The Ruhi Empire, which stretched as far as half of the planet of Alnur, had a long-standing history. Some claim the empire was created by the very God, Alnur, who created this planet, flourishing this region with endless peace, prosperity and magic. Well, religion was a thing of the past, as well as magic, when people believed they had extraordinary powers to change the course of nature. Now, it’s nothing but an almost forgotten myth.

Despite its wide stature, the Ruhi Empire was considered one of the most developed nations, both economically and militarily. From the birth of this empire, it followed the footsteps of monarchy, each ruler writing a new glorious page in its history. Whether it was pure luck or the blessing of God, this empire had seen very few anarchic rulers, unlike the neighbouring countries which are almost always in chaos because of some weird concept of ‘democracy’.

The administration of the Ruhi Empire is divided into 27 major domains and 525 regions, which was then further divided into big and small cities and towns. Each domain is ruled by independent Lords, who represent the noble family of the respective domain, and are not bound by the state laws. However, they still have the obligation to follow the decisions of the Emperor reigning at the top.

In the past, Emperors of Ruhi Empire were considered the reincarnation of the God himself, and each Domain Lords were claimed to be demi-gods and the vessels of the God. They were revered by the people, and claimed to hold extraordinary powers beyond human capabilities. But as time changed and the value of religion began to decline, such a concept blew away in the breeze like fine sand. Now, each of the Domain Lords and even the Emperor himself has to go through a lengthy process of succession to inherit their family titles and also the territory.

And this succession process is called Noblesse Selection.

In a quiet mansion at a corner of the empire, the illegitimate son of Reinburgh Domain Lord, Leonhardt Reinburgh, just sent a letter to the lord to step down from the Noblesse Selection.

* * *

The city Ann used to live in was the capital of Hemel Region, Mael, which was situated in the middle of Oreland Domain, and ruled by the Oreland noble family. As someone little interested in politics, Ann had no idea about the current conflict of succession going through the Oreland family for the next Noblesse Selection.

Right now, she was too busy processing the ocean of information waving through her mind as the police van sped through the town. The destination it reached was, without any surprise, the Mael Police Station. Ann followed Byron out of the vehicle, looking around in curiosity, then suddenly remembered something and quickly changed her expression.

“See ya during lunch then, buddy.”

With that, Byron left her standing there like a child on the first day of his school and disappeared into the five-story building.

Ann slowly made her way through the entrance, cautiously looking around as if worried someone was gonna jump at her and announce that she was an imposter. Upon entering the building, a desk on the left appeared in her eyes, where a young man wearing the Mael City police uniform was typing something on the computer. As soon as she entered, the guy hastily stood up and bowed at her in greetings.

“Good morning, Detective!”

The greeting was oddly cheerful, probably because he was a newbie right out of the Mael Police Academy and had the fresh, bubbly energy around him. Ann nodded back in return and continued to look around.

Just at the front, she noticed three hallways going into three different directions, with Byron’s figure disappearing on the left in the middle hallway. For a moment, she just peeked into the hallways, unsure of where she was supposed to go, when she felt a burning gaze following her movements. As she turned around, she realized it was the guy at the counter watching her curiously.

“I’m gonna…. I’m gonna just get going.”

“Yes, Detective! Hope to see you at lunch!”

The reply came back as energetic as the greeting. Ann could only nod awkwardly before turning around. She sighed inwardly and lifted her feet to enter the middle hallway, hoping to find Byron, the only person she knew around here.

However, before her foot could land on the floor, her body turned around and entered the hallway to the right. As if her feet had minds of their own, they began carrying her through the hallway despite her inner confusion.

‘Eh…..?’

For the second time that day, Ann got confused at the behaviour of the body she was occupying. The first time was when she turned around and grabbed the overcoat before leaving the apartment. She didn’t like overcoats, not only because she thought her thin stature looked bulky in those clothes, but the heavy materials also make her feel uncomfortable. But to think that she was wearing a overcoat now without feeling the slightest discomfort was surprising to her.

‘Could it be….. the soul of this body is still…. alive?’

Ann stopped in her pace, and surprisingly, the feet complied to her this time. She looked at her feet, then glanced around as if making sure no one was around, then mumbled to herself.

“Are you….. here?”

No voice greeted her back, only silence responded. She waited for a few more minutes, hoping the non-existent voice in her mind to whisper in her ears. If her memory served her right, when people wake up in another body in movies, the soul of that body is already dead, and the body is only left their empty as a shell, as if waiting for a soul to occupy it. That’s why when Ann woke up this morning in this body, she thought the soul of the person had already died and she just happened to enter it.

