Chapter 46 – A Lecture of Laws and Regulations
People in this era did not lump every form of cheating, fraud, or morally questionable romance under the term “love scam”. That was simply how Jade understood the situation, applying her year-202X common sense to the practices of this time. According to the newspapers, such cases were described in several different ways.
If a man attempted to trick a woman into marriage and seize her money, he was called a “fortune-hunter”. If he was already married but claimed otherwise and proceeded to wed again, the matter was termed as a “false marriage”. And if someone merely toyed with affection without making any real promise, they were labelled an “adventurer in love” or a “designing man” – or woman.
These “love scams”, as Jade privately called them, had become something of a social problem in recent years. According to Father Rochester, the number of infants left on orphanage doorsteps had increased slightly. Mother Annie believed many of their mothers were young, unmarried women who had been deceived by charming playboys.
A portion of the letters on Father Rochester’s desk dealt precisely with such matters. It was, after all, a subject every domus’s chief clergy had to address. The White Robe frequently discussed the issue with his Brothers and Sisters from domuses in neighbouring parishes, seeking ways to handle it. They warned the young ladies who attended Sunday prayers not to fall into such traps.
Thus, when Jade came to Father Rochester to ask whether she could hold a class about laws and regulations – particularly those concerning marriage and employment, the two matters their students would most likely face in the future – the chief clergy listened patiently.
Father Rochester had already grown accustomed to the strange terms that occasionally slipped from Jade’s mouth, and he quickly grasped the gist.
“If I understand you correctly, Miss Jade,” the White Robe said, smoothing his moustache as he regarded her thoughtfully, “you wish to teach a session on how to avoid being lured into a false marriage?”
“Yes,” Jade nodded, “They will get married someday, and I’m surprised most girls don’t even know there is something called a marriage settlement – even though they practically understand that after they marry, everything in the household will be under their husband’s control. Also, I think we should emphasize to the boys about the responsibility after marriage.”
Father Rochester studied her for a moment. After a long pause, he said, “Miss Jade, I had never heard of educating a man for marriage. Only girls’ schools teach young ladies how to become good wives.”
“Exactly!” Jade had not realised she had stepped straight into another culture difference again. Still, she knew she had to choose her words carefully if she wanted Father Rochester to approve her syllabus. A religion that provided sound guidance was, fortunately, a reliable reference for any good intention.
“Every child is born like a blank slate,” she said. “They don’t know what is good or bad. That is why, as believers of the Light, we should guide them – teach them how to tell the difference, and help them stay away from the bad while approaching the good. Since women depend on men, manage the household, and bear children, then I suppose men should carry equal responsibility to protect the household. That way a happy family can grow, and a harmonious society can be built.”
Jade knew the idea was not entirely accurate. Women should be treated as equals. However, this was an era in which a husband could beat his wife under the excuse of “educating” her, and few people considered it wrong unless it nearly cost the woman her life. Given that reality, this was the best framework Jade could devise for teaching the children.
And she felt relieved when Father Rochester nodded in agreement. “You are planning a most attentive lecture, Miss Jade,” he said. “How may I assist you in preparing it?”
“The exact law about marriage and employment, perhaps a law book?” Jade replied. “I only know bits and pieces from the newspapers, but a full paragraph would be better for explaining the whole picture… Actually, I’m not sure if I would understand the terms used in a law book. I mean, it’s already difficult enough for me to read the news. I suspect I’ll be completely baffled by the sentences in those law books…”
“Worry not, Miss Jade,” Father Rochester motioned for her to relax. “I shall ask Brother Benedict to assist you in preparing the text.”
“Brother Benedict?” Jade grinned. “That’ll be a great help, Father.”
In Jade’s eyes, Brother Benedict was the scholar of the domus. He had a talent for explaining the Lumen Codex to ordinary people and was constantly reading one book or another. The clergy in the domus live on modest stipends, as their income depended heavily on donations. Even so, Brother Benedict spent much of his wages maintaining a membership at a library.
Libraries here were not public institutions. They were private collections owned by wealthy patrons or guilds.
“Ah, I see.” Brother Benedict, who had been summoned to Father Rochester’s study, nodded thoughtfully. “I very much agree with you, Miss Jade. Men ought to be educated in morals and ethics. Those shameless fellows who find themselves in the headlines are a disgrace to the eyes.”
Clearly, Brother Benedict’s concern was less about protecting women and more about condemning immoral men. Still, as long as he was willing to help, Jade did not particularly mind how he interpreted the idea. “Thank you, Brother Benedict. I’ll go through these texts first, and then consult you if I don’t understand something. May I come to you during supper?”
Brother Benedict agreed.
Soon enough, the children found themselves attending yet another class unlike anything they had expected. By now, however, they were somewhat accustomed to Miss Jade’s unusual lessons. Her classes often differed from Mr. Anderson’s, and more than once Mr. Anderson had followed up with a similar session afterward. The students had therefore grown used to it and rarely questioned the arrangement. After all, Miss Jade had never harmed them or led them astray.
“Boys and girls, today we’re going to talk about laws and regulations that are important for you when you work for an employer or enter married life,” Jade announced to the class.
Miss Clara sat at a small desk that had recently been added for her. She had expressed interest in learning how to teach and might serve as a substitute someday if Jade were ill or unavailable. The young lady – once a student at a girls’ day school – furrowed her brows when she heard Jade mention law and regulations, but her curiosity was quickly piqued by the topic.
“Some of you may enter service, and some of you already work,” Jade continued. “These rules might be useful if you run into problems and need help.”
