When I woke up, it was already quite late into the morning.

Guess I was more tired than I thought, even though I had sleep all the way to yesterday night too.

Frillia and Kanae already went out, Cure already picked up Ru, and even El already went to look around so when I woke up, there was only me on the mansion apparently.

Well, me and Anna that is.

After breakfast, Anna said that we’ll start the etiquette training immediately.

My clothes was changed to a really gorgeous, hard to move dress like the one Frillia had given to me.

I had a really hard time trying to even breathe with how tight Anna set the corset to be.

When I complained about it, she reprimanded me harshly.

“I will not let you bring master’s reputation to the ground. I’ll do everything in my power to make you into a proper lady before the evening.”

And with that, the harsh training began.

No, a harsh training would be putting it lightly, hell would be more fitting.

She drilled into me the proper etiquettes and speech of a noble lady.

Everytime I made a mistake, she would slap my feet with a cane.

Of course, it’s not just a gentle slap to remind me that I did wrong, but a really hard slap as if to disciplined me.

I wanted to complain but it’ll only anger her even more so I kept silent and persisted.

“It is good that there is no one else in the mansion. I can be as strict as I want.”

I prefer you to be gentler though!

“Posture.”

She gave another slap to my feet.

“A proper lady should not break her posture when she is wearing a dress. Wearing a dress means you are going to a battlefield and you cannot let your guard down for even a moment in a battlefield. Understood?”

“That doesn’t really.....”

“Give me a proper answer!”

A slap came to my feet.

“Y-Yes!”

“A lady should not raise her voice!”

Another slap came to my feet.

How unreasonable can you be!?

 

A long exhausting day passed.

Anna’s lesson kept on going without a break.

Even lunch was not an exception.

I had lost count of how many times my feet got slapped.

The only thing that could come to my mind was to obey what she said as precisely as I could.

No, that is a wrong mindset, I have to obey exactly what she told me to, there’s no can or can’t, I have to do it.

From standing to sitting, way to respond to a conversation and way to finish a conversation, walking, dancing, everything wwas thoroughly taught to me.

By the evening.....

“I will be escorting you there myself. Though I would prefer if we have at least one more day of training, this will have to do. Understand? You are only fulfilling the bare minimum standard of a noble lady. Do everything as I have taught you, never break your posture and speech under any condition, stay passive and only talk when needed. Master’s reputation is on the line so if you are not being proper lady at the party, I will give you as much punishments as I can before master, Kanae-sama, Rurune-sama, and Cielle-sama returned.”

“Yes.”

“I will be watching you from the shadows so do not think you can slack off for even a moment.”

“Yes.”

“Good. Please come with me.”

I followed Anna as she guided me out of the mansion.

My feet was hurting badly from all the slaps that Anna did, but it was because I wasn’t being a proper lady so I deserved it.

Yes, I have to be a proper lady to not bring embarassment to Frillia’s name.

A carriage was already waiting outside, and I properly entered the carriage.

Throughout the trip I kept my posture as it should be, even though I doubt Anna was watching.

Just because no one is watching, I cannot break my posture like that.

I have to be a proper lady.

It is unacceptable to act improper just because no one is watching.

The carriage seemed to have stopped, and when Anna opened the door I stepped out from the carriage.

“Thank you.”

I gave a gentle gratitude to Anna and walked to the mansion in front of me.

I could feel gazes directed to me here and there but I paid them no mind.

A proper lady should remain calm no matter the circumstances.

“Good evening, may I see your invitation?”

I took out the invitation given to me by Anna from my purse and handed it to them.

“Frillia-sama. Forgive me for asking.....”

“Frillia-sama had an urgent business to attend to therefore I am attending in her place. My name is Misa, pleasure to meet you.”

I gave a small curtsy.

“I see. Should I help escort you to where the party is being held, Misa-sama?”

“That would be much appreciated.”

I took a hold of of his extended hand let him escorted me.

I kept in mind the path we are going so I will not be lost when the party is over.

“Here we are. Then, Misa-sama, enjoy the party.”

He opened the door for me and I entered.

The room was really big, it looked like it could fit 100 people without a problem.

One corner of the room had tables full of confectionaries.

Most people were chatting with each other, though a small amount of people were at the confectionaries.

Seems like the majority of the participants are females, though that was not to say that there are no males at all.

The participants seemed to be around my age range too.

“Hello miss.”

A good-looking guy with short blond hair and a pair of red eyes called out to me.

I gave a curtsy as part of the etiquette.

“I believe this is the first time we have ever met. May I know your name?”

