CH 12

Moreover, there were times when Luciella’s memories appeared in her mind whenever she needed them. It has only been half a day since Ranhee became Luciella. She already knew a lot of details about Luciella’s life. As time went by, she felt confused about her identity. She wasn’t sure if she was Ranhee or Luciella anymore and she was bound to feel more confused later.

‘Can I protect my identity as Ranhee while living in Luciella’s body?’ That thought made Ella afraid. 

“My lady?”

Maylin’s call woke her up from her thoughts. Worried, Maylin stood next to Ella. She was ready to drag Ella back to bed if she wasn’t feeling well. Ella smiled back at her to reassure her, “What is it?”

“Countess Weshill has arrived.”

Countess Weshill was Ella’s etiquette teacher. The lessons resembled more of a tea time. During those lessons, they talked about the palace and noble society. Last year Luciella didn’t need to learn anymore on etiquette, so the countess began sharing rumors and advice with her. Luciella enjoyed these lessons the most. Ranhee, on the other hand, felt like she was going to go crazy. She felt uncomfortable seeing herself speak eagerly on these topics. It almost seemed like a competition with the countess.

‘How am I going to survive in this world? I should let my body do the talking whenever it’s women’s talk.’ Ella thought she was in a state where her body was separate from her mind. It was better to stay that way. She wasn’t sure if she could survive in this world. 

***

After tea time was over with the countess, Ella was sent to her next class with Baron Bleu. He was in charge of teaching her about politics. After attending two more lessons, Ella was finally done for the day. Every day these lessons occurred. Unlike ordinary girls, she wasn’t allowed to enjoy shopping or tea time. Instead, she could only spend her time preparing to become the next empress. The duchess seemed worried about her daughter’s life.

Ella, I’m worried that you’ll stress yourself out. I think you have too many classes. How about you take fewer classes?”

“It’s quite alright, mother. Instead of fewer classes, I want more of them. I want to know everything,” replied Ella. 

“No way! You’ll pass out from the stress! I won’t allow that!”

The duchess had asked multiple times after Ranhee came into this world. She thought that Ella’s schedule was too full, and she wanted to lessen Ella’s burden. Unfortunately, Ella refused her offer and instead felt her schedule was very doable. Every day she had eight hours of sleep and had enough meals to eat. Her meals were just enough for her to lose weight. Ranhee, on the other hand, usually had four hours of sleep, and hunger always followed her even when she was working in the food industry. Ella was satisfied with her life. She loved her studies as she found them to be interesting and fun. In addition, Ranhee always had to focus on three to four things simultaneously, unlike Ella, who just had to concentrate on one thing at a time.

On an average day, Ella took five classes, which was more than the average noble girl. Despite the busyness, Ranhee enjoyed it. She loved how she wasn’t taught flower arranging like most girls. What she liked most was that she was taught politics, mathematics, and social sciences, which were usually only taught to men.

Although there were times when Ranhee felt the information she was taught was outdated, there were other times when she found it useful. It was interesting to compare information from what she was taught to what she already knew. As a result, she didn’t heed the duchess’s plea to reduce her classes. Not only that, but Luciella also had a special reason for ignoring the duchess’s plea and Ranhee also agreed with it.