Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

The sun rose from beyond the horizon, casting its warm golden glow over the landscape as Evangeline stood in front of the mirror, admiring herself.

Although that wasn’t something new, today she was especially attentive, looking at her reflection more carefully.

Because today was special.

’Hmm... I wonder how good I look by this world’s standards.’

Just then, she heard a light knock on her room’s door, prompting her to turn to it. She had been expecting that knock.

"Please enter." She replied.

She knew that she wasn’t supposed to address them so politely. It was just that... it felt strange to her if she spoke in any other way.

No sooner than she spoke, three maids entered one after another and came to stand near her. To her, they all seemed unusually excited for some reason.

"Young Lady," one of the maids stepped forward. "The Countess has ordered us to get you ready before you all depart. Would you mind?"

Evangeline was about to nod, but when she saw their unusually high enthusiasm, she began feeling uneasy.

In the end, she still nodded after some hesitation.

After that, it was complete chaos. She was made to try several different clothes, asked to sit still as they experimented with her hair, and made to try one shoe after another.

"Haah..."

By the end of it, she was utterly exhausted.

Having finished their task, the three maids left the room. All of them had satisfied smiles on their faces.

In her previous life, Evangeline had once played with a doll. She remembered dressing it up in several different dresses, doing its hair in various styles, and trying out different shoes or heels on its feet.

She remembered that it was rather fun and satisfying. Maybe the maids were feeling something similar? If so, she could totally relate to them. Still, playing the doll’s role was too much for her. She would rather not go through it again.

Maybe she could sympathize with that doll now.

She turned and looked at herself in the mirror.

Her reflection wore a frilly white dress with a little mix of blue and pink. This was the dress the maids had chosen for her after several rounds of ’trial and error’.

Her pinkish-purple hair was braided from the front and clipped behind, looking like a small tiara. Most of her hair was simply left free as it flowed down her back like a waterfall.

’They really... did their job well.’

Evangeline felt as if she looked like an adorable fairy. Although she believed she would look cute even if she wore rags–that was simply how beautiful she felt she was–this dress-up had really made quite the difference.

After admiring her appearance to her heart’s content, she left her room and roamed through the mansion, trying to find her mother.

But no matter where she searched, she couldn’t find her. And it wasn’t just her mother, either; she also couldn’t spot her father.

’Maybe she’s in the garden?’

Thinking that, Evangeline opened the mansion’s door and walked out, going straight toward the garden. But after taking only a few steps, her feet suddenly came to a stop. She spotted both her parents a slight distance away.

But that was not the reason she had stopped.

Her parents were standing, conversing with someone she hadn’t seen before in the mansion. Behind them, there was a luxurious carriage made from dark metal, with gold patterns and designs carved into its surface.

A large insignia depicting a crown with long, black, feathered wings was carved into the carriage’s door.

Evangeline remembered seeing such a carriage five years ago. The carriage in which the woman with golden hair had arrived.

She swiftly approached them, curious about the conversation they were having. As she approached close enough, all three of them noticed her.

"Ah, baby," her mother smiled softly. "Looks like you finally got ready. And seeing how pretty you look, I feel I should give the maids who prepared you a raise."

Evangeline could only smile bashfully in reply.

Then she turned to the carriage, giving it a curious look. Her mother answered as if she had read her mind.

"House Ravenshade sent this carriage, as well as the driver. It’s time for us to depart, sweetie. We should be able to reach the Ravenshade Duchy about a day before the engagement."

As her mother finished, the man standing near them–most likely the driver her mother had just mentioned–added with a polite smile.

"Oh! I forgot to mention. This carriage is a gift from House Ravenshade to the Young Lady. And I was sent here as the one who will drive it wherever you wish. This is now your personal carriage, Young Lady."

Evangeline froze as soon as she heard that. She wasn’t the only one, though; both her parents also froze, looking at the carriage driver with an expression of utter shock. Well, it was understandable. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

’Seriously, just how loaded are they?’

The carriage looked so luxurious that even if they lined up all the carriages they possessed, they wouldn’t compare to this single carriage. That was simply how valuable it looked.

Yet they had casually given it to her as if it were no big deal.

Was it a display of power? Something like showing off their wealth. Or maybe they were trying to show how much they valued her?

’Well, I’m not complaining since I got something good for free.’

After a while, Evangeline and her parents sat in the carriage as it set out to their destination.

As the three of them sat comfortably inside its luxurious interior, her mother turned to her and suddenly asked.

"Sweetie, if you made an embarrassing mistake in a gathering or something similar, how would you react? How would you respond to that situation?"

Evangeline thought for a bit before replying while tilting her head.

"I would say that I’m sorry? How else am I supposed to react in such a situation?"

"No, sweetie, not like that." Her mother pointed at herself. "Watch me and observe."

With that, she stood up.

While being careful not to bump her head on the carriage’s ceiling, she held the edges of the lower part of her dress and bent down very slightly as if giving a minimal bow. Then she raised her head and spoke in a calm, controlled manner with a straight face.

"Forgive me, it seems I have made a mistake."

She turned to Evangeline once again.

"That’s how you’re supposed to respond, practice it when you have time."

Evangeline furrowed her brow.

"What’s the point of doing all that? Is it any different from simply saying sorry?"

"Dignity," her mother answered. "That’s the point. It preserves your dignity."

’It does?’

She tilted her head.

"But Mama, if I made an embarrassing mistake in a public gathering, I would’ve lost all dignity right then and there. I would have nothing left to preserve, so there would be no point in doing all that."

Her mother furrowed her brows, staring into the empty air as if lost in thought. Her expression suggested she was thinking really hard about something.

After a while, she spoke absentmindedly.

"You do have a point... maybe I should stay away from noble gatherings, it doesn’t look like I am cut out for them."

Hearing her mother’s confused admission of defeat, she raised her chin and smirked. But for some reason, her father had a strange expression on his face as he stared at the two of them. The face he was making seemed to say, ’What the hell?’

She turned to the window, quietly gazing at the moving scenery outside.

’I wonder what kind of person my supposed fiancé will be...’

Well, obviously, he would be a child, but that wasn’t what she was wondering about. She was curious about what sort of personality he would have.

Evangeline had done some digging into him.

’Adrian Caelis Ravenshade.’

Every time she thought about this name and tried to picture the person in her head, her mind always created the image of a ten-year-old boy with golden hair swept to the side and an arrogant, prideful expression on his face.

And she felt an unbearable urge to punch the boy’s face every time it appeared in her mind.

’No, please. Anything is fine, just not an arrogant young master.’

She had also asked her father about him. According to her father, her fiancé was an unreachable genius, the kind who only appeared once in a generation. Her father had showered the boy with praise.

When she used that information to picture someone in her head, she imagined a boy with big, round glasses on his face and his hair covering his eyes, giving off a full, nerdy vibe. When she thought about that...

’It’s not bad, but... meh, I don’t know.’

Evangeline was actually rather confused by this whole engagement thing. After all, she hadn’t ever experienced it since she was only sixteen in her previous life. More than that, she was a patient who practically lived in a hospital room. She never had the opportunity to witness an engagement.

While she had seen it in movies, it was too vague, and all she’d seen was people exchanging rings.

’But that can’t be all, right? There has to be more to it. Besides, noble engagements are probably different.’

Though she didn’t know how they were different.

Whenever she tried picturing a noble engagement in her mind, all she could imagine was a large ballroom and two people dancing in the middle.

She shook her head.

’Well, no use stressing over it, I’m going to find the answers soon, anyway.’

The carriage moved forward, speeding toward its destination.