HowDeadTL: Chapter 1 Part 5

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The Reincarnated Thirty-Something Woman’s Otherworldly Reform Life

[Let's Vigorously Absorb Knowledge]

Translated by: ME

Treat me to a Ko-Fi to give me more motivation!!!

I had the character chart memorized in less than a day.

Yes, as you well know, Magnolia was originally Japanese.

A people who undergo an education where they not only master the fifty sounds of Hiragana and Katakana but also normally memorize and skillfully use thousands of Kanji characters.

A mere thirty letters (the alphabet-like script of this world had thirty characters). The numbers also seemed to be combinations of basically ten symbols... and besides, they were characters I'd seen somewhere before.

It was over in an instant.

However, the fact that they resemble the alphabet probably means they are phonetic characters. Unlike ideographic characters, one could say it's harder to read or understand them by feel. There are probably certain rules, but until I learn them, it's a matter of groping in the dark and rote memorization. Memorizing the vast number of words seems like it will be quite a task.

As for Countess Daphne's lessons, attending every single time would understandably be frowned upon by both the accompanying maids and by Magnolia's own reasoning, so I'm intruding about once every two or three times.

I'm dying to ask questions and make comments, but they would undoubtedly be unsuitable for a three-year-old, and first and foremost, I'm not officially her student. In other words, I'm in a position where I'm being allowed to audit the lessons for free.

It's also for Brian's sake that the lessons proceed properly, so here I must endure, endure... I think to myself.

Sitting in what was becoming my assigned seat next to my brother and attending the lessons no longer felt strange.

Compared to Brian, who lacked concentration, the maids and Countess Daphne were honestly impressed and full of praise for Magnolia, who attended lessons with an intensely focused expression.

...Brian, sensing the atmosphere around him, was honestly not pleased.

Perhaps influenced by our parents from the start, he didn't have very good feelings toward Magnolia. The boy, who always wanted to be the best, found the sister who frequently came and got praised by the teacher utterly irritating.

And then there was one other person. Rosa, Magnolia's one and only officially assigned maid, also felt a faint sense of crisis at the current situation.

To protect the girl who was neglected by her parents, she had to raise her inconspicuously, quietly, as if hiding.

She fundamentally lacked the power to truly save Magnolia.

If that was the case, then it was better to have her learn the means to live as safely as possible in her long life. That was what Rosa thought.

Until just a month and a half ago, Magnolia had been a very quiet, gentle child.

But one day, her personality changed completely.

On the surface, nothing had changed.

In fact, she had stopped being willful about things that were bad or impossible and had started showing personality that seemed considerate of us.

First, she completely stopped throwing tantrums about wanting to see our parents, and instead asked to be taught manners. Whereas she used to always sit quietly, she began showering us maids with questions, as if verifying something.

Whereas she never went outside unless prompted, she started frequently going into the garden on her own. Once she was in the hallway, she seemed to seize the opportunity to want to see various places.

Instead of avoiding the lower servants she passed like she used to, she would show them appreciation, actively speak to them with a smile, and once familiar, began showering them with questions different from the ones she asked us.

She asked for paper and something to write with, and pleaded to know if she could ever leave the mansion.

She said she wanted to have a tea party with her brother, with whom she had a bad relationship and was supposed to dislike. And when he said nasty things to her there, far from tearing up like she used to, she would just laugh it off.

I had warned the two maids who took turns assisting with Magnolia not to let her out of her room too much and not to answer unnecessary questions, but they looked at me suspiciously and asked for the reason.

They even expressed doubts about the contract term we were all told upon being hired by the master and the steward: 'Do not speak of this house's daughter to others.'

Perhaps because of that, once she sensed the subtle tension floating among the maids,

Magnolia stopped asking Rosa anything and started spending her time staring out the window, as if deep in thought.

Then, during Rosa's breaks or days off, she began taking walks in the garden or around the mansion, taking action to verify her doubts.

And now.

Somehow, she had gained Countess Daphne's permission to attend the same lessons as her brother, and was understanding them better than he was.

