Chapter 44: The new business partner

Thinking it would attract too much attention to drive this baby up to Liehen's apartment building, Raven decided to head to a hotel for the night. Probably the next couple of nights before she could move into her new property.

She had bought the property under her alias in the real world, Orchid Wagner, so it couldn't be tied to Liehen or President Li. She could've put it under his name, but the risk was too big if someone decided to look into it. Now she was quite happy his name was not the one on the house deed, because she had no intention to help the man anymore. He was an idiot, and she did not suffer fools easily.

Just as she was pulling into the driveway of the hotel, Raven started to feel unwell. She had this feeling of separation, like she would be ripped in half, her body in excruciating pain. Tears started streaming down her face as she was gritting her teeth to keep the scream, that was bubbling in her throat, from escaping. She had been trained to endure torture but this felt like her insides were set on fire and then ripped apart by jagged claws.

At the last second she managed to bring the car to a stop at the entrance to the hotel driveway before she curled into a foetal position on the drivers seat trying to cope with the pain. She bit into her knee to stifle the screams that were now coming out. It felt like she had experienced a lifetime of pain, but about fifteen seconds later, her body felt light like a feather and she could feel like herself.

Luckily Rene's car had tinted windows, otherwise someone would've probably called an ambulance by now.

The whole thing must've lasted about thirty seconds, but when she came to it she realised someone on the passenger seat was now talking to her. It sounded familiar, but Raven couldn't quite concentrate, still reeling from the pain. She slowly started to take in her surroundings. She was no longer crouched on the car seat, but actually sitting in a relaxed position, like nothing had changed. The familiar voice next to her asked a question and Raven whipped her head to her right suddenly realising there was someone else in the car.

She gasped audibly when she realised next to her, in the car, was Liehen Jisuanji who was now asking her something.

Before she could react, her mind was flooded by unfamiliar images. Memories flashing before her eyes. People, places, names, everything was unwinding like she had taken a rollercoaster ride through someone's memories. What was going on?!

Before long, the process stopped. Raven was now panting, trying to catch her breath. It hadn't been painful, but somehow she felt like she now held two sets of memories. One hers, the real Raven Vaughn, and the other, much shorter, like a movie almost, of Orchid Wagner, distant princess and relative of the royal family of Austrian descent. That was her real life alternate identity, but in this brief memory movie, the back story was different and her interactions and activates were tied to this fantasy world.

Before she could control her reaction she exclaimed "Mon Dieu! Ce n'est pas possible! J'ai ete transmigre!" [My God! This is not possible! I have been transmigrated!] trying very hard to snap out of the state of stupor she was descending into, her thoughts were interrupted by Liehen.

"I do apologise your highness, I'm afraid my French is not up to par, if it's not too much bother, perhaps you could repeat that?"

"Huh?" that was all that came out of Raven's mouth at the sound of the woman's voice. Quickly pulling herself together, she realised now was not the time to panic. She would deal with it later.

"I'm sorry Miss Jisuanji, I'm afraid I was too concentrated on driving and I did not hear you. Could you repeat what you said?"

Liehen was not phased at all, she knew the princess had just landed, two days before she was actually due to arrive. She must be tired.

"Of course your highness. I was apologising for making you wait at the airport. President Li was not informed of your early arrival, and we did not have time to make the appropriate arrangements. Please don't think we are making excuses; I do hope that this won't damage our relationship. "

Raven's brain was again flooded with memories. Orchid, who was now actually her and had always looked like her, was flying to City M to finalise a deal with Lanhua Corp on behalf of her companies. It would seem Orchid in this world had a very similar background to her real life identity but was operating in the light so to speak. She had memories of the negotiations, and everyone was awaiting her appearance in City M. Although royalty, because she was quite removed from the actual main family line, there was little information about her online. No one really knew what she looked like, just that she was involved in various businesses and she was a very successful woman.

The anonymity was also the reason she, Orchid, had chosen to fly earlier than the rest of her staff and the expected delegation, to avoid newspapers and photographers from making a big deal out of it.

For City M it was a big deal, Lanhua Corp being one of the few self made national conglomerates able to have reach and pull in the rest of the world. This was a big deal for the business world in Country C. Of course this was entirely fictional. In reality, very few countries had only a handful of companies able to trade internationally, but clearly this was a backstory somehow this world created, to justify her real presence in this world.

Raven felt a bit overwhelmed by all of this, but quickly recovered and decided to play her part. In two days she was meant to arrive, and then have a meeting with President Li, to finalise their agreement. She smirked at that ' Can you imagine the look on his face when he sees me' she thought, pleased with how she was going to tease him about it. She had almost forgotten she had written him off twenty minutes ago. She was going to have her fun with this.

"Of course not Miss Jisuanji. As you probably know, I prefer anonymity, my choice to arrive early was hidden on purpose and you have nothing to worry about or to blame yourself for."

Visibly relaxing, Liehen instantly took a liking to the woman next to her. She was royalty and yet she seemed kind and grounded. Knowing what a successful businesswoman she was, Liehen admired Raven even more now, that she wasn't behaving like those spoiled brats from made up royalty families in her own city and country. 'This is how royalty should behave' she thought to herself, eager to spend more time with Raven and learn from her. For Liehen, this was Orchid Wagner, not Raven, but except for Rene who would find out soon enough, no one else knew.

"Your Highness, I will go in and arrange for you a suite. Would you mind confirming how long you would like to stay in this hotel for?"

Raven thought Liehen was a very polite girl, and even though she had occupied her body by force really, she was glad nothing bad happened to her.

"Don't worry, I have made my own arrangements already. I prefer if my whereabouts remain hidden for now if you don't mind Miss Jisuanji. I will get in contact with you as soon as my team arrives and we can set a meeting with your president."

Visibly flustered, Liehen couldn't do more than agree.

Before saying anything else, Raven noticed Liehen looked exactly like she did before, even thought she had overhauled her wardrobe completely. It seemed like Liehen had always been Liehen and Raven had always been Orchid. A strange feeling of inner peace and calmness settled over Raven; her identity as Orchid was cementing itself in this reality like it has always been there.