I opened my eyes and saw the ceiling of my room, lit by a lamp on the table nearby. The distant ticking of my family grandfather's clock from another room, and the wind outside howling at the window. I lifted my hand to rub at my eyes and realized that they've bandaged one of my fingers that got cut during the fight.
I must've passed out from the shock, then.
I sat up from the bed and stood, walking towards the howling window just in time to see the descending sun on the horizons. In that fight, though, I felt that I acted too much as my real age, not the age I am currently. It may give suspicion, though fortunately, only my opponent seems to know that very thing.
Did I sleep through the day, or perhaps I merely slept for a few hours? Considering with my non-existent wound, and only received great exhaustion. It is more likely that it is more the latter...
I'm curious about Avarentino de Gilles, though.
At this point, the man had died from blood loss or is still in the hands of the doctor to be healed and thrown into wild dogs of nobility for his acts against the ever-growing Scarlet Family. She felt immense guilt for choosing violence to deal with her enemy, though necessary it may be.
Don't be naïve. De Gilles would've still killed you.
Nevertheless, she would like to watch the judgment of de Gilles only if the opportunity presented itself. Other than satisfying one's curiosity, it would increase her knowledge of how criminals are processed in nobility and through her eyes not the words of a book or rather the voice of her teacher.
"Milady, are you awake?" A knock snapped herself out of herself and looked outward to the door of her room, and that familiar voice allowed her to recognize the servant of the family. A common in the grasp of a noble family to serve the members of society, despite how she disagreed if it was not up to the free will of said common.
She could not disagree with a system though, it would not do well to decrease the reputation of the Scarlet Family or even place a target upon her back. "Yes, Miyo, come in." I softly spoke, and the door opened revealing a woman wearing a simple white dress, tied hair, brown eyes, and carrying a teacup atop a plate.
"I am glad that you are safe, milady." She spoke conversationally as she put the plate atop the table near my bed, and I sat atop the bed once more. "Thank you, Miyo." And as always, the servant merely smiled happily of the honor of serving a respectable noble that respects each other work. "It is my work, after all, milady."
After the servant has left for her duties, I sat on my bed sipping the warm tea. It calmed the tense atmosphere in my mind that seems to be a left-over from the previous fight, though I would not wish another one like that upon me. After the shattering death of my previous life, I'd rather prefer I would go peacefully.
How ironic, is it not? The infamous or rather famous Remilia Scarlet from the modern days and the non-existent Gensokyo (or is it?) that prefers to go without fighting another intruder in her humble abode. She was sure that it was boredom that warped the thinking of Remilia Scarlet to go so far and pretty much live for the battles.
Though, being stuck in a bed only sipping warm tea is bound to give her enough boredom and give the motivation to explore the noble home that she has. She placed the nearly empty teacup upon the plate and exited her room, the long halls of her home greeting her.
The marble and scarlet carpet underneath, it was elegant enough to be a noble family house. Only the footsteps of her feet against the carpet were heard in the enormous halls of her home, and in any way, it seeks to be her home and pretty much the source of her vast memory.
This house is so comforting that I would even sleep in the halls..
As I went past a mirror placed on a drawer nearby, I realized that I am in completely different clothes. It seemed that they undressed me while I was unconscious and try to wash the blood away, this one seems to have more dark blue accent through my dress.
As I explored the house, my boredom seemed to have been alleviated for now and now I was in the mood to do some reading in the library. The Scarlet Family is a military-oriented nobility and in that case, the other side of the library is unused and the military-oriented library is used more often. I pushed the wooden door to the library and I was face-to-face with an unknown.
God dammit.
But fortunately, it seems that a boy has slipped into the library. Two years older more than myself and by that meaning, I had to relinquish some of my guard and wariness away. Though, I was still suspicious of the appearance of the boy in my library. Closing the door behind me seemed to snap the boy out of his awe at the library size.
"Are you impressed? No, that is not the question I want to ask. May I have your name, heir?"
The boy turned around and seemed surprised at the appearance of a much shorter lady inquiring the name of themselves. "A-ah. My name is Kessel Diventine, my lady." The Diventine family? It seems they are visiting our family right now.. "Pleased to meet you, heir of Diventine family."
The Diventine family is equal-ranked to the Scarlet Family, in a sense, an ally in the court of politics. While the Scarlet Family heads onward to militaristic focus, the Diventine Family focuses on the same focus with more freer focus towards citizenship, both common and nobility. A great combination, though we lack economical family in the midst of our nobility group.
"Are you invited, then?" I simply inquired as I walked to the bookshelves, my eyes searching the lines for an interesting books that I have not yet caught or finished in my time. The library is vast enough, but I only have explored less than half of the books in this room. "Yeah, I was told to explore, though."
"Don't pout," I said with a soft smile on my face as I caught the title of advanced ruling tactics on the shelf and pulled it out as softly as I could to not damage the cover. "I am not pouting!" He protested but I gave him a cold glare for disturbing the silence of the library, "Sorry."
Sheesh, he's a bit childish for my tastes. Well, he is a child.
I waved my hand dismissively, sitting on the chair and put the book on the table nearby. Now that I've calmed down and found a book, I looked up and analyzed the child closely. He wore a black suit with white sleeves, wearing black leggings and dark shoes. "Hm, I'll give you permission to read book in this library. Take care of them… very… carefully." I instructed and threatened the child.
