The villainess's slow prison life

Noblewoman Overhears a Lovely Story

This is a story that took place about three weeks before Rachel was imprisoned in the dungeon.

The guard manning the gate of Duke Ferguson's mansion kept a watchful eye out for the young noblewoman's carriage. Dusk had just begun to settle when he saw a carriage racing this way. He turned back to the mansion and began shouting.

"The Lady is home!"

After his words echoed through the courtyard, the mansion immediately sprang to life as family members and servants rushed out to greet her, and the guard ran back to his station and threw open the gate. The guard opened the gate at just the right timing so that the carriage bearing the Duke's family crest on its front was able to pass through without having to slow down.
As the fiancee of the first prince.........rather their future queen Lady Rachel had returned home from her special education inside the royal palace.

The butler, head maid, and all the other servants formed two lines on either side of the mansion's entrance, lowering their heads as Rachel came down the hall.
She gave a simple self-evaluation to the butler when he asked how the day's studies had gone, and she confirmed with the head maid that dinner would be held at its usual time in two hours. In the meantime the other maids and male servants bowed their heads and brightly greeted Rachel as she walked up the large steps to her room on the second floor........and when the door closed behind her, she collapsed onto her bed just as she was.

"Ah~..........so tired........"

Rachel started whining with her face buried in her bed while her personal maid Sofia peeled off the clothes and accessories she was wearing. Her studies at the royal palace were quite taxing, and it was a regular occurrence for her to collapse with a *BMPH* whenever she returned.
It was her attendants job over the next two hours to get this withered Rachel into the bath, and arrange a level of dress and preparedness for her that she would look presentable when having dinner with her family.

A maid had to be able to show off some dexterous tricks in order to strip a master who didn't want to move naked.
That would be natural. Ever since Rachel began her queen's education inside the royal palace, her maids had been working on various techniques and technologies to support her. If their master is weary, then they would take off her dress without causing any additional burden to her.
Why don't they strip her while she's standing up? There isn't a person here who could give a sound argument. Rachel's basic behavior is their top priority.

The maids provide her a thin sheet to cover herself before taking a step back and allowing Sofia to replace them. Her fingertips on both hands rapidly got to work on Rachel's body, massaging everything from Rachel's upper back down to her ankles.

"........four hours of classroom lectures followed by two hours of dance, later.........was inspecting table manners?"

Rachel's face was still buried into her pillow, but Sofia was capable of guessing the day's curriculum by the tension in her master's muscles even before Rachel gave her a deft nod for confirmation.

"Un........it was only three hours of classroom lectures and two hours of dance along with an hour of how to elegantly walk.........there was also an additional two hours of how to gracefully watch theater.........that lecture alone left my shoulders feeling stiff."
"And how does one gracefully watch theater?"
"Shoulders back, sitting up straight with good posture, and then keenly smiling while enthusiastically watching the stage.......in order to watch......... In fact, the lecturer woman's angle while watching that empty stage was wrong, so all that lesson is good for is diminishing the royal pedigree. Then in the end her hollow eyes started shining while she said we would have some fun.......there isn't any excitement with keeping your eyes locked on an unmanned stage......"
"It's a ridiculous class as you are watching from the sidelines."
"I look like a fool watching another fool staring at nothing."