 'I hope she wasn't too uncomfortable sleeping on a sofa'.

I added a mental note that I would need to find a better solution for us both to sleep comfortably since I doubt we would be using the bed together any time soon. Even though I believe there was a chance we could become a happy couple, the scars she must have received from the original Duke ran deep. Slow and steady will win the race. It was important to start from scratch and build a strong foundation.

In the first place, I myself didn't know if I would like Rebecca enough to want to be lifelong partners with her. From my first impression, she was cute and strong willed. But I had several relationships in the past where my girlfriend was a good person but we just did not mesh well. Only time would tell if we were compatible for each other.

Truth be told, I had to embellish my feelings yesterday. When I said that I wanted to love her and only her, there was no way I could sincerely feel that way when I had only met her less than 6 hours before, but had to convince her I was a changed man from the Nicolas she knew. Regardless, I will try my best to make those words a reality.

If our relationship was a plant, I was the gardener who will diligently water it every day. However, I had no idea if the soil was fertile or not.

From the moment I woke up, I was thinking about Rebecca, but I had other pressing matters I needed to focus one as well. For one, I have the get to the bottom of how and why I took over the original Duke's body. All I know so far is that a black magic circle appeared under my feet before I took over this body. I think it is fair to assume my transmigration was caused by a type of magic in this world.

If this type of magic is common, would a lot people know about it? Maybe if I had right away told people I was not the original Duke, they could have helped me get back to my original body quickly. But if it was so common, how come nobody noticed the magic occurring? Also, why did I take over right in the middle of a wedding?

I will have to be careful. I needed to find out what happened to me and find a way to return back home without being revealed as a fake. Even if I found a way to switch back soon, given what I know about the original Nicolas, I will wait 6 months before going back. That way I can grant Rebecca's wish and she can escape to freedom before the cruel original Nicolas returns. I could not in good conscience return back to my peaceful life knowing that it meant Rebecca would suffer for the rest of her life. Especially not after I just gave her hope for her future.

And if her wish involved staying with me, I would probably choose to stay here with her. I was looking to settle down in my old world anyways. I had nothing too pressing to go back for. My parents lived across the country so I hardly ever saw them and I was one of 6 kids so they won't miss me too much.

The one negative of this world is how old fashion this kingdom was. As someone with values from modern society, I could not stomach some of beliefs that were thought to be common sense in this kingdom. My biggest disappointment was the lack of the belief that every human being had basic human rights.

So far, this mostly translated to gender equality because I had spent most of yesterday talking to Rebecca and learning the way society shackled her, but I am sure it would also relate to wealth inequality once I went into the city and talked to commoners.

Maybe I could use my power as a Duke to change the laws and social views? Legalizing divorce seemed like an easy choice. I should have the second most power after the King so I must have some influence. However, I do not know the true structure of the nobles in this Kingdom.

On that note, I will need to utilize James well. At the moment, he is the only person who knows I have no memory. There are a lot of things he will have to teach me to be able to fool everyone. Especially any enemy nobles the original Duke might have had. I will set up a meeting with James after Rebecca woke up and we had a quick breakfast.

At the moment, the essential things I need to learn are what responsibilities and power I have as a Duke and how to use my lightning magic.

It was of paramount importance that I got a crash course in everything my role as a Duke entailed. It had the potential to be so much that I might be spending the 6 months I had to court Rebecca, instead spending nights with James doing Duke training.

I also needed to get a run down on how magic worked in this world. Yesterday, James called me the best lightening mage in the Kingdom, From this title, I have to assume that the original Duke had a job that is related to magic. Was he a soldier? Or maybe a magic scholar?

Either way, it would be important for me to learn to use my own magic because it would be a disaster if I was asked by someone to use my magic. Excuses would only last so long before I would be revealed as a fake.

As I was thinking about all the things I would have to do today, I noticed some movement from the sofa across from me.