“My name is Misa, I am here to attend in place of Frillia-sama since Frillia-sama had some urgent business to attend to.”

“Ahhh, that would explain why I did not recognize you. In that case, do you know who I am?”

“I am sorry for my ignorance but since it was a sudden request from Frillia-sama, I have only been taught the bare minimum of etiquettes needed. I did not have the time to learn people’s face and name.”

“Oho? If I may ask, how long did you receive education about noble etiquettes and speech?”

“I have only been taught about it this morning until right before the party so do forgive me for my lack of etiquettes.”

He looked surprised.

Indeed, as Anna said it is quite shameful for me to have only reach this level of etiquette even though I had that much time, that must be why he was so surprised.

“No no, your etiquette and speech are already so commendable for someone who’ve only studied for less than a day.”

“Surely you jest.”

“No, I’m being serious here.”

“Though I know it’s only lip service, I will gratefully accept your compliment.”

It is part of the etiquette to compliment one another disregarding if it’s true or not after all.

I know at least that much.

He looked a bit dissapointed but I pay it no mind.

“Forgive me for being rude but can I have your name?”

“Ahhh yes, how rude of me. My name is Leon Swordia.”

“Then, Swordia-sama.”

Anna told me that nobles would introduce themselves with their family name, and it is the proper etiquette to call them by their family name as to not be rude.

“Just Leon is fine.”

“No, that would be rude of me.”

“It is fine, I personally give you permission to call me Leon.”

“Even still.....”

He went deep in thought before showing a smile that I could only call sinister.

Though I cannot say that to him, it’s not a proper lady etiquette after all.

“Since you have only studied for less than a day you may not know, but it is way ruder to not call me by my first name when I gave you the permission to.”

“Is that so?”

“That is so.”

No, I guess it does make sense.

Anna probably forgot to teach me about it since we were so pressed on time.

I have only myself to blame for that for taking so much time just to learn how to keep my posture.

Even though Anna had kindly spare her time to teach me personally, I was lazing around for the first few hours.

I feel bad for wasting Anna’s time like that.

“Then, Leon-sama.”

“Just Leon is fine.”

“No, but.....”

“Remember what I said?”

“.....Leon then.”

Though I feel like it is improper for me to call him by his first name and even more directly like that, since my knowledge about noble etiquette itself is lacking I’ll trust him.

“Still, since you came a bit late, the party itself is about to end. Let me escort you to the host of the party so you can inform of your attendance and tell her about why Frillia-sama is absent.”

“I will gratefully accept your offer.”

For a while now I can feel a lot of stares directed at me, but of course being the proper lady I am I simply ignored them.

With Leon escorting me, I gave my greetings to the lady that hosted the party.

She was really surprised when she looked at Leon who was escorting me.

I explained of why Frillia could not attend the party herself and why I was standing in for her.

After I finished, Leon took over the flow of the conversation, stating that I was tired so that I could excuse myself from the party.

Though I was not tired yet, being able to leave early was much appreciated so I didn’t say anything.

I gave my thanks to the host for inviting me, or rather Frillia to the party, as it was part of the etiquette.

Leon kindly escorted me out of the mansion.

“Then Leon, thank you for your guidance. I’m sorry for causing you so much troubles.”

“No no, it was my pleasure. By the way, Misa, do you want to.....”

“Misa-sama, it is time to head back.”

Before Leon could finish his sentence, Anna cut it off.

“Thank you Anna. Then Leon, since it is getting quite late, I will be excusing myself. Again, I sincerely thank you for your guidance.”

“No, I.....”

Again, Leon got cut off by Anna as she half-pushed me to the carriage.

I do feel bad for not listening to Leon in the end, but as Anna stated it is time to go back.

“Anna, how did I do?”

Though I am inside the carriage, there is a small window that I can open to be able to speak with Anna.

“You did the bare minimum as instructed, if only that little bug did not interfere.”

“What was that Anna?”

“I am going to punish you when we get back, the only reason you were performing so poorly was because you were not being obedient when we started the lesson. If you had been obedient, I could have taught you so much more. Understood?”

“Yes.”

Indeed, it is as Anna said.

In the first place the fault lies on me for performing so poorly so getting punished is to be expected.

The carriage trip went smoothly and soon we were back at Frillia’s mansion.

Anna began re-educating me again when we got back home, up until Frillia came home.

I am so ashamed of myself to not be able to live up to Anna’s standards.

Since I was not even able to do such a simple thing, Anna said that there will be no dinner for me today and told me to go back to my room.

