The Wolf Guardians

Chapter 5: Lady Minerva’s Lesson

Rosella woke up early in the morning, as usual. She cleaned herself and sat in the garden. The sun had started to shine. She was looking at the beautiful flowers closely. Birds were chirping. There was a freshness in the air.

“Good morning, Lady Rosella! You are awake so early again!”, she heard Myra’s voice. Rosella turned back to face her. Myra was holding a piece of paper. Her gesture was polite.

“Good morning, Myra. I am habituated to wake up early.”, she replied politely. Myra smiled at her.

“Last night Lady Minerva gave me a schedule for your lessons, my lady.”, she spoke again, giving her the piece of paper she was holding on to.

Since the day Rosella arrived in the western castle, the alpha king asked her to join lady Minerva’s lesson on history, art, and mannerism. On her first day in the class, she got to know that lady Flora and lady Jane also were in the same class along with princess Grace and some other ladies.

To Rosella, lady Jane also was as kind as lady Flora, but lady Flora was more soft-spoken. She became close with both of them. She got to know gradually that everyone in the castle adored lady Flora for her kindness and her noble background. As she was the only child of her father, after her father’s death, Lord Aaron was chosen as the new beta as he also had beta blood in his veins.

Apart from Jane and Flora, lady Helen, daughter of the alpha from Stone city, and lady Isabel, daughter of the alpha of the city of Broek, also came to the lessons. Both of them are noble-born. They also seemed to be nice to Rosella.

Flora and Jane both became her closest friends in a few days. They stopped using formalities among each other. But she always felt Jane was more trustworthy than Flora. Also, she always felt more connected with Jane than Flora.

Rosella read that paper carefully that Myra gave her. Lady Minerva always sent the lesson plan before the class via Myra. According to the schedule, she had to be in the southern hall of the castle by the ninth hour of the day and they would be having lessons on public speaking and dance.

“I will prepare a bath for you, my lady”, Myra said again. Rosella moved her head upward to look towards her and then nodded.

 Rosella went to her room to keep the paper and then prepare her clothes for her bath. She walked towards the garden to go to the bathroom. She saw Myra had already prepared everything.

“Myra, you may leave now. I will do everything myself.”, Rosella said to her. Myra nodded.

After taking a bath, she went back to her room. She started to dry her hair suddenly she heard footsteps at the door. She turned her head towards the door. She saw Myra was standing.

“My lady!”, she greeted her politely then started to walk towards her.

“Let me help you, my lady”, she requested again. Rosella nodded. Myra started to dry her hair. Rosella was still wearing her bathrobe.

“Thank you, Myra.”, Rosella said, gently closing her eyes.

Myra was done drying her hair after almost half an hour. Rosella stood up to wear a sea-green gown. She asked Myra to make a bun with her hair. She wore a pair of white gloves, which covered her hand until her elbow. Myra looked at her curiously as she never had seen any lady in this castle wearing gloves while they went for the lessons.

Rosella again hid the lotus pendant inside her cloth so that one could only see the golden wheat chain. Rosella heard a knock at her door. She did not have to ask who was there. Lady Flora!

“Good morning, Ro! Would you like to join me for the breakfast?”, she asked Rosella softly. Rosella looked towards Flora. She was wearing a dark red gown with matching ornaments and a pair of beautiful bracelets. Her hair was tied up into a bun. She looked presentable, as always.

“Good morning, Flora. I would love to”, Rosella responded. They both head towards the small diner of the North wing for breakfast and then went to the southern halls.

The lessons always took place in the southern hall of the castle. The hall was smaller, apparently, regarding the hall, Rosella saw when she first arrived. The floor was carpeted in the middle of the hall. One chandelier was hanging from the ceiling with a few more candle stands on the wall to light the hall. A few chairs were arranged at one portion of that hall, whereas a huge desk was placed in front of the chairs.

Rosella saw all three girls were sitting on the chair in the second row, as always. They were all dolled up. The huge special wooden chair was still empty, which was preserved specially for Princess Grace.

She walked towards the chairs and looked around the hall. Jane was sitting in the middle, as always, beside Isabella. Helen was sitting next to hers. Rosella gave them a warm smile so as Flora.

“Good morning!”, she wished them while sitting beside Jane. Flora took her usual place after Rosella. She also greeted them with her warm smile.

Meanwhile, Lady Minerva appeared in the room. She walked to the table and sat on the chair behind that.

“Good Morning, Lady Minerva”, three of them said politely in chorus.

“Good morning, Ladies”, Minerva greeted them back.

“Good morning, my lady”, Rosella said softly.

“Good morning, little one.”, Minerva said warmly.

When she finished talking, princess Grace walked into the hall. She was also dolled up. Rosella always felt that she was always overly dressed. She stepped with pride. She sat on her special chair, ignoring others.

“Good morning, Lady Grace. I remember mentioning the time as the ninth hour to you. Being in time is one of the most important parts of one’s etiquette.”, Lady Minerva said emotionlessly.

“I am not just a lady, Minerva. I am the princess of the western, southern, and eastern werewolf empire as my cousin is the king of this empire. You need to learn how to address a princess first.” Grace replied. Her gesture was arrogant.

“And I am noble born, unlike you, Minerva. Watch before you speak to me.”, she added again.

Rosella noticed that Grace always wanted to insult others without any reason. Minerva was kind with a motherly aura. Lady Minerva looked sad with their response.

“Very well. Today we are going to practice public speaking again. I already wrote a speech. Any of you would like to volunteer, if I may ask.”, She said. There was a little sadness in her tone.

“I am the princess here. Let me show others how it is done.”, Grace responded arrogantly, walking towards the table. She took the paper from Minerva and read it out loud, standing in front of them.

Rosella could see so many faults in her gesture and way of speaking. Lady Minerva stood up and walked behind the last row of chairs. She was silent during the speech.

Once she was done, Grace looked at Minerva with pride, with a crooked smile.

“Princess Grace, your gesture was inappropriate. Your tone was arrogant. That was not a way a princess is expected to talk in public.”, Lady Minerva mentioned in a calm voice. Grace’s face changed in a second. She looked unhappy to Rosella. Should not she take the criticisms seriously to improve herself?

“Let us have another volunteer to see your improvements”, Lady Minerva said again. Flora stood up and took Grace’s place with pride and a smile on her face. Though she read well, she also did some mistakes.

After her speech, she looked at lady Minerva with a soft smile. Lady Minerva looked happy with her progress. She always liked this charming young lady who was kind-hearted as well.

“My dear Flora! I can see you have improved a lot at such a young age. But you need to work on your postures and facial gestures. A little more practice will make you perfect.”, lady Minerva said with a warm smile.

“Lady Rosella, would you like to read the speech for us?”, she said politely. Rosella nodded once.

She stood up and went to the place where Flora was standing. She read the speech once in her mind.

“I hope everyone can read it this class.”, Grace scoffed, indicating her. Though it had only been a few days, Rosella had already understood Grace’s nature to underestimate others, and hence, she chose to ignore her.

She put the paper aside on the table. Then she faced others in the class and started to give her speech. Lady Minerva noticed she improvised a few lines, but she indeed chose appropriate words. Her gesture was neither too soft nor full of pride. Her way of delivering was elegant. She looked into everyone’s eyes during her speech. She did it perfectly, just like a real princess. In the end, she humbly thanked everyone for listening to her speech with a smile.