But the consecutive behaviours that this body showed, like knowing where the bathroom was, which clothes it liked to wear, where the car was parked, all of them were screaming something was different.

This body. It wasn’t ownerless. It was responding to her, her soul, as a different entity.

“Are you-”

Just as she started to speak again, a bit louder this time, the sound of footsteps approached. She quickly turned around and saw a cop in the same uniform as the others was coming this way. Noticing her, the guy smiled and nodded to her in greeting. Ann also quickly smiled and nodded back.

“Good morning, Detective.”

“Good morning….. Officer Sam.”

Ann glanced at the name tag as she responded. The man, probably in his late 40s, gave her a once over as if surprised then disappeared in the hallway. Ann let out the breath she was holding and patted her mascular chest. God knows how surprised she was when she saw that guy approaching.

She frowned to herself, realizing perhaps this wasn’t the right place to test her hypothesis out, and continued walking. As she strolled down the hallway lined with doors each holding different titles, she soon reached a door that appeared familiar to her and her feet stopped.

“Detective…. Rayan Lancel.”

Ann stared at the name for a while before reaching out and twisting the doorknob. When she opened the door, what appeared before her eyes made her raise her eyebrows.

It was a office, surprisingly very neat and tidy. Bookshelves lining the two walls of it, with a desk on the left and a couch opposite. The desk had one comfortable leather seat behind and two wooden chairs at the front. Overall, the place appeared to be a typical hideout of a detective where they handle most of their work.

“It seems this guy spent more time arranging information than his clothes.”

Ann closed the door and mumbled to herself. Looking at the spines of books neatly standing in a line like well-behaved kindergartener, she couldn’t help the amusement that washed over her. Contrary to the messy room she woke up this morning, it was a sharp difference.

For the past few minutes, Ann only looked around the office, peeking here and poking there like a curious child playing with ants. She found a few more journals like the one at home, but they were typed and not handwritten, and browsed through them one-by-one. The journals, which appeared to be more like reports and files, held information of various criminals, mostly homicide, and detailed information of the individuals. There were also a few that held information of people related to a crime or the victims of a case. Overall, the office was indeed nothing more than a workplace of an ordinary detective.

Ann put down the tenth report she was reading and cracked her neck. She still couldn’t find any reports with her name on it or any files that held her information. She approached the leather chair, feeling a bit exhausted, and slumped down on it. Her body immediately sunk on the cushion, like quicksand swallowing an elephant.

Leaning her now muscular frame on the chair, she stared at the ceiling and began thinking again.

To be honest, there wasn’t much she could think of now. She was still lacking on many information to reach a conclusion. Unless the memory of this body returned to her, or her own memory started helping her, she wouldn’t find any way to get out this situation.

‘I still can’t believe I’m dead……’

Ann thought as she blankly stared at the ceiling. If she was having it this hard accepting her death, what about her parents? Her older siblings? Her friends and colleagues? Would they be able to accept this sudden death of hers? Her parents should be beyond heartbroken, as well as her siblings. The death of the youngest member of a family is always heavier.

For the umpteenth time, Ann let out a sigh.

* * *

The rest of the day went….. eventful. During lunch, Byron came and dragged her, who was buried in her 25th reports, to lunch. He chatted on the whole time, sharing her the bits of information he managed to find about the case, his hypothesis and suspicions, and also occasionally comforted her as if she just had a break-up. In return, Ann only nodded back, not understanding how to respond.

She listened to him with half-interest and half-amusement. She picked on her food, not seemingly having the appetite, but still forced herself to eat at Byron’s urging. When lunch was over, Byron again rushed to his work, while Ann returned back to the office. She continued to read the reports and journals, hoping to find some clue about this body or herself.

As the sun reached the horizon, painting everything in a reddish blush, Ann closed the last file of the day.

* * *

“Alright, see ya tomorrow then. Don’ forget to visit Dr. Hopkin.”

‘Who’s Dr. Hopkin again?’

When Ann declared she was leaving for the day, Byron bade her farewell and told her to meet a certain Dr. Hopkin. Ann, who had zero memories of the body, could only nod blankly as she wondered who was this Dr. Hopkin.

‘If it’s a doctor….. could it be a forensic doctor? I mean, the only profession that will have daily interactions with cops and detectives should be a forensic doctor.’

