It took me one month to convince Master Rod to allow me to train again with the bow, even if I make a whole recovery with the help of my healing spell after seven days of continuous use at night, he didn’t know that so he just assume I needed more time.

  The only training that I was allow to make was running, practice my posture and breathing with the bow, and train with my healthy hand using my dagger.

  On the bright side of the situation, I obtain my dagger proficiency skill after training only with that weapon for a lot of hours the past month, even if I wasn’t talented with this kind of weapon, after so much training it was natural to make some progress.

  After my match with Bermouth, he appears to have some bad blood against me, everyone makes fun of him when they see him approaching, and when they confront him in a match they make sarcastic comments, what leads to Bermouth doing a lot of mistakes and losing all the time.

  Every time he crosses paths with me, I can see in his eyes some rancor, only goddess Hecate knows what he would do if he ever have the opportunity.

  I’m walking towards the house and when I come near the garden I start to remember the simple times that was when I was a baby and Leonore used to bring me here to pass the time, I look at the sky and recall how beautiful it was for me to see the sky again after so much time. I shouldn’t take for granted the opportunity of this new life and make sure to protect it.

  “Ah!” Lost in my thoughts I’m taken by surprise when a little boy bumps with me. I see how he lost his footing and ends up in the ground.

  “Are you all right?” I try to hold his hand and help him get on his feet.

  “No pwase (No, please)” He looks like he’s about to cry when he sees my face.

  I stop and look into his eyes, confused about the situation.

  “Your grace! I finally found you.” I look up and see Aurora walking rapidly and helping the kid get on her feet.

  “Good afternoon Miss Aurora.” I greet the maid when she gets close enough.

  “Ah… yes, good afternoon.” I’m not surprise by the lack of enthusiasm, I don’t expect to obtain it at this point, and after so many years everyone in the house has never stopped speaking badly about me.

  “If you excuse me.” I try to pass by their side, the way she came running for the little kid tells me that he must be one of the younger children of Lady Audrey, so that means he’s my brother, and if he’s terrified when he sees me I don’t want to imagine what kind of stuff they are telling him about me.

  “She ush me! (She push me)” Before I can take a few steps the little boy accuse me and starts crying.

  “Is that true Lady Dalia?” Aurora starts to look me with frost in her blue eyes.

  “It is not.” I respond her and continue my path.

  “You cannot leave in this situation!” She tries to grab me by my left elbow in an effort to stop me, but I move out of the way, it still surprises me how much everyone has changed along the years, at first I believed she was like Leonore, a pure and beautiful woman, but it only took a few years for her mask to fall, besides I always pay attention to the conversations of the servants, they ignore my existence all the time and don’t stop their conversation when I’m near them, that’s the way I discover the person who start spreading awful comments about me and it’s her, because of her everyone else calls me a cursed child.

  “Come here my little baby.” She embrace the kid in her arms and starts singing him a lullaby to calm his cries.

  I ignore them and continue, the more time I spend in this house the worse it becomes in my eyes. I wonder if every noble house it’s like this, even in my past life was the same.

  When I arrive at my room I don’t waste any time and go for a quick shower, followed by a hot meal alone, and walk to the library of the house where I’m supposed to take a few academic classes, but before I can come inside I’m stop by a servant who ask me to follow her.

  “Where do I need to go?” I try to pry for information.

  “I was given orders to not disclose any details to my Lady, please follow me.”

  She guide me through the house until we reach a pair of doors, outside the room Leonore is waiting for us.

  “Hello my Lady.” Leonore says with a beautiful smile decorating her face.

  “Leonore, what’s happening? I was supposed to be taking some academic lessons, are they finally leaving me by myself?”

  I have always considered the academic lessons a waste of time for me, my training takes a higher preference, after all the knowledge they offer me is not different to the one I was taught in my last life.

  “That’s not it, today we are starting something important for your development.” She tells me before opening the pair of doors and in the inside I can see other children around my age.

  “What is this?” I’m confused because they appear to be close to my age and aren’t part of the family.

  “Those children are from some vassals families we have under our care near the territory my Lady.” Leonore explains to me with patience.

  “And why does the family bring them here?”

  “All of them are going to study with you the art of dancing.” Leonore says with excitement in her voice.

  “Dancing?” I cannot believe it, I would prefer to continue with another match that actually bring me some benefit.

  “Yes, my lady, please don’t put that face, it’s time for you to learn it.”

  “I could put my time with more valuable things.”

  “This was an order from the Viscount my Lady.” Leonore explains.

  “…”

  “A proper lady should know how to dance, that’s what my mother used to say all the time.”

  In my past life I never took dancing lessons, my family didn’t want me to be present in any festivity or that I socialize with other nobles, the only thing they do for me was allow me to attend the magic academy of the kingdom and that was only because it became common knowledge among the citizens information about my talent in magic.

  I don’t know what tell about me that I’m not interested in socialize with the rest of the nobles.

