A Brand New Chance

IT TOOK A while for me to accept that I’ve really narrowly escaped death.

I had pinched myself, closed my eyes and counted to ten, and waited for hours for someone to pop out and say ‘Sorry! We made a mistake!’ before sending me back into the reincarnation pool.

But I was certain now that I had gone back in time.

There was a jar of copper and silver coins I would collect whenever I found one hiding in the cracks and corners of the house, which I saved and stashed in hopes of one day being able to provide as well. I had left it at the dancer house when we were abruptly taken away, and it was a secret no one knew about but me.

So if that’s here, then I really am four years in the past, and this isn’t a set up meant to prank me.

Besides, if this really was heaven, then this was a terrible idea of it!

In my past life, despite its own trials, I hadn’t had to do nearly as much physical labor. But at the dancer house, I had completely forgotten how the only reason why I was allowed to stay was that the Madame had tasks for me to do constantly. And since it was the second day of the Crown Prince’s birthday festival, it seemed things were busier than ever. The entire empire of Solimarea celebrated in their own ways, but our city–the capital–was known to go all out.

I hurried around the house, performing my chores like clockwork. It included things like errands, cleaning, replacing buckets under leaky roofs hourly, and doing other small favors for the dancers throughout the day whenever they asked for me. I would spend hours running around the house or the town to the point of exhaustion, only being able to eat in the small in-between moments where no one was certain of my whereabouts.

The dancer house was composed of multiple floors, like that of a hotel. It wasn’t a large establishment, but it housed up to thirty women and had plenty more rooms for the customers.

Madame Whispet decorated the house with satin fabrics of deep rouge, velvet purple, and olive green hanging on the ceiling, with plush matching stained couches and chairs adorned with golden frills and accents. Dark oak tables had bottles of wine and various other alcoholic drinks for the guests to purchase were scattered about the lobby, which was my responsibility to fetch and serve on command if I wasn’t cleaning up after them in the guest rooms. It always smelled of incense, perfume, or sweat, and she kept it perpetually dimly lit.

But despite its outwardly luxurious design, you could tell the building was falling apart if you looked close enough. Rotting floorboards, torn wallpaper simply covered with a different pattern, and the occasional scratching of mice are signs that the building needed some maintenance. The girls’ quarters were similar, since Madame Whispet cared not for our wellbeing.

However, the thing that was more pressing on my mind than the Madame’s mismanagement of funds was Seralind and I’s gruesome deaths.

I needed to find a way to avoid that at all costs. Luckily, it seems I’ve returned to the time where change could still be made.

The festival was a three-day event, as it was the biggest celebration known to the empire because the Crown Prince, His Imperial Highness Cassian Saint-Portia, was turning twenty-seven years old. It was so monumental because it was the same age that the first Emperor turned when he became the ruler of our country.

Seralind was among a myriad of women and dancers hired to entertain the nobility in the palace during the festivities, and she attended all three nights to collect the money for the Madame.

But there still wasn’t a lot I was aware of about our situation at the palace.

As far as I knew, we had been sold to the Prince by the Madame in one swift business deal because he was looking for mistresses after the ball. In my previous life, I was much too innocent and focused on not angering Madame Whispet and feeding my favorite geese along the streets to be invested in political happenings.

But if there was more to that story, then I had to uncover it. It could mean life and death for Seralind and I.

My days of idly watching our lives unfold around us were over. I have to be more vigilant! I tell myself, hyping myself up and scrubbing the floors a little harder as a testament to my motivation.

“Esmeline!!” I hear a crackling voice echo above the crowd. I sigh at hearing it.

Speak of the devil… I think ruefully.

I certainly didn’t miss her impossible demands, or the cruel smack of her hand on the back of mine when I did something she didn’t like.

I leave my bucket from scrubbing a strange-smelling goo off of the stairs and hurry between the legs of women and clients to tend to her.

“Hurry up!! Where did you go?” I hear her voice again. Finally, I see her conversing with an older man, who was wringing his hands together anxiously.

Madame Whispet’s mahogany brown hair—that was regularly dyed to hide her greying hairs—was tied up in an overflowing bun, as though a pin was keeping it from coming undone completely. Her hair was finally adorned with ostrich feathers and pearls for extravagance. Her silken dress showed that it was expensive and most likely custom, as most people in the city wore cotton material.

I stood up straight, ready to do whatever Madame Whispet asked of me so I could go back to plotting.

“Yes, ma’am?” I replied, well rehearsed.

