"Eden, have you done the work I gave you?" Edward Hastings, my boss, stood over my desk, glaring.
"No, sir," I said, barely looking up from the stack of papers on my desk. "I'm still working on the murder case." I pointed to the documents spread out in front of me.
"Have you lost your mind?" His voice rose, sharp as always. "Didn't I tell you the divorce case is more urgent?" Suddenly he raised his voice, just like he always did when he was angry with me, and it means all the time.
I sighed. "But the murder case hasn't seen any progress all week—"
"Just do what I said!" he snapped. "The client is coming in today. You need to prepare everything."
I bit back my frustration, my fingers hovering over the keyboard. This wasn't new, my boss, the lawyer of his own small law firm, always prioritizes the wealthiest client first. And he asked me to do all his job, to pick up the slack. Research, paperwork, drafting everything, and all stuff that a lawyer has to prepare for their own client, but the worst thing was I wasn't even a law school graduate. I'd learned everything on the job. For all these four years I have to learn all these by myself from scratch.
Still, I stayed. I could have found a better-paying job, maybe even a more balanced work life. But something kept pulling me back, the way some clients clung to hope when they saw someone fighting for them, the cases that we won. The satisfaction that no other work may give. It wasn't about the money for me. It was about making a difference, even if not all of our clients truly deserved to be defended. Some cases made my stomach turn, but for the ones that mattered—the ones where justice seemed so far out of reach, I stayed. Even if my boss didn't share that same idea, I knew why I was here.
Once I finished prepping for the divorce case, Mr. Hastings ordered me to get some coffees from him and the clients.
When I'm waiting for the coffee in the coffee shop, I can't help but to still do some work on my phone. If I can be honest with you, Working here is really tiring, besides all that workload, there are no exact working hours, and sometimes when I finally get back home, I still have to do some work.
"Where are you? The client's here." Without waiting for my answers, Mr. Hastings ended the phone call one sided. "I'm on my way." I said it to myself because there is no one to listen on the side of the phone.
I let out a heavy sigh and waited for the barista to call my name. After a few minutes, I finally collected the coffee orders, double-checking to ensure I had everything right. Without wasting another moment, I dashed out of the coffee shop, running as fast as I could while trying to keep the cups steady to not get any spills.
I looked at my watch on my right wrist. It's been 10 minutes since Mr. Hastings' last call, I have to get to the office as fast as I can, he must be furious.
With three blocks left, I hurriedly crossed the street after the pedestrian green light turned on, suddenly I could hear someone screams from across the street, and from my side eye I could see a big black shadow coming closer to me so fast, too fast until it hit me so hard.
In the next second, I was knocked off my feet, I felt my body fly, all the coffee cups in my hands were off, and flew everywhere. The next thing I know, I already lied down on my left side on the middle of the street, I couldn't move my body nor felt my body at all.
The sky looked spinning, everything looked spinning, and I felt some water streamed from the back of my head. I couldn't open my eyes well, It kept closing no matter how much I wanted it to open.
I could still hear the voices of people screaming and talking to me, but somehow I couldn't understand what they said, and I felt so sleepy, so I didn't fight my eyes anymore. I closed my eyes and everything went silent and dark.
"Please wake up, Princess." A soft voice pulled me back to consciousness. My eyes fluttered open, but everything felt… off. The ceiling above me wasn't the sterile white I expected it was a rich lilac with ornate gold patterns. I blinked in confusion. Where was I?
"Happy Birthday, Princess!" I turned my head, and my gaze fell on a woman dressed in a long, elegant gown. She stood beside me, and she clapped her hands with a face that was full of excitement.
"The King and Queen already waited for you in the dining hall. They must have prepared for your gift."
Birthday? King and Queen? What was she talking about?
I rubbed my head, trying to remember. The accident. The truck. The cold street. Where was I? I should be in a hospital, not… here.
I sat up, and that's when I saw the room—really saw it. It was huge. The bed I lay in was a four-poster, draped in pale lilac silk with gold embroidery. The floor beneath me was polished wood, covered in a massive woven rug that looked like it had come straight from the 1800s. Every inch of the room screamed luxury—from the chandelier hanging above me to the detailed carvings on the furniture.
The walls were painted soft lavender, adorned with portraits of regal-looking figures. Heavy velvet curtains, also lilac, framed tall windows that stretched nearly to the ceiling. There was a fireplace in the corner, unlit but grand, surrounded by marble sculptures and delicate vases filled with fresh flowers.
It was like something out of a historical drama.
"I'm sorry, Where am I?" I whispered, glancing down at myself. The dress I wore was loose and white, made of fine, delicate fabric—not anything I would ever wear.
"What happened to me after I got hit?" I touched my head and tried to check my head to see if there were any stitches there, because I'm sure I felt some blood earlier.
The woman chuckled. "Oh, Your Highness, you've always had such a vivid imagination." She moved closer, her hands gentle as she brushed my hair back. "Let's get you a bath. The King and Queen are waiting." She grabbed my arm, and asked me to stand up.
None of this made sense. "Wait," I said, pulling away. " Hear me first. Whoever you are, I think you've mistaken me with someone else." I lifted both of my hands, asking her to listen.
"Maybe because you got a year older, your acting is getting better too." She doesn't take my words seriously.
She dragged my body in one pull, from the lying down position to stand up from the big size purple bed that I was in.
"Hey, stop!"
She pushed me to the other room, and started to unbutton my white loose dress.
"No, no, no!" I crossed my hands to cover my body
"I can do it by myself, just stop!" I took a couple steps back from her, "Can you turn away?" She sighed hard, but still obeyed me.
Now I realized that this new room is the bathroom, because there is a big rectangle bathtub that almost looks like a small swimming pool, and there are many flower petals there and the bath smells wonderful, it's lavender aroma.
I started to undress and froze when I caught sight of my reflection in the bathwater. Staring back at me wasn't my own face. It was a child—a blonde girl with big blue eyes. She couldn't have been older than ten.
I touched my face. The reflection mimicked me perfectly. My heart raced. "What the hell?" I whispered. This wasn't me. This couldn't be real.
The woman from before turned to face me, her expression soft with concern. "What's wrong, Princess Seraphine?"
Princess Seraphine?
I stumbled backward, my mind spinning. The last thing I remembered was crossing the street, getting hit… and now I was in the body of a child, a princess no less. This couldn't be real. Maybe I was dreaming, or maybe I was dead.
"Where's my body?" I asked, panic creeping into my voice. "Who is this girl?"
She placed a hand on my forehead gently. "Do you not feel well, Princess? You seem confused."
Confused didn't even begin to cover it. My mind raced with questions, but no answers came. "Please, just… leave me alone for a while."
"But the King and Queen—"
"I'll meet them when I'm ready," I said firmly, trying to sound like the princess she seemed to think I was.
She hesitated but finally left, now I can think peacefully.
Alone in the room, I grabbed the nearest thing I could find—a book with the name "Seraphine Coralie Ellysia Brightwater" written inside. That must be who I was now. Seraphine Brightwater, a ten-year-old princess.
Am I in Heaven right now?
Or is it some kind of social experiment? Or even a real science experiment?
While I am being the subject to go to another body, this science project was really a success then.
I didn't know how this happened, but I had to figure it out. For now, I'd play along, gather information, and try to survive in this strange new world.
I think It's this kid name, because I found that name in almost all of her letter and stuff
I don't understand what's going on, but I think the best thing I can do right now is to carry out this 'princess' role while gaining more information about what happened to me.