The moment Ann walked into the kitchen, all of the workers there seemed like they just saw a ghost waltzing inside. They immediately dropped all their work and proceeded to welcome her.
...At this moment, Ann felt like she was an emperor who just walked into his concubine’s room and was greeted like this by everyone in the room. It was an uneasy sense of superiority.
“No need to mind me, I’m just here to wash my hands, go and work,” Ann waved her hand to dismiss them as she paid no mind to all of them and just... did her business—that was washing her hands.
Actually, Ann noticed the chefs seemed to have a questioning look, but she thought that everything she did would be weird to them, as Ann was no longer the old Arlea.
Finishing her hand hygiene routine, Ann sat back on the chair and proceeded to grab the food with her hands—then she turned them into a good hamburger that she could just chomp on instead of using the fork, knife, or spoon... gah. Yes, she liked eating the convenient way.
“...!” Ann could hear the others’ silent gasps, so she turned around to look at the maids in the dining room, with sandwich still in her hands. Her cheeks were a bit puffed as she accidentally chewed more than she could take.
“Whasdemata? (What’s the matter?)”
Again, Ann overestimated her ability to multitask. She used to talk while eating in her previous world, but this... She wasn’t too accustomed with Arlea’s body yet.
Ann decided to quickly chew and ask, “Sorry, I mean, what’s the matter?”
“...,” the maids didn’t answer and only continued to stare at her in disbelief.
Ann was so confused.
“That, Arlea-sama, the way you are eating...,” One of the maids timidly voiced out her mind.
“Oh, this? Convenient, right? Eating the breakfast like this is better in her opinion. Try it out sometimes~,” Ann advised them instead of picking up on what was wrong.
She was even proud she could share her knowledge as a modern human being to the people of this world. She even began to hallucinate that she might be able to revolutionize something with her knowledge of modern world... Then she would become famous, and then she would live leisurely...
“...That wasn’t meant to be eaten that way...,” Another maid seemed to mutter something, but her voice was too tiny that Ann couldn’t tell what she was saying.
“Pardon?” Ann quickly recovered from her far-fetched imagination as she turned her head to the maid and asked.
“Ekh! No problem, no problem at all. I didn’t see anything,” the maid shook her body. She was sure if she were to voice her thought, this vicious mistress of hers won’t give her any mercy! She would definitely suffer a fate worse than death!
“...?”
Weird. It wasn’t like you saw something bad that you should keep quiet of, right?
Ann thought.
After that, none of the maids asked anything, so Ann finished her delicious hamburger-like breakfast happily.
Aaah, my belly was so satisfied with this delicious food!
Ann grabbed the cup of tea to refresh her mouth. Out of habit, she washed the inside of her mouth using the tea in a very quiet manner—in order to make sure there wasn’t any food slipped around her teeth. Anyway, this was at home, so it was no problem. She should take a mental note not to do it in public.
At that moment, a maid who was tidying up the table almost dropped the tableware as she couldn’t believe what Arlea was doing.
Ann gulped the tea and quickly helped her, “Be careful.”
Still, the maid wouldn’t look at Arlea’s face, despite her trying to be the good person.
Guess it was too fast to expect people would turn kind to me all out of a sudden, huh? Yes, my overnight change was also suspicious in their eyes. It couldn’t be helped.
Ann decided to pay no mind to it as she believed that her good will would shine in the end. She was completely clueless of the noble etiquette that the ladies in this world was supposed to have. Yes, the modern her didn’t pay any attention to the noble etiquette in the games she played. The games she played didn’t portray noble etiquette that much.
Most were just otome game with dialogues related to the story, portrayal of noble etiquette was like ‘walking like you were walking on a catwalk’, just the easy thing. Ann believed that at home, table manner wasn’t so important. This was where she was so wrong.
...Not that she could do anything about that, given that she never took any table manner classes back in the modern world.
After the awkward breakfast and morning, it was finally time she went outside. Ann was also planning to eat her lunch outside. Therefore, she grabbed her wallet and saw...
Huh? What kind of money is this?
She admitted she never really paid any attention to the economy in the game. The game didn’t involve money at all, so it was only mentioned in passing. Why bother, then?
...Ann deeply regretted her decision. If she knew she would be reincarnated here, she would seriously learn more about this world.
...Nobody would guess she would end up here, though.
I guess it couldn’t be helped. I should be able to figure things out when I go to downtown.