  I enter the hall and start to notice how some girls don’t stop staring at me.

  “Do you know who is she?”

  “Yes, she’s the daughter of the Viscount.”

  “The cursed child?”

  “Don’t talk like that, we are in her house, what happen if she happens to hear you?”

  “You don’t need to worry too much, I hear from the servants that she doesn’t wield any power inside the house, the servants don’t respect her.”

  While I’m walking with Leonore by my side, I happen to hear two girls talking like they are something grandiose criticizing me, I can only thing that children are the reflection of the adult that raise them.

  “You don’t need to pay attention to those comments my Lady.” Leonore tries to comfort me.

  “I don’t, you shouldn’t either Leonore, please tell me the truth, the Viscount really took care of all of this for my benefit?” I know that cannot be truth or at least not the full information.

  “Well… actually you were permitted to be here with your brothers.” She avoids my eyes and that tells me how she must have to beg they include me in the lessons too.

  We continue walking until we are in front of an old woman who looks strict, when the doors open again and I can see Liam and Mateo walking inside the room, they look tired for today’s training, the same way as me, only with better clothes than my own.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “How handsome.”

  “Such pretty boys.”

  “Say, why is it that they don’t look like her sister?”

  The children don’t make any sense, we have the same hair color and our eyes are the same too, the only thing that differentiate us at simple sight it’s our clothes and the fact that I’m the only girl in the family.

  “Silence! We are here to learn a form of art! Every single one of you should be grateful to the Viscount.”

  The hall quiets down and she starts her lessons.

  “The court dances need to be elegant, refined and all of you are require to make it graceful, with a good posture and musical awareness.” She says it before start walking and looking from top to bottom to each of us. “You need to understand that the moves start from a slow, stately processions to lively, energetic steps.”

  “And what do we do miss?” A little girl asks the old woman while trying to flatter her and giving some glances to Liam and Mateo, but sadly for her, they seem to be talking with other boys.

  “Well, finally someone well educated.” The old woman fall for it really easy. “What is your name?”

  “You flattered me Miss, I am Veronica Olebert” The little girl continues with her act, and I think that I’ve heard that name before, but I cannot recall where it was or in which circumstances.

  “First of all, you need to understand the first step that it’s the reverence, we use it in a form of curtsey to the other person.” She says looking at the little girl. “Form a line side by side so we can start.”

  All of the children form the line, with enough space to move and practice.

  “Remember to always do this movement at the start and at the end of the dance, if you don’t then it’s disrespectful to the other person.” She positions herself in the center of the room. “I will demonstrate, please follow suit and don’t miss anything, the girls put her left foot behind and the boys the right one.” She lowers her body while keeping an upright posture.

  I know that the faster I learn the sooner I’m out of this. Everyone follows her lead including me, trying to imitate her to the best of my capabilities, she comes closer and with every single one of us, she corrects the mistakes that we are making, when she comes to me she only sees me and puts her hand on my back, to indicate that I’m bending.

  I do the movement again and this time I activate my balance skill together with my body coordination skill, I notice some change in my movements and she gives a small smile. Who would know that my skills can help me even in this kind of situations.

  It’s nice to have someone outside the house teaching this lesson, I know that if she reside here she would have a preconceive image of me based on rumors.

  “We’ll continue with the walking steps, this part it’s the most simple, you just need to have in mind to look elegant, I demonstrate and you follow.” The woman says and give us her back.

  She start with a smooth single step forward, she follows with a double step and finalize with an elegant walk.

  “What you just saw was the walking steps, please make your best effort and try it.”

  We start the movements and this time I don’t forget to maintain my skills active, which allows me to follow through it without much difficulty.

  After she makes sure that all the children didn’t have any problems she continues.

  “Remember that in the next step you need to move in pairs and always maintaining eye contact with your partner, Lady Dalia Davenport, please come next to me to make an example.” The woman selects me and I need to move next to her.

  “Look at her clothes, how can she be the daughter of the Viscount?”

  “The rumors were true, the house of the Viscount don’t have any money, just look at her shoes.”

  “Do you think that the Viscount hits her? She has a lot of bruises.”

  “I think she’s the only one who is treated that way, Lord Liam and Lord Mateo look entirely different.”

  The girls start whispering now that they know who I am, and I cannot do anything about it, my dresses are indeed in a really bad state after being use for my training, I’m just surprise that the girls refrain making that kind of comments for so long.

  “Silence! You should never forget your place, you are talking about the daughter of the Viscount, one wrong word and it’s your end.” The teacher appears to lose her temper and the atmosphere in the room change. “For a moment I thought that the girls in this place would be well behaved and educated.” She gives a glare to the girls who only know how to gossip.

  I search for Leonore with my eyes until I find her, she gives me a small smile to reassure me, I’m surprised how it’s easier to train or to be in a match against someone older than me than having social interactions with other nobles.

  “I don’t care the problems you have in your personal life, the house Davenport paid me to teach you how to dance, not to be nanny of a bunch of spoil kids.”

