Lady’s Etiquette

Irina frowned, listening to Filine lecture her with a long list of moral teachings.

Although Filine was both a maid and a guardian to Irina, the latter often felt that Filine took on the role of guardian more often than not.

After a long time, once Filine finished speaking, Irina stepped forward, grabbed Filine's hand, and said, "Filine, Filine, I'd like to learn about clothes. Can you explain it to me slowly?"

"Alright…"

As Filine agreed, she tried to pull her hand away, only to find that Irina was holding it too tightly to let go. Filine gave her a puzzled glance.

'Is she being affectionate? Well, the princess is still quite young and spoiled, so it's not strange that she'd want to be coddled.'

Filine didn't think much of it and sat down on the sofa with Irina, casually explaining the matter of clothes.

The explanation wasn't very long. After about two minutes, Filine had finished speaking and excused herself, saying she needed to prepare dinner, pulling her hand from Irina's.

During this time, Irina successfully gained 20 experience points.

Back in her room, Irina sat on her bed, a look of excitement crossing her face as she realized she was finally going to become an apprentice.

She called up the transcendent panel, inputting the experience points, immediately reaching 100/100. A line of text appeared next to her.

Advancement Ritual: Read a 1000-character text work within one day and memorize it perfectly.

Irina already knew about this advancement ritual, so she quickly skimmed past it and looked at the rest of the panel. However, she didn't see any additional information, and a puzzled expression appeared on her face.

She continued to input the remaining 10 experience points, but there was no reaction, and the experience points didn't decrease.

"Does this mean that even with this golden finger, I still have to complete the advancement ritual? Is the purpose of this golden finger just to exempt me from training? Is that all?"

Irina muttered to herself, feeling a bit discouraged.

Although she had thought her memory would be better than the original owner's, could it really be that easy to read a 1000-character text and memorize it perfectly within 24 hours?

Moreover, she felt that the timing for the ritual would start from the moment she began reading a new work—already familiar works wouldn't count.

Furthermore, the text for the ritual had to be a "work," meaning that simply memorizing repetitive things like "one-two, one-two" would probably be useless, as they couldn't be considered works.

"Well, let's try it anyway."

Irina clenched her fists to motivate herself, then went to her desk and rummaged through the books. Based on her vague memories, she pulled out the book at the back.

The New History of the Kingdom, published on August 8, 205 of the Scarlet Moon Calendar.

This was a new book from last month, detailing the situation of the continent's countries.

Irina opened it and took a look, gaining a better understanding of the place called the Scarlet Moon Continent.

Aside from the Kingdom of Night, there was also the Polar Kingdom in the north, and in the south and west, seven small nations had formed a Free Federation. The east used to be three small countries, but after the Kingdom of Angus annexed the other two, the Mingyue Kingdom was established…

Irina didn't forget her goal and didn't read too much. She calculated that it had about a thousand characters, then began reading it seriously.

Night fell.

Along the way, Irina only had a hearty dinner made by Filine, then hurried back to continue memorizing the text. Simply memorizing it was no problem, but memorizing it backward proved much more difficult, and she found it hard to keep going.

By the time night fell and she began to feel drowsy, Irina had to go to bed. The next morning, on September 16, she got up and realized she had already forgotten most of what she had memorized the previous day.

"No wonder Becky cries when talking about the apprentice advancement ritual… I want to cry too!"

Irina clenched her little fists in frustration, got up to continue memorizing, taking breaks for breakfast and lunch. By the afternoon, she had to admit defeat.

She threw The New History of the Kingdom back into the bookshelf and tried to find another unfamiliar work. Just then, Filine came in.

"Princess, it's time to practice etiquette," Filine knocked on the door and entered directly.

Irina had no choice but to stop what she was doing.

She looked up and saw Filine frowning at her. Was there something wrong with her?

Irina glanced at the full-length mirror beside her, only to see the young girl in the mirror had taken off her headband, and her silver-white hair cascaded down, with two strands naturally falling from both sides to just above her chest.

Moreover, the right strap of her camisole had somehow slipped down, making her delicate pink shoulder appear even more alluring.

"Princess, you still can't manage yourself properly," Filine sighed, walked over to adjust Irina's strap, touched up her makeup, fixed her hair, and then tied it into twin tails.

Irina raised her hand and grabbed her twin tails, shyly saying, "I'm already grown up… I shouldn't have twin tails, right?"

"Once it's done, don't mess with it. If you want to change your hairstyle, do it tomorrow," Filine said without haste, then added, "Alright, now show me a proper lady's curtsy."

A curtsy?

What was that?

Irina felt a moment of confusion but quickly recovered and said, "Filine, show me a proper curtsy first. I need to check if you're going to embarrass our Mingyue Kingdom."

Filine gave Irina a deep look, making her feel a bit guilty. However, Filine didn't refuse and performed the curtsy.

Seeing this, Irina understood and immediately raised her hands, tugging at the sides of her skirt, lifting it slightly. Her right foot moved behind the left foot, with her toes pointing down as she bent slightly.

"Wrong!"

Just as Irina finished her movement, she heard Filine's serious voice.

"Where did I go wrong?" Irina asked softly.

"First, your grip on the skirt is incorrect. It won't create the elegant arc of the skirt. Second, once you pull the skirt open, you need to keep the height fixed and not pull it up further. Third, your right foot's toes are exposed behind the left heel, which is rude. Fourth, your squat is too shallow. Fifth…"

As Filine listed everything, Irina's mouth dropped open. Wasn't this just a simple greeting curtsy? Were there so many requirements?

What about all the other etiquettes? And even dancing?

Irina couldn't help but feel that a terrifying future awaited her.

"You have to do this… like this…"

Filine approached Irina, grabbing her hand, guiding her to hold the skirt, positioning her hands in the right places, and adjusting her feet…

Faced with all this, Irina couldn't help but sigh inwardly. At that moment, she fully agreed with Becky's words: people of their status were like dolls.