Magic Exists

With the boy sleeping in his own room, Diana and the stranger could finally talk. The stranger let all the maids leave until they were alone in Diana's room.

Diana took a deep breath and gathered the courage to tell the stranger what she thought was happening.

"First of all, I would like to apologize for my harsh words yesterday. I'm really sorry," Diana started and the stranger looked at her with so much emotion in his eyes. She stopped him before he misunderstood her intentions.

"I was wrong for saying you are not my husband. I misunderstood things when I just woke up. The truth is that I am not your wife. Or to be exact, this is your wife's body but the soul inside is different," Diana clarified.

"D-Diana, what are you saying?!" the stranger was wide-eyed and alarmed.

"I think me and your wife exchanged bodies. I know it's unbelievable but that is the only explanation for this. Your wife must be in my body right now."

Diana herself could still not believe what she was saying but she could not find what else could be the explanation for what was happening.

"Are you saying you are not Diana?" the stranger said as he eyed her from head to foot.

"That's right. I am not the person that you knew. My name is also Diana but I am not your wife. Your wife and I had the same names but we are different," Diana explained.

"How could that be? You recognized our son just now," the stranger looked puzzled.

Diana explained to him that she just acted on instinct. That she acted and talked without realizing what she was doing and that the child was all too adorable that she fell in love with him the first time she laid eyes on him.

"As I said before, as far as I know, Kristoph is my husband. Your wife must be in my body right now and perhaps she's also talking to my husband about this." Diana waited as the stranger seemed to ponder on what she said.

His facial expression clearly told her that he did not like the idea of his wife occupying another body and talking with someone else's husband. He looked like he was calculating possibilities in his mind.

"Since when?" the stranger finally asked after a long silence.

"Yesterday. I woke up in your wife's body yesterday. The night before that, I was at my own home. I prepared a meal for my husband and waited for him to come home. I believe I fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up, I was shocked to see you beside me in this room."

Diana explained how all her behavior yesterday was because she believed that she was being pranked or must have had been abducted and drugged. She only realized that she exchanged bodies or soul-swapped with someone else when she saw her face in the mirror when she took a bath and realized that it was not hers.

"Did anything happen with your wife that could have triggered this?"

"I do not think so," the stranger said and he looked like he was in deep thought once again.

Diana was relieved that he did not seem to think that she was lying. He seem to have believed her words and was considering it seriously.

'I thought he would think I was crazy. But his love for his wife was too great that he even believed what I said. Would Kristoph also believe me if he was the one I am talking to right now?'

"What happened on your side yesterday or the day before that?" Diana took the courage to ask. They had to find clues of what might have happened.

"The day before yesterday, I was in a meeting. Right after the meeting ended, I saw Luane waiting outside. She informed me that you wanted to see me as soon as possible so I immediately returned here. You kissed me hungrily right after I arrived and we ended up doing it in bed the whole night," the stranger explained.

Somehow, he did not look like he was lying. The tips of his ears were even red from the recollection.

"Who is Luane?" Diana asked and the stranger blinked twice and stared at her.

"Luane is your loyal head maid. She had been with you since you were young. She was the one helping with your dress and your hair just a while ago."

"Oh, so Luane was her name. As I have said, I am not your wife so I didn't recognize her. I didn't recognize anyone I saw here. I don't know any of you," Diana honestly said and the stranger flinched. He looked hurt that she did not recognize him.

"Why are you flinching? I am not your wife so you shouldn't get hurt by that," she chastised.

"We are not sure about that yet," the stranger countered. "And you are speaking in my wife's face and voice. How can I not be affected?"

"R-right," Diana sighed.

If her husband suddenly said that he soul-swapped or exchanged bodies with someone; she might not believe him at all. She was going way too fast because the stranger was cooperating.

"Please allow me to conduct a check-up on you first so we can confirm if you are indeed another soul inhabiting my wife's body," the stranger said and Diana stared at him like he had grown two heads.

"You can do that?" she asked in disbelief. 'How would he do it? Does he know sorcery or something? Am I in the den dangerous people?'

"Of course," the stranger said and stood up to sit beside her.

