Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Manners Make the Man
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"So, what should I start with? Should I meet with the slave overseers to set the training schedule?"
"What Dana needs to do first is..."
Seeing Diana, pale-faced and sweating coldly,
it was obvious what needed to come first.
"Get plenty of rest."
"Pardon?"
"Your condition still seems poor. Recovering your health comes first."
...
Lady Goldenwood.
Diana Pino Goldenwood was frail.
To put it romantically, her soul was withering, and her body was weakening along with it.
To put it in terms a 21st-century South Korean would understand,
her brain, having failed to relieve stress, was spewing all sorts of hormones and shattering her immune system.
In winter, she froze in the biting cold.
In summer, she suffered from heatstroke and sunstroke that made her lungs feel like they were failing.
During seasonal changes, she battled colds,
and overall, she was always plagued by minor ailments.
She couldn't maintain her body's homeostasis.
"Ah. This calls for proper exercise and diet. That should boost the immune system."
"Pardon?"
So first, I made sure she ate well, slept well, and exercised.
It's a fact that most people suffering from the 21st-century chronic illness 'modern human disease' don't know, but
surprisingly, people get healthy with moderate exercise, balanced eating habits, and regular sleep patterns.
Eh...? No way... Lies...
"...The mornings feel... refreshing?"
Surprisingly, this prescription worked quite well on her.
She was someone who had been cooped up in the mansion, staring out the window every day during stifling etiquette lessons.
It was an environment where her immune system was bound to be wrecked,
and just a slight improvement made a dramatic difference.
It hit me anew: what a dogshit environment she'd been in.
Count Goldenwood surely hadn't neglected his daughter's health management, as she was an important 'asset.'
He was just a bit lacking in common sense.
"The most important thing is a balanced diet to get plenty of vitamins and nutrients across the board."
"What's a vitamin?"
"What."
"...Is it that strange not to know?"
"No. Of course you wouldn't. It's not a word from this world."
"Pardon?"
From the start,
what can you expect from people who gobble olive oil as health food?
Fresh olive oil is good for health in many ways, sure...
But that doesn't mean scarf it down like a snack.
Anyway, the point is proper eating and care are crucial.
"How are you feeling?"
"Good... So refreshing when I wake up, like I can't remember the last time..."
A frail beauty with a precarious aura, like she'd scatter like soap bubbles?
Not anymore.
No room for sickly types in my mansion.
"...You're tougher than I thought."
From the beginning, she was pretty sturdy herself.
She fell headfirst from a mansion window and recovered fine.
Even with divine power's help,
it wouldn't be possible if the human herself wasn't strong enough.
"Yes. You're stronger than you think, Dana."
"...Am I allowed to be healthy?"
"Of course. You'll get even healthier. You can stroll freely in the garden, eat delicious food, and wake up every morning feeling fresher than the day before."
"..."
Above all, she was free now.
She was no longer a bird trapped in a cage.
No parrot so broken it plucked its own feathers in self-harm.
She was a person.
A free person who could walk on her own and step into the sunlight.
So, of course she could get healthy.
The health of the soul leading to bodily strength...
Isn't that a common tale?
If that sounds too optimistic,
there was one more reason she had no choice but to get healthy.
"If needed, I can assign you my personal physician."
"...Pardon?"
"If the physician can't treat it, we can invite a priest with divine power to the mansion. Tell me anytime if you're unwell."
It was 'money.'
I had money.
Enough to buy health itself.
"Why go so far for me..."
"Because you're my employee and my fiancée."
Calling a priest just to treat some slave would get me labeled insane,
but she was my fiancée.
Summoning a priest for a frail fiancée?
Not that strange.
And while at it, I could 'conveniently' ask them to treat a slave with a serious illness.
Torsso's been looking a bit peaky lately too. Could use a divine power shot.
"..."
"I'm a man who has nothing but money to spare."
...
After a few months of rehab,
the slaves' training began.
"I'm Diana Pino Goldenwood, and I'll be in charge of your training from now on."
"Oh─. A noble speaking so politely to mere slaves like us. I'm afraid someone might hear."
Respect has manners, and condescension has its own etiquette.
Just as those below have their protocols,
those above have theirs.
Even an emperor above all might hold a commoner's hand to comfort them, following custom.
Excessive courtesy is discourtesy.
Bowing to inferiors isn't manners.
"You're all Count Riddle's property. I'm not honoring you─I'm honoring His Excellency the Count."
"...Ah, I see."
"And in etiquette training, it's customary for the teacher to use honorifics. I'll be teaching you manners, so I'm just following protocol."
But there were no protocols for dealing with slaves.
No human bothers with courtesy toward objects, so no rules existed for slaves.
If any did, they'd hardly be proper.
So she could do as she pleased.
Her innate blessing
guaranteed her perfect respect toward others.
"Since you're his property, maintaining your dignity expresses his own stature. People reveal their class indirectly through their possessions."
"Yes! Understood!"
She didn't see slaves as 'people.'
She was just another noble steeped in this world's common sense.
No matter how constrained her life,
she wasn't naive enough to feel kinship with lowly slaves.
She wasn't stupid.
She could distinguish people from slaves.
"Then let's begin the training."
But so what?
She'd never truly interacted with 'people' anyway.
Her father was a superficial man who spouted honor,
and visiting nobles were just the usual types swayed by her blessing.
Never properly treated as a person herself,
she'd never treated others as true people either.
What moved her life
wasn't her, but her innate blessing.
So dealing with slaves was no different.
Follow the blessing.
Act as it guided.
Wasn't that why her fiancé hired her?
"When praying, place your right thumb over your left thumb."
"Like this?"
"Yes. Direction matters. It's a ritual symbol of the Lord's right hand overcoming evil."
"So praying with left thumb over right would mockingly imply evil overpowering God?"
During the etiquette lesson,
one slave raised a hand with a question.
She pondered briefly,
then spoke the answer her blessing provided.
"...Not exactly. Prayer forms vary by situation. It's not the form, but the heart that matters. Scripture and ritual set principles; the praying heart builds faith. Even without fingers, hands, or arms, anyone can pray to God and seek union with the Lord."
"If the heart is paramount, why need these principles?"
If heart matters most,
why follow forms and rules?
To that,
she nodded in sudden empathy.
Indeed.
Why was that?
Once more, the blessing provided an easy answer.
"To make it sincere."
"Sincere...?"
"Following the six traditional steps honors God six times. Knowing each form's meaning and symbolism deepens the prayer profoundly. The heart is too light... without the heavy stone of tradition to weigh it down, it flutters away. To understand deeply, first think deeply."
"..."
"If complex principles and traditions distance us from the heart, making us fixate on empty show, that's truly tragic. Even beyond prayer to God, all etiquette with people is the same. Without considering your heart and theirs, manners mean nothing."
As she spoke, it suddenly felt
strange and awkward to be explaining this herself.
She'd always relied on her blessing's etiquette.
Acting passively to look good to others.
Never putting heart into manners,
nor trying to understand others' feelings.
Her etiquette lacked heart.
That's why she couldn't give a proper answer to her fiancé, who sought the 'unwrapped' her.
Nothing was inside the wrapping,
and she only knew how to adorn it.
"...I'll continue the explanation."
"Yes!"
"The types of daily prayers are..."
Perhaps,
she was teaching herself,
the bird unfamiliar with the world beyond the cage suddenly thought.