Breakthrough

Jason was not a fool.

Sure, he had been wrong to dismiss the lady's evening behaviors. Perhaps he had been wrong about why Lorelei had ever been rude to her staff. Perhaps he had even been incorrect about how he had reacted to Lorelei's incident with Sophia. Even so, he was rather sure about this issue.

Jason was not a complete fool.

It all connected to the evenings. Since Sara had spoken up about her concerns several weeks ago, Jason had been noticing more odd things about his wife's nighttime activities. To start, she found a unique way to tame her staff. Even more was the Chocolate Incident. Before he had left, she had referred to it as "chocolate and chill". Since when did Lorelei ever want to "chill" with him? What did that mean?

Of course, Lorelei's warning from a few hours ago was what had him truly thinking. The fact that Lorelei had told Jason off told him that she may know about whatever is going on. Further, the surprise that she had vainly tried to hide showed that she had not been present for the Chocolate Incident. Why would Lorelei cover for this stranger? How did this stranger come to possess Lorelei's body? Or were they perhaps doppelgangers?

Tired of stewing in his thoughts, Jason stood up. There was no point in theorizing. The best thing to do was get some data. Walking through the halls, he heard some late staff members gossiping from nearby rooms.

"I'm serving the lady on the day of the ritual!"

"Oh, is that coming up already? What outfit did the lady choose?"

"Oh, it's. . ."

Ignoring them, Jason knocked on his wife's door. "Come in," said her voice.

Upon seeing that it was him, Lorelei straightened. "Ah, Jason," she said. "What brings you here today?"

"It is rather late for todays, is it not?" Jason asked.

Lorelei waved her hand. "Today, tonight, same thing. What do you want?"

Her attitude sounded okay. "Is it a crime if I wish to spend time with my wife?"

"In the middle of the night?"

Interesting. Jason would have thought she would have been upset, given their earlier talk. "It is quieter at night," he said.

"I thought you were busy," Lorelei said.

"I am," Jason replied. "However, I am not too busy to spend time with my wife. Sara, leave us."

After Sara closed the door behind her, Lorelei narrowed her eyes at Jason. "What do you actually want?"

"To spend time with my wife," Jason said defensively. "Why is that so hard for you to grasp?"

"Because it's really late," Lorelei said. "What, did you want me to feed you more chocolate?"

Jason tensed. "No. I merely wanted to have a conversation with you. Is that so wrong to ask for? We are married, after all."

"Alright."

"How have you been?" Jason started.

"I've been fine." Her response was quite vague.

"You went shopping today," Jason continued. "What did you buy?"

"Things I needed." Lorelei looked away from him.

"Oh," Jason said. "And I'm sure you needed that blue teddy bear, right?"

Lorelei stared at him. "I didn't buy a teddy bear."

"Really?" Jason asked. "Well, that must have been a rumor." 

Are you the real Lorelei? Jason thought. Or is Sara also in on this?

Perhaps he should use something that Sara does not know about. "Ah, I heard you ran into Lady Sophia."

"I did."

"And how did it go?" Jason asked.

"I already spoke to you about this," Lorelei said slowly. Maybe Sara was feeding her information every night.

Jason pretended to consider that. "Oh, right. You did tell me. I do feel quite bad. The things she said to you while you two were having that private conversation."

Lorelei narrowed her eyes. "We had a private conversation." It was a statement but, to some, it might seem more like a question.

"Yes," Jason said. "You were right. It was absolutely despicable of Lady Sophia to bring up what your brothers did that night." He poured all of his sincerity into that statement.

She switched topics. "How is your work going?"

"Hm?" Jason said. "I told you that earlier, while we were walking through the garden. I invited you to join a meeting with me next week. Don't you recall?"

"Yes," the woman said. "My apologies."

"That's alright," Jason said. He got up. "You are correct, though. It is rather late. I think I will leave you here. You look like you would like to smack me again, just like when we were kids."

With one hand on the door's handle, Jason turned back. "By the way, my love," he started. "I adore the new nightgown. You look amazing in blue." With that, he left the woman alone.

It felt odd to be proven right. Truth be told, the idea of someone else inhabiting Lorelei's body had seemed ridiculous to him. If that had occurred, then why had Lorelei not told him about it? If she did not seek help, did that mean that she wanted the switch to occur? What purpose did that serve?

Entering his office, Jason went straight to the bookshelves. Once there, he failed to find any information on cases like this. A trip to the library yielded the same result. In the morning, Jason would have his aide look into this further. Hopefully that would be more fruitful than what he had done.

How had the switch even happened? The only plausible solution to Jason was that Lorelei had bonded with a spirit. While magic may not be a factor, the blessings of the spirits functioned in a way that was somewhat similar. Perhaps Lorelei had done something to impress the spirits. But then, the Traveler's Bird was one of the only spirits rumored to be able to travel very far quickly. Perhaps the woman was a foreigner, but then how could the switch work two ways? No, there had to be another solution. Maybe he was missing something.

As Jason walked back to his office, he plotted out his next steps. Now that he knew that this woman was not his wife, that opened a few doors. One of the unfortunate things about marrying a childhood friend was that they knew many of your tricks. This woman did not, and Jason intended to take full advantage of this. So long as Lorelei was defending this switch, Jason was okay with it. That did not mean that Jason could not have some fun. The only one safe from his mischief was his wife. This woman was not his wife, and he had some amusing things in store for her.