Chapter 50 - Pledges matter
Scarlett felt the stares of people bearing down upon her, a strange mood covering the room following her words. The man before her, sitting on a golden throne overlooking the room, had an inscrutable expression on his face as he studied her. The emperor's gaze felt stifling to her, the lingering emotions inside her urging her between supplicating in front of him and rising up to teach the noisy people around them a lesson.
She chose to do nothing for the moment.
She wasn't quite sure why the original seemed to have such a heavy obsession with the imperial—it definitely was to an unhealthy level—but it wasn't something she wanted to feed too much into when she could avoid it.
"The Baroness appears to have a high opinion of herself," the emperor suddenly said, leaning back on his throne.
Scarlett felt an odd sensation travel up her back. She wasn't certain if that was a prompt for her to speak, or if it was meant rhetorically. Her whole current situation was far removed from what she would have wanted.
She had been nervous for a while—or as nervous as she could get with the system's traits weighing down on her—about this ceremony. It was an unknown to her and her knowledge of the game, which made it a danger considering how important of an event it appeared to be.
The Elysian Proclamation, and other situations like it, were exactly why she had spent so much time prior to visiting the capital trying to read up on the local customs. And while she had learned a lot, detailed information on precisely what went on during this ceremony wasn't among it.
For a time, she had hoped that what she had learned of the general noble customs would be enough. She knew most of the correct forms of address among the aristocracy and towards the imperial family, and was wishing that would be enough to make do. And if things really went to hell, she had a couple of contingency plans that would probably ensure her safety, though they would also likely put her in a position where she was indentured to the imperial family in ways she didn't want, even if she could work with it if necessary.
Unfortunately it didn't seem like lady luck felt like smiling at her today. Scarlett's hopes had quickly sunk after Evelyne and she had been separated after they arrived and that male servant had led her to the 'Inaugural Chamber'. There, they had given her a damn blade out of nowhere—something she hadn't seen any mention about in anything she read—and just left her in a large dining hall along with a bunch of other nobles without further explanations. She had at least been thankful enough that no one spoke to each other there, simply partaking in the light refreshments provided.
But then more servants had arrived and started leading the nobles away one by one. When it came to her turn Scarlett had actually been brazen enough to try and get some information from the servant leading her, but the servant had simply told her—with a rather strange look—that they weren't privy to the goings-on in the 'Chamber of Elysia', as it was.
Left without any other options, when they'd reached a long set of stairs leading up to the throne rooms which she had been prompted to climb, Scarlett had simply kept all her attention focused on the noble a few dozen meters ahead of her—which she only then realized was Duke Tyndall—and copied exactly what he did.
Which had put her in her current situation.