I Quit Being a Noble and Became a CommonerChapter 1

I QUIT BEING A NOBLE AND BECAME A COMMONER

C1

DON’T WANT TO DANCE

“You’re good at dancing.”

The noble person in front of me, who had said that one sentence to me was Fernand Empire’s Third Imperial Prince, His Highness Ludens.

“I am honoured by your compliment.”

I expressed my gratitude like a lady. Hah, do I have to dance with this guy next?

Even though I just don’t want to dance.

I probably won’t see you ever again and I didn’t even want to meet you.

Well, I should be pleased that this could be used as joke material afterwards.

I look at the floor as much as possible and only glance up. He has light blonde hair, emerald green eyes and dazzling prince smile. He wore a purple emblem permitted only by the royal family. He looks exactly like he does in the aristocrat almanac. Though, he was much cooler in person than in portrait.

I was fine with dancing with the Prime Minister’s son, Roberto, but why am I dancing with such high ranking people…? They also hide their position, it was bad of them to mix in with others. Maybe there were other things too. My instincts tells me that I shouldn’t get involved any further. I must show minimum discourtesy while dealing with them while ignoring everything else!

In 3 days, I won’t be a noble anymore.

The knowledge I have as a noble might be useful in the future, but noble acquaintances aren’t.

I Quit Being a Noble and Became a CommonerChapter 2

I QUIT BEING A NOBLE AND BECAME A COMMONER

C2

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PAST 01

I am Ayeshamaria Org du Thousand. I will be a 16 year old young lady in 3 days.

Why am I, who decided to stop being a noble at 16, participating in such a ball…? Let’s rewind back a little.

◊♦◊♦◊♦◊

I, a noble who is bad at her words, is probably scowled at by nobles.

I am an illegitimate child born from my father, Earl Thousand, and my mother, a mere commoner who was a seamstress.

My father was of course a noble and had a wife named Furore-sama. He also had three children. My older brother, Guerlain, was older than me by 10 years. My oldest sister, Catherine, was older than me by three and my second sister, Rosalie, one year.

So why was I born?

Because Furore-sama left Earl Thousand’s side to return to her family home with her three children so that my older brother, Guerlain, can improve his fencing before entering higher education.

Earl Thousand might be an outstanding person in the noble circles, but he was someone who needed to be supported by a woman, so he used my mother as substitute for Furore-sama.

My mother said that he didn’t contact her at all. “How did things become like this?” She would often say to herself and laugh.

My mother, who was an excellent seamstress, was often asked to make clothes for nobles for a little extra on the side. She would adjust clothes for them or add embroidery. My mother, who was skilled and not that bad looking, caught the eye of my father, who eventually cheated on his wife.

Just one mistake continued for life… That was me. My kind hearted father never robbed me of my life and I was born.

I wasn’t abandoned on the streets, even though only half of my blood was noble, because it was all for the sake of the Thousand House honour.

Furore-sama, who had high pride, couldn’t forgive my mother nor me. The gardener’s work cabin, located outside of the estate grounds, became our living place.

The gardener couple would occasionally help us out, but we basically lived with the two of us, my mother and me. My father would come to see how we were doing once a month, but he was no match for Furore-sama and would quickly return home.

We didn’t use any living expenses, but our lifestyle was somewhat inferior to the lives of the common people.

We had to draw water from the well ourselves and lower our heads to get food from the estate’s kitchen. We also had to lower our heads to get clothes and what we finally got were hand-me-downs. We wouldn’t be able to live if we had pride.

You would think that my mother could work as a seamstress, but she couldn’t carry the young me around while she worked.

My mother was strong and cheerful. She snuck away from the estate as soon as I was able to walk and worked secretly at a clothing shop, where she had acquaintances at. We couldn’t live luxuriously, but our lives became easier with cash on hand.

Don’t hurt the Thousand House honour. That was the only thing we were careful about. We couldn’t disregard this fact while in town. The clothes I wore were simple and out-of-fashion, but it had embroidery to show off luxury. That was affect for my mother and father and atonement to Furore-sama.

It was mostly just me and my mother. This was natural for me and I didn’t feel unhappy.

