Finally finished with breakfast, I made my way to the training hall. The large hall could be used for special occasions and was spacious enough to be used as a dance floor for my training.

I dislike dancing, but I guess I have no choice but to do what I can. I don’t want to be scolded again by Eleanore, no one likes being reprimanded at, right?

Ah, breakfast by the way was okay. Only okay. But there was a bit of improvement, I think, maybe just a coincidence. Which reminds me, Father was frequently looking at me weirdly as though he was observing and wanting to speak to me at the same time.

Maybe he truly wanted to speak with me, but well, since I have etiquette lessons he didn’t get to talk with me. But why though? I didn’t do anything bad, I am an appropriately behaved cute girl.

Maybe something came up? That being said, it must not be so important when he didn’t immediately talk to me. So I suppose I have nothing to worry about.

Eventually, we arrived at our destination and immediately entered inside. Eleanore and that guy should be arriving at any moment, so I will have to wait while I sit down relaxed on the nearby chair with my servants on each side of me.

“You seem to be fully at ease, your highness. I heard Lady Eleanore is a bit strict when she teaches.”

“Maybe I am not worrying about anything at all, Vernon... I believe I will be fine this time.”

“Is that so… In that case, I will cheer you on, princess.”

“Hehehe. By the way Mera, how’s your experience in your etiquette lessons?”

I asked her, starting a conversation while I waited. It would be boring not to do so.

“It was all right, I’m sure it wasn’t as strict as yours, milady. My mother was the one to teach and my younger sister, so she was lenient with each of our mistakes. Although, I have learned most in my training for becoming a maid.”

“I see. But how is your dancing?”

Mera wryly smiled as though embarrassed to speak.

“My mother said I was excellent, but I never tried performing in a public setting.”

“Have you never been to any social events?”

“Well… we are a low ranking noble family and located away from the capital, so we aren’t normally invited.”’

But here I am in the capital and yet never went to any social events. There were a couple of occasions that events happened in the palace, but as you would expect, I never show up. Because I couldn’t even bother about it. Maybe I did participate, but I must be too young to remember so that’s irrelevant. Well, also there were a few occasions that involved family, but I didn’t stay long.

“Hm. But your family’s situation is starting to go well now, yes?”

“Oh, of course, milady.”

The double doors then opened up at that moment of casual conversation and entered a pair of nobles, passing by the servants which assisted them. One was an adult woman and the other was a handsome man just a little older than me, both carried themselves with dignity fitting a high-ranking aristocrat.

All right then.

I immediately stood up and walked towards them with absolute elegance, more elegant than I have ever done in front of her. I just don’t want her to scold me.

“It is a pleasure to meet you once again, Madame Eleanore, and Jalen. May our hallowed lord and lady bless the moment of our delightful meeting.”

I said so sweetly and smoothly as I put one hand on my chest while the other lifted my skirt a little like doing a curtsy with a smile on my face.

Normally, it would be the lower-ranking aristocrat to greet first. As the princess, I should have been the one to receive her greeting since she was only a Marquess, however at the moment, she was my teacher, and thus on this occasion, she was higher than me.

You see, I need to do a good job now since even at this moment, she was already judging me.

“Your highness, I am glad to see you doing well. May we receive the resplendent blessing from our illustrious lord and lady.”

“I am as well glad to see you again, O esteemed Princess. May we receive the resplendent blessing from our illustrious lord and lady.”

Eleanore greeted me back with a soothing and gentle voice as she performed the curtsy. Jalen, on the other hand, spoke a bit enthusiastically as he placed his palm on the left side of his chest while bowing deeply.

After the tedious greeting, Eleanore looked at me with scrutinizing eyes. Apparently, she was already judging my appearance.

“You look splendid, princess.”

Oh yes I am! My neatly braided long platinum hair, clean and cute face, my magnificent dress that bore no wrinkles whatsoever. How could I not be splendid? I am perfect.

“However, I must say, as this is not an official setting, I will tolerate you sitting down and only coming our way when we enter the room. During an official event, when receiving guests, await them by the entrance as you stand. Do well to remember.”

“I understand, madame.”

The servants that brought them here had already left the room and closed the door.

“All right, shall we proceed to your practice? It has been a long time since we had our session, so I imagine your skills have deteriorated somewhat.”

Jalen gave a wooden case to Eleanore which contained the violin-like instrument called vynelin.

She walked towards a small table in a corner and opened the wooden case. Meanwhile, I was stuck with Jalen, he smiled when I glanced at him for a moment, he’s really trying to look good in my eyes, huh.

Eleanore then finally gave her attention to my two servants, giving them inquisitive looks.

“So, your highness, are your servants not leaving?”

