Reincarnated into female-dominant world

"You will definitely be the most outstanding presence at the banquet tonight," Alice said to Julian in the mirror, her voice full of conviction. 

Standing behind Julian, Alice didn't notice him looking at her. Her gaze drifted downwards to Julian's back, where the design of his dress revealed snow-white skin and the graceful curve of his scapulae.

"Hmm?" Alice frowned, reaching out to caress Julian's back. Her fingertips glided over his smooth skin, moving downwards, and this time she distinctly felt the texture of a mark.

"Did those people at the auction do anything to you?" Her first thought was that the auction house had violated its rules when training Julian, resulting in the cuts on his back.

"No, even though they captured me, they didn't do anything out of the ordinary to me," Julian replied.

Alice was suddenly stunned.

Considering another possibility, she put her hand on Julian's shoulder and pulled his dress straight down, taking it off.

"Ah..." Naturally, he wasn't wearing any undergarments. After a quick "pardon me," Alice seriously began to examine his body.

Julian raised his hands to his chest, instinctively taking a defensive stance.

Alice's cold fingers brushed over Julian's back, and the more she looked, the more she was shocked.

Her vision wasn't entirely clear, but from the sensation of her fingers, she could roughly make out the marks on his back. They were definitely not messy whip marks, but rather a "Holy Mark" formed in the shape of some kind of writing.

This is... this is...

"You haven't been in contact with the awakening ritual yet, have you?" she tentatively asked.

"What is that?" Julian had heard the term but didn't understand what it meant.

Alice hesitated for a moment and said, "Let me show you."

With that, Alice walked in front of Julian and untied the straps on the back of her own dress right in front of him, letting the lace shoulder straps drop to the sides.

In less than three seconds, Alice had taken off her maid dress. From Julian's perspective, he could now see her bra.

However, Julian's attention was completely fixed not on her bra, but on the shocking marks visible on her back.

Although some were still covered by her bra, he could still clearly see more than half of their shape.

It wasn't just the shape of her chest, but the appearance of the imprints on her back.

They couldn't even be described as a shape. The marks looked like numbers yet also like words, and when combined, they resembled some kind of bizarre pattern that couldn't be replaced by any single word.

"This is a Holy Mark," Alice told him.

Having said that, she was about to completely remove her bra when she suddenly realized she was standing directly in front of the mirror.

From Julian's angle, once she took off her bra, the beautiful scenery of "snowy peaks" would be completely revealed before his eyes.

Alice suddenly became anxious.

Of course, she wasn't worried about herself being taken advantage of. If she and Julian were to strip naked and look at each other, it was uncertain who would lose out.

She was worried that as Lord Julian's property, her actions were undoubtedly crossing a line. If Julian were to gain favor under Loxiya later, wouldn't she be in trouble?

"Lord Julian, this matter must not be told to anyone, otherwise the consequences will be very serious," Alice turned her head, her "snowy mountains" half-covered, half-exposed.

Julian simply thought she was talking about the mark on his back and nodded decisively.

Only then did Alice reach behind her and unfasten her bra, which easily came loose with a gentle pull.

Julian's left eye involuntarily widened a few times, and he frowned, not looking at the snow-white protrusion revealed on the side, but staring at the mark on Alice's back.

"This is the Holy Mark that Lord Farad bestows upon us mortals," Alice explained, covering her breasts with one hand, her voice unwavering.

So... does this world have a supernatural system? Julian instantly thought of this question.

"Please don't mind it later, I'm just explaining the issue to you," Alice suddenly reminded him.

Julian nodded.

If Alice, a woman, wasn't nervous, why should he be embarrassed?

Julian, who still didn't have a deep understanding of this world, thought this to himself.

"From birth, Lord Farad bestows natural Holy Marks upon some people. When they gradually grow to about twelve years old, they can awaken the Holy Mark on their bodies through spiritual communication. Even if the Holy Mark is a gift, it is also cruel, because it is irreversible from birth," Alice said.

"Can you tell what my Holy Mark is?" Julian pressed.

Living off others' pity was not reassuring. It wasn't that Julian didn't trust Loxiya, but he couldn't accept this way of relying on others for survival.

Mountains collapse, people scatter. Only self-strength is the most real. The records of his previous life had not simply faded, but were forever etched in his heart.

Alice's expression was a bit conflicted.

Seeing a Holy Mark on Julian's back indeed surprised her, but her surprise wasn't because of the Holy Mark itself, but because Julian, as a male, possessed a Holy Mark.

Goddess Farad had clear and extensive guidelines for the continent's inhabitants. Since the beginning of recorded history on the continent, female Holy Mark awakeners had outnumbered males thousands of times over.

This led to the scales of class undoubtedly tipping towards females. As time progressed, this became deeply ingrained. In this world, the greatest role of men was reduced to performing the lowest labor and serving as stud-horses for procreation.

Those with slightly better luck and a pleasing appearance might even become toys exchanged among ladies. For those with bad luck... it was best to pray for good physical stamina, otherwise, they would likely be squeezed dry to death from exhaustion.

Alice looked at Julian. He probably didn't know how lucky he was to have met Lord Loxiya. If he had been bought by others at the auction, given Lord Julian's appearance, who knew what unimaginable training he would have had to endure.

The generally low quality of males also led to many women in the female population being inclined towards their own gender, especially among the more elite classes.

Not long ago, there was a rumor that the current Pope of the Holy Light Church had once had a lover, who was also a woman. However, as time passed, no other clues emerged, and this little-known legend slowly faded into obscurity.

Historically, there had never been a male with a mid-tier Holy Mark, let alone a high-tier one.

After telling Julian all this knowledge, Alice saw him slowly bow his head after listening.

Alice couldn't help but sigh, deciding to help him. As the head maid of Lilyfield, she wasn't illiterate; on the contrary, she was quite knowledgeable and remembered the Holy Light Church's Holy Mark Code very well.

"Let me help you take a look," she said, covering her breasts with one hand. She turned Julian around and then released her hand from her chest. She meticulously and carefully searched Julian's back from top to bottom.

Without an awakened Holy Mark, she could only rely on this method to distinguish it, because when a Holy Mark was dormant, it wouldn't appear on the back; it could only be detected by magic.

Sunlight streamed into the room. The two unclothed figures stood together in the air, creating what should have been a chaotic image, but their serious expressions made the scene exceptionally eerie.