Learning Etiquette

After Illianna returned from the orphanage, it was about time for Emily's night class to begin. But since she seemed to be a bit more distracted than usual, Sian made her stay on Ophilia's lap.

Seeing that everyone was already seated at the living room table, Illianna looked at Sian. "Tonight will it be my turn to teach her?"

"Uh-huh." Sian nodded. "But first, I want to know what you're going to teach."

"Etiquette." Illianna replied.

"I don't think it's really necessary to learn things like etiquette."

"How is it not necessary? That's the basics for any nobleman." Illianna retorted. "They make their children learn from an early age to not embarrass them when they go to some social event."

"I think she's right." Ophilia told Sian. "I would also like to learn how to act more refined so as not to embarrass you."

"It's not like he needed someone for it, he's already shame himself alone." Illianna said.

"But besides learning good manners, I would also like to learn to read and write." Ophillia added.

"All right, we can start with the etiquette today and reading and writing is for tomorrow night." Illianna said.

Feeling that there was no need to stay in that class, Sian stood up. "In that case, I'll let you teach them while I maintain my pots."

"You can keep sitting there." Illianna cast him a serious look. "You need this class, too."

"Me?!" Sian got surprised.

"Yeah, you." She replied. "With how rude you are with words, you also need to learn to behave better."

"If you use the fact that I'm rude with words as a reason for me to attend class, then you couldn't teach class either, since you're not much different from me."

"I may even be rude at times, but unlike you, I know when to behave myself."

"That's bullshit, I also know how to behave myself well when needed."

"All right, in that case, I'm going to ask you some questions and if you answer in a way that meets the established etiquette standards, you're free from the class, what do you think?"

With a confident look, Sian said. "Okay, you can ask."

Just as Illianna was about to begin, Emily stepped in. "No strawberry juice today?"

"No." Sian replied.

Seeing that Emily's little ears drooped in sadness, he continued with a smile. "This time it's avocado smoothie."

With her little ears standing up again, she asked. "Is it yummy?"

"Very yummy."

Handing out a glass to all, Sian said to Illianna. "Now you can start with your questions."

"Okay, I'll start with something simple." She looked at Sian. "If someone asked you, 'Would you like to come for a dinner party at my residence?', what would you answer?"

"That's a simple one." Nodding his head, Sian answered confidently. "Sure, you just need to say the time and place!"

"Unless you are talking to a friend, your manner of speaking is totally unethical." Illianna said in a disapproving tone. "If you respond to people that way, all excited, they'll think you're eager to eat. Nobles are not nice people, besides despising you, they can easily spread bad rumors about you."

"I can't help it, I would be really excited to try new foods. Besides, I don't care what they talk or think of me."

"That may even be true in your case, but you should not show it openly." Illianna said. "To nobles, the truth doesn't matter, appearance is everything, so whenever you're talking to nobles, you need to be careful with your words, so you don't give off a bad image. So you should answer, 'I would be honored to attend.'"

"That's why I don't like to associate with nobles." Sian said dismissively. "Always wanting to look pompous when in fact they are worse than pigs."

"But if you want to open a hotel, eventually you'll need to associate with these pigs." Illianna retorted.

"Urgh... Just thinking about it already gives me a headache." Giving up arguing, he said. "Alright, you won that one, let's keep going."

"So let's go to a hypothetical case, supposing the king of Hosnein ordered you to do something, what would you say?"

Standing up, Sian pointed his finger at Illianna's face. "'Who the hell do you think you are to give me orders?! Try saying it again to see if I don't rip your tongue out!'" Sitting down again, he added. "Or something like that."

"Wrong, you should answer, 'At your service, Your Majesty,' or even, 'As you wish, Your Majesty.'"

"That makes no sense, there's no reason for me to treat the king politely or be polite." With a puzzled expression, he continued. "He's the one who needs my help, not the other way around."

"Looks like it's going to be pretty hard to get common sense into your head." Illianna sighed. "You are right about him needing your help, but he is still the king who rules a nation, so you must show due respect when standing before him. But from your expression and the way you treated the king of Zupia, you don't seem to give importance to this..."

"I don't see why I should give a damn about it." Sian shrugged.