I was suddenly called to the estate when I turned 3. Even though I was only a half blood, I was obliged to obtain noble education.

I, who have never been anywhere except for the kitchen, met Furore-sama and my siblings for the first time in a place called the parlour, where there was a big fluffy carpet and carved furniture.

I Quit Being a Noble and Became a CommonerChapter 3

I QUIT BEING A NOBLE AND BECAME A COMMONER

C3

03: A LITTLE ABOUT THE PAST 02

I heard from my mother that my father had a wife and other children besides me. But after all, how could a 3 year old child understand this?

I, who couldn’t grasp the situation well, was taken to the estate alone. I stood firmly in the parlour.

Before my eyes was a beautiful woman with lightly wavy red hair. She stared at me coldly. This was when I knew that the woman in front of me was Furore-sama. The boy, with reddish brown hair, standing behind Furore-sama, as if she was protecting him, was also staring at me coldly… It was my older brother Guerlain. There were also two girls hiding in Furore-sama’s dress with the same reddish brown hair… The one with almond-shaped eyes was older sister Catherine and the one with droopy eyes was older sister Rosalie.

My father had light brown hair and my mother light blonde, so I had straight caramel hair.

I never had the opportunity to play with children my age, I could only watch them from afar so I must have looked at my siblings with great interest. Still, I had never seen anyone with red hair up close and my unsightly gaze quickly cause Furore-sama displeasure.

“Know your place.”

I thought that the beautiful red haired woman was coming towards me and my body jumped.

My cheeks were pressed with the folding fan.

My surprise won over my pain and I didn’t know right from left.

The folded fan dropped to the floor when I looked down.

The beautiful red haired woman left the parlour when I lifted my gaze from the floor.

My father picked me up off the floor, “The person who left just now was my wife Furore”. I didn’t blame the woman nor did I treat my cheeks.

My standing in the estate was decided at this point. My position was the bottommost.

A room at the end of the first floor became my bedroom. It was a guest room that wasn’t so big. The Noble Education, in other words, education given to me by a tutor was conducted in the study room. Other than that, I remained confined in my room. If I had time, I would return to the gardener’s work cabin where my mother was, but I could only remain in my room when I couldn’t return. My mother could only enter the kitchen so she didn’t know anything about what was happening.

The people who worked at the estate also looked down on me and didn’t help me. Well, my mother said it was normal to do things for oneself, so for a while, I didn’t realise that this wasn’t how a noble lady should be treated. They probably didn’t want to get involved. No one wanted Furore-sama to scowl at them.

I stayed at the estate in 3 week intervals under the guidance of the private tutor. During my stay, I would learn table manners and dancing on top of my education. I would suddenly be called back to the estate and quickly returned to my small room. I would study for 3 days a week for half the day in the mornings when I didn’t stay in the estate. My life continued like this.

Did your brothers and sisters take the same education as you?

Sometimes I would learn with them and sometimes I wouldn’t.

Still, they were older than me so they could do everything. My siblings wouldn’t teach me even if I was struggling and I barely made the tutor angry. When they were younger, they would gang up and bully me. When they got older, they would ignore me or treat me like a servant.

I had no choice but to obey my tutor’s instructions. Only the tutor would come into the estate to talk to me. She would answer my questions.

My mother would often tell me to thank my father, who gave me the opportunity to learn Noble Education.

Yes, yeah. That’s right, commoners didn’t have this opportunity.

My mother taught me how to live as a commoner.

That’s why I became who I am today.

I Quit Being a Noble and Became a CommonerChapter 4

I QUIT BEING A NOBLE AND BECAME A COMMONER

C4

04: A LITTLE ABOUT THE PAST 03

“Ayeshamaria.”

A shrivelled voice said as they struck the back of my hands with a thin stick.

My tutor, Ms. Dolcie, looked at me with a scary face.

The young me couldn’t drink tea without making a sound. Meals were taken in the study room under Ms. Dolcie’s supervision until my table manners were perfected.

Ms. Dolcie…… As a tutor of the Thousand House, she was an honest person who did her job properly.

She did her job properly so she was strict even towards children, but I felt like she was especially strict towards me.

Her dark brown hair was tied up in a single ponytail. She wore a high quality but plain long skirt. She felt older than my mother and a little older than Furore-sama.

