The Spider Queen
chapter-38

(Sophie's POV)

"Sweetheart wake up!"

"It's already noon you silly girl!"

Sophie opened her eyes and yawned softly as she found herself lying down on a fluffy bed with gentle light streaming through the windows.

She lived in the biggest and best home in the world with the strongest man of all time! Daddy was big and powerful and always made bad guys go away.

"Daddy!" she called out to the man smiling at her.

The duke was sitting down next to the bed and gave an indulgent look at his daughter who constantly overslept. He summoned a few maids to the room and Sophie was quickly dressed in a beautiful princess outfit.

Sophie gave a gasp of excitement when she came down to the dining room and saw the delicious breakfast feast containing piles of eggs, sausages, and toast.

Her dad fed her by the spoonful with great patience as most of the food would end up on the floor.

It was slightly embarrassing to fed at her age, but the private teacher had told her that it was normal for kids to have poor hand skills.

"I have a surprise for you," he suddenly said.

"Miss Leona will be coming to visit you this afternoon!"

His daughter glanced up with a look of glee and hurriedly rushed back to her room to pick out some toys.

Other than her daddy, Leona was her best friend in the whole wide world!

She was her only friend and second most important person in her life.

There was a large mirror hung up on the side of the bedroom wall, so Sophie took a small peek to make sure that there were no food stains on her dress before the playdate. She then saw the image of an adorable little girl no more than four years old stared back at her.

Surely the only girl more pretty than her was the legendary mommy that dad would tell her stories about.

She could not shake off a strange feeling when she saw the mirror showing her child-like features.

Wait this was all wrong….

The reflection soon warped and shifted into the image of an older big sister who had eastern features and a plain appearance.

"What?" Sophie was startled and fell backwards due to the shock.

Hundreds of new memories crashed into her head and the resulting fierce headache made her squint her eyes in pain.

She heard an unfamiliar voice talking from the other side of the mirror in an almost hypnotic tone,

"My name is Sui Meng…"

"My name is Sophie!"

"My name is Sui Meng…"

"My name is…"

Sophie screamed in agony as the world around her collapsed into a void of darkness and she came face to face with the stranger.

(Sui Meng's Perspective)

I found myself in the bedroom of the mansion, but the details just seemed slightly off. The furniture seemed to be the same but there was pinkish glow on some of the chairs that was not there before.

I could not remember the bed being so large nor the room being so spacious.

A million questions ran through my mind.

How did I get here?

Did I fail the class evaluation?

The gentle voice of my father echoed in my ears as he softly woke me up and I tried to ask him a series of questions, but my mouth just would not move.

The hands and feet of my body seemed to be controlled by someone else and I was no more than a passenger along for the ride.

My senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing and even sight was still present, but this was more akin to a curse rather than a blessing. I could feel the sensations of my surroundings but was unable to respond.

A few hours passed and fear crept up into my heart. I could not help but recall the mysterious voice that shrieked in my ears during the fight with Leona.

Had the original Sophie reclaimed her body?

Conflicting emotions welled up in my chest, I was under the impression that we had both fused into one personality but the fight with Leona caused small seeds of doubt to be planted.

I only experienced a few hours of being trapped as a spectator in my own body and the experience was driving me mad.

What if I had subjected that innocent girl to this torment for the past couple of months?

Bright light blinded me momentarily and I saw the image of a young girl twirling around happily in a princess outfit. She seemed startled to see me and I also panicked due to the unfamiliar situation.

For some reason I was now trapped behind a silvery screen that prevented me for reaching out into the other world.

The child suddenly called out in pain and I furiously pounded on the glass to try to break out, but it all seemed in vain as the barrier refused to shatter.

"Sophie get help!" I called out in frustration.

But wait…

My name was now Sophie…no…no… my name was Sui Meng… no... no... no...

I started to chant out my name almost like a prayer as I could tell that a stream of memories were being transferred from my mind and entering the brain of the little girl kneeling down in agony.

There was the sound of glass shattering and I found myself in a blank void with the little girl shaking in fear in front of me.

(Third Person POV)

Sui Meng looked around the void and discovered that it looked quite different to the space in the necklace.

She did not know how to describe it, but it was like this space was intimately connected to her spirit.

The child version of Sophie was shivering in fear so Sui Meng approached her hesitantly and tried to calm her down.

"Shh…don't worry," she muttered quietly while using her hands to gently stroke Sophie's back in a relaxing manner.

Eventually the child started to calm down and looked at her with innocent eyes full of curiosity.

"Who are you?" Sophie asked.

"My name is Sui Meng," she replied with a small smile.

Sophie hummed in acknowledgement and gave Sui Meng a contemplative glance before stepping out of her grasp. She placed her tiny hands on the sides of Sui Meng's cheeks and kept searching her facial expression as if looking for something.

Her next words made Sui Meng freeze in shock and horror.

"You're the one that stole my body."