Chapter 91

In the end, I decided to continue acting as Princess Margaret’s personal attendant. However, she told me she would place some distance between herself and her entourage, and I made it crystal clear that I would be declining to accompany them when they hung out together.

Clang—! Clang—! The bell rang, signaling the end of third period.

“Princess Margaret, please make sure you don’t skip the next class.”

The next period was Art, a class Princess Margaret actually stood a chance of testing out of.

“Yes, I know. Patience, your next class is Weaving, correct? Come straight to the music club as soon as it’s over.”

“Yes, I will be there, since today is the day Samuel is being recommended to the club. However, I am strongly opposed to you expelling Lady Catherine and her group from the music club. If they choose to resign of their own volition, that is one thing, but if you force them out, it will mean you are wielding your royal authority to banish them. Since it’s a club activity, everyone should just be allowed to do what they enjoy.”

I personally don’t mind quitting the music club. I put my foot down, emphasizing that whatever the three members of her entourage chose to do was entirely up to them.

“But you said you would quit the music club if they were there. I cannot allow that.”

Well, it’s certainly true that I want to keep my distance from them. I can tolerate them during homeroom or the mandatory domestic science classes, but I draw the line at spending my after-school hours with them.

“We can discuss that at the music club. You’re going to be late for class.”

My next class was Weaving, an elective in the domestic science track. I was really looking forward to it.

To my absolute delight, not a single girl from Class A was in the room. This meant the classroom was filled entirely with female students from Class B and Class C. On top of that, there were only eight people in total. The girls in Class A had all synchronized their electives with Princess Margaret, and the students from the other classes were probably clustering around subjects where it was easy to earn credits.

A small loom was set up on each desk in the classroom.

“So this is what we’ll be using to weave.”

The width was rather narrow, meaning it could only weave something roughly the size of an obi from my previous world. In this fantasy world, I suppose it would serve as a table runner.

I took an empty seat and waited for the teacher to arrive. The other students were chatting happily with their friends. Yeah, it felt a little lonely. This is definitely one of the downsides of skipping grades. I suppose it can’t be helped that I don’t know a single soul here.

“Oh my, we have a small group this year. I am Sally Derby. I look forward to working with you all for the year.”

Ah, I like this teacher already. She’s slender, brisk, and thoroughly dependable.

“During the spring term, as you can see, we will be creating pieces using these compact looms. Has anyone here ever used a loom before?”

A few students raised their hands. That meant there were four beginners in total, including myself.

“In that case, you four in the back, please move to the front row. It is much easier to teach when everyone is grouped together.”

I moved up to the front row. I usually dislike sitting right at the front, but I had no choice.

“The rest of you, watch closely. I will now explain how to operate the compact loom.”

Mrs. Derby began threading the warp onto the compact loom on the desk of the brown-haired female student sitting directly to my right.

“There is a method where you dye patterns directly onto these warp threads, but since this is your first time, we will be using thick, white yarn. There is plenty of thick yarn up at the teacher’s podium, so go ahead and try threading it. Raise your hand if you get stuck.”

I began threading the thick white yarn into my compact loom. Because I had watched Mrs. Derby intensely when she demonstrated it, I managed to do it perfectly.

“My word, you’re incredibly fast for a beginner. Please wait just a moment.”

Mrs. Derby went over to help the students who hadn’t finished threading yet.

“You will be threading warp many times from now on, so I shall assist you this time.”

Once everyone had finished threading their warp, it was time to learn how to weave the weft. She demonstrated the technique on the loom of the red-haired student to my left. After weaving a few rows, she also explained how to switch thread colors.

“Now, give it a try. Raise your hand if you don’t understand something.”

Rhythmic sounds immediately began echoing from the seats behind me. The weft thread would slide through with a shhh, followed by a crisp bang to tighten it, and a clack as the warp threads alternated.

“Mrs. Derby, may I go and watch the students in the back row?”

Because the teacher had been explaining as she went, she had only woven a few slow rows. I wanted to capture the actual rhythm of weaving.

“Yes, of course you may.”

Having received permission, I went to observe the experienced students weaving in the back.

Once I felt I had a decent grasp of the rhythm, I sat back down to try it myself.

“Let’s start with red.”

A single red weft thread traveled across the white warp. I tightened it with the wooden frame—bang. Then I alternated the warp threads and sent the weft sliding back the other way. It was incredibly fun, but it was definitely a task that required a lot of patience.

“I think I’ll make a red-and-white striped pattern.”

Since it was my first time, I decided to stick strictly to two colors. Once the decision was made, all that was left to do was weave. Keeping red as the dominant color, I wove a few rows of white. Ah, I got so absorbed in the process that I accidentally used lifestyle magic!

“My goodness, you’ve finished weaving already? Could it be that you possess lifestyle magic?”

Uh oh, I’ve been caught.

“Yes… when I concentrate deeply, I tend to use it unconsciously.”

Mrs. Derby laughed.

“There’s absolutely no need to apologize. Many of the finest weavers possess lifestyle magic, you know.”

The other three beginners hadn’t finished weaving yet, but the experienced students were already done.

“Once you’ve finished weaving, you remove it from the loom like this. Then you clean up the edges, and you’re done. I highly recommend that students who choose Weaving take Dyeing as well. If you dye the yarn yourself before weaving, you can create pieces with far more freedom.”

I am definitely taking Dyeing! Weaving takes a lot of patience, but watching a finished piece come together is incredibly rewarding.

As it turned out, the brown-haired beginner to my right was Sophia Summers. The red-haired girl was Lily Mitchell, and the girl with dark brown hair was Hannah Barry.

“I’m so relieved there are other beginners here,” Sophia said cutely. Sophia was adorable—she was older than me, but she had a wonderfully sweet personality.

“We’ll catch up to them in no time,” Lily declared confidently.

“I didn’t register for Dyeing. It looks like it would be best to take it, though. I’ll have to make some changes to my schedule,” Hannah murmured, looking a bit helpless.

And just like that, I had made a group of beginner friends. The students in the back row seemed to have plenty of experience weaving at home. The simple pieces we made today were probably child’s play to them.

“I intend to display this on top of my fireplace,” I announced.

If you looked closely, the weave was a bit uneven in places, but I decided to view that as ‘character.’

“But aren’t you Princess Margaret’s personal attendant? Surely you can buy all the splendid fabrics you could ever want,” Lily asked, and the other two looked to be of the same opinion.

“I am her attendant, yes, but my household practices strict frugality. Besides, making things you love with your own hands is wonderful fun.”

Somehow, the fact that my family was poor was conveyed perfectly. A warm sense of camaraderie instantly spread among us.

“That’s so true! I’m already looking forward to seeing what we weave next.”

As I thought, taking classes you actually want to take is wonderful fun.

Perhaps Law and Administration are only tedious because the teacher himself is boring. I wonder if there are any classes taught by someone other than Mr. Patterson? Even if I plan to just memorize the textbooks word-for-word to test out early, I really don’t want to endure boring lectures for the entire spring term. I’ll have to look into my options!