“This gentleman says he has lost his pocket watch and believes one of our lovely ladies has it. Isn’t that right, sir?” Madame Whispet muses, crossing her arms. The man nods quickly.

“I-It’s a gift from my wife, you see, so I must have it back! I’m certain I left it in one of the rooms. Won’t you look for it?” He begs her.

Begging won’t get you anywhere with her. She sold her heart to an evil spirit for two silver coins!

“Oh, dear, how horrible!” Madame Whispet sighs dramatically. “Esmeline, have you seen a tiny little pocket watch belonging to a balding, drunken fool?”

The man stammered at her, unsure as to whether he heard Madame Whispet correctly. I anxiously shake my head.

“Well then, sir, I cannot help you.” Madame Whispet apologizes with a sugary fake tone.

“H-How dare you? It’s more expensive than this entire dump!” The man roars.

“Should have thought of that before dangling in front of a pretty face, yeah?” Madame Whispet calls after him. With a wave of her hand, hired men that worked at the house to deal with patrons like him shoved the defeated man onto the street, slamming the door behind him.

She sighs angrily as she adjusts her bodice. She then turns to me, and that wicked snarl that permanently etched frown lines into her skin returns as she gazes upon me with nothing but annoyance.

“What are you standing there for? I don’t allow you to take up a free bed so you can gawk.” Madame Whispet hisses, kicking at me with her foot. I bow hastily before turning back to my duties.

“Oh, and keep an eye out for a pocketwatch,” She instructs me, a greedy smirk playing on her rouged lips.

“Y-Yes, ma’am!” I bow my head, but shoot glares at her from behind my hair.

I’ll make sure to toss it the second I find it, you old crow!

After finishing my cleaning, I finally had some downtime to find Seralind.

She was hanging about near the lounging area, giggling with some customers that were splayed across the silken couches. The Madame had warned me not to disturb her when she was around customers, but I knew that if I stayed close enough I could maybe pick up something useful.

According to Seralind, the women at the house were all very talented dancers, and the clients would pay the girls to have them be a form of companionship and privately perform for them in the various guest rooms.

Some of them left, and were quickly replaced by Seralind’s friends Marionne and Auna. I pretended to be wiping down the wooden table legs as I listened in on their conversation instead of passively daydreaming like I had used to in the past.

“How was the ball, Sera? You must tell us!” Auna coaxes her, clutching her arm.

“Nothing I haven’t been through before, you know. Just a wealthier audience.” Seralind says meekly.

“Stop being so shy, come on!” Marionne says, rolling her eyes.

“We heard you all got to be around dukes and counts who lavished you all with gold and emeralds!” Auna gushed.

“It wasn’t anything that glamorous!” Seralind insisted, tugging on a strand of her hair.

“One of the ladies said you had disappeared off somewhere all night and come back with the most beautiful brooch. We want to know who it was!”

“I chat with men covered in wine and sweat all night long, and all Seralind has to do is bow her head and flutter her lashes and she gets a whole night’s pay!” Marionne complains, kicking up her feet.

“That’s not true!” Seralind says quickly, seemingly growing anxious, “You know I have the hardest time keeping customers out of everyone. I just got lucky, that’s all.”

“You’re not going to keep such a wealthy client to yourself, are you?” Auna begs Seralind.

“H-He was just a noble. I don’t even know his name. He is just…generous.”

Seralind’s voice trails off for a moment, seemingly lost in thought as she picks at her fingernail.

“And he’s also inquisitive. He asked all kinds of questions.” She continues.

I furrowed my brow at hearing those words.

“Oh? Like what?” Auna asks.

“Nothing I could answer truthfully.” She sighs in reply, propping her head onto her hands. It makes the ladies laugh at her disappointment.

“Look at her, all sad and disheartened! She’s sad she had to lie to her true love~!” Marionne teases my sister. Seralind blushes, hiding behind her hair.

That got a rise out of the other women surrounding her, but it didn’t ease my own worries.

If this man finds out any more from her, then there will be a chance he’ll find out she works for Madame Whispet. He could tell the Prince, and then come to buy us from her, just like in my previous life.

I shook my head frantically as the memories of the years at the palace resurfaced again.

I couldn’t let history repeat itself.

Although I was grateful for this miracle, I had no intention of wasting it, especially since I had the additional benefit of retaining my memories from my past life.

If I was going to save Seralind from the awful future that awaited us, I was going to do everything within my power to change it.