She would overlook if someone made a mistake in front of her three times, any more than that and you would get hit with a stick somewhere on your body. I couldn’t do something right after being hit, can I? It’s impossible to oppose her.

I heard from a maid that there was a rumour about a young lady from a wealthy Baron family had ruined Ms. Dolcie. Well, it has nothing to do with me though.

I studied Noble Education in the study room of the place I called the estate. It wasn’t filled with more things than needed, but it was a big room.

The place where I learnt had 4 simple desks pushed together. I practiced tea time mannerism on a sofa with carved legs and a table… I learnt things like how to make delicious tea. In a vacant space, I learnt to dance on the wood floor.

It was a place to study, but I had my meals in here whenever I was at the estate until I was around 8 years old. My brother and sisters didn’t come to this room when I turned 5.

When I thought about it now, I could have my meals relaxingly if Ms. Dolcie wasn’t there to rebuke me. After the maid brought the meal to the study room on a cart, I would serve myself, arrange the cutlery and deepen my knowledge about food and taste. I felt that the food was delicious. It didn’t have anything to do with making nice conversations or sitting with people.

If the teacher concluded that I had perfect table manner, then I would have to eat meals with my family (?!) in the dining hall, and the food would be less delicious.

It didn’t matter to me even if a first-class chef cooked the food with high quality and carefully prepared ingredients.

The most delicious meal was one cooked by my mother. No matter what, this wouldn’t change.

I learnt letters at first in my classroom lectures and then I would transcribe words.

It became a little less scary to live in the estate by myself after I was able to read. I borrowed picture books from the estate’s extravagant library. It was very scary to suddenly have to sleep by yourself at the age of three, so I pulled the covers over my head and sang. It didn’t matter that the bed was clean and fluffy. I always slept with my mother at that time and I longed for her so much that I wanted to cry. I thought that they would get angry at me if I cried so I didn’t. I honestly think that the trauma from this time caused me to become unable to show my emotions.

I had less time to learn than my siblings, and I was only able to memorise one of the noble almanac.

The noble almanac was like a dictionary, containing all the facts about the nobles of this Kingdom. There was about 1000 pages. It didn’t just contain their name, but also their hair and eye colour, special features and achievements. Portraits were drawn for the Royal family. There was a full 15 pages about the royal family tree. Relatives of major houses were also listed.

Incidentally, I was also listed in the almanac. It listed my name, my hair and eye colour. It was only one line. I was angry that my mother’s name wasn’t listed.

A new almanac was published every year and whenever I had free time, Ms. Dolcie would ask me many questions related to the almanac. I read it so much that it could also be said to be my favourite book. Of course, if I couldn’t answer it then I would get the stick.

I wondered why Ms. Dolcie made me read all of this.

Another thing I studied a lot was dance. It was completely different from the dancing commoners did.

First, it was bad if the dance posture wasn’t correct. I wonder how many hours I stood with a book on top of my head? My sisters were mean and I dropped my book which caused Ms. Dolcie to hit me with the stick.

I wore my sister’s hand-me-down dresses and high heels and practiced the steps while smiling.

I didn’t think that I would be invited to any balls, but I couldn’t go against Ms. Dolcie. As soon as a new dance step became popular, she would make me practice it until I mastered it. Well, I didn’t hate dancing so I remembered the steps. I also mastered how to fake smile. I thought that the way I carried myself was too light.

I was the one who mostly brewed tea at the study room, this also went well. I did so well that I could probably work as a young lady maid.

I hardly drank such luxury items like tea when I lived with my mother. But sometimes I would receive low quality tea, which I take home and brew.

What was noble education useful for?

They learn… The responsibility of a noble. Manage their territories and become a model for the people. Serve your Kingdom. I can’t believe I was involved in such a thing. Marriage? I don’t think I would want that.

I didn’t have any noble pride in me at all. I was only a noble half-blood, so my family, who are noble, looked down on me. The people, who worked at the estate, also shunned me, so there was no way I would be raised with pride. I, who was mismatched, because I was raised as a commoner and could behave like a noble.

I couldn’t find the meaning to being a noble because I loved my commoner mother.