“Lady Ruelle,” the brunette sitting across from her, Lilia Starin, drew her attention with a soft whisper. “We’re almost at the Salvador estate, it would be for the best if you wake up now.”
Ruelle blinked. It appeared to the attending maid that she was in a daze until now. ”Wait, did she just call me…Lady Ruelle?” she restrained herself from going berserk inside the cramped space. Slowly, her gaze landed at the scenery outside the moving carriage, and as expected, she recognized the neat pathway leading up to a certain noble family’s home. ”This is the cutscene I got when I played as Ruelle Peregrine. What is going on?”
”…We are meeting my fiance today,” Ruelle spoke through her gentle smile. She made sure her words sounded like a passing thought.
Lilia the maid gave her a nod, returning her smile with one of her own. Unlike hers, however, the brunette’s joy was not genuine. The slight crease of her brows gave it away. “Yes, Lord Silas is the youngest son of the Salvador house, after all.”
I pity her…the youngest daughter forced into an engagement…with a good-for-nothing no less. Ruelle was reminded of the dialog that she’d read in the past. Even without telepathy or a big panel in front of her, she could tell what was going on in the thoughts of her maid.
Their short conversation did not get the chance to drag on. Lucky her, Ruelle wouldn’t have to fill in the remaining silence. The carriage came to a halt, and a Peregrine knight outside opened the door for her to step down.
The knight even has the same stern look as she’d remembered from playing Dungeon Regime. She decided to not pay much attention to him, though, since she has a much bigger issue to deal with. ”A delinquent fiance…If this is what I think it is, then I’ll have to cancel the engagement at all costs.”
Ruelle Peregrine was a meek, timid character. Her dialog options at the beginning of the game annoyed her so much that she wanted to pull her hairs out. But she couldn’t exactly blame her for being mentally weak, though.
The Peregrine and Salvador once had a connection in the past, but the situation between the two families had turned sour after a civil war within the Oriens Empire several decades ago. Two family knights who each supported different princes, it was natural for conflict to arise.
”While these two may have a thing in common, The Peregrine is much more old school.” Ruelle recalled the discomfort she felt reading the family background. They were a knight’s house that only allowed men to learn swordsmanship, while they disregarded women, and only saw them as tools for politics.
Any women of House Peregrine who couldn’t follow these rules would be shunned and hated, just like Ruelle, who had revealed her desire to become a knight at a young, naive age.
Silas Salvador’s fiancee originally was supposed to be Ruelle’s older sister, Cleo Peregrine, but she managed to pull some tricks and shifted the position onto her instead. It was easy for Cleo, the family’s beloved, to convince their father to put Ruelle up on the role instead.
”A trashy man like that would suit you way better than me, Ruelle. You two are a match made in heaven!”
Ruelle shook the memories from her head. By then, they’d arrived at the estate’s guest room. The Salvador maids guided her to her seat while Lilia stood behind her. Tea and snacks rested on the coffee table in front of her. “Would you like some tea, Lady Ruelle?” Lilia asked quietly, she must have noticed Ruelle’s eyes were on the kettle.
“Ah, it’s okay. I’ll drink them with my fiance.” Ruelle gave an excuse. She didn’t want to start eating anything right now.
”Maybe if I eat something, I might get stuck here forever…Like Persephone and the pomegranates.”
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”For now…I should let this story flow as they should…so far everything is exactly like what the Dungeon Regime had written…Wait.” she held herself back from screaming once more. ”In the original story, that son of a bitch Silas doesn’t even show up!”
The current flow of the situation right now was still at the cutscene phases, but it was so memorable for her that she couldn’t forget it no matter how much she tried. The original Ruelle wasn’t eager to meet Silas either, but she had hoped that maybe the rumors about him may be false, or at least exaggerated for gossip.
”She was basically wishing he wouldn’t be as bad as she’d heard.”
