Mrs. Shaynie raised her chin high.

“Your Grace, it is written in the Guide for Noble Ladies that disobedient and lazy children should be beaten. There isn’t a better way to educate them.”

She was trying to teach Rubica, and it angered her even more.

“Arka, god of education and wisdom, said, ‘Compliment when teaching children and think at least three times before using a rod.'”

Shaynie was confused as she was teaching manners. However, even if she knew the manners, she hadn’t bothered to learn Arka’s teachings.

“Your Grace, Arka’s teachings have nothing to do with manners.”

“Arka is the god of education. I think you should keep his teachings in your mind as you are a teacher yourself.”

“I did think three times.”

“It doesn’t mean that it is right for you to punish them so severely.”

Rubica spoke firmly and Shaynie gulped hard. She thought Rubica was only a young and innocent girl, but it turned out she wasn’t such an easy prey. However, there wasn’t an enemy she couldn’t defeat using her age and years of experience. Most people shut their mouths when she talked about her experiences.

“Your Grace, you are generous, so you may think I am too harsh on these girls. But according to my years of, no, decades of experience, children get spoiled when given too much freedom. They must be disciplined. I taught your husband, too, and he is perfect when it comes to manners. Your Grace, it is not good for their education to intervene when the teacher is disciplining students.”

Oh, so you want to talk about experiences. Rubica had to resist the urge to beat her lips. She really wanted to ask if it had been Shaynie who taught that sarcastic way of talking Edgar always used. However, she couldn’t dishonor the duke in front of Ann and the other relatives.

“An old lady I know taught children till the age of seventy, but she said complimenting is much better than using the rod for education.”

And, of course, that old lady was Rubica herself.

Shaynie decided she couldn’t back off now. Who on earth had given Rubica such wrong and useless ideas? Ann? She thought she had to save the poor brainwashed duchess.

“… but that’s just the opinion of one person. Efficient ways of teaching differ from people to people. I wonder who told you such a thing.”

Rubica’s patience started to snap. She stopped glaring at Shaynie and turned to the trembling girls.

“Would you curtsy again?”

“Your Grace?”

“There’s no need to be afraid. Just curtsy to me again.”

The children were confused, but as Rubica spoke kindly to them, they found their courage and curtsied. Although they were following the instructions in the book, there were so many details that had to be fixed. Manners were not things that could be learned by reading books. That’s why a teacher was required.

“Mrs. Shaynie, judging from how they curtsy, it appears your way of teaching can’t be more wrong.”

The girls thought Rubica was saying they were wrong. They cringed and looked down. Rubica’s fairy even closed her eyes and seemed to be waiting for the severe punishment she was about to be given.

Rubica could understand how Edgar had felt when he looked at her cringe thinking he would hit her in front of the Berner Mansion.

“It’s because they haven’t even memorized the book yet. I was going to make them finish it first and fix their posture later.”

Shaynie kept trying to evade the problem like a sly fox. Rubica simply glared at her. She meant to give her another chance if she admitted her fault, but she didn’t.

“How old are they?”

“Your Grace?”

Rubica then asked warmly to the girls, “How old are you?”

The children glanced at her. They seemed to not know if it was okay to answer her question. Although they didn’t know what it was for, they had already made a mistake and were afraid of being punished for that. They looked so scared and it made Rubica angry. She had to try really hard to keep the smile on her face.

Thankfully, it worked. One of the girls carefully talked first.

“I am sixteen years old, Your Grace.”

“I am fifteen.”

“I am seventeen.”

They started to tell how old they were one by one. The fairy was the last to answer and she was seventeen years old.

“They were old enough to be introduced to society, and they can’t even curtsy properly!”

“They are lazy and neglect their studies. I will teach them harder from now on.”

She was going to beat their heads harder with a book? They were already old enough to know what it was to be ashamed. She was going to insult them even harder? Rubica eventually ran out of patience.

“Mrs. Shaynie, I can’t stand this anymore.”

“Your Grace, please don’t worry about these stupid girls. Give me a month, and I will make them improve significantly.”

