It was too sudden, like barely escaping death surrounded by water snaring one's lungs. And the lights, blinding one's eyes that haven't seen it for what felt like centuries.

But there was no lights, not ones that were familiar at least. Where was she? Was this the afterlife? It was too surreal, a dream. But the afterlife was unknown to all and simply a guessing game.

She have thought of it as a empty, cold darkness all her life. Nothing that judges your past actions and treat everyone the same.

Was she wrong? There was no doubt.

"Valeria, what's wrong?" Valeria? Who was that? She looked down from the bright lighting to look beside her to locate the voice of the unknown culprit. It was a just as unfamiliar, attractive-looking man with silver hair. His contrasting black eyes stared back, and it only became noticeable that there was other people as well watching her, but their appearances were like background characters in mythical, religious paintings.

It only came to mind that the Valeria character was directed in her attention. Was she Valeria then? The awkward silence was beginning to awake her nerves. She never liked being watched, the looks of judgement always haunted her since the dawn of her own birth. "I'm..." She began, turning her eyes back to the attractive man right next to her. "...fine?" Her voice, it sounded wrong, different from her once higher tone. Is she really fine?

No.

The man made a noticeable, twitch of his lips. A sign of distrust, she concluded. "Sir Thorne reported to me your misbehavior towards Allya. Something about you going out of your way to ruin her dress for the ball." The man's eyes awaited Valeria's answer. Unfortunately for him, she had no idea where she was, who he was, or even if her real name is what he gave her.

Valeria could only blink at him, and keep a straight face that had many thoughts going through it at light speed about her current situation. But she isn't stupid, no. Admitting her lack of knowledge about the accusation against her would cause mass ruckus among the table she found herself at.

"I...I apologize?" The man's eyes darken with her response. Better reaction than her truth, she hoped. The people around the table muttered and whispered in question to the woman's only answer to the accusation. "So you admit it." "I...I admit as much as such a truth holds." The man turned his head away, but Valeria knew of his current emotion as his body shook in attempting to contain itself. "Why do you hold such jealousy, for a commoner? Does this hold no shame for your household, the next heir of the seat of Donovan?"

Valeria didn't know what to say to that. As far as she recalled, she had no household. Just a small apartment ready to fall apart around her and a man who she had to be careful around.

But then it did hit her, and she chose her last words carefully. "My apologies, Prince Ares. I didn't realize that you would prefer to worry about a commoner over your faithful fiancée." The voices stopped, and the prince twisted his body back to her. His beauty became distorted with anger. "A commoner who knows more about proper behavior among the nobles seems to be far more fair than my own fiancée!"

Valeria didn't respond back, keeping a calm demeanor as her own fiancé sat before her with an emotion as contrasting as his eyes to his hair. Her real name wasn't Valeria, she knew that much. It was once Kimiko. A Japanese name with a meaning of "empress" or "noble." She was a typical salary worker part-time and university student full-time.

The prince stood up from the table, "Please send yourself home, Valeria." He left the large room, and already the noblemen and women were having gushed talk in turn to comfort Valeria. But Kimiko didn't listen completely, gently moving her newly pale skinned hand to brush her hair out to reveal a rose-red color instead of Kimiko's familiar black.

So she was correct, but to think it was possible to have something like this happen in reality; a reincarnation into a novel. She read so many that it came so easily to her. "Milady, the prince had no right to insult your status for his light attraction to some dirty farm girl he found on the streets!"

Valeria didn't say anything for a long while, trying to complement her situation of being forced into a familiar, yet extremely surreal world that shouldn't even be possible. Perhaps, a dream? No, what happened to her beforehand meant she was truly dead.

"Milady?" Valeria's violet eyes jumped up to thr nobleman speaking to her. She can't just sit there and not say anything. "Forgive me, to think the prince would have a tantrum in front of guests. My apologies for the unexpected event." Yes, Kimiko did remember now how this event in the familiar novel went.