Yeah, servants usually leave during practice sessions. However, not this time.

“My apologies, but they will be staying. Having them leave will not be possible.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Is that so? Very well. I have heard there had been some troubles in the palace, but I’m still surprised that you wouldn’t be left alone with any servants around. Is it that bad?”

“...”

I have the right to remain silent, hehehe.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Seeing my silence, Eleanore understood that the answer to her question was not for her ears to hear, and thus she nodded.

“No matter. Let us proceed.”

She turned to face us, leaving the instrument in its case.

“We will be starting on counting. Princess, Jalen, proceed to the dancing floor.”

I nervously walked towards the center of the hall, holding my own hands. After reaching the center, I gave Jalen a twitching faint smile to show how anxious I was. He meanwhile, smiled in amusement as he oozed with confidence.

“Princess?”

He presented his hand to me, and I slowly laid my smooth white hands upon it.

***

Did I mention before that my muscle memories suddenly returned, right? Although I have no idea why all I know was that it came shortly after my mana went on a rampage at the library. It felt as if the old me had resurfaced just a little — I mean Estelia… Like I was refreshed or something.

That being said, I have not lost my own identity, and that puts me at ease. I dominated you “Estelia”. Or maybe she was I and I was her… Whatever…

To the main topic. Eleanore started the dancing lesson first when usually we would start with etiquette. I guessed maybe because I was pretty good the last time, and I was shit in dancing. Therefore, she decided we should start dancing. Maybe we’ll even dance the entire meeting. I sounded unsure because she never said anything. Doesn’t matter anyway.

So I and Jalen danced gracefully on the dance floor within the vast hall and under the magnificent chandelier. His smile, ever so charming, always faced me as my eyes averted away, avoiding his strong and dazzling gaze. Such a strong gaze, cannot be beared by an innocent maiden like me.

My steps were graceful and almost silent, my arms waved elegantly through the air, my skirt gently fluttering at every motion. I was like a fairy gracing the eyes of mere mortals. No, I was like a goddess who graced this world with her beauty and magnificence.

Damn, I’m good.

During the performance, Jalen would find himself awed for a moment, causing a bit of mistiming, but as used as he was, he was able to recover immediately. I caught a glimpse of Eleanore’s strict expression, finally softening a little as she nodded at my beautiful performance.

I was not fond of dancing, but I have to give it my all in this. Further headache would only incur me when I do so otherwise. Besides, it was a waste not to live this life.

When the dance was done, Vernon applauded my performance, seeing that he did it first, Mera followed suit, she must have hesitated at first since she seemed a bit scared of Eleanore.

“You were wonderful, Princess.”

Janel complimented me with a charming smile. Ugh, I hate superficial interaction and praises — wow and that came from me... This guy definitely just wanted to get into royalty. If you aren’t sincere, stay away from me. And trust me, I can tell this guy wasn’t being sincere at all.

“You think so?”

“Yes, it was a breathtaking performance. I didn’t expect you to be that skillful. In fact, I think you were the best I have danced with.”

“... Thank you… To be honest, it was a little difficult.”

He smiled.

“Please, it appears you weren’t even struggling. I look forward to dancing with you at your peak in your debut.”

“... Ah, that… Of course, I’m sure we will have an opportunity.”

The debut, in other words, my coming of age. By the age of seventeen, a person was considered an adult. Next year, I will be becoming an adult, on my birthday. At that time, there would be a feast and celebration.

As I am royalty, each noble family would need to have at least one representative to join the banquet. There would be numerous guests there, and I don’t know if it would be pleasing for me. That aside, I would be needing to perform. Yup, perform! I would need to dance and sing as per tradition.

One could consider this my official debut to noble society. Ugh, but why perform? And dancing? Come on.

Not to mention all the people that would be looking at me. Well I wouldn’t be bothered that much really. No wait, won’t I be pressured when I come to perform? Shit, I definitely would need to look good so I wouldn’t look bad.

Fuck, there’s no need to be anxious anyway. A battlefield was way worse than a bunch of eyes watching my would be delightful performance.

“I will say, that was a splendid performance, princess.” Eleanore approached me. “You did a terrible job the last time.”

“Um, yes I did.”

“... Rest for now. I suggest having your servants send you refreshments. Or we can proceed to etiquette, seeing as you did well with dancing, it is fine to proceed to another training.”

The earlier we end her lesson for today the better. I still have to practice Vernon’s technique later. The more time I have doing that, the more progress I can make.

“Let us proceed to etiquette lessons after a fifteen-minute break.”

“Aren’t you in a rush?”

“I will score almost a perfect score later, you have nothing to worry about, Madame.”

She raised an eyebrow as her scrutinizing gaze was cast at me.