After all, I decided to drop all the overthinking and seriousness I had as a corporate slave and normal woman in my past life here. I just need to enjoy my remaining time.
With that in mind, Ann packed the essentials in the modest bag she could find. Again, the bags Arlea possessed... one seemed too precious as it was made from some kind of an animal skin.
One seemed full of jewelries as decoration, she would be a joke in downtown for using this. Another one was too small. No, there were lots of small bags. Why the heck didn’t she buy more medium-sized bags with modest designs? Thank goodness there were some that Ann could use without feeling embarrassed.
The last problem she had before going out was... the shoes.
...HOW THE HELL DID ARLEA MANAGE TO WALK USING THIS HEELS?! Look at the pointy thin heels, oh my god! And it’s so high! I’d lose my feet using this.
This one... Too fancy to go with my dress. Out of option.
This one... Why did people use gems in shoes? It seemed precious... Oh no... Definitely not. What if I stumble upon a rock and lose this gem? It would add to my financial loss. Cross this out.
This one... is too beautiful, it should be used as a room decoration instead.
This one—the sharp heels... I think I can kill someone with this, hehehe...
This... The heels... The heels... Forgive me, it’s impossible.
...Oh, found some flat-shoes that I could use. It should go well with my dress. Okay, flat shoes, I choose you!
Ann’s choice of fashion today to go out: A medium-sized brown handbag, a simple floral-patterned pink dress with a red ribbon belt, and a brown simple flat-shoes.
If her money was enough and there were good outfits to buy, she should buy them.
...Next time, she should hire a carriage and sell some of Arlea’s stuff that she would never use.
Yes, pawn them away for things she could use!
After making sure for one last time that she hadn’t left anything, Ann opened the door to freedom—to the outside world, full of anticipation.
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Author, if you think that her being stupid in regular matters is funny - you are wrong. It is just stupid. I like mc, but I hate when she acts stupid with no reason for her stupidity.
She can't think that her eat of eating is strange for noble lady? She can't think that everything will be stupefied by that? She can't even think that there is a reason for such a big number of forks? She can't guess that she ate with wrong fork? She can't think that eating with hands will be hilarious for noble? She doesn't know about etiquette? That etiquette even exists?
This is just stupid. That's the things even 5-6 y.o. child knows but mc does not?
Author, please, we, as readers, associate ourselves with mc of the story. Don't make mc unbelievably stupid. Make mc do things that you yourself will do. Things that we ourself will do. She do not add narrator. We are witnessing mc's story from her perspective and from her thoughts. When you suddenly slap there narrator's pov - you just breaking pace of novel. We do not need reminder of how shameless her staring is.
MC was normal citizen. She hasn't any mind illnesses. Do not make her stupid suddenly.
Do not break what you build. Do not break MC. Do not break pace. Do not break novel. Please.
That is why people usually drop novels they were reading. People reading you liked what you written so far. Why are you changed it? This way you'll lose your audience. Those who read it so far will drop it and those who may like it now dropped it earlier, even before they can get there.
If you want to change story - change it whole, from the very starts. So bit just change mc out of the blue.
Progress, not Regress.
I wrote this previous comment half way through chapter. And now I ended chapter.
Just so you know. In 1 chapter this novel goes from favorites straight to trash. I'm dropping it. And let me pinpoint why.
MC became stupid and clueless.
Here how it was before:
She joked with he coworker about how they are corporal slaves. She intently stared at people who chatted with empty glasses for them to leave so others can eat too. She admitted that she lived how society tell her to and now she will live how SHE wants. She threatened her now husband with sexy lingerie.
That's the examples how she wasn't clueless. Especially last one. Then why is she so clueless and ignorant now? She wanted to live not how she was told but how she want. Then why she is doing it even more now? I'm from modern society so look how I do this, isn't it wonderful? You literally said that you were forced to live like this by this exact society and now you are worshipping it when you said that you wouldn't live like this anymore? Seriously? This just whole another level of being an idiot.
I liked gow MC was, even when everything is bad or unknown she knows what to do. She was smart and confident. Now she anything but. She's now stuoid, clueless and arrogant. But she is so clueless and stupid that she doesn't even realize that she is arrogant.
I hate this. MC's personality made 180 turn. And that is exactly why I'm dropping this novel. From favorites to trash.
