159 2.1.10: The Duchess’ Personal Studen

The next morning, Xiao Yunhua was woken up by the servants who ushered her to get dressed quickly to eat breakfast with the rest of the family. They assumed that she was dumb enough to think of this as concern, but Xiao Yunhua was much more intelligent than an actual seven year old. Obviously they woke her up late because they wanted to make her look bad. Most likely, these were the instructions of someone... The Duchess? Xiao Yunhua shook her head. No, the woman was too drunk to think of this petty antic.

She dressed simply and headed down for breakfast, the rest of the people already being there and eating comfortably. They didn't look at her and she avoided eye contact too. Mindlessly, she ate her eggs and glanced at the silent Duchess who didn't look like she was giving her the time of day. Xiao Yunhua was relieved that the woman didn't remind her drunken behavior and didn't say anything about it. She preferred to be left alone anyways.

Despite not paying attention, she noticed the Duke silently motioning for the Duchess to speak. They looked at each other before the cold Duchess opened her mouth and spoke. "V...Violetta," this was the first time that her name—any name—had come out of the cold Duchess' mouth. She thought she was going to be ignored forever...unfortunately, that wasn't the case. "I will be teaching you." The servants that were serving the breakfast froze, including a shaken Alistair who only coughed and continued to do his work. Clearly, everyone except the Duke were stunned, like Augustine who looked like he wanted to have an outburst but was prevented by his mother's stern look.

The most shaken one of them all was Xiao Yunhua—or more necessarily, 'Juliet.' She knew that the Duchess wasn't doing this out of good will, especially not after her attempt to hire bandits to commit murder. She couldn't decline nor disagree so she stayed quiet and allowed the Duchess to continue speaking.

"I believe that since you're the...only daughter of this household, you must have a proper education to represent us and I cannot allow outsiders to teach you the rules. I will personally make sure to enforce them for you to learn the etiquettes and correct ways of a lady." The Duchess was calm and collected, not allowing anyone to see the true expression in her eyes. However, Xiao Yunhua knew that there was something going on. So she was forced to agree since she didn't have any choice in the first place.

"Many thanks to the Duchess." Xiao Yunhua said politely, looking in the eyes of the Duchess. She nodded and asked for the servants to bring in her tea. The rest of the breakfast went by uneventfully and Xiao Yunhua zoned out most of the conversation. They weren't trying to include her anyways, so her daze didn't make much a difference. She suddenly felt a pair of eyes on her, so as she raised her head, the Duchess' green eyes met hers. The cold Duchess had finally revealed an emotion, and it was an emotion that Xiao Yunhua couldn't figure out. She really wanted to know what she was thinking to personally teach the daughter of her husband's affair. Had she gone crazy or was she still drunk?

Unfortunately, the Duchess was neither crazy with this decision nor drunk and her true intentions would be exposed much later, taking a toll on Xiao Yunhua.

As Xiao Yunhua excused herself, she declined for the servants to escort her back and walked on her own. She walked until she was behind the mansion, where she saw Ingrid, sweating from exhaustion after washing clothes in a large tub. Next to her was a large stick that she was proceeding to use to beat the ones that were already hanging. Xiao Yunhua raised her hand to help out of habit, but the old woman noticed and gave her stern look.

She turned around to the other servants and said that the new lady was ushering to speak with her, so she excused herself and paused her work.

Ingrid and Juliet walked side by side outside as the old woman sighed. Once they were far away from the rest of the people—albeit guards were close by—Ingrid spoke. "Juliet, what are you doing here?"

"I came to look for you. Ingrid, she wants to teach me..." Juliet's eyes were filled with tears. Ingrid assumed it was from fear, but Xiao Yunhua knew the truth. She was crying out of frustration. If she were to learn the etiquettes of a noble young lady, it would take years! Which meant her points would possibly be deducted to being half again.

But the pure Juliet could only cry out of 'fear' in front of Ingrid. The old servant glanced at her with pity. Maybe it wasn't worth coming in the lion's den, but had they been caught escaping from the scene, it would be death.

"You have to endure. Eventually, you'll be able to marry into a good noble clan and live your life comfortably." Ingrid didn't suggest to leave because it was impossible now. All she could suggest was going with the flow and learning under the guidance of the devil.

"But I'm..." not really Violetta and a daughter born out of wedlock. Xiao Yunhua wasn't naïve like an actual seven year old. So she knew the realistic aspect of her future as an illegitimate daughter. She cleared her throat and nodded innocently. Man, the white lotus act is tough to keep up with sometimes. Ingrid and she spoke for a little bit longer and reminisced about their village life longer before they realized it had been thirty minutes or so and it was time for Ingrid to go back; otherwise, she would get a beating.

Xiao Yunhua bid the old woman goodbye and headed back to her room, ready to be bored for the rest of the day. There really wasn't anything entertaining to do. She wanted to go read books but she was a 'village-raised' girl, so she couldn't raise suspicion on her identity. So she wandered around and saw Augustine. He looked at her coldly and turned around to ignore her, but suddenly walked past her and purposely bumped into her, making her fall on the floor. She looked at him with wide eyes filled with unshed tears.

He coldly humphed and said, "Don't stand in my way next time. I assumed you were just a servant." His meaning was clear as day. He would never allow her to be anything more than a peasant in his eyes. His resentment was unnecessarily pointed at her! She wasn't the one that caused their house to be attacked, yet he looked at her like it was her fault that the house was a mess.

Before Xiao Yunhua had a chance to refute, a servant ushered for her to return to her room. She sat and waited. Then, another one of the servants came and told her that the Duchess would be there to begin her lessons in a little while.

For Xiao Yunhua, this meant that the hellish trainings were ready to begin. And by the looks of how it went for every young, noble lady, it would possibly take multiple years...