It is, all things considered, a very nice drawing room. Portraits adorn the walls and the heavy drapes are open to let starlight from the moonless night through. There's a table far too small for the large room with a pot of tea, a set of tea cups and an arrangement of cookies and fruit. Two oaken doors are firmly closed to one side, and to the other a single door is slightly ajar, the sound of sobbing coming from past it. Every once in a while it's possible to hear a page being turned in the other room as well. The drawing room on its own is silent, save for the ticking of a grandfather clock and then, with no prelude, an exclamation.
"The current head of the family can create portals and only will do so occasionally, in return for political favors, rather than using his power at even a small portion of its economic potential. Most people do not find this as objectionable as I do, I'll admit."
"Okay. So I maybe want to pretend to be noble enough to have valuable favors to dispense in exchange, if nothing else. Given that Canada is already colonized in this timeline I should probably say I'm from somewhere else but I just look Japanese, I don't speak the language or anything - I can actually speak Tagalog, I could pretend to be from the Philippines?"
"I haven't heard of Canada but it's possible I know it by a different name. Nobility from the Philippines would be expected to speak Spanish. I know very little about Japan and expect others to know even less... possibly you should pretend to be from an entirely fictitious country."
"I know French but not Spanish. Canada is presently a French possession and I guess might mostly be going by 'New France' at this point - if the history is like mine. I'd at least expect to run into issues if I used other place names from my home. Toronto. Lake Ontario. Etcetera. So I'll be from, uh... the land of Oz... no, I won't be able to keep a straight face. I can be the... king of Narnia? ...I can just make something up out of nowhere but I worry I'll forget details."
"I would recommend against being a king for the same reasons I recommended against being an emperor."
"Valid, it's just the literary Narnia has kings. I will make something up. I am the... duke...? Is duke still pushing it?... of, uh..."
"I don't want to be a duke of Narnia, I'd slip up for the same reason, because literary Narnia does kings and queens and there's not really dukes around, in the books. I guess I can pick a Narnian region. Duke of Beruna in Narnia under King Peter Pevensie."
"Peter Pevensie would sound like an implausibly familiar name for an unfamiliar country, I expect."
"People will probably accept that some of the nobility have learned it more easily than it being universal."
"...should the commoners speak French or Tagalog in Narnia, those are my options. I was thinking of doing Korean next but I haven't even started."
"Yes that will pass as distinct enough should questions about the first language of Narnia arise."
"If that's all that relevant at the moment I can have a servant show you to the guest house." It's still early enough that she can try to get some sleep - her haunting will have to be delayed a day.
And Haru Swan, Duke of Beruna, will go to the guest house and eat what is locally a midnight snack and go to bed to try to acclimate to the time zone.