"May I?" he asked and Diana realized that he was asking for her hand. She settled a hand on his open palm and he drew back the sleeve of her dress to have access to her wrist.

His gentlemanly behavior was surprising since the fact that he ripped her dress yesterday was still fresh in her mind.

"How come the bruise is already gone?" Diana stared at her wrist when she noticed that the bruise left by the stranger's tight grip yesterday was already gone when it was still there when she was changing clothes. The kiss marks were still there though.

"Oh, I healed it a while ago before we began our meal," the stranger said like it was nothing.

"Healed it? What exactly do you mean by that?" Diana stared at the stranger incredulously.

"Like this," the stranger said and demonstrated. He placed his hand just above the kiss marks near Diana's wrist. His hand suddenly emitted a golden green light and all the kiss marks on her hand were gone in an instant.

"Is that magic just now?!" Diana blurted out after she inspected her hand and the kiss marks were truly gone. Impossible things were already happening to her so even magic might be true. She had heard the maids saying something like mana and spell yesterday so her theory might not be far off.

"Yes. Do you not know about it?" the stranger looked at her with concern.

"I have only ever read it in books. Are you saying it really exists?" Diana asked the stranger to heal the kiss marks on her other hand as well and he did.

She even asked him to conjure flowers, books, and chairs and he did so in a matter of seconds. She was too astounded at the discovery that she was silent for a moment until she realized something.

"Hey, you could have healed all the kiss marks on my body easily, right?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you?"

"You told me before that I can leave as many marks as I want," the stranger replied looking embarrassed.

'I said I am not your wife. What are you looking all embarrassed for?!' Diana wanted to say but just screamed it in her head instead.

She sighed and just let the stranger do the check-up he was talking about. She figured that he must be using magic to do it too.

"There was no change in your mana or your mana capacity. Your soul is the same, Diana. You did not swap souls or exchange bodies with someone else," the stranger said after the check-up.

"W-what?! That couldn't be. This really isn't my body," Diana almost screamed.

The stranger then explained to her that he would be able to detect any changes in her mana and mana capacity. Since there was no change at all, Diana's soul was the same. He said that it was Diana's memory that had a problem, not her soul.

"You said that you’re supposed husband's name was Kristoph right?" He then explained to her that Diana had already told her about Kristoph years ago before their son was born.

"Are you speaking the truth?" Diana narrowed her eyes in doubt. She knew it was unfair of her to doubt a person who listened to her and believed her words but she could not help it.

"Yes. I swear it is the truth. I would not lie to you," the stranger said and Diana felt his sincerity. His eyes told her that he was being honest.

As proof, the stranger told her some information that he knew about Kristoph. He even knew that she met Kristoph while she was in high school and started dating him in her first year in university. He also knew that she married him a year after finishing her studies.

"Then what's going on? Are you saying that it's also the truth that you are my husband?" Now that her soul-swap or exchanged-body theories were debunked, she did not understand what was going on anymore.

"Diana, I am speaking the truth. We have been married for more than ten years now."

"Ten? Ten years?!" Diana almost screamed. She was baffled. "How is that possible? I'm twenty-five now, which would mean I married you when I was fifteen."

"No. We were married when you were twelve. And you are twenty-four now. To be exact, we have been married for twelve years now," the stranger corrected.

"T-twelve?! What are you a pervert? A pedophile?!!" Diana's eyes bulged and pushed the man away. She succeeded and watched his distraught face as she stood up and sat opposite him. He looked hurt by her treatment and at being called a pedophile.

"I am not. I did not touch you until you were eighteen," the stranger said in defense. He followed her and sat beside her again despite the looks she was giving him.

"I don't remember any of that." Diana sighed. "Even my age doesn't match. I perfectly recall that I am twenty-five this year." Her head was starting to ache at what the stranger was telling her.

First, magic was real.

Second, she did not swap souls.

Third, he was her husband and he married her when she was twelve.

Fourth, she was supposed to be twenty-four.

She did not know if she should believe in any of it. All of it was making her head spin.

A/N: What do you think is the truth? Should she trust him?