She would surely be found out soon.

I couldn't imagine what future awaited her. If things went badly... they might find some flaw and marry her off to some faraway place. If that happened, she would probably never see anyone from this mansion again.

Rosa was at a loss as to how to protect the poor Marquis's daughter.

***

Meanwhile, Magnolia, while copying the character chart she received from Countess Daphne or drawing dummy pictures, was mentally doing the assignments along with Brian, practicing writing the words she had learned, and strongly pretending to be 'a little girl mimicking her brother's studying,' all while greedily absorbing the knowledge the Countess provided.

She was impressed by the Countess's skill, who, while reinforcing Brian's still-shaky fundamentals, gradually and naturally expanded into history, grammar, arithmetic, poetry, literature, music history... and sometimes even the basics of logic and philosophical topics.

While this world was full of unknowns, for Magnolia, who seemed to have developed a voracious appetite for knowledge, unfamiliar literature, poetry, and philosophy were 'interesting.'

It might have been because she had nothing else to do, or an escape from her anxiety. Or perhaps due to the overwhelmingly lack of entertainment, the knowledge soaked into her head almost amusingly well.

Since the lectures were aimed at Brian, they were simple and easy to understand.

While her brother struggled with his studies, this approach allowed him to gradually polish the foundational skills for other subjects through a single topic.

In this world, where there was no set curriculum and the concepts of 'school' and 'basic knowledge' were vague, this method of teaching practical reading, writing, arithmetic, and manners, along with a broad, shallow knowledge base befitting a noble, might have been a quite realistic choice.

It was about helping someone develop an interest, preparing the groundwork for deeper knowledge, planting seeds in their heart.

That was probably the idea.

Countess Daphne was a good teacher.

According to the maids, she had been a court lady in the royal palace in her youth.

Normally, tutors for noble families often teach their own specialties.

Noblewomen, being ladies, often teach manners and etiquette, and if they have expertise in something like music or literature, they might include that as well.

Subjects like history and arithmetic are the domain of specialists like scholars or former teachers.

It was highly doubtful whether Brian had the ability or interest to warrant hiring specialists... but the Countess's ability to teach many subjects in an easy-to-understand, broken-down manner was impressive.

She seemed to have a faint idea that Magnolia was pretending to just be 'playing along.'

Saying things like, "Shall I give one to you too, young lady?", she would slip in more detailed grammar explanations or lists of recommended books among the basic assignment materials—not printouts, but wooden tablets.

...Magnolia would look away nonchalantly, feigning ignorance, but the Countess would quietly smile a knowing smile, as if to say, "It will come in handy someday." It was scary. But I was grateful.

Thinking that visiting too frequently would quickly give me away, I practiced writing simple compositions in Ascaldian script following Ascaldian grammar. Magnolia felt she had improved quite a bit.

Was it thanks to the auto-translation function allowing me to speak? Or my knowledge from Japan? Or were Magnolia's basic specs just high-performance? Once things were explained, I picked them up easily, as if it were natural.

At this rate, once my vocabulary increased, acquiring knowledge from books should be relatively easy.

***

If I were to continue living in this world (tentative) without waking up, I would have to learn with both possibilities in mind: living as a noble and living as a commoner.

My basic plan is to live as a commoner.

While a carefree, luxurious princess life is hard to give up, I can only imagine a future where I'm married off to some terrible place under these parents, and I don't think I'd be able to be carefree or luxurious.

Since I originally lived as a commoner in Japan, I thought I could manage if I learned the common sense of the commoners here.

...Although it's not hard to imagine that the household chores and labor I roughly know are outrageously heavy compared to 21st century Japan.

For Magnolia, who is not a born noble no matter how you look at it, I can't envision a future where I blend into noble society and live in the social world.

Compared to that, the choice to live as a commoner felt utterly natural.

I can only pray that, hopefully, it's not a dark ages like Earth's medieval period, but somewhat sanitary with developed medical practices.

The most troublesome scenario would be being thrown into noble society while still young, uneducated, and forgotten as I am now. I'd be far too powerless.

