Elise was twelve back then. Viscountess Solana, who was left behind, calmly took care of things before she could even find a way out of the grief of losing her husband. She sold the family’s land and everything within it first. Unlike her husband, she couldn’t bring herself to commit suicide and leave the children behind.

“Now we cannot live on without working. Richard, you should apply for the admission test at the Royal Knight Academy next month. Knight is the only occupation that will let you earn money and keep your honor as a nobleman.”

Richard, who was three years younger than Elise, nodded. Was it because he was so desperate? He did pass the test despite his young age. However, he would only be given a small amount of living expenses before being officially knighted. His family rather had to support him while he trained.

“Eli.”

One day, Viscountess Solana made up her mind and called her daughter.

“All we have left is the dowry I brought when I was married. But if we live like we have lived till now and support Richard, we will run out of money in less than five years. Then, there will be no dowry for you.”

Elise had seen it coming, but she didn’t want to leave her mother. She was just too young to accept the sad reality.

“It’s okay. I don’t want to get married. Let’s stay together. Richard will be able to earn money when he officially becomes a knight.”

“I’ve sent a message to the Claymore Family. You know my maternal grandmother was a Claymore, right? They said they would gladly accept you. Claymore’s tutors will teach you, so I won’t have to worry about your education.”

She said you, not we. A bad feeling came over Elise, but she tried to sound delighted.

“Then we are going to the Claymore Mansion? I will sing to His and Her Graces. My friends all say I have a pretty voice, so they will all like it.”

However, her mother shook her head.

“There’s an abbey where only widows can stay. I am going there.”

“Mama, what are you talking about?”

“If I work at the abbey, they will give me everything I need, food and all. And if I pass a test and become a priestess, I will also get some money, although not much.”

“No! No, mama.”

Elise buried her face in her mother’s laps and cried. She begged not to be sent away alone. Viscountess Solana also wished she could stay with her daughter, but it would cost her lovely daughter’s future.

“Eli, I actually wanted to become a priestess before I met your father. So, will you let me achieve my dream?”

“You’re lying! Stop lying to me.”

Her mother had never said she wanted to be a priestess before, therefore Elise knew she was lying.

“Eli, but what would happen to Richard if we spend all our money living together? He is receiving less than half of what the other knights in training get from their families. He will start taking classes next year, but if we don’t do something, we won’t be able to even buy him a sword.”

However, when the viscountess spoke of Elise’s little brother, she had no choice but to stop protesting.

After that day, Elise wept in her room for a week. But crying was of no use, she had to leave for the Claymore Mansion when she managed to hold back tears.

Actually, living at the Claymore Mansion wasn’t that bad compared to being a ward in any other noble family. At least the family was rich, and it had always been sponsoring talented children. Some of them were commoners, but the problem was that Elise was an extremely ordinary girl. Moreover, her manners teacher, Mrs. Shaynie, was merciless.

“You are slow, you are clumsy, you are even huge and easy to notice.”

Elise had never heard such insult before and was shocked.

“How dare you look like that at an adult? Has your mother taught you nothing?”

Shaynie didn’t like Elise. However, she was extremely kind to children who were likely to grow up to handle important businesses in the Claymore Family, especially to boys.

“Oh, even the way you hold your knife is so elegant.”

And when Elise similarly held her knife, Shaynie harshly pinched her hand.

“All wrong. How can be you of any use when you can’t even hold a knife properly?”

She was scolded no matter what she did. She shrugged as much as she could to not be noticed by Shaynie.

“Stop slouching!”

She became less and less lively. She had been called pretty in her childhood from time to time, but now everyone she met said she was ugly. At first, she told herself, ‘No, mama and Richard said I was pretty’. But in time, she started to truly believe what people said.

When she went to her first ball at the age of fifteen, she had to stay behind a wall for a long time. No one asked to dance with her.

‘… mama and Richard think I’m pretty only because they’re my family.’

Her mother had entered the abbey to keep her dowry and let her marry a decent man. Richard was getting scholarships from the academy for the same reason, but it all seemed useless to Elise. How could there be a man who would marry such an ugly girl?

However, she couldn’t make her family’s efforts be in vain. Time passed and she turned seventeen. She tried her best to be unnoticed by the people and stayed at the Claymore Mansion. She was going to hang on and give her entire dowry to her brother when she was too old to get married. She planned to learn hard and become a tutor, and the right manners were especially important to female tutors.

“How can you not even know this?”

However, Mrs. Shaynie’s merciless hand beat her every time. She taught it was right to bow deeply one day and said nobles should have dignity and only nod politely the next day. Elise just didn’t know what was right and what was wrong but giving up now would make the efforts she had made until now useless.

She wanted to give up everything. Then, Rubica came. The duchess was as high as the sky to her. When Elise first saw her, she feared she might anger her. She hadn’t been complimented even once ever since she came to the mansion.

However, Rubica wasn’t mad at Elise. Instead, she was mad at Mrs. Shaynie who had been harsh on her. She even kicked her out.

Elise thought the duchess was a scary lady.

But after she coldly kicked out Mrs. Shaynie, she looked at her kindly. Then, she warmly whispered, “You all must have had a hard time. Well, for what reasons have you come here?”

It made Elise confess everything that had happened to her, and the duchess listened to her story.

Moreover, she wasn’t the only one to feel that. The other girls also said about how they ended up as the Claymore’s wards. One had lost her parents and siblings. One had to leave because of the huge debt her family had.

They had no choice but to depend on the Claymore Family’s mercy instead of living with their own children. Of course, they each had a sad story. Actually, in a way, they were fortunate. The Claymore Family accepted all close and distant relatives as long as they didn’t have any fatal scandal. The count family, Rubica’s mother’s family, had instead thrown Rubica out when she went for help.

They said they couldn’t accept the child of a daughter who had insisted on a marriage that was against their will.

That was probably an excuse. They might have found Rubica’s debt to be too much.

If they had looked into the matter without turning her down flatly in an instant, she might not have been fooled by her uncle.

‘It’s all in the past. Holding resentment is useless. That family wasn’t as rich as Claymore.’

Rubica emphasized with the girls, then she asked kindly, “What have you learned so far? Have your teachers taught you well?”

Fortunately, not all tutors were like Shaynie. Their writing, embroidering, and math skills were good enough. Only manners, the most important thing to a lady’s life, was problematic. After talking to the girls, Rubica summoned the writing teacher, math teacher, and embroidery teacher.

“Thank you for educating the family’s wards well.”

Then, she had Ann add a little bonus to their next wage payment, and soon words about it spread among the annexes.

***

When Rubica was listening to the girls’ stories, Mrs. Shaynie, who had been fired by her, went to Carl.

“I’ve come to seek an audience with His Grace.”

Carl was surprised to see the lady with the stiff neck and high chin. The sun wasn’t about to set for another couple of hours.

“Mrs. Shaynie, His Grace is busy.”

“Then I’ll wait here.”

“Please come back after dinner if you must really meet him.”

Mrs. Shaynie sighed.

“I guess I have no choice. Please tell His Grace that I have come to report to him about the duchess’ rudeness to the Claymore’s manners teacher. The Claymore’s reputation depends on it. I’ll wait here.”

It seemed like she wasn’t going to just go away. Having an old lady waiting in front of the office couldn’t look good. Carl thought about it for a moment and replied, “I’ll tell His Grace. Please wait in the next room.”

Carl carefully went in and told Edgar about Mrs. Shaynie. Edgar normally would have ordered to have her kicked out, but he then he heard the part about ‘the duchess’ rudeness’.