Suddenly an Empress

V: Bloody Arena

I was born in an incredibly rich household. Both my parents were explorers who constantly discovers ancient artifacts, soon their discoveries kept piling up until they built their own museum and that museum grew and grew until it became the largest, most successful museum in the entirety of England. I was living a happy life, well, not until my mother died of illness and since then my father changed. All he ever looked at was his stupid artifacts, completely neglecting me during my childhood and so I grew distant from him and learned to hate ancient artifacts and history.

But even though he was a very neglectful father who never gave me any sort of affection, never in my life did he raise his hand at me or use violence, so when the guard roughly pulled my tied hands to drag me off of the wagon, I was ultimately shocked.

"In here!" He yelled.

I could not even pick up my own footing yet he was already dragging me away from the wagon so it ended up like he was pulling a rag doll with him at how my bare feet were being scraped on the ground. I took one last glance at the people left inside the wagon and it seems that they were not going to come with me inside the colosseum, the nameless girl did mention that they were going to be delivered to their new masters and I doubt their new master is inside the colosseum that is currently filled with so many people judging by how loud the cheers were.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked. Stupid of me to believe that they would actually answer my question since they were too busy dragging me through the underground passage.

We walked past through series of men who were equipped with metal, steel, and bronze armor. Each of them shining their own selected weapons with a cloth, ranging from small daggers, bow and arrow, and up to gigantic spiked clubs. They all looked at me angrily as if this is not the kind of place for a petite person like me.

I wish I could tell them I do not like this place as well, it stank with the putrid smell of roadkill mixed with sweat and salty tears.

Eventually, we reached a door and in it was another buff looking guard who was shocked to see me being dragged inside.

"What in the god's name did you bring? That puny little woman could not possibly bring a good show to the audience, she would get mauled at the second we bring her to the arena." The man, sitting behind a rustic desk with both his feet resting on top of it, just took a quick glance at me before deciding that I am not worthy of his time.

"Commander Gladius specifically ordered for her to be put in the arena by the end of the duels." The other man, who was not so kind enough to violently drag me by the hands all the way here, said in a husky voice.

"Gladius, eh. What did he see in this woman that made him think of that ridiculous idea?" He slouched back against his cushioned seat. The actions of this man remind me of Mr. Linton, the head of security of my father's museum. Laidback and somewhat conceited, though he seemed to be good friends with Barbara that is why we could easily sneak inside my father's office. 

"This." The man replied and at the same time, harshly grabbed a hold of the cloth that I used to cover all my hair. He pulled it off that made my long wavy hair, which was recently dyed vibrant pink, fall until it reached my back.

"AH!" The man who was seated just now fell off and landed on the ground after seeing my gaudily colored hair. When he tried to stand back up, his head bumped loudly against his desk that making the stuff strewn on top of it gets knocked down.

Seriously, I would never get used to how people act whenever their eyes landed on my hair, I guess I could understand them a bit since this is Ancient times after all and pink hair only came to be probably in the 19th century.

"How. . . how. . . how. . ." The man under the desk repeatedly said while recollecting himself as he stood up. "How is that kind of hair possible?"

"I do not know, and I do not wish to find out. I am only here because commander Gladius ordered me to deliver this girl to you and now that she is here, I must take my leave." He quickly turned around, his body movements stiff like a soldier being observed by the general even though it was only the three of us inside the room.

"I see, goodbye then." The man waved his hand at the guard who closed the door shut after leaving, so it was only him and I in the room.

"So. . . what purpose do I have to be brought here?" I ask, staring at him who was still in awe with my hair.

He shook his head to bring himself back from his trance and pointed at the wooden bench placed across his desk. "First, take a seat, young lady."

I did what I was told but kept my eye on him while doing so since I can feel his stares burning a hole in my head. After the many encounters I had since traveling back in the past, his reaction was the most exaggerated.

As soon as I took a seat, he immediately bombarded me with questions.

"So what is your name?" He sat back on his chair and leaned forward on top of the desk.

"Alexandria," I continued with my lie and still took the name of Alexandria to avoid any cutting off tongues and heads.

"Alexandria, I see, nice name."

"Thank you."

"Where are you from?"

"Far from here."

"Obviously, from the weird color of your hair, you must be from somewhere very far from here since I have never seen anyone with that kind of color. Say, what do you call that?"

"You mean my hair?"

He nodded, even though I am sure that the color pink is already existent in ancient times, like a pink flower or a pink tongue but I guess they call it differently.

"It's just hair, and it's pink," I answer.

"Pink!" He triumphantly says while raising his hand skyward.

"We shall call you: Alexandria, The Pink Lady."

My nose scrunched from hearing him say that since it was filled with cringe but my disgusted facial expression did not stop him from standing up and approaching me. He untied my hands and once again I found myself being dragged to another hallway but this time, it was dark and narrow.

"Where are you taking me?" My voice was almost drowned out by the sounds of people cheering from above and from what I remember, the Roman Colosseum was used for their entertainment, watching gladiators battle to the death or something. Surely they won't bring me up there just because of my hair color.

"Stand here." He grabbed both my shoulders and lightly pushed me onto a platform, I looked up and saw that there is a wide hole on top of me, like those I see on concerts where the singers would pop out off.

"E-excuse me, I think there has been a mistake here." I tried to jump off the platform but I was too late, it has already begun to move upward, and jumping from this height would break my leg so I refrained from doing so.

"Good luck up there!" The man waved his hand at me while the platform continues to ascend using some kind of a pulley but I could not see him quite clearly anymore because of the bright sunlight hitting my face.

"Oh, no, no, no, no," I repeatedly chanted, feeling my knees shaking in fear after hearing a loud roar of a distinct big cat.

The platform successfully brought me to the surface. I was in the middle of a large arena, the crowds were seated very far from me and I noticed their booming cheers gradually died down after setting their eyes on me. But that did not matter, what I worry about the most is when the leopard sets its eyes on me after just brutally mauling the corpse of a man meters away from me.