Chapter 296: The wicked stepmother.

Emmah was not skipping classes because she wanted to. She was skipping them because she had to. Count Fairfax had urged Lady Jane Fairfax to sign up all the bastard children for classes in etiquette and manners, music and arts, languages, history, mathematics and politics, dancing, horsemanship and fencing.

He had even added extra classes like astronomy, falconry, martial arts and the embarrassing art of peacocking.

It was a class that nobles did not like admitting to taking as it was embarrassing and yet eighty percent of them did it anyway. In that class they learned things like; accidental talent showcase. One would casually play an instrument, recite a poem or solve a problem in a pretentious way that made people believe this person did not know they were impressive.

They learned the dramatic flourish which included mastering a cloak swish, hat tilt , glove snap even eyebrow raises during conversations.

They learned entrance techniques. How to stride into a room and own it or how to time an early arrival or early exist.

Strategic bragging was also taught for a noble ought to know how to tell the right exaggerate lie or how to brag humbly while pretending not to brag. An example was" "Oh, this dress? I just picked it out randomly and it cost only twenty gold. It was a good thing I made some money from the time I helped the crown princess so I could afford it."

They learned how to control their laughter, when to stop drinking, how to leave lasting impressions, wear luxurious fabrics without looking like they had millions in gold in the banks or raided the royal treasury.

The art of peacocking was necessary, but nobody wanted to admit that they learned it. It was the only in the empire in which students and teachers wore masks to hide their identities.

The Fairfax bastards were taking so many classes that they barely had time to eat or rest. They slept for only four hours a day. There was limited time to the debutante ball and the count wanted no embarrassments just as many other nobles in the empire.

lives depended on it. They had been paired up with members of the opposite sex. She was dancing with

tap a young woman named Carissa on the back three times. "Not

even more and she stepped on the foot of her partner. Nervous, she peeked at her mother Lady Aberdon. Thankfully, her mother

watching the dancers, eyes venomously glued to Emmah. Even though there were none other bastards

dancers. "I think my daughter Emmah could use a challenge. Perhaps we can change her dance partner to a finer gentleman!" With force, she

gravity. Lady Jane chose him because she was hopeful that he would crush Emmah’s feet and break

was that Emmah whose beauty was obvious along with her talent as a mage and friends in high places would make a match better than her daughter Reina who

She could already tell that Lady Fairfax was up to no good. The other Fairfax bastards, were relieved that they were not the ones in

her hands. "From

causing her to scream and hop up and down. She bumped into another young woman that was in the middle of a spin. As

the sidelines, pleased with the

daughter deliberately Lady Fairfax." Lady Aberdon commented slyly for she knew

one

four female Fairfax bastards, especially Emmah. "Word of

Fairfax whispered, "She would have to be

again. From the start" Lady Stella

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