I want to learn the scope of the academic accomplishments Lila told me about as soon as possible.

...It's not like being studious will solve everything, but having the knowledge you're supposed to have means fewer weaknesses. It should also reduce the scope for being deceived about things.

I doubt they expect from a typical noble's child, especially a non-heir, the level of knowledge from my previous life. If I read several dozen books in each field, I should manage to patch together a superficial, last-minute knowledge enough to get by.

I have no intention of going to the Royal Academy unless forced.

My parents probably have no intention of sending me either.

...The last resort is the monastery.

In light novels, it's often where villainesses are confined, but in Earth's medieval/early modern periods, monasteries were facilities quite supportive of women and served as a safety net.

Of course, they were also places of confinement, but true confinement would be a separate building on the estate, a tower, or a prison.

Monasteries were places for learning etiquette, shelters for women fleeing trouble, places providing food, nursing homes. A "when in trouble, go to the monastery" kind of place—I wonder how it is in this world.

I think I heard before that in this world, coming 'from a monastery to marriage' is considered a flaw... Does the option of 'from a monastery to employment' not exist? Hmm.

(I'll try asking Lila about it next time.)

***

「Ooh...」

Daisy brought me to the library. It was such a long journey to get here!

Hearing it was a military family, I hadn't expected much, but surprisingly, there were many books.

The Gilmore family seemed to be quite an old lineage, with rather aged books, historical texts, materials related to the territory and its governance, literature and artistic works—perhaps favored by the heads of each era... and, fitting for a military family, a large collection of texts on military strategy.

The atmosphere was probably like an elementary or middle school library.

Light filtered through soft curtains, and gently drifting motes of dust.

The unique smell of old books, and this unfamiliar scent—was it parchment?

Somehow, it had a nostalgic, comforting smell.

Large, tall built-in bookshelves lined the walls without gaps.

A modestly placed desk at the end of the room, about forty or fifty tatami mats in size. Several freestanding bookshelves were placed back-to-back with just enough space to pass through, blocking the way as if threading through the space, lined with numerous books.

There seemed to be a desk and bookshelves on a mezzanine level reached by a spiral staircase. Looking up at the stairs, Magnolia let out a small breath.

(A spiral staircase in the library. So wonderful...!)

I didn't know what the libraries in typical noble mansions were like, but I was relieved to see a properly sufficient collection of books before me, not just a small shelf or a sparse one.

「They say you can freely borrow any books except those on the locked shelves.」

「Is it okay if I borrow them...?」

「I'm sure the young lady won't damage the books, so it's fine.」

Looking around slowly, I saw books bearing the name of the Royal Academy at the bottom ends of some shelves, seemingly used by someone before... Were they textbooks?

I pondered, pinching my chin with my finger.

Probably, it would be more efficient to go through these first, I thought, picking up a few volumes and placing them on the desk. There were no picture books or the like, so as a dummy, and also to learn the names of things, I also took one book that seemed like a gardening book.

「Daisy, you'll take some books too, right? Should we read a little here before going back?」

「No, we mustn't take too long. Once you've decided, let's return to your room.」

Daisy, implying that a dusty library was no place to linger long, picked up the books Magnolia had chosen.

「As expected, there are hardly any books here for a child to read... Oh my, isn't this difficult?」

Looking at the textbook, she glanced apologetically at Magnolia and furrowed her brows.

「It's the same as Brother's!」

I played the part of a little girl wanting to imitate. "Well then," I said with a bright smile.

「You recognized it was a study book! It's a textbook for the Royal Academy's lower division...」

She flipped through the pages to check. Then, saying "This one might be good too," she added a short story that Daisy had picked out.

「It's heavy, right? Let me help!」

I reached out my hands. After looking puzzled for a moment, she smiled as if tickled and let me carry one of the thinner books.

She had humored the little girl's desire to help. How kind, and how cute.

I couldn't help but smile contentedly.

Me's note:

The PoV switching around, so it's okay to be confused.

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