"At last, we have arrived! Come on, Roberta, my dear! Hahaha!" Victor and I stepped out of the carriage, our arms interlocked like a happy couple, as we approached the mansion. As we walked, I noticed hundreds of couples entering the mansion, with many more inside. As I lay my eyes on these couples, I began to wonder if they were pretending to be happy as well. In a society with such suffocating rules for women, there was absolutely no way anyone was happy. If there were a shred of happiness at all, it was most definitely one-sided, and in favour of the 'Victors' of the world.
While outside, I noticed that many of the garden workers and carriage riders were of a particular complexion. They had swarthy skin and woolly hair like Ragna and me. Even so, my complexion was noticeably lighter. As we entered the mansion, I noticed that the same standard applied to the servants serving the snacks and drinks around the banquet. It was no different to Roberta's home.
This world is truly fucked up on so many levels. Racial discrimination was not a deeply ingrained concept where I came from. Perhaps the Great Cataclysm had forced humanity to unite. This was all new to me. It further reinforced the lingering feeling I had. This strengthened my suspicion that I had truly been sent back to the past to inhabit this body. Why her, though? What makes her so special in particular? I could also ask myself the same question. I did not know where I could even begin searching for answers in the first place.
As we entered the mansion, we were greeted by other couples. I had to fake a smile act cordial with them. I often got weird looks from the couples there. I could tell that their cordiality toward me was only because Victor was by my side. I also noticed a bunch of weird looks from the servants at the party. They wore expressions of disappointment and sorrow, only to force a smile when serving the other guests.
"Why hello there, Victor~. It has been quite a while, hasn't it~?" said a flamboyant voice out of sight.
As we looked back, there stood a man wearing a red cutaway tailcoat and black hair combed over to the side.
"Hm? Oh, Ryzel!! Hahaha! Long time no see indeed!" cried Victor as his face lightened up upon meeting his friend yet again.
"When was the last time we saw each other again?"
"Oh yeah, wasn't it at--" They both finished the sentence together, "the Creek of Zambezi!"
They both laughed jovially as they reminisced about their wartime escapades.
"Now here you are Sir Ryzel… a knight serving the kingdom of Aglonius. I couldn't be more proud."
"What do you expect, my friend? I learnt from the very best," said Ryzel, raising his glass of wine.
"Well, I won't deny that. It certainly helps when the one you are teaching happens to be a one in a lifetime prodigy."
"Pfft, oh you flatter me~!" chuckled Ryzel as he brushed the air with his hand, feigning modesty. I couldn't believe someone so openly flamboyant existed in such a rigid, high-status environment. Yet, there he was, as queer as they come, oozing attitude and sass from every pore. The clothes he wore would have him hanged in my original timeline because he would have been associated with the very same cult that was responsible for bringing forth the Great Cataclysm. Almost everyone I met was less eccentric than this guy, aside from that Ragna weirdo from the other day. The two of them stuck out like sore thumbs in this pre-cataclysmic-like setting. They felt like OCs a young artist would have created for their fan fiction. Then again, these rich people had getups that were so incomprehensible and impractical that the scene looked like a surrealist painting. I think it's simply because they are rich. The extravagance of the rich was often absurd, their deep pockets allowing them to indulge in the most impractical fashions and customs. But even among all these rich people, Ryzel really takes the cake when it comes to being flamboyant. He was even wearing pantaloons without the stockings.
To make it worse, the pantaloons were as short as a prostitute's skirt. They looked more like a puffy underwear at that point. I could barely tell whether this man was a court jester or a nobleman. I'm sorry, but I'm at least willing to give Ragna some grace.
"No need to be modest now, Sir Ryzel. This is your party, after all. As your teacher, I'll give you the permission to gloat about your victory all you like!"
"Hahaha! No need to call me Sir Ryzel now. Hahaha."
"You've earned it my friend," said Victor as he drank from his glass of wine. "Oh, by the way, Ryzel, this is my fiancée, Lady Roberta Crimsonfield, heiress to the House of Crimsonfield. Roberta, this here is my squire, Sir Ryzel Luceal, heir to the Luceal house."
"You mean she is the daughter of the Lord Crimsonfield? Oh, my, she's quite the exotic one. Lord Crimsonfield must have gotten freaky with one of the servants, huh~? Nice to meet you, Lady Crimsonfield~."
"Greetings, Sir Luceal."
"Oh, my~, she's quite a well-mannered one too~."
"Yeah, that she is, Ryzel. That she is," said Victor as he kissed me on the neck.
"Uhm, by the way Victor, come with me urgently? There is a subject of utmost importance I would have the pleasure to show you."
"Very well. Uhm, Roberta dear, you may stay here and make yourself at home. I shall return momentarily. Don't drift off too far now, okay?"