Ann mused to herself as she reached the entrance of the police station. It was only when she stepped outside that she remembered something very very important.

‘Wait, how am I supposed to go back now…..?’

Realization dawned over her like a bold out of the blue, and she finally remembered that she had completely forgotten to get the car back from the Autumn Apartment Complex.

“Holy shit, where’s the car…..!”

“Detective!”

Just as she was about to go into a panic mode, someone called out to her. When she turned around, she saw it was Carla rushing toward her with a nervous expression.

“Detective…. Here…. here’s your key….”

Carla reached to her in no time and held out her palm while huffing, Ann looked down at the palm holding the car key she was about to panic for. She frowned to herself, not understanding how and where the young woman got the key from. Looking up at Carla, she voiced out that question.

“Where did you get it from?”

Carla froze for a moment, then a look of confusion appeared on her face as she hesitantly answered.

“You gave it to me.”

“I did?”

Ann pointed to herself and asked in disbelief, in which Carla only nodded back. The question ‘when?’ was at the top of her tongue, but considering there were many things she couldn’t remember, she held her tongue and took the keys.

“Thank you…..”

Carla gave a bright smile and responded.

“My pleasure, Detective. I have perked your car beside the entrance for your convenience.”

Ann nodded, still a bit dazed, and turned back around. Behind her, she heard the footsteps of Carla disappearing into the building.

Just as Carla said, Ann found the car perked right beside the entrance. There were no other private vehicles around, only a few dark-blue police van were standing here and there, so the black color stood out like a sore thumb.

Swallowing the sigh about to leave her mouth, she got into the car.

The ride back home was more peaceful than in the morning when she was frantically trying to reach her destination. Dark clouds were covering the starry sky, occasionally showing sparks of lightning like a naughty child playing with a switch. A heavy sound followed afterward, as if a god was descending on earth with an angry roar.

In a few minutes, she reached the apartment building, perked her car, and got into the elevator. By the time she entered the apartment she woke up this morning, it was already drizzling outside.

After a lengthy shower and some leftover food, which was nothing but a pizza slice, she settled in front of the desk, not before making a mental note to go grocery shopping next morning and buy some necessary ingredients. Even if this body could live on pizza slices, she absolutely could not.

Her pair of now dark brown eyes surveyed the rows of books and journals neatly standing on the desk. She closed her eyes and reached out, letting this body choose what it was looking for.

When her now strong forearm bumped into the spine of a notebook, she opened her eyes and pulled it out. Surprisingly, the title read ‘Victim Information’.

With raised brows, she opened the journal and browsed through the information.

This journal was very similar in format as the journal she read this morning. Except that that journal was about criminals, but this one was about victims, most of whom were dead. Each page held a picture of an individual, with detailed information of their names, age, profession and family backgrounds. It also recorded how they were killed, what was the motive, and even the names of the murderers, each different.

But one thing that was common about all the individuals that they were victims of notorious criminals. Some of which she remembered even appeared on the news.

As Ann continued to read and flip the pages, she reached the very latest page of the journal, and almost jumped out of her seat.

The latest page of the journal held a sketch of her previous face, the face she had when she was Ann Mackenzie. Beneath it, information she already knew was neatly written.

Name: Ann Mackenzie. 

Age: 23. 

Profession: PA. 

Workplace: UFO Tech Company. 

Parents: Alicia Mackenzie and Robert Mackenzie. The couple has five children, with Ann Mackenzie being the youngest. 

Disposition: Hard-working, polite and gentle in nature. Has good relationship with family members, friends, colleagues, and even the boss.

Reason for investigation: Recently got caught up in an accident, possibly conspired by the Ermine cult. Currently, her life seems out of danger, but high chance of getting attacked again. Poor girl probably doesn’t even know what she got herself into.

Possibility of assassination: 100%

As Ann stared at her own sketch with wide eyes, a memory, buried deep into the body and the core of her soul suddenly flashed through her eyes.

She finally remembered where she had met him. Why this body appeared so familiar to her, as if she had talked with him before.

Because she indeed talked with him, as he was the very detective who came to meet her in the hospital after the accident.

As Ann clutched her now brown locks, trying to suppress the wave of memory crushing into her skull as if wanting to burst out, lighting flashed outside, illuminating the room in a bright white glow before disappearing.

Just like her, someone else was also stretching his hand out of the deep ocean he fell into.