  Nobody speaks back at her and when I see the girls, the majority of them have the head down.

  “Let’s continue, Lady Dalia, please come, and try to copy my movements.” She tells me before starting a slow dance with double steps moving forward and she doesn’t deviated her eyes from mine. I activate my enhance vision skill and my detailed analysis skill, together with my body coordination and balance skills, maintaining the four skills active at the same time start to give me a headache but I persist, when I think I get everything, I start dancing just like her.

  This feeling surprise me, I’m pushing my limits with my skills and it’s for a dance, who would know that even with dancing lessons you can make progress in other your skills.

  [New skill acquired]

  [Shadow movements Lv1]

  The notification takes me by surprise and before it vanishes like I normally do, since the skills that I’ve been unlocking are not that rare or difficult to understand just from reading the name of the skill, I command my status window to open it, and I’m surprise by what I read.

  [Shadow movement allows you to memorize and copy the motion from another entity.]

  This it’s so good that a laugh scape from my mouth, I’ve never heard of this skill before, how lucky I must be to unlocked it.

  The teacher seems surprise by my enthusiasm and joy after the way the rest of the girls treat me.

  “A true dancer always emerges, it doesn’t matter the circumstances or difficulties that shows in her way.” She says it with a smile on her lips.

  At the corner of my eye I can see the girl that try to win the teacher, and she looks upset by my performance, I can see the way she clench her fists.

  “Excellent Lady Dalia, what we just dance was the next part, it’s called the pavane, let’s see if you can continue and make the rest of the movements the same way.”

  She does her movements with a lot of agility, she performs five quick steps followed by a dramatic jump, and she adds her own flourishes in every part of her dance.

  “Try it Miss Dalia.” She repeats the movements and I don’t miss anything with my skills still active and adding my new skill of shadow movements. “This it’s the Galliard, a little more difficult because every dancer need to add their own energy and uniqueness.”

  Everyone in the room tries to do it but needless to say, they aren’t capable to do it in their first try like me, and it took them a lot of time.

  “For the next part we need everyone involve in the dance, it’s a chain dance where you should form a circle, two steps to the left, another two to the right for the first part and for the next one it’s one step in each direction, try to put your own unique style to the movements, remember that it’s an art in which you need to express your emotions.”

  The girls form a circle and I joined them and they try to avoid eye contact with me when they notice how I approach them.

  “Nice effort, remember that you need to consider the person next to you if you want to be more fluid with the movements, the branle can only function correctly if you take into account the rest of the participants, you need the help of more people, this isn’t a solo.”

  The more the girls start practice the more they enjoy the dance, when one girl start laughing soon after the rest follow her and the atmosphere it’s entirely different, I wonder if it’s for this that a lot of nobles like to attend many parties.

  [New skill acquired]

  [Change of atmosphere Lv1]

  Today I’m unlocking a lot of new skills, and even if it looks like something useless when you read it, if you start analyzing you can see how in the future they can become truly powerful skills if they are applied in the correct way. I command my status window again to read what this skills permit me to do or what it’s helpful for.

  [Allows you to influence in the emotions of other living beings and change their perception]

  This is game changer for me, I can see so many ways I can make use of it to my advantage, suddenly I start to wonder if it always was this easy to learn new skills or if something it’s different in this life, especially with rare skills like the ones I’m acquiring.

  “The next part you don’t do it in a group or with a partner, it’s the best moment to shine on the dance floor, you need to make light and bouncy movements, if you need to spin it’s allowed.” She starts performing and the way her body moves it’s captivating, I’m surprised by how well she dances for someone of her age.

  “Like this Miss?” One girl start to copy her but it’s nowhere as impressive as the teacher.

  “Keep practicing little one.” She smiles at the girl and continue her performance, even without any music it’s magical the way her body hypnotize you. “We call this part of the dance the saltarello.”

  I let my body move exactly like hers with the help of my skills but something it’s missing.

  “Nice try, Miss Dalia, but you not only need to make my movements like an exact copy, you need to transmit your own soul with your dance.”

  I try it again but I don’t know how to do what she wants.

  “I know it must be difficult to merge a part of you into the art, but a dance without a soul it’s not an acceptable performance.” She stops dancing and looks at every single one of us. “The better you know yourself, your dance can be elevate it to the next level, I won’t insist too much in this part today, it can take years for you to understand your true self and how to transmit it to the others.”

  I understand a little about what she’s trying to say to us, after all a dance it’s not only for noble parties, it can be also use in ancestral rituals to call energies from the universe.

  “To finalize the dance little by little you need to move through the dance floor with elegant hops until you reach your partner, a small dance between your partner and you must be perform, you can do small turns and spins, and when the music stops you make small reverence just like the one you make when the dance started.”

  The teacher use me as an example again and I start to love the way dancing permits me to express myself, I wonder if with a dance I could transmit other emotions beside joy.

  [New skill acquired]

  [Dance Lv1]