Chapter 41: Learning from Rebecca
After we enjoyed relaxing under the tree for an hour or two, we both were starting to feel sore and wanted to get up.
"Hey Becca?"
"What's up?"
"I've really enjoyed our time resting under the tree, but I'm ready to get going. Is there anything else that you want to do?"
"Not really, I had a lot of fun on our little date. Any other ideas I have can wait for another day."
I stood up and held out my hand to help Becca up.
"Alright, since we still have some time before dinner, I was thinking about starting our etiquette training. I need to start going out and meeting with other people soon.
I can't stay hidden in this mansion forever. I'm going to need to be all over the place to fulfill my role as Duke and also work with you to spread positive momentum for our social change."
Becca grabbed my hand and I helped her to stand as well.
"Sounds good to me. Where should we start…
Since we are outside, I can teach you some basic dances for a ball."
Dancing with Becca now was one thing that I wanted to avoid.
"I already know how to dance."
"Huh? How are you sure that the ballroom dance from your world is the same as the one from mine?"
I wouldn't back down that easily.
"I'm pretty confident that your ballroom dance will be the same as the dances from the past in my world. I will confirm with James about it later, but we don't have to waste time on it."
Becca was confused by my strong rejection, but she ended up letting it go since it wasn't the most important thing at the moment.
"Alright, then I think the best thing we can do right now is go to the library and grab some books to look at portraits of the important nobles that you will need to know. Is that good with you?"
I clapped my hands to show my enthusiasm.
"Yes, that sounds like a great plan. I need to know who could be potential allies and who could be potential enemies."
Luckily, I was able to change the subject quickly. I felt bad for shutting Becca's plan down like that, but I really wanted our first time dancing together to be in front of a room of people.
It would be a special moment for us and I wanted it to be memorable. I had read many web novels with ball scenes in them, so I was hyping it up in my mind.
The moment would definitely not be as memorable, if I was already used to slow dancing with Becca by the time we danced at a ball.
I'm pretty sure the ball will be similar to how I image, so only need to confirm with James that my slow dancing skills are adequate.
As we were walking to the library, I started peppering Becca with random questions I had about the Kingdom.
"What is the proper way to greet someone when you meet? Should I be bowing?"
"For nobles to nobles, no matter the rank difference, you do not need to bow. The only rule is that lower nobles cannot talk to a higher noble unless the higher noble introduces themselves and initiates the conversation."
"Wow, so if I didn't want to greet him first, your father could never speak to me?"
"Well it is different for in-laws now that we are married, but before we were married, yes, my father would not be able to speak to you unless you came to him yourself."
"That's pretty miserable. I might have to change that tradition as well eventually."
"You can write letters to any noble, so that's how lesser nobles communicate with nobles of high rank if they won't approach them in person."
"Oh, I see. It's only really for face to face meetings. Still, I'm sure people would feel appreciated if I made time out of my day to talk to them personally. Maybe we can even make a few allies."
"At the first meeting we attend let's get to know everyone we can. By the way, in a similar vein to your question about needing to bow for a greeting. The one exception is that everyone needs to kneel in front of the King when they see him and swear their loyalty. Once he accepts your swear, you can stand up."
"I see, it would have been bad if I met the King and didn't know that. Another question I had was about how many nobles reside inside of our Duchy?"
Becca mumbled for a minute and then held up 4 fingers. "Let me give you some proper background information. There are 4 Duchies in the Kingdom. One for each cardinal direction. We reside in the Western Duchy.
Our Duchy is the wealthiest because of the stamina potions we sell. For the main export of each: the south sells wine, the east sells wheat and other crops, and the north sells leather and furs.
Our Duchy is also considered to have the strongest combat strength by a small margin. This is mostly because the original Nicolas was the strongest man in the Kingdom, so he put the Duchy over the edge. However, in terms of size, the Eastern Duchy has the largest army. Now that your power is less than peak Nicolas, we need to be weary of the Eastern Duchy. If we entered a prolonged battle right now, we would probably loss."
"Ok, we can't let them know about my weakened state. On the bright side, it looks like our Duchy is the top in most things."
"Yes, our Duchy is considered around the Kingdom as the best Duchy to live in. We have many migrants each year and a bustling economy."
"That's great!"
"Now about the number of nobles in our Duchy.
There are 2 Marquesses, 6 Counts, 24 Viscounts, and 120 Barons for a total of 152 nobles under your jurisdiction. Each Marquess takes care of 3 Counts. Each Count takes care of 4 Viscounts. Each Viscount takes care of 5 Barons."
"Wow, that is a lot of people for me to remember. Is there any that are most likely to be our enemies once we start revealing our changes?"
Becca shrugged, "I can't say for sure. We should probably ask James about that since he has more intimate relationships with these nobles with his work."
In the time we were talking, we had reached the library.
"Alright, thanks for filling me in on all that. Now let's grab the books that we need."
Weekly Power Status
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