Chapter 13

Delphina felt like she'd been struck over the head with a mallet. The ceiling was gently spinning like a music box ballerina. Wait, since when had she been looking at the ceiling? Trying to grasp her bearings, the onslaught of compressed memories had been ridiculous.

"You said it'd just be disorienting. What the hell is this then!"

She wasn't standing before, but she was now. Bolt upright with her head tilted towards the ceiling like she was venerating something. Her neck felt incredibly uncomfortable.

"Please don't ever do this unless I am truly alone, like I am right now. I don't seem to have a good reaction to the memory downloads or the memory sync. Or, whatever!"

[Apologies, Delphina. You have taken double the allotted amount of recovery time usually required. I will note this for future memory downloads. Perhaps 5% increments might help?]

"It's certainly worth trying in the future, too late right now though. At least I'm not sweating."

"Wait, double the recovery time? So that took ten minutes?"

[Yes, 9 minutes have passed to be exact]

"No wonder my neck hurts", she grumbled before gently lying back onto the sofa that she had been sitting on earlier. The automaton would be here any minute; she had no time to run through the memories that had presented themselves to the very front of her worn-out brain.

"No.69, I don't want to see or hear you in front of other people, unless I call for you. Or the situation demands you tell me something. I can't trust myself to not react to the screen popping up in my vision right now."

[Of course, Delphina. To call me, please knock twice in the air.]

"Yeah, thank fuck you can't read my mind. Ah, sorry, I meant…"

"Thank fuck the system can't read minds." Delphina thought, mindfully aware that she had already put her foot in her mouth.

[(ʘ‿ʘ)]

[Have a pleasant dinner, Delphina…]

"Phew, I can't just assume things like that. But I'd go insane if I believed this system could tell internalised thoughts. Everyone needs their privacy." Delphina made sure not to verbalise this out loud, lest it be recorded in that dreaded log the system said it would generate.

As this thought traced its way across her somewhat swollen frontal lobe. The familiar noise of the automaton signalling its arrival was heard.

"I'm going to be honest, those chimes are nice to listen to."

I am glad to hear that, young Lady.

"Shall we go then, my dashing directional orb?"

Please refrain from referring to me in this manner again.

"B-8? Bubble-butt? Fascinating Orb of Mystery?"

Young Lady, your jests are as ever, terrible.

"I know Jenkins, I know."

Delphina hadn't wanted to call such an adorable automaton by such a frumpy butler-like name. But it was insistent that her nicknames were too awful for it to hear.

She shrugged her shoulders as she finally made her way to the outer door, relatively excited to see what might lie beyond. Delphina's memories hadn't fully settled. But she knew she could rely on muscle memory.

Pulling open the metal-bound, heavy wood door. She took in a deep breath and stood on the runner carpet that covered the corridor, which ran perpendicular to the bedroom door.

Was this shag carpet? It was deep, and her feet sank in comfortably. Causing her to wiggle her toes in delight…

Delphina slowly looked down at her dirty soled socks. Taking a brief pause, she didn't need to look in any particular direction to feel the derision-laden look coming from Jenkins.

"Haha, so. Jenkins, could you please grab a pair of indoor shoes for me? Preferably, the best ones for going to dinner?"

I'm amazed to see you haven't grown out of this habit, young Lady.

This sentence caused Delphina to freeze up, before nodding slowly.

"Some habits are just ingrained, you know."

Upon her uttering this, Jenkins turned around and rolled away towards the dressing room. "Do you think he'll also close the balcony door?" Shrugging her shoulders once again, Delphina didn't have to wait long for Jenkins to return.

These boots will be suitable.

As he handed her the boots, and turned around to close the door. Delphina slipped her feet into them and laced up tightly to the knee.

"No heels?"

Heels would not be suitable for the amount of carpet that will be present along your way, young Lady.

"My, your care and concern for the carpets' welfare is simply astounding, Jenkins. But I do like the shade of black you chose. Ties everything together nicely."

It's nice to see you wearing such a colour-coordinated outfit.

With this sassy remark, Jenkins rolled off towards the left-hand side, not waiting for Delphina. Mildly stunned, she let out a dry chuckle before following along.

Because of Jenkins's size, she could stroll at a leisurely pace and get a better look at her surroundings. The stone flagstones were a recurring theme in the long corridor they wandered down. But rather than being akin to some Renaissance stone chamber like her bedroom, there was dark-toned wood panelling halfway up.

Interspersed glass lamps provided a warm-toned light, despite the large arched windows at both ends of the corridor. Front and back. They didn't provide enough light to appreciate the rarely displayed artwork on some of the wood panelling.

The wood and stone looked rich even to her eyes. The emphasis on material quality rather than flaunting decorations said a lot about the current owners of this… Actually, where was she? The de Velasques Family Manor? Villa? Castle? Or was it just a large Town House?

No, that last one seemed pretty unlikely. She thought, or at least hoped. She needed time to acclimate, and jumping straight into the heart of society wouldn't be good. After all, Town Houses were usually used during the Capital's socialising season. That was a trope after all, but also a historical fact in many Worlds.

Fingers crossed, she was deep in de Velasques' territory. Yet to come out, as she and Pietro hadn't yet had their debuts or coming of age ceremonies.

Wait, was this what she missed when No.69 was talking about an incident earlier? Maybe they had already debuted then. This caused her nerves to build, and her feet slowed temporarily as they reached the end of the corridor.