"Thank you, my lady." The boy bowed his head down and approached one of the bookshelves immediately. I hear scuffling and shuffling behind me and the boy dragged a chair silently to sit and read the book he picked out. At least he did not follow my example of a book, it is usually annoying when some did that.
Despite of what was said in the first book. Ruling an entire land cannot be run by only one person, the queen or the king - or rather the royalty is run by advisories, and even nobility from below royalty to help the king/queen rule their land with efficiency.
I hear a sigh and I immediately look to my right and I witnessed a strange thing done by a kid yet in this era, but it was rather understandable by myself. Kessel seemed to tower over the book by sitting up on his chair, and seemed to look very closely to his book — I had wanted to laugh, but it would be rather insensitive.
"Heir Diventine, what are you doing?" I had asked instead.
The child seemed to flush red with embarrassment at being caught, perhaps he was too into his book and forgot that I was there with him? He stuttered, but I merely raised my eyebrows in concealed amusement. "M-My apologies, my lady. I just have a problem… with my eyes."
Problems with his eyes?
I curled my lips in a much more visible amusement, "And have you consulted those eye problems of yours with your family, or a doctor, perhaps?" I did not think it was even possible to go even redder than his skin even allowed. But his genuine excuse seemed to reverberate in my ear, a child's speech is quite confusing sometimes.
Nearsightedness or farsightedness? Why have this child not told his parents of this problem?
"Then allow me to tell this problem of yours to me, Diventine."
"I don't want to." A somber answer seemed to fill the atmosphere, it completely exceeded my expectations of this child answers. A pained child will always bring my attention to them, no matter how annoying they are. Due to my solitude, I seem to be the best next to my past friend, Caesar, to analyze every language that the human body speaks visually.
"And, why do you not want to?"
"They tell me not to. They say I'm a commoner because of my disease." I could not hold the laughter bubbling in my throat, naivete of children to expect that they have to follow every command of their so-called friends. It's rather ridiculous, I would say.
"And why do you follow them despite the fact that there is a cure to that very disease?" My amusement seemed to glimmer deep inside my eyes, hiding a simple emotion to the drive lecturing this child. The child seemed to blink rapidly at the answer given by the lady heiress, expecting the laugh to be more malicious.
"W-what?" It was unexpected to the boy, who could not believe his ears that the heiress said the words he didn't know he wanted to hear after all these years of call-out from his friends. She smiled in amusement, "Those friends of yours, are they truly your friends when they insult you and bring you down?"
The child stayed silent at the lecture coming from the one younger than himself, he felt rather ashamed for some reason but the very same emotion gave him motivation. He casts his eye down, listening to the heiress with apt attention. "How do I make them stop then?"
"Tell your parents that you have an eye problem, trust me, they will give you something to fix that problem of yours." The girl answered with the same patience as his parents did when answering questions after questions. Is she like an adult in disguise or something?
"But, what if—!" I tried to protest, but she cut me off with a harsh glare that made me cower. How did she even do that with a glare?
"Shush, Diventine. Do not linger on the what-ifs, it will make it only worse."
"But.." Kessel seemed to protest halfheartedly, but I merely forged on with another lecture in mind to keep his motivation going. It would do no good for the Diventine family to go under with its son's behavior going wrong. "Do you want to prove it yourself? Then, look around you. What room are you standing in?"
The heir of Diventine eyes seemed to glimmer in wonder once more, and hope immediately fills his eyes. Kessel picked up the book and slid it back into bookshelves and searched for relevant information on his so-called disease, though I was not expecting for a child to have myopia far back into history.
Looks like he chose knowledge over friends, then.
I hope his family are not foolish enough to exile him. Hopefully not, I know nothing of his family.
After some while of reading and answering the child's question, the library door opened revealing Miyo with a faint smile on her face. I looked up surprised at her appearance, "Miyo, what is it?" I inquired curiously.
"It is already night, my lady. Dinner is ready, and the Diventine family has me tasked to find the heir." I see, I must've lost track of time during my readings then. I stood up and straightened my dress to look more dignified as the Diventine family seems to be joining us for dinner. I nodded at the boy who looked understanding at what is happening currently, and I slid the book into the shelf.
"Of course, Miyo. Lead the way, then."
"Of course, milady." The servant curtsied as I followed her out of the library.
It seems that this month will be relatively peaceful, though judging by the faces of the Diventine family. They're pleased that the somber attitude of their heir seemed to be resolved already by coming into conversation with me. Hopefully, Kessel will solve even more of his problem by talking about his problem with a doctor or his parents.
As I sit on the chair in front of the desk in the library, I leaned back and wondered about the past or the future of my friend after that dilemma with the terrorist. But, to this day, I still have no answer why the beings of the universe reincarnated me into the body of Remilia Scarlet.
Looking at the calendar of the years, it seemed different from the original lore of Remilia Scarlet as she is literally five-hundred years old with tons of knowledge. Another idea that has appeared in my head is strange and fantastical, but for the time being, that will be my excuse for how I was reincarnated.
What a cruel world, telling me to save myself in the future…
Author Notes:
I'm sure you've noticed that despite the title Modern World AU on the summary, it seems that the entirety of the story focuses on the past of Remilia Scarlet. Be patient as this is only the first arc of the story. I've taken a storyline similar to Jojo's first season where it focuses on the past before the future of the story, it gives me the opportunity to do as I wish with the growth of Remilia and other characters.
And yes, obviously, this Remilia may look very OOC (and please forgive me, I am quite new to the Touhou fandom).