But after waiting for hours, Silas’ personal knight returned to the estate without his master by his side, just to inform Ruelle that her fiance was too busy continuing his drinking streak to come meet her.
BANG!
The sudden noise snapped her out of her trance. Ruelle turned and found her widened eyes met with a familiar pair of azure blue.
He had wind-swept golden locks that complimented well with the bright color of his eyes. His attire was simple for a noble, but much too messy to be called proper for his status. Seeing his panting face gave her a general idea that he practically ran all the way over here.
”I am…incredibly sorry…my lady…” he spoke while trying to catch his breath. He wiped sweat from his flushed face while plopping down on the sofa in front of her. Einar, his knight escort, stood by him much like how Lilia did with her.
“Greetings, Lady Ruelle,” Silas Salvador beamed while holding out his hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you, I am Silas Salvador, the youngest son of the Salvador family. The pleasure is mine to have you as my fiancee.”
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Thirty minutes earlier
The ride back to the Salvador Estate was calm and quiet. Silas had been left alone to his own company while Einar rode on a horse right beside his carriage. Taking a deep breath, he gathered his thoughts while closing his eyes. ”This headache is way too real for it to be a dream,” he put his arm up to his forehead, feeling the beads of sweat on his skin. ”Okay, so…this is the cutscene for the character Silas Salvador…although the details changed a bit since I didn’t throw a tantrum, I still managed to get myself on the carriage home.”
”Wait.” The panging pain was making it difficult for him to think. At least the nausea wasn’t severe enough that he felt the need to throw up. ”I missed some details…I didn’t—Silas wasn’t going home until he threw a tantrum…then returned to drinking until the afternoon.”
”After that…no, no. Silas went home and Einar was supposed to tell him that his fiancee came to see him today—Wait,” He leaned his head against the carriage window loud enough for Einar to spare a curious glance at the sudden noise. ”This means Silas—my fiancee is waiting for me at the estate! And I’m going home looking like someone who got run over by a truck?”
While the matters of the near future rushed through his mind, the carriage had already come to a stop inside the Salvador Estate.
Einar hopped off his horse and opened the door. “Young master—“
The knight got startled by the sudden gust of wind that rushed past him. It took him another second to realize that it was Silas who’d suddenly bolted off the carriage.
“…He must have remembered.” Einar let out a long sigh and followed his master inside. “But…was he the type of man to care about an arranged marriage?”
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Present
Silas had already expected Ruelle to be waiting for him inside the guest room. But seeing her in person was definitely different than through a monitor screen. As the game had described, she was a beautiful girl with long golden bronze hair and eyes like the finest of amethysts. The sunlight that reflected on her locks made them appear as if they’d been set ablaze.
…
Ruelle only continued to stare at his extended hand while an uncomfortable silence befall the atmosphere. Silas could practically feel his smile faltering as time passed. ”Why isn’t she accepting my greeting?”
Before things could get anymore awkward, Ruelle finally shook his hands. She gave him a bright smile as they let go. “Hello Lord Silas.”
It was short, not to mention completely out of script. Silas couldn’t hide his surprise, but he quickly returned his expression to a normal, polite smile. ”Ruelle is supposed to be a shy character, but she spoke very bluntly just now…did the original plotline change along with…no, that wouldn’t make any sense.”
”Lilia, Sir Einar, can you give us some space?” Ruelle suddenly spoke. Now that Silas had taken a closer look, the girl in front of him was certainly different from the Ruelle Peregrine that he was familiar with. Those pair of amethysts stayed sharply fixated on him, shining colder than what should be from a character that’s known for being reserved.
The two mentioned servants gave each other a brief glance. Lilia was the first to leave, albeit with a hint of reluctance in her eyes. Einar continued to give his master a weird look for a bit longer, but eventually left the room as well.
”Now then,” Ruelle’s smile faded in an instant, her friendly expression replaced by a stoic mask as frigid as the look in her eyes. The distrust was clear. “You aren’t exactly Silas Salvador, aren’t you?”