Shaynie didn’t know what Rubica couldn’t stand anymore was herself. The girls being below average was rather a chance. She decided to use the chance to show how great of a teacher she was.

“There’s no need for that. You’re fired!”

Silence fell after that. The girls and even Ann doubted their ears for a second while Shaynie herself couldn’t understand what was happening. Rubica ignored her and gave an order to Ann.

“I want you to find someone to become the new manners teacher of Claymore. I want someone who can teach children with kindness and knows what is the most important to him, not someone who comes to visit me every day to criticize my manners when she can’t even educate her own pupils properly.”

“Your Grace!”

Shaynie couldn’t stand it anymore and yelled. She hadn’t seen it coming. She hadn’t known that young girl, who had just become the duchess, would do such thing to her.

“There are at least 13 problems with the way you are standing and talking right now. I only gave you rightful advice and recommended the right way of teaching as the Claymore’s manners teacher. I must also say you should reflect on what you just said. It was not fit for the name of Claymore.”

“Still, you are fired.”

“Please don’t be…”

“I don’t want to quarrel with you, Mrs. Shanie. I’ve already given you an opportunity. Ann, as she is not the teacher anymore, she doesn’t have the rights to educate them. Please send her back to her chamber.”

Ann noticed Rubica was determined, so she silently warned Shaynie to not say a word anymore with her eyes. Then, she grabbed her arm to drag her out. She was heard angrily complaining outside for some time, but it soon got quiet. A maid brought some snacks, and Rubica waved her hand to make the girls sit down, but they were too afraid.

“Are you going to have me eat alone with you watching me?”

She said that as a joke, but the four girls shivered as if struck by lightning and sat down in a flash. They were afraid of Rubica.

Shaynie had been the most horrible of their tutors, and the duchess had fired that Shaynie in an instant. Even if she looked so kind that it seemed unlikely for her to kill even an ant, they feared she could change if she got mad.

“I didn’t know Mrs. Shaynie had been educating you like that… it is my fault. I’m sorry.”

The girls hadn’t known Rubica would apologize to them. They expected her to be merciless on them as she had done with Shaynie, but she was acting quite the contrary.

“But… Your Grace.”

“You don’t have to apologize to us.”

“It was all our fault.”

“No, you haven’t done anything wrong. It was us adults’ fault.”

Rubica took out her handkerchief and gave it to her fairy who was still crying. Her fairy was tall and thin, and she had an oval chin that resembled an egg. Her eyes were slightly small, but they were round and elegant. Her beauty shined more when she was confident.

However, she had lost her confidence because of Shaynie’s harsh way of teaching and her beauty had faded as well. Cute girls look lovely even when crying, but that wasn’t how the fairy looked.

The girls calmed down after eating the egg sandwiches the maid brought. Rubica didn’t ask why they hadn’t come to visit her. She didn’t need to ask to know why. Shaynie must have not told them or said it wasn’t necessary when they asked her if they should go to the duchess.

“Could you introduce yourselves to me one by one?”

Rubica’s fairy wiped tears and talked.

“I am Elise Roan de Solana.”

Rubica smiled at finally learning the fairy’s name. Her name was beautiful just like her. The other girls then also introduced themselves.

Elise had a slightly complicated background. She was from a viscount family, so she was a noble lady. Her father failed in an investment when she was five, but a noble family’s revenue and spending weren’t things that could be seen instantly. Some proved to be profitable years later, and some losses could be mended with promissory notes.

“I failed this time, but it can happen sometimes.”

Viscount Solana thought it wasn’t a big deal. He didn’t want to change his family’s way of living because of one failure. His wife wanted to wear beautiful dresses fit for a viscountess and decorate herself with jewels. Moreover, the viscount didn’t hesitate to spend money on his daughter’s and son’s education.

However, things don’t always go as you want.

His account book started to be filled with bad marks, and when that happened, things were already out of his control. When he was forced to sell his domain, he couldn’t stand it and killed himself. His will said he couldn’t bear to live after humiliating the family’s name.