The Royal Deal

Chapter 4 - A Land Called Sehar

'I know very well what it means by setting a date!'

Everyone was startled by her raised voice and stared at her in disapproval.

'Oh god... mistake number 2!'

To mend the current situation, she spoke gently and calmly with her head bowed as her face flamed red with embarrassment.

"Well. That is... I don't have any intention of getting married any time soon. No, to be exact I don't want to get married. So please pretend that the arrangement with the Marquis...or his son never happened."

"Amethyst, what are you talking about! Just yesterday morning you were doing all sorts of...ahem, things, asking us to set you up for marriage."

"Well...I thought about it again and I don't see the need anymore. So please, just pretend it never happened and reject the proposal. I beg of you."

"What? What sort of nonsense is this?!"

"Please... I beg of you." She adopted a desperate and pitiful look which made Count Lohikin glare at her in disbelief.

It was a look that she understood completely as an adult; he was taken aback by the change of attitude in his daughter within such a short time.

Even so, he wanted to hold up his dignity and did not want to reprimand his daughter in front of the servants.

"Ahem, let's finish our meal first."

He started to calmly eat his breakfast again, but Amethyst couldn't, she felt like her head was going to burst.

'I feel so sorry for the count but it's been barely an hour since I arrived in this world. And to think, marriage all of a sudden...'

She shuddered from within.

'Of course, it isn't Count Lohikin's fault; how was he to know that I am sick of marriage after 11 years of it?'

'My ecstasy at having escaped my miserable life has come to an abrupt halt when here, in this alternate world, I am met with the same fate.'

To Amethyst, the only viable alternative, just then, was running away. She excused herself saying she had a headache, quickly vacated her seat, and returned to her bedroom.

After her departure, the countess remarked with concern.

"It seems like her body condition is not too good lately."

"It seems so. You should pay more attention."

"I will."

The two continued their conversation and their meal; Merrild and Matin following their example, did the same.

*

[At the beginning of time, dark clouds covered the sky and settled down turning the whole world into darkness.

Humans that had previously been mere insignificant creatures, started to conduct sacrificial rites. Soon a beautiful goddess with red eyes and sparkling platinum hair came down from the dark sky. She was known as Frosty, and as she took her first step on the earth, the black clouds that had enveloped the world in darkness disappeared forever, restoring glory.

Greenery bloomed wherever she stepped and sooner, this land was called 'Sehar'. From then on, the humans worshiped the goddess and learned reason, intelligence, and all the knowledge a human could learn.

They established a kingdom by making descendants of a king, forming a nation. That was the beginning of the Sehar Kingdom. With the beginning of the kingdom, the goddess turned herself into a world tree and fell asleep in the kingdom of Sehar forever.]

"Turned herself into a world tree and fell asleep...? Are they referring to an arboretum?" Amethyst muttered to herself while holding a book titled 'History of the Sehar Kingdom'.

Fortunately for her, there were books in the Count's library to study the history of this place and she had decided to avail the opportunity.

Nonetheless, she couldn't understand how she was able to read the words that looked like twisted black threads; so far she had found out that this was a world where magic existed and she was currently in the Sehar Kingdom.

And based on the book , 'A noble lineage book every lady should read', she found out about the existence of a class of society headed by the king and his royal family, and a simple genealogy of the current noble families.

Another rather unhelpful fact she had found out was that in Sehar, the best age for a girl to get married was immediately after 18.

'Great!' She had muttered to herself, bitterly.

Despite being of marriageable age, the reason why Amethyst was still without a promising partner seemed mainly due to her looks, she thought.

Amethyst was definitely not a beauty; she had double eyelids but they were faint. Her hazel-shaped eyes, round and stubby nose, thin lips, and severely tangled curly hair, would hardly make any man's heart flutter.

Even when it was evaluated separately nothing seemed to stand out. Her only asset was her clear skin that had no freckles or pimples.

"Tsk, wherever I go, people are after looks." She subconsciously clicked her tongue, grumbling to herself.

'I'm not certain but if I am in a novel, it's not one I've read before; it's not a name I remember. It's the first time I've heard of a place called the Sehar kingdom... and even if I was in a story, I'm not the heroine, am I? Or maybe...'

'Have I moved into a different dimension and possessed another person to live their life? Although this reality seems less plausible...'

She tried to collect her thoughts; she wasn't sure how she came to this place but she had to live the life of the twenty year old Amethyst instead of her thirty-six year old self, and she never knew when she might return to her original world so she should live as discreetly as possible.

"Will I...be able to do it?"