To be honest, I believe in a couple of weeks, my lessons in this department will finally come to an end when she rates me at perfect or almost. With that, I will have more freedom to spend on training my combat capabilities.

Such things as Etiquette were the lowest priority at the moment. That will not help me at all during combat. What? Am I supposed to act all cute and regal and they’ll leave me alone? I don’t know, I can try…. NO. Hehehe, how wonderful would life be if I can make people do that with my cuteness alone?

I can say something like, ‘You can’t be violent at me, I’m cute.’ Then tada! They’ll leave me alone.

“I wonder where your confidence is from,” Eleanore said.

“I’m sure her highness’s confidence stems from her outstanding skills that she may have yet to show completely. I look forward to your spectacular demonstration, princess.”

“... Yes, thank you.”

Dude, that’s how you get a girl? Get back to your closet and relearn everything from scratch. Not working on me at all. Well, maybe on other girls, but not me. Not like he would have any influence on me anyway.

And so, we took a break. I sat leisurely while drinking the refreshment brought by dear Mera. Silence would have been what I preferred, but Jalen just had to talk to me. Really, did he truly want to be royalty? Don’t tell me he desired the throne.

Not that he had any chance though, Eleden would certainly be the crown prince in the future. He wasn’t officially declared as the “crown prince” since Father has yet to decide whom to give. The eldest prince was the highest chance to inherit the throne but even that wasn’t completely certain when the final decision fell unto the King.

Well, when based on character and skills, we might as well proclaim Eleden as the crown prince.

Then the time came to etiquette manners and procedures. We first started on how one should carry themselves when receiving guests. I stood straight as a pole and walked delicately to the utmost of my ability. During my demonstration, I believe I really give off the aura and presence of a beautiful and wonderful noble, or to be specific, a princess.

Every time I walk I would also need to act perfectly lady-like, my hips swaying with every step. Of course overdoing it would not be delightful at all, so I made my movements smooth as a peacefully flowing stream, as though I didn’t even need to give the effort to achieve such a captivating display.

I could even feel Mera’s strong gaze from here. At ease, girl. Vernon on the other hand looked pretty impressed as he nodded in contentment at my demonstration.

We did the formal greeting, then the formal way of speaking. Then proceeded to table manners. I really had to be so gentle, a little shake of the spoon was unacceptable since that might shake off a bit of soup. Well, Eleanore was annoyingly meticulous with details, so I even had to put the spoon in my mouth gently and nobly.

In any case, everything went on perfectly in my opinion. I should be fine now. I mean, I spent a lot of effort so of course I did more than well. Don’t undermine how passionate I can be.

Yeah so in the end, I got an almost perfect score…... Dammit! Why are some teachers so stingy?

Fine whatever, at least the lesson has ended today since Eleanore looked plenty satisfied. As they were leaving, I gave them my pleasant goodbyes. I didn’t give a lot of thought about Jalen since he was nothing special anyway. Honestly, he needs to learn how to get along with me first, you know, the first step was to make friends. That guy just took a leap of a step.

In any case, now that the lesson for today was over, time to move on to another business.

“Vernon.”

“Yes, princess. I am not going back on my word.”

“Splendid! Alright let’s go to the learning room.”

We left the grand hall and made our way to our usual room. There was another matter I needed to consult Vernon with, so I asked him the moment we arrived at our destination.

“Vernon, isn’t it about time you tell me what we have learned about the poison we retrieved from Allie?”

He said that the scholars would need at least a week to analyze the poison. It must be something foreign to them if they needed that much time to take a look at it.

“I received and read their letter of report last night. They stated that the poison was something that they have never seen before. We have confirmed that the poison was so potent that not even the highest detoxification spell we have can cure it or erase it.”

Huh. Good thing I didn’t let the food even touch my lips. Otherwise, I would have died on that cold floor.

“It was the first kind of poison they have encountered. They have no idea from what creature it could come from. They surmised since that poison was that potent, it could only come from monsters. An animal having such poison was definitely impossible.”

“So powerful poisons usually come from monsters?”

“Yes. Even a snake’s cannot compare in terms of effects and agony one would feel. A snake’s poison can easily be mended by an antidote, but from monsters, you mostly need the aid of magic. As for the case for the newly discovered type of poison… if a human had taken it, death would have been certain.”

Good thing I didn’t take any then.

“Hm. Are they working on a countermeasure?”

“...”

He stared quietly at me for a moment for some reason.

“They have not mentioned it yet, but… it surely will not be easy.”

“I imagine so. Alright, tell me if they report any progress.”

“Understood.”

“Now then, begin your lesson, Vernon,” with a delighted smile I turned to Mera. “Let’s listen closely, Mera.”

“Yes, milady.”