A punishment like this is only to be expected for wasting Anna’s time like that.

After Anna helped me take off my dress, I went to bed as instructed.

 

“Hmmm, as I thought.”

A stinging pain woke me up from my slumber.

Standing there was Frillia-sama.

She was currently looking at my feet closely.

“Frillia-sama, what’s the matter?”

“Haaaahhhh, even though I told her not to use her usual spartan method of teaching. Dispel.”

I could feel a strange refreshing feeling on my head.

“Now, for the final step.....”

Frillia-sama got closer to my face to the point where our lips were only centimeters away.

I immediately pushed her away with all my might.

“W-W-WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO DO, YOU PERVERT!”

“Haaahhhh, there we go, you returned to normal.”

“Like I said, what were you trying to do!?”

“Try and remember what YOU were doing before this.”

“What I was.....!?”

No way, what the hell was that!?

“Are you tempering with my memory using magic!?

“I didn’t! You really did all those things in your memory.”

“No, but if that’s true then while I was studying etiquettes under Anna along the way....”

“Yep, I don’t know specifically what you did but I knew what caused it.”

I shivered, thinking about all the things I did and even my train of thoughts that I had despite all the physical abuse Anna did.

“Looks like she had create that switch on you too.”

“Switch?”

“I call it the lady switch. She would discipline noble etiquettes into your brain while partially using mind clarity magic on you.”

“W-What?”

“It’s like when some people turn into a completely different person in battle, entering a trance that would let them focus their whole thought process into the battle. The lady switch would basically keep you in a trance of being a perfect proper lady. When the switch is on you won’t even question any unreasonableness she gave and obediently follow what she told you to. She used a magic on you to force that lady switch to stay on without a stop. ”

“T-That’s unreasonable! That’s brainwashing!”

“Indeed it’s quite similar to brainwashing. The terrible thing is how adept she is at it. She would periodically change your thought process bit by bit instead of directly at once until the altered thought process doesn’t feel unnatural at all. There’s no way to get out of this trance by then unless you got hit by a huge shock factor.”

That’s crazy!

“Why would you keep someone dangerous like her then!?”

“Because I need her. Other than her abnormally high standard on etiquettes, she’s perfect in everything else.”

“No, but still.....”

“She was originally a royal instructor assigned to teach the queen’s candidate. Of course her spartan way of teaching could only be seen as cruel, even though it was her employer in the first place that asked her to train a commoner girl that the employer just adopted into a perfect noble lady in a week. She crammed what should’ve been years of education into that 1 week. And the worst thing was, she kept on getting asked to do the same thing over and over by other nobles who hired her too, so overtime she’d completely lost idea on how to teach etiquette normally.”

“.....”

“I’m sorry for her actions but honestly she didn’t mean any harm, despite all the harm she inflicted on you. That’s just her way of teaching that she built up from her past experience. I’ll definitely reprimand her harshly after this.”

Frillia lowered her head down to me.

“…..Geez, if you go so far as to apologize for her, then I can’t get angry anymore.....”

“Well, I’ll reprimand her later. Still, to look at it in a positive way, now you don’t even have to bother attending etiquette class on your 2nd semester. I doubt even the instructors assigned for etiquette class can beat you in etiquette.”

“That doesn’t really make me happy though. Uuuu, my feet hurts so bad.”

Probably because the so-called lady switch is off now, the pain from all those slaps that she did to my feet emerged back to my brain.

“Ahhh, let me heal it for you.”

Frillia took out her ID card and soon after, a gentle green glow covered my feet and when it’s gone all the wounds from those slaps were gone with it.

There was also no pain anymore.

“Again, I’m sorry for her actions.”

“No, in the end there’s no harm done. Well, there was but since you healed it there’s no problem. I just hope she won’t forcefully do that to me ever again.”

“Haaahhh, considering it’s only been less than a day, you’re still nowhere up to her standards so if she gets the chance, she’ll probably ‘re-educate’ you again, so be careful. Honestly, if it’s not for this she would be a perfect flawless maid.”

Frillia let out a tired sigh.

“Uuuu, I’m afraid to meet her tommorow.....”

“Well, she won’t start her lesson until there’s only her and the one she’s going to teach in the perimeter so as long as you’re not alone with her, it’ll be fine. I’ll also make sure to not leave you and her alone anymore.”

“No, that’s scary in it’s own way though.”

“Well, have a good night rest. I bet you’re tired.”

“Yea, good night Frillia.”

“Night.”

It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep once I closed my eyes.