The prince would confront Valeria, one of the novel's main antagonists on a dress she, earlier in the novel, ripped apart so the protagonist, a commoner farm girl, didn't have a beautiful dress for a scheduled ball among the nobles.

This is where the prince begins to be on his last limits with Valeria, with the ball being the conclusion to Valeria's end of being banished and sent to nunnery. Yes, that was her destined ending. At least if she didn't stray from the path. If Kimiko recalled correctly, the novel was cheap and generic without much difference to the already overflooded market of reincarnation novels.

"To apologize for the prince's own error!" Kimiko didn't recall any scene in the novel to have the nobles be a big, important key. At least they were on her side, for now.

Until Prince Ares lists off all the horrible things she had done to the commoner that would be considered unspeakable and of horrid nature. Kimiko wasn't even sure of all the things Valeria did, due to the implications and hints scattered in the many words. It had to be bad enough to warrant 'gasps' and 'groans' during the banishment scene.

Valeria shook her head, "The prince is only learning. As his fiancée, it is my duty to keep him in line as he inherits the throne from the king. But it seems I have failed." Was that complete bullshit? Kimiko didn't even know what Valeria's role was as the prince's fiancée besides maybe look proper and marry him into power.

The novel really was cheap.

Valeria stood up and nearly jumped in surprise when she felt a leathery cloth wrap around her bare shoulders. She looked to find it to be simply a coat and a woman...with fur, looking back at her with red irises. The woman's animal nose twitched. "Milady, the carriage is ready." The woman had an odd accent. It was un-descripting. Kimiko barely remembers there being a note of animal-like people having accent that couldn't be described with words.

She was pretty sure it was because the author gotten lazy around that part. Why even bother detailing it at all? "Thank you..." Kimiko had to hurry and think of the woman's name. It quickly clicked just in time.

"Sol. Let us return the house at once. I have work needed to be completed." Sol's animal nose twitched and the whiskers shook a little enough to be noticeable. "Of course, milady." Sol bowed, and Kimiko noticed that unlike the beast people she would see pop in novels and even illustrations, Sol was more beast than actually human in form. Her skin was complete fur, a orange nearly matching the color of a dawning sun. No wonder the author named her Sol.

It was the long, furry ears standing tall among Sol's head that got to Kimiko. It was...adorable. Before Kimiko even noticed, Valeria gently placed a hand on top of Sol's head to gently pet it. The nobles' faces turned to that of disbelief and horror to the small action. Sol's own reaction was of confusion and shock. Kimiko took a moment to realize what she have done and pulled her hand away.

Play it cool, Kimiko thought in a hurry. How could she have done that without thinking it over? "Y-You've done well Sol, please take a break once we return home." Sol didn't respond immediately. "Y-Yes, milady." Sol stood up from her bow and Kimiko noticed how tall the woman was in comparison to her. She had to be at least around 5'8 feet (170 cm) to Valeria's much smaller height. Were the beastmen tall on average? This was already so much to take in that Valeria needed to lie down immediately when she can to just think everything over.

Sol moved forward after Valeria, with Valeria hoping she was going the right way to the outside world. She was rewarded with an approving answer when she moved out to find a grand city being overlooked from the castle's grand outside stairs of marble stone.

Kimiko couldn't help her jaw drop in astonishment as she saw many buildings and strange, flying creatures passing over them bigger than any bird Kimiko ever seen in her original world.

Kimiko snapped herself out of it and moved down long-ending steps to a carriage awaiting for her. Kimiko knew Valeria came from an upstanding family, but the carriage was an overkill. It was pure black and laced with golden trimmings. The horses-

The horses were nothing like her original world's! These ones had sharp spikes coming from their spinal areas and hair floating like it was underwater. The hooves were spiked in front of them. Valeria couldn't keep her eyes off of them. "Milady, is everything alright?" Kimiko blinked and shook her head to get out of the clouds. She'll think everything over later.

