A Kentucky Belle in an Isekai World

2: Court

I didn't move for a long time.

Finally, Olivia came back in.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, ma'am," she said, "but breakfast is likely over now. Shall we go to the drawing room?"

I didn't know what that was.

I remembered the instruction not to tell Olivia. I didn't want to listen to Karen, but I seemed to be at her mercy.

My mind wasn't very clear, but I had about worked out that Karen had to be some kind of witch. How else was this possible?

I wouldn't have thought it was possible, would have thought this was a dream, but I had never had one this detailed before.

And I didn't think I could dream how normal Olivia was acting about this, and it all felt much too real. I could touch it. I pinched myself and I felt it.

I was not given to hallucinations or mental breakdowns, and I didn't think I'd have had one just over a little tiff with a customer. So I was sure I wasn't crazy.

No...it had to be real.

I cleared my throat.

No time now to process this. If I didn't do something, I'd be trapped here forever...I thought. That part was awfully unclear.

"Yeah, let's go," I told Olivia.

Thankfully, she asked me no questions about it. I supposed that was above her pay grade.

While she led me out of the room and down that huge hallway and then to a huge staircase that would have made Cinderella hesitate to run down it, I had to think.

I didn't know what to think, but I decided that if Karen was a witch and had somehow cast a spell on me, if such a thing was possible, that I couldn't do anything about it till I knew more.

I would not have believed I would have accepted this so quickly if you'd asked me about it the day before, but I think the adrenaline in my veins was making me accept the weirdness of this faster. I would feel the culture shock soon enough, no doubt.

But for now, I was on high alert. I noticed everything: the patterns on the walls, the soft carpet, the shiny stone the place was made of. Was it marble? I didn't know.

I mentally went over what Olivia had told me. Karen had said she'd written my character.

Well, I was me, obviously. I remembered who I was. I didn't know anything about the backstory she'd given me in the story, but she must have, if Olivia knew me and I had a father with a lordship.

I knew little about medieval lords...or post medieval ones. I still wasn't sure exactly what era this was supposed to be.

But if no damage would be done to me if I played along, then I could be out of this nightmare in 3 months. That was the deal. So I had to accept it for 3 months, and then...well, I had no idea what I would do when I went home, but I felt it would be easier to deal with the implications of all this at home than while I was here.

I decided, by the time Olivia had me downstairs, to pretend this whole thing was a movie. I was cast in a role. I had to not break character. It was the only way to make sense of it without losing my mind at how real it all felt. It was just method acting. Leo DiCaprio style.

I had been in a few plays in my time. I didn't love it, but I was decent enough to get speaking roles. I figured I could pull this off enough to not seem totally insane if I just didn't show that I was...well...from the real world.

I also thought back to when I was a teenager. That was the only time I had read stories like this. I outgrew them after being a junior in high school. Turned more to modern settings for stories, or history fiction without the fantasy elements thrown in.