The cool dawn air brushing against her face woke Ciella, who slowly stretched her limbs.

Normally she would wake up in a good mood, but strangely, she felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort.

Why does her body feel so stiff?

The bed that should have felt soft only felt hard, and her body seemed awkward. Her head even felt dizzy.

Deliberately suppressing these strange feelings, she slowly opened her eyes and was startled by what she saw.

Before her was a clear sky without a hint of wind and a dense forest with lush trees. In her ears were the sounds of chirping birds and buzzing insects.

Last night, she had certainly fallen asleep in her cozy bed… something was wrong.

‘Where am I?’

Surprised by the unbelievable sight, Ciella looked around. When she lowered her gaze, she was so shocked she couldn’t close her mouth.

What is this? Fur? A tail?

Startled by her unfamiliar appearance, she frantically looked around for something to confirm her suspicions.

Ah, over there!

Just then, puddles formed from rainwater caught her eye.

Hurriedly approaching a puddle, Ciella looked at her reflection and was horrified.

‘Good heavens! I’ve become a dog?’

Perky triangular ears, short white fur, dark brown irises, a sturdy chest, strong shoulders… the image of a majestic medium-sized dog was completely unfamiliar.

Why on earth…

Having been born as the daughter of the Duke of Roxburrow and lived without want until just last night, Ciella found it difficult to accept her current desperate situation.

This must be a terrible nightmare.

Her first thought was denial of reality.

Thinking she would wake up from this dream, Ciella closed her eyes, believing that when she opened them again, she would be in her bed as usual.

But nothing changed when she woke up again. Only the darkening night sky and the mournful cries of insects greeted her.

When nothing changed after closing and opening her eyes, she walked to a thin twig and poked her cheek with it.

‘Ouch! So this isn’t a dream?’

The moment she felt the pain from the scratch, Ciella’s hope that this was just a dream instantly vanished.

‘God, please. Tell me this is a dream. Let me return to my body when I wake up!’

Unable to accept reality, she called for help hundreds of times into the void, but nothing changed. The indifferent deity had abandoned her.

Life became harsh for Ciella, who had lived as a nobleman’s daughter for 19 years only to suddenly become a stray dog. She had to run every day to find food and hide from life-threatening predators like wolves and bears.

‘I’m scared. Someone please help me.’

With more days of hunger than fullness, Ciella had to spend each day terrified of this life she had never experienced before.

‘Mother, Father, do you know I’m living like this? I want to go home! I miss you!’

The only thing that helped her endure this life full of misery and despair was the hope that she could reclaim her body.

Anticipating the day she would reunite with her family, Ciella searched for villages every day. She thought if she could find a familiar village, she might be able to return home.

But reality was not so accommodating.

Not knowing the way well, Ciella often got lost and had to wander for a long time. On unlucky days, far from discovering villages, she had to run for her life after encountering predators.

The feelings of expectation and hope seemed to have an expiration date; as her miserable life of daily survival threats continued, these emotions gradually withered.

Instead, feelings of despair and resignation slowly blossomed in her heart.

With a mindset of “whatever will be, will be,” Ciella had to live submitting to her reality.

Before long, she began living a life that relied more on instinct than reason. A life where she instinctively sensed enemies and taught herself how to survive.

Today was no different from usual. She was trudging along weakly, looking for food to fill her starving stomach.

Suddenly, a dazzling beam of light enveloped Ciella, and she felt her body floating.

“Nng. Ugh.”

Terrified, she curled up tightly and trembled.

The thin light grew stronger until it shone so brightly she couldn’t see ahead. Ciella frowned deeply and covered her face with her front paws.

“Can you open your eyes? Try to speak. You should be able to talk.”

When she heard the unfamiliar voice, Ciella slowly opened her eyes, feeling the light that had enveloped her body disappear. Before her stood an elderly man with a white beard so long it touched the ground.

“I can speak? Oh?”

Surprised that she could produce a human voice as the old man had said, Ciella immediately checked her body’s condition.

Her body had changed to human form, wrapped in light. However, it was closer to light than a solid human form.

“Your soul has currently left the dog’s body.”

“My soul left… Am I dead now? Are you an angel who will guide me to heaven?”

Though she thought she had given up her will to live, the thought of dying as a dog after being born human made her feel hopeless.

If this was going to happen, she would rather have been born a dog and died as one… If she hadn’t experienced a comfortable life, she probably wouldn’t have felt this miserable.

Tears welled up in Ciella’s eyes and one tear rolled down her cheek.

“An angel? No, I am not.”

The old man’s face showed surprise at the sight of Ciella crying.

“Then who are you?”

“I am a mage. I will restore your body to its original state, so don’t worry. I happened to discover you while passing through Rox Village. If not for that, you would have lived like this forever.”

“…”

At the word “mage,” Ciella abruptly stopped crying.

‘Am I not dead yet?’

Ciella immediately looked down to examine her body. No matter how she looked at it, her body surrounded by light did not appear to be that of a living person. She was in a soul state, just as the old man had said.

As she was checking her body by moving her fingers, the old man uttered something startling.

“Your body has been switched with someone else’s.”

“What?”

Can souls really be switched?

“Then is there a dog’s soul in my original body?”

“Would you wait a moment? If I look into this orb, we should be able to see your original body.”

As Ciella asked with a puzzled expression, the mage took out a small orb from his pocket and began to chant a spell.

Soon, the orb became foggy, thick mist settling inside it. The smoke that rose from within swirled around before clearing again.

The mage’s eyes widened as he checked inside the orb.

“What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with my body?”

“There’s no problem, but… unfortunately, it’s not a dog but a person who has taken possession of your body.”

The mage uttered these meaningful words. She couldn’t understand why he would say it was unfortunate that her body wasn’t occupied by a dog whose body had been switched with hers.

Come to think of it, the mage’s face seemed to have turned slightly red.

“You’re saying my body wasn’t switched with a dog’s soul? How can that be? Then who is occupying my body?”

Excited, Ciella bombarded him with various questions.

“I don’t know exactly, but I can tell one thing. It’s a girl about your age. It seems the souls of two people and one dog have become mixed up.”

Unlike the excited Ciella, the mage’s voice remained calm.

“So you’re saying a female my age is possessing my body and living my life instead of me?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

‘I see. So someone else has been living my comfortable life in my place…’

Realizing that her father and mother had no idea she had been possessed into a dog’s body and was suffering, she felt both empty and sad.

“Then did the dog’s soul enter that girl’s body?”

Ciella asked in a dejected voice, her mood having sunk considerably.

“That is also correct.”

“What happens when a dog’s soul enters a human?”

“Just a moment.”

The mage’s gaze turned to the orb, and after wiggling his fingers a few times, the orb became foggy again before clearing.