"Yes, let us go." She moved up the steps of the carriage to get inside to find it larger than what it seems. The carriage really was overkill. If Kimiko was correct, the novel mentioned people were starving by the large and yet she was able to sit in a wasteful carriage of unnatural proportions. Kimiko couldn't help but to feel guilty.

As Valeria sat down, Sol followed in and sat across from her, staring down to the ground to avoid Valeria's eyes. Was it really that shocking of what Valeria did? Kimiko could only hope Valeria wasn't as horrible at home, but she would soon realize that bad people tend to be worse behind closed doors.

~|~

"You fool, how could you anger the prince with such a petty action!" Valeria kept quiet as an older man was fumbling around the room they were in as Valeria sat in a three-seated couch.

Kimiko soon found out that there were more beastmen at the household Valeria was aligned to, sitting off to the side in maid and butler uniforms with nervous shivering as they watched the scene unfold in front of them. "Do you have any idea what this would cost us?! If the king hears, our house could be easily thrown away like paper! Damn you, if only our seating power wasn't torn down already...!" Kimiko noted that older man to be Valeria's father.

"Forgive me, father." "No!" The man snapped at her. Kimiko saw the resemble between them, for he had red hair and violet eyes. His stern face made him appear villainous on his own. Kimiko will have to look in the mirror to see Valeria's complete appearance and it wouldn't surprise her if she had a resting bitch face of her own.

"You had your chance, Valeria. I can't help you if you cause any further mess." Kimiko didn't blame him. From Valeria's petty fights among the court and now over a commoner female, it was no wonder her father would have enough of her shenanigans. But how did he know so soon of Valeria's latest pettiness? Did someone warn him?

"Go to your room. Your mother would've been ashamed if she saw how you were acting." Kimiko watched Valeria's father leave the high-end room with a close of a door. Not even await of a response. The room's muddy colors became uninteresting to the eye once more now that its actor have left. Kimiko turned her head to peek up at a painting of a woman almost staring back down at her with a rigid form of judgement coming from her blue eyes.

She looked softer than the man that was once in here. Her curly hair dark as the night ensnared her body with only a fair ponytail being the only containment from it completely taking over her body. But she had no smile to show her true warmth, only a cold, unsympathetic frown.

Valeria's mother.

Kimiko tried to recall what she read in the novel. Did it ever explain what occurred to cause her mother's death? There was a weak paragraph, something about a vile war that hit the kingdom hard. A painful...curse? It took people slowly in their deathbed. The protagonist's mother ended up taking the curse as well.

It always disgusted Kimiko to hear of how the prince would show sympathy to Allya's painful wounds across her heart but never to his own fiancée after he set his eyes on that white-haired female.

That same female ended up being the one to stop the upcoming next surge of the curse by defeating a evil wizard, Kimiko miserably thought. Valeria just had it rough.

It wasn't like Valeria was any good herself from time to time either.

Kimiko stopped her train of thoughts when she heard nervous shuffling and looked over to see the beastmen that kept in the room with them immediately hurrying to put away any fragile items that laid in the room. Their animal eyes watching Valeria, as if awaiting for something dangerous to occur. Perhaps a earthquake of unimaginable toil to arrive. But then they committed to an odd behavior of going in front of the windows in the room.

It took Kimiko a full moment to realize what they were doing, and her suspicions were confirmed when she had a closer look at the muddy walls, finding rips and small cracks among them. Some of the muddy colors were replaced with lighter versions of the muddy colors to paint over some of the cracks.

Kimiko frowned as she stood up, and with each movement, the beastmen laid wary of them. For such tall people with strengths almost unimaginable to that of a human's, according to the novel that is, they had distinct fears. Kimiko rewarded their anticipation by leaving the room long after her father's.

Valeria was a bad person, she realized. Which meant Kimiko had a lot on her plate to cope with. The novel did imply such things about Valeria, but to think that a young woman with simple human fists could do such horrid damage is unimaginable.

The one thing that Kimiko would never forget or even forgive herself despite not being at fault, is the lone beastman in the corner with a bruised ego as well as a bruised cheek.