"Rebecca, I am sure you have noticed the last two days how different my personality is from Nicolas. Today what I said in the library wasn't me trying to avoid responsibility, I just didn't know you were forced to give up on your dream. You deserve so much better. Now that I am here, you can be your true self without fear of being restricted.
Rebecca was surprised by my words.
"No one has ever taken my side before…"
"I feel this way because in my world, society has progressed to a level where women were treated as equals to men. They both had equal say in a relationship and both usually worked in the career they chose.
Of course, there were some men that treated their wives badly and said they wanted it to be like old times, but those men were looked at as scum and could even get imprisoned depending on how bad they treated their wives.
In my opinion, Nicolas was scum. Even if he was forced to marry you, he should have at least treated you with respect. He acted all high and mighty talking about your duty as a wife, while he was out partying every night doing whatever he wanted."
Rebecca's eyes started to sparkle like a kid being told a bedtime story. "Are you really not Nicolas? He was so arrogant that, even to trick me, there is no way he would talk bad about himself. The world you lived was really that amazing? It sounds like a dream!"
"Yes Rebecca, I am completely different from Nicolas. You can ask me any questions you want to help you believe me.
Seeing how much you have fought against this society that is oppressing you, I can tell that you would have loved the world that I am from. I'm sorry I can't take you there because I don't know what magic sent me here, but I want to use my authority as a Duke to help change the society here in the Kingdom to be more similar to my world.
All of my current values come from the society I was raised in, so I am angered by how badly you were treated all your life.
I want to give you freedom to do what you want and fight for what you believe in. I also want you to help me change the laws of this Duchy to give all marginalized people similar freedom. There must be countless women just like you that are suffering in silence because they have no say."
Rebecca's was full of ambition. "You really want to change things?"
"Yes, I couldn't live with myself if I had as much power as a Duke, and I did nothing to help the people that I see are suffering from this backwards Kingdom. I hope I can rely on you for help along the way."
"If you really mean it, I would love to finally be able to stand up for myself! A lot of people reprimanded me for being stubborn, but all I did was stand my ground when people were trying to wrong me."
"Thank you Rebecca. I think your stubbornness is one of your strong points. It shows you won't let people push you around, even when no one will have your back. You said that you have no ally in this world. I feel the same because of the situation I was thrown into. I hope we can both support each other, so we no longer feel alone."
Rebecca then stated, "I want to believe you Nick, so tell me about what kind of person you were in your original world?"
I thought about the best way to explain my life in a way that someone from this world would understand.
"In my original life, I was a scholar that worked as an engineering. I designed buildings and bridges to make them safe. I lived a modest life in a small one room home."
Rebecca frowned, "you were a commoner?"
"Well, there was no such thing as nobles and commoners in my world. There were just people that were either rich or poor. I was well off and lived comfortably, but, in terms of this world, yes I was a commoner. That is why I hope by telling you the truth, you can help me learn how to act like a noble when we go to events. Are you angry that the man you are currently married to was a commoner?
Rebecca clarified, "no, I don't have negative feels towards commoners. I was raised that way since my father started as a commoner before becoming a noble after making a lot of money in the steel trade. I am just surprised because Nicolas had too much pride about his noble bloodline to even joke about because a commoner."
Rebecca continued, "what types of things did you do for fun?"
I thought about all my hobbies in my past life. "Well, I like to read fantasy stories. In my world, there was no magic, so we had a lot of stories about fantasy worlds where mages lived. I also enjoyed listening to music. I would go to concerts to listen to musicians play their music with thousands of other people."
Rebecca's eyes lit up and she stuck one finger up like she had an idea. "You like music? Nicolas hated music. However, I really love music, so I have heard all the current songs in this Kingdom. I even heard some songs from other Kingdoms when foreign musicians came to visit!
If you can sing me some songs from your world that I have never heard of, than it would be easier for me to believe that you are not from here."
I guess that made sense. I was not the best singer, but I knew a lot of different genres, so I sang Rebecca a song from as many genres as possible so that the uniqueness of the songs made it impossible for me to be just making them up as I go.
"Don't stop believin'! Hold on to that feelin'!…"
"You only get one shot, do no miss your chance to blow…."
"Baby, baby, baby, oh. I thought you'd always be mine…"
"If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it…"
I gave Rebecca her own personal concert. There was no way I thought this would happen when I sat down for this serious talk earlier, but whatever hoops I had to jump through now to gain her trust, was worth it. It felt like a pretty ridiculous way to prove my story, but Rebecca was smiling and laughing the whole time. She clapped and cheered me to keep going after every song.
After 10 songs, "ok Rebecca, I know a lot more but I'm tired. I'll sing for you another day."
Rebecca pouted slightly, "ok, now I can say with 99% certainty, you are not Nicolas. He has never stepped foot out of this Kingdom and none of those songs were like any song from this Kingdom. It is still hard to 100% believe you are from another world entirely, but I trust your words much more now.
I smiled, "that's great!"