Chapter 01
“Take this. And this. And this.”
Sodan pointed at the three bags the personal shopper had laid out.
She adjusted her sleek black sunglasses and continued,
“Please have the items I picked earlier delivered to my residence together.”
She turned as if to leave—but paused, glancing back at the personal shopper. After a moment of hesitation, she called out to the woman who was busy wrapping the products.
“Hey… you recently started dating someone, didn’t you?”
“Pardon?”
The personal shopper looked up in shock, frozen mid-wrap. Her expression clearly asked: How did she know that?
“That man is a scammer. If he ever tells you to sign up for insurance or anything like that, don’t. Under any circumstances.”
With that, Sodan walked out of the luxury department store, leaving the stunned employee behind.
As she stepped onto the escalator, a small voice echoed inside her.
“Ah… seriously, stop saying unnecessary things. I was even holding back from telling you about her parents’ fate.”
{Sodan unnie, you’re way too nosy. And you promised you’d cut down your credit card spending this month!}
The voice belonged to the child spirit gripping her shoulder.
Sodan was a Taeju shaman (Great Master Shaman) who communed with an infant spirit that no one else could see or hear.
Her first spiritual illness had struck right after graduating middle school. Originally, her mother was supposed to become the shaman—but she ran away after giving birth to Sodan at nineteen, leaving her daughter to inherit the fate instead.
Thus, Sodan had been serving the temperamental little spirit like a spoiled child for seven years.
With its help, she had become a trusted advisor to young CEOs, politicians newly entering the political arena, and the elite circles where money and influence intertwined. And naturally, she had used that fortune to buy everything she had once only seen in magazines.
Some might call it excessive for a shaman—but Sodan was different. She even customized her ritual robes according to fashion trends. She once declared she would rather be buried in that season’s F/W collection than wear a funeral shroud.
‘You’re only able to spend like this because of me, aren’t you?’
Sodan shrugged inwardly.
By now, she had stepped out of the department store and was walking toward the main street.
“Hey! I told you not to talk like that in public! Do you want another ghost photo ending up online like last time?”
{Something feels wrong… I don’t like this energy.}
The child spirit glanced around nervously.
But since another viral scandal was unacceptable, it obediently slipped back inside her body.
Last year, it had clung to her shoulder inside a hotel lobby and ended up photographed—leading to an urban rumor known as “The XX Hotel Ghost Incident.”
Sodan stopped at a crosswalk.
She tapped the toe of her boot lightly against the pavement as she waited.
The signal turned green.
{Something’s off… why do I feel such bad energy?}
The child spirit muttered.
{I can feel it, but I can’t see ahead…}
Then it happened.
A deafening horn split the air.
Sodan turned instinctively—
And saw the massive blue front of a truck filling her entire field of vision.
“…Huh?”
BOOM!
A deafening crash shattered the world.
Her body was thrown into the air like a rag doll before hitting the asphalt hard.
Screams erupted everywhere.
Ah… so this is how I die.
As her vision darkened, she surrendered to the void.
“Gghk—!”
Sodan shot upright, gasping.
Lightning flashed outside the window, illuminating an unfamiliar room.
A bed she had never seen before.
“Child spirit…!”
She instinctively called out—but there was nothing.
No presence. No warmth. No connection.
Her body felt like an empty shell.
She stumbled out of bed, fell, and crawled toward anything she could hold onto.
Where am I? Hell? Did I get punished for living too greedily?
She grabbed a dresser for support.
A small mirror lay overturned on top.
When she lifted it—
Flash.
Lightning struck again.
And the reflection she saw made her freeze.
It was not her face.
Black long hair. Pale skin. Violet eyes.
A completely unfamiliar woman.
She scrambled to a full-length mirror.
There stood a woman in a frilly lace nightgown.
That woman was her.
“AHHHHHH!!”
Her scream echoed through the room.
Footsteps rushed in.
The door burst open.
“Lady Elisia! You’re awake? Why are you screaming like that at this hour—”
The maid looked irritated.
“W-who are you?!”
“What?”
The maid blinked in confusion.
“You don’t remember me? I’m Betty!”
“Lady? Me?!”
Betty’s expression darkened. She slowly backed away.
“I-I’ll go call a physician. Please wait!”
Sodan realized immediately—
Something was very wrong.
A physician arrived soon after.
“It appears to be temporary amnesia.”
The man adjusted his glasses.
“Do you truly remember nothing at all?”
Sodan sat on the bed, eyes darting rapidly.
According to them, she was Elisia Albrecht—the wife of Duke Albrecht—and had returned after going missing, only to remain unconscious for four days.
They think I’ve lost my memory because they don’t know the truth.
She bit her lip.
Let’s think. I was hit by a truck. I definitely died. But I woke up in another world… in another body.
So this is possession… or reincarnation.
Then—
A memory flashed.
A web novel her spirit child used to obsess over.
{“Unnie, this is so fun!”}
{“You’ve been reading novels nonstop lately, spirit child…”}
Wait.
This is exactly like those possession stories.
Before she could think further, the door slammed open.
A man walked in.
Cold. Sharp. Unbothered.
“Duke Albrecht, you’re here—”
“Enough. What’s the problem?”
His voice cut through the room.
Cedric Albrecht.
Her husband.
Black hair slightly disheveled, dark circles under his eyes, an expression sharp enough to cut steel.
“Lady Elisia appears to have amnesia. She cannot recognize anyone…”
“Amnesia?”
Cedric looked at her like she was something unpleasant.
“So your attempt to gain attention by running away failed… and now you’re pretending to have amnesia instead?”
The room froze.
The physician tried to explain, but Cedric wasn’t listening.
Then—
Sodan saw it.
Behind Cedric.
A shadow.
Something clung to him like a parasite.
“…What is that filthy thing?”
Elisia murmured under her breath.
