“D*mn it.”

At the same moment, when Cassion confirmed he had woken up in a woman’s body, he unconsciously let out a curse.

His face subtly contorted as he stared at the mirror hanging on the wall.

A weak and fragile woman’s body that he could crush with one hand. Surely… this must be a dream.

Hoping it was a dream, Cassion slapped his cheek hard. Slap! Despite the crisp sound echoing through the air, the mirror still showed only the mysterious woman.

He had slapped himself hard enough to make his cheek swell, but nothing changed. This suggested it wasn’t a dream but reality.

“…How did this happen?”

Cassion’s last memory was washing up, reading a book in bed, and then falling asleep. It could be described as his usual daily routine.

Who would have known that when he opened his eyes, he would find himself in a new space, not his mansion, with the appearance of a fragile woman?

“Who is this, anyway?”

Cassion examined his face closely, trying to recall who the woman in the mirror might be.

Blonde hair and emerald eyes.

She looked somewhat familiar, suggesting she might be a woman who had attended social gatherings, but seeing the shabby clothes she wore made him doubt it.

Her appearance made her seem like a commoner, yet the grace she exhibited whenever she moved her hands suggested she was indeed a noble.

“A noblewoman from an impoverished family, perhaps.”

After being lost in thought for a moment, Cassion concluded that the owner of this body was a lady from a destitute family.

Why had he switched bodies with such a lady?

The Lowden duchy was a prestigious noble family, so there was no way they would have any connection with a lady from an insignificant family.

The only possible connection might be a social gathering.

Even if poor, she could still attend social events. The fact that her face seemed familiar meant there was a possibility they had crossed paths briefly.

That was all, so why had their bodies switched? The more Cassion thought about it, the more questions filled his mind.

Just in case, he slapped his other cheek, but the situation remained unchanged. It felt like he was once again realizing that this absurd situation was reality.

There was only one thing for Cassion, with his quick judgment, to do. He needed to go to the Lowden duchy as soon as possible.

Normally, he would wash up immediately after waking, but today he had no time for that. He needed to go to the duchy right away to confirm with his own eyes if they had indeed switched bodies.

He felt that only by meeting the insolent woman who had taken over his body and asking what had happened would he be able to relieve his current frustration.

To change into outdoor clothes, Cassion immediately opened the wardrobe. Seeing it filled with shabby dresses like the nightgown, he let out a deep sigh.

“Huff, am I supposed to wear this junk?”

It wasn’t that there were no new dresses. However, all the dresses were too revealing, designed to seduce men, making them impossible for him to wear.

Feeling disgusted, Cassion kicked the door roughly. After going straight into the hallway, he opened each door until he stopped when he saw a dressing room.

“Miss, where are you going?”

Ignoring the maid who approached after hearing the commotion, Cassion entered the dressing room. He frowned while rummaging through the wardrobe.

“Why is everything so tacky?”

There were more luxurious dresses than before, but he felt repulsed by the extravagant decorations hanging all over them. Though not entirely to his liking, he had no choice but to wear one of these.

The problem was that while he had experience removing women’s clothes, he had never put them on. Not knowing how to wear them was troublesome.

“That dress belongs to Miss Natalie. It’s a cherished piece that even you have never worn before, Miss. Are you really going to wear it without permission…?”

Chatter, chatter. How incredibly noisy.

Feeling irritated, Cassion cut off the chattering woman and ordered her:

“Stop talking and help me now.”

“Pardon?”

“I don’t have time, hurry!”

Why was Miss Alicia acting this way? The maid looked at Alicia with a puzzled expression.

She was a maid who served Alicia and Natalie on alternate weeks and often disrespected Alicia while supporting Natalie. That was normal in this mansion.

But strangely, today she couldn’t do that. Why did Alicia’s atmosphere and tone feel so extraordinary?

The atmosphere, so different from usual, made her feel instinctively intimidated.

Feeling pressured to obey Alicia’s words, she had no choice but to help her change clothes as instructed.

“Well, it suits me reasonably well.”

Though not to his taste, it seemed to suit the owner of this body well, so Cassion decided to be satisfied with it for now.

Just as Cassion was about to move toward the first-floor staircase, a frame with a family crest caught his eye.

A tulip crest… that would be the Shifield barony.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen this crest.”

Cassion had once built a friendship with Baron Shifield. When the baron died, he couldn’t attend the funeral in person but had sent flowers through his butler, indicating a certain level of friendship.

Rumors said that after Baron Shifield’s death two years ago, the barony was on the verge of collapse. If that was true, it would explain why the owner of this body only had shabby dresses.

‘I don’t want to stay in this wretched place for even a moment longer.’

It was then, as he hurried toward the door to escape this stifling space, that he noticed a woman walking from the opposite end of the hallway with a troubling expression.

Her face looked ready to pick a fight at any moment, so he had no desire to engage in conversation.

Cassion tried to pass by, lightly ignoring the woman walking toward him. However, his ominous feeling proved correct when she blocked his path and snapped at him.

“You, what’s this? That’s my dress. Why are you wearing it? Take it off right now.”

Cassion frowned at the irritated, confrontational tone.

“I don’t want to wear your dress either, but what can I do when this is the only decent thing to wear? Everything else is so provincial, what exactly am I supposed to wear?”

“You dare complain after coveting my dress? If that’s how you feel, wear your own dresses!”

What Alicia was wearing was Natalie’s most expensive dress. She had been saving it to wear to a royal banquet, and now Alicia was wearing it. Natalie judged that Alicia must be out of her mind.

“The rest are old dresses. Are you telling me to wear those? If you want me to take this off, provide me with something new.”

“W-what?”

Cassion tried to ignore Natalie and go on his way, but she grabbed his wrist.

“Where do you think you’re going wearing that?”

“I have somewhere to be. Now let go of my hand.”

“Are you crazy?”

“I’m not crazy, so would you please stop?”

Natalie’s grip weakened, surprised by the coldly dropping voice. Cassion knocked her hand away and moved forward, but the woman didn’t give up and scurried to block his path again.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you today?”

“Step aside while I’m still asking nicely.”

Again, Cassion tried to avoid the woman. He didn’t want to exchange any more words with such an ill-mannered woman.

“Alicia, can’t you hear me?”

Alicia… So the owner of this body is Alicia Shifield.

The moment he learned the name of the woman whose body he had switched with, Cassion recalled what Baron Shifield had said in the past. During their brief business partnership, the baron often boasted about his daughter.

‘My daughter’s name is Alicia, and you wouldn’t believe how pure and kind she is.’

Recalling the woman’s face he had seen in the mirror earlier, she did resemble Baron Shifield somewhat. Perhaps that was why she looked familiar.

Cassion’s gaze, which had been lingering in the air, now turned toward the chattering woman. Was she the second daughter of the Shifield family?

He had heard that Baron Shifield had remarried long ago after losing his wife to illness and had taken in his new wife’s child. Perhaps because they weren’t blood-related, the second daughter of the Shifield family didn’t seem to resemble the baron at all, not even in atmosphere.

Wait. This one looks more familiar.

Cassion’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Natalie.

He belatedly realized that he had seen the woman before him at a social gathering. Wasn’t she one of those women who had lingered around him trying to catch his attention?