"Alright, my love." He gave me a peck on the lips.
"Lead the way Ryzel."
"Come hither."
Victor and Ryzel disappeared into the crowd, leaving me alone among strangers. I stood out like a sore thumb. I was an introvert by nature, so environments like this were not my cup of tea. But as I stood there alone, I was trapped in my thoughts. Flashes of Victor having his way with me kept replaying in my head persistently. I was starting to get dizzy. However, a sudden tap on my shoulder made me snap out of it. It was a chubby middle-aged woman whose corset was clearly too tight for her. Looking at her made me feel like my ribs were getting crushed on her behalf.
"Excuse me, Milady, could you go get me a croissant?"
"Uhm… excuse me?"
"I am asking you to get me a croissant."
"Oh, uhm… sorry, but I'm…not a servant." She looked at me up and down and noticed that I had a similar style of dress as her and the rest of the female guests in the mansion.
"Oh, my apologies madam." She apologized, looking embarrassed. All I could do was nod in response as she walked away. I was too introverted to interact with anyone, and the look of contempt in everybody's eyes immediately perished all thoughts of even waving in their direction. With the flashbacks of the last two nights in my mind and the fact that I didn't know what to do with myself in this situation, I decided to grab a glass of wine from a female servant walking by with a tray in hand.
Never in my life would I have ever entertained the idea of consuming a drop of alcohol, yet in this moment, as the weight of it all pressed down upon me, I reached for the glass, hoping the bitterness might drown my thoughts. As I felt the wine pass down my throat, I felt even more anger towards myself. But I was still hoping that this anger would be washed away by this alcohol.
Suddenly, I heard glass falling on the floor, followed by gasps nearby. As I slowly crept by to see what the commotion was about, I saw the female servant who held the glasses of wine on the floor, surrounded by spilled wine and shards of glass.
"Who do you think you are, you stupid bitch?! You spilled wine all over my suit!!" yelled an obese noble man.
"I…I'm sorry milord."
"Sorry is not going to fix my suit you wench! How are you going to make up for this act of blasphemy, huh? How?!"
"I…I'll clean it for you sire!" Said the servant as she took out a handkerchief and wiped the man's suit.
"Keep your banana-peeling hands off me, you slut!!" He struck her with his cane. "The likes of you shouldn't be touching a man of my stature! How dare you?! You need to be taught a lesson!"
As the man tried to hit her with his cane again, I stepped in the way and took the blow instead. It hurt like hell. However, compared to what I went through in my previous life and what Victor put me through, this was nothing. "Huh? What on earth are you doing, you bitch? Maybe I should hit the both of you then!"
"I wouldn't dare, bloated fool!"
"Huh?! What did you call me, you monkey?!"
"Yeah, you heard me the first time! Just so you know, I am the daughter of Lord Crimsonfield, and the fiancée of Count Victor! So, try it. Strike me, and incur their wrath!"
The obese noble was clearly ticked off by my words. So, he walked away speechlessly.
"Hey, are you okay?" I asked the servant as I helped her pick up the shards of broken glass.
"Uhm… yeah. I'm… I'm fine. Why are you helping me."
"Isn't it obvious? I just didn't like how that jerk treated you. I wonder why everyone else just stood by and watched though. Oh well."
"Th…thank you."
"No problem." Suddenly, a male servant holding a mop gently tapped me on the shoulder and insisted that he will handle the mess and told the female servant to go dry herself up.
I decided to go with the female servant to the bathroom to help her dry off. Funnily enough, me kneeling down to come help her also exposed my dress to the spilled down, so I had even more incentive to go with her.
"You didn't really have to go out of your way to help me you know."
"Yeah, I know."
"Thank you."
"It's a pleasure. By the way, I never got your name."
"My name? It doesn't even matter. I'm a mere slave."
"A slave? But you're so much more than that! You can't let these arrogant pricks decide what you are!"
"Hm. You might truly be her after all."
"Huh?"
"You must truly be Roberta Crimsonfield. The same woman who sent me this letter five months ago."
She pulled out a letter from her cleavage. It was an envelope with a seal that seemed to bear the crest of the Crimsonfield family. "I came all the way from Dunya-Kelen to help you with your uprising.
Soon enough, the entirety of Septum will crumble, and our people shall be free. I promise you."
"Excuse me? Wait who are- "Suddenly, something put a halt to my question.
We heard some strange noises coming from the room next door. It sounded like someone was moaning passionately and grunting. There was a hole in the bathroom wall, and the sounds seemed to be coming from the direction it faced. My overly curious mind made me want to peek through to uncover this mystery. And what I found was Victor making out passionately with Ryzel. The two were aggressively touching each other.