"That might have been the case before, but now you have an image to look after and also-" Illianna pointed at Ophilia. "I hear you're trying to change. One of the ways to achieve that change is for you to put on a good image and be respectful to your high society colleagues."

"Instead of an etiquette class, this looks more like a series of sermons for me." Conforming to the situation, Sian accepted her advice. "But that's okay, I'll keep that in mind."

"We seem to be making some progress." With a satisfied expression, Illianna nodded. "Then let's proceed to the next question and even though I already know the answer, I'll still continue just to confirm what I already knew. In the case that you accidentally bumped into another noble and got into a light discussion with him, what would you do?"

"I would kick him away..." With a brief pause, he continued. "But from the look on your face, that's not what I should do, is it?"

"Exactly, you shouldn't try to solve everything with your fists."

"Why? You mean I shouldn't fight back in case someone was looking for a fight with me?"

"It's not that, you should keep in mind that nobles live by appearance, so you should try to maintain a good posture in front of others. So you should use violence only in self-defense, or at least make it seem that way."

"Are you saying I should be two-faced? That sounds pretty exhausting, I prefer the way of living that Ayze taught me."

"Being two-faced is the essence of a nobleman. In fact, not only for them, this is also something essential in the business world." With a serious expression on her face, as if giving a warning, Illianna said. "Here's a word of advice, you shouldn't base yourself on Ayzeret, her way of life is completely different from yours."

"Besides, fighting violence with violence isn't the best solution." Ophillia added. "In the end, this may even create an even bigger problem, since fighting is prohibited within cities."

Speechless at Ophilia's comment, Sian and Illianna stared at her.

With a gentle expression, Sian said to Ophilia. "I like your kind side, but you mustn't be naive, rules are meaningless if people don't obey them. The nobles are the best example of that."

"But still, I believe there are better ways to resolve an argument without fighting." Ophilia insisted.

"Well, I understand what you mean, but still, I wouldn't just stand by and watch while I or anyone close to me would be harmed. For example, those 3, they were using a nobleman as cover to do whatever they wanted around town. If I hadn't fought back when they wanted to harm you, what do you think would have happened?"

"I understand that there are people who don't follow society's rules, but even if not everyone obeys them, they are not completely meaningless." With a brief pause, Ophilia continued. "Just imagine what it would be like if we lived in a society without laws, everything would be a huge mess."

"Well, I admit there's a bit of truth in what you said. When I visited a village of half-orcs, the only rule was, the strong rule and the weak obey." Sian put his hand on his chin. "Stopping to think about it, it really was a pretty chaotic place, even in a simple training, if someone died, that was that."

Seeing that Sian seemed to agree with her, Ophilia continued. "That's why rules serve as a form of moral deterrent so that we can live together in society."

"Hmm..." After thinking for a while, Sian replied. "I understand that rules can make the world work, but according to my life experience, they don't protect the people who need to be protected. So at the end of the day, you can only depend on yourself to protect yourself."

"On that point, I agree with you." Illianna told Sian. "But I also agree with what Ophilia said, especially the part that fighting violence with violence is not always the best solution."

"Where are you going with this?" Sian asked.

"There are always better ways to return an offense than with violence." Illianna answered.

"Now I got curious, what would those better ways be?"

"Schemes." She answered with a cunning smile. "We just need to use our heads the right way and we can always make the people who offended us pay every penny. This is why you should not expose your feelings of anger and hatred openly. You should always be assessing the situation with a calm and cool mind while waiting for the right moment.

This way, you can finish off your opponent in an oppressive way. If you're smart enough, they won't even understand what's going on, which wouldn't give them a chance to take revenge."

Sian looked at Illianna doubtfully. "Is this also part of the noble etiquette?"

"That's just another advice of mine." She replied.

'Hmm, that sounds suspicious, could it be that she's plotting something against me?' Sian thought.

Being stared at by Sian's voracious gaze, Illianna ran her hand over her golden hair and shook it. "Admiring my beauty?"

"I just get the impression that you pulled a fast one on me at some point..."

"I wonder if that really happened." Illianna showed a sneaky smile.

Before Sian could say anything, Ophilia said while pointing at Emily. "It seems like before class even starts, someone has already slept."

Turning to her, Emily was asleep with her head resting on Ophilia's chest.

"Well, I guess we can call it a day..."