“Okay, is everybody here? All right then—class is in session!”
Greta looked around the classroom and clapped her hands together.
“Why did I have to come?” Cecily murmured in a quiet voice. She had been forced to join this seminar as a student.
“Come on, Cecily. Let’s learn all we can from the madam,” Charlotte—the one who’d roped Cecily into coming—said, from the seat beside her.
This whole “Greta’s Bewitching Seminar” thing had been Charlotte’s idea, and it had been organized with surprising haste. The Snowflower Palace had many empty rooms, and so this one had been transformed to look exactly like an academy classroom, and made ready for Greta’s lesson.
From behind her red-framed glasses, Greta’s eyes twinkled.
“Class has just started and you’re already a talkative bunch. Might I need to discipline the pair of you?”
Greta struck the table with her teacher’s baton like a whip as she licked her bewitching lips.
“S-Sorry, beautiful Mrs. Greta!”
Greta had spoken as if the class was full of students, but in truth, the only ones present were Charlotte, Cecily, and for some reason, Rolo.
Well, I suppose Maria and the other maids are here too...
Charlotte was still the Fifth Princess. The maids were on hand to make sure this “bewitching seminar” wouldn’t have any negative influence on their princess.
While Cecily was looking back, Maria caught her eye and gave her a simple smile.
“Lady Cecily, don’t mind us. Think of us as academy superintendents who have come to check up on the class.”
“G-Got it...”
Academy superintendents? All thirty of you?
Greta gave a small cough.
“Now then, Miss Charlotte. Would you mind leading the morning salutation?”
“Of course! All rise! All—”
“Oh, no, no, no!”
Charlotte and Cecily had stood up for the morning salutation, but Greta was waggling her forefinger at them. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Miss Charlotte, this is not an academy class—this is the bewitching seminar! I know that the usual morning salutation includes everyone rising, giving a greeting, then sitting down, but for this class, I want you to inject some sensuality into each act, please!”
“You do? B-But is that really possible, beautiful Mrs. Greta?”
“Of course it is. This salutation, when performed in front of the one you like, contains limitless possibilities!”
Cecily had already gotten a sense of foreboding when she’d heard the name of the seminar, but it seemed the class was going to be far more draining than even she had anticipated.
Greta stepped down from the teacher’s podium and came to the pair’s desks. Using Cecily’s chair, she showed them how it was done.
“First up is rising from our seats. It’s done like this... Oops!”
As Greta began to stand up, she lost her balance.
Oh no!
Standing right next to the desk, Cecily reached out to grab her mother. She supported Greta in both arms to catch her fall.
“M-Mom, are you okay?!”
“And by skillfully acting as if you were about to fall over, you can get the one you’ve set your sights on to lend you a hand. That is the correct way of doing things,” Greta said, before sticking her tongue out with a cheeky grin.
It was all an act!
Cecily had been tricked into helping! Frustration welled up within her.
“To score extra points, you should say, ‘Yes, I’m quite all right,’ while giving a demure smile as you look up at the man who’s worrying about you.”
“I see!” Charlotte said, evidently impressed. She started scribbling in her notebook.
Cecily gave her mother a derisive look, and Greta apologized before moving away from the desk.
“Thank you, Cecily. I’m so happy you caught me,” Greta said. After this unexpectedly kind reply, she bowed her head. Faced with such a modest response, Cecily’s anger fizzled out.
“R-Right... If you say so.”
“Oh, you’ll forgive me? What a kind soul you are.”
As Greta raised her head, a lock of hair fell upon her right shoulder. Greta glanced down at it as she lithely brushed it back up over her ear.
“And this...is a bewitching way to greet someone, or to say thank you.”
“Fascinating!” Charlotte said, with a little applause. Cecily, on the other hand, was aghast at having been used once again.
“Finally—sitting back down.”
Greta then turned to face Cecily and Charlotte with a strange look in her eye. Terrified that her mother was about to say something unsuitable for Charlotte’s ears, Cecily let out a panicked shout.
“Mom!”
“While class is in session, please call me beautiful Mrs. Greta!”
“B-Beautiful Mrs. Greta—you do realize Lady Charlotte is only fourteen, don’t you? I don’t think you should be teaching her any more strange things!”
Charlotte was Cecily’s friend—her best friend. She couldn’t simply sit in silence while her mother fed her such unsavory information.
“Oh, Cecily, you’ve got things the wrong way round.”
Charlotte had spoken. She was waving her hand as if to suggest Cecily was being foolish.
“Th-The wrong way round?”
“Indeed. The books you love to read are picture books and fairy tales, are they not?”
Cecily hesitated, then nodded.
“I love them too, but every story ends with a single kiss between the lovers. Unlike you, I’ve read romance novels for adults—which are about three levels more grown-up than your stories.”
“Th-Three levels more grown-up?!”
“That’s why Maria and the others haven’t stepped in to halt the class. Surely that’s answer enough for you?”
Yes—despite appearances, Charlotte had deep knowledge of these things. Although she had no practical experience, the Fifth Princess’s knowledge far surpassed Cecily’s own!
“Hmm, well... I can see why Cecily’s concerned. I’ll leave the sitting down part for next time.”
“Aww...” Charlotte said with a pout. On the other hand, Cecily was relieved.
Greta returned to the teacher’s podium and started writing on the blackboard with white chalk.
With nothing else to do, Rolo clambered up Cecily’s back to perch upon her shoulder. His paws were on her shoulder to help him balance, but his claws stung a little. Cecily remembered she needed to trim them a little, or this would hurt more in the near future.