I have to disagree. It seems more like she's just being carefree? Why bother trying to mimic etiquette she knows nothing about? Having just binge read these four chapters I don't see any of what you're saying. I am confused how making a sandwich equates to working to death climbing the corporate ladder, and she certainly doesn't seem to be worshiping her past job?
@Raletia not the past job, it's more like the way things was done in past life. And I get about carefree, maybe it's better way to say it, I don't know, English is not my first language and I actually learned it by reading some programming docs and watching YouTube vids (just some regular vids), and reading novels too. So maybe I'm saying something not right. So let me explain what I meant.
I think that carefree is when you get what is wrong, or at least you get that something is wrong, but despite it - you don't care. This just your way of life. You see something is wrong and you can think of what to do to make it OK, but you just don't think it be worth your effort. You OK with it the way it is. This is carefree (at least in my opinion).
At the same time MC is not carefree, she's clueless. She don't even see that something's going on. It would've been carefree if she saw problem and aknowlegded it, but decided to not bother. But she's not. She not only don't see the problem, she doesn't even know that there is problem in the first. That's what I see.
I don't tell you stop reading it. If you like it and MC is not bothering you - feel free to not mind my opinion and keep reading. I just state my opinion and hope it will help author do better and it helps me get rid of my emotions. Which wasn't very pleasant.
And to say why I don't like MC like this (clueless and IMO stupid) - they are not believable. I do not believe that she is a real person. I do believe that maids are real persons, but not MC. And I think this is hilariously wrong. How am I supposed to read if I don't believe MC is real. She feels like if she have really bad mental illness. I just can't believe she is MC of such story, I can't believe she exists, I can't believe there is sane person who would behave this way. And even more so I can't associate myself with MC.
This kind of MC exist mostly in Japanese novels. And I get why. Thats Japanese way of writing and reading. You aren't supposed to associate yourself with MC. You are supposed to look at MC from second perspective (sometimes third). Especially when it is Japanese comedy. But this novel written from first perspective - as far as I know - most popular writing perspective in other world, especially nowadays. But MC behaves as if it is second perspective Japanese isekai comedy. This just do not work together. It would be better either if novel was written from second perspective, or if MC was much much more believable (which means that reader can easily get what mc thought, even if it would be with help of an author). When it started I believed MC, I was OK imagining a person behaving this way. But not now. That is it. Feel free to discuss this if you want, or leave your opinion. I don't mind sharing my too.
Maybe if author had the mc with a considerate yet dgaf attitude, like she won't act like a slob or be discourteous, she doesn't need to let go of ingrained habits. So long as it is not problematic its all good
If I had only a year I'd treat each day as selfishly as I want without a care, but not be overly burdensome to people, maids do their chores... Dont be messy ... Eat all the food the chef made appreciatively, why be anal about how, when u have no clue about etiquette... Will I bother with such things? No way... I'm gonna take the shortest path to enjoyment.
This isn't Rome and I dont need to do as they do, I only need to do the bare minimum not to get tossed out
@KuqKu completely agree. Only it must be done in a way it was done, or else character becomes no more. Which is the problem here. She was different when this whole ordeal started.
I agree completely.
This. So much this. Like she is a grown woman
tl;dr
the mc dumb. not likies
hahaha I kinda get what you mean. the mc kinda regressed into a dumb little pea brain. but I don't understand the need to mention the pov of the novel. I feel like *most* readers wouldn't want a dumb mc, first person or third (also there is no second person in writing, just first and third person)
@mamamohaha well, there is a thing, almost exclusive to Japanese novels (as far as i'm aware), where mc thinks in their head something like, "hey, I wasn't scared. I said I wasn't!". And that is what I meant by second person, if i remember correctly. As if reader made some snarky comment, and mc replies to it. That thing is very reminiscent of Japanese comedy, where there are two main characters: one is fairly simple and stupid; and the other one is sarcastic, and somewhat cynical. And by the extension, Japanese novels usually continue this traditional comedy, by placing reader in the shoes of the second MC (the sarcastic one). It indeed does feel, like MC replies to reader, which is (again, in my opinion, which may be wrong) a second perspective. Kind-of, at least.
I agree about the whole take on perspectives being mostly unnecessary; but I encountered it far too many times, to not bother. I was mostly just venting off my frustration, and that was one of the fairly big parts of it (due to me constantly stumbling into it, novel after novel). So basically, it was just me being me.