What she would really have liked to say was, “screw your stupid employer and run for your life if they break the rules”. But that wasn’t how society worked here, so she held her tongue and continued with the phrasing she had discussed with Brother Benedict. He was the scholar, after all, and presumably understood how such matters should be presented.
Jade did not merely explain the regulations; she also used examples taken from newspapers.
“When you agree to work for someone, that’s an agreement,” she said, writing a headline on the blackboard. “Both sides must keep it, whether it is spoken or written – though written is better. If it’s only spoken, then make sure there is a witness who heard it.”
She tapped the headline she had written. “Here, we have a case where a servant stole their employer’s belongings. The servant now faces a fine and time in jail. And here is another case: an employer ordered a maid to prepare his carriage. That is clearly outside the maid’s duties. Legally speaking, the maid could refuse the request. But as you can see, this story appeared in a tabloid rather than a proper newspaper, which suggested the maid did not know the regulations, and neighbours sneered at the household for not having assigned servants to their proper positions. The maid also did not know that she could seek help from a domus.”
“But if she reports it, she will lose her job, won’t she?” One of the students asked, raising his hand.
“Yes, she will,” Jade said. “And that is exactly why I’m not very eager to suggest that you enter service. Your bargaining power against your employer is very low. Anyway, here’s a smarter way to deal with the situation…”
She proceeded to explain the kind of technique that no book ever taught. “Bring the matter to your mistress. Tell her how disgraceful it would look if people saw a maid handling horses. At the same time, try to find a new position and leave. An employer who treats you badly isn’t worth your service.”
She then scribbled another headline on the blackboard.
“A good master will treat you fairly. A bad one will take more than he gives – and sometimes worse,” Jade continued. “Now, I believe many of you have heard that some masters punish their servants and maids with punches or whips.”
She tapped the board with the chalk. “That is definitely against the law. No one has the right to torture another person, even if they are your employer. Remember, you are the Queen’s people. Even the Queen would not treat you like that. So why should you tolerate someone being violent toward you?”
She raised an eyebrow at the class. “Who is higher – the Queen or your employer?”
“The Queen!” the students replied in unison.
“Exactly,” Jade knocked the blackboard lightly with her chalk to emphasize the point. She wanted to make sure none of her students would blindly accept brutal treatment without trying to escape. After all, cases of employers murdering their servants or brutally abusing their maids often appeared in the headlines.
“If it’s only a slap or two, the law might still overlook it,” Jade added bluntly. “Sometimes discipline is needed when a servant does something wrong. But if it becomes a matter of life and death – if your master threatens your life – run to a domus and seek refuge. Or find journalists and expose your story. Let public pressure force them to release you from your employment contract.”
She paused and looked around the classroom. “Now, I trust you’re not so stupid that you’d just sit there and let punches rain on you, right?”
A wave of murmurs rippled through the students. Receiving a mixture of replies, Jade nodded with a satisfied smile.
Miss Clara, however, sat quietly at her desk, utterly taken aback by the flood of information.
Ladies like her – educated by governess and at girls’ schools – rarely read proper newspapers, which largely belonged to the men’s circle. Her reading material consisted mostly of ladies’ magazines filled with fashion, household advice, serialised romance stories, moral essays, and similar content. She had never imagined that servants and maids could be so brutally abused by their masters. The thought had simply never occurred to her.
Jade spent about forty-five minutes explaining employment regulations and discussing examples from the newspaper. After another fifteen minutes reviewing the headlines with the students, she moved on to the second half of the lecture. “Alright. Drink some water and tidy up your notes,” she said. “We’re moving on to marriage regulations.”
Every student understood that today’s lesson was important. Miss Jade had even distributed fresh sheets of paper for note-taking. Normally she only gave them old newspapers for writing practice, and the students would carefully squeeze their notes into the blank spaces of their self-bound textbooks with pencils, keeping their messy drafts on the soon-to-be-discarded old newspapers.
Fresh paper meant an important lecture.
The students quickly arranged their materials – stacking their notes on employment into neat piles and setting them aside – before gripping their pencils and focusing on what Miss Jade would say next.
“Men and women are supposed to register with the authorities when they get married,” Jade said, raising a finger for emphasis. “Now, I know many of your parents don’t do that, because registration costs money. So most people only record their marriage with the local domus – which, in our case, means with our dearest Father Rochester.”
She paused, making sure everyone was listening.
“That is the very least you should do. If a conflict ever happens and the authorities intervene, we will have proof that you are married and that your children are legitimate. Inheritance law can become very troublesome if it’s not handled properly, you know.”
Jade scribbled several headlines on the blackboard about cases of false marriage – instances where a man had married twice, leaving the second wife’s son legally considered a child born out of wedlock. This meant the boy lost all rights to any portion of the man’s estate. One of the cases ended with the second wife and her son living a life of hardship after being rejected by their neighbours. The rumours were so harsh that the wife eventually took both her life and the child’s; their bodies were later found in the river.
“Girls! After marriage, your wages and belongings – except for your jewelry and clothes – become your husband’s under the law, unless you both make a settlement before you marry,” Jade said, ignoring the look of horror spreading across Miss Clara’s face as she continued writing the headlines on the board.
“Now, I know what you’re thinking. ‘That’s a rich people’s problem. We don’t have much, so we won’t have those issues’. But unfortunately, no – it is a problem.” She turned to face the class. “Because who knows? Maybe your future husband suddenly becomes rich. Maybe he becomes a gambler or an alcoholic, and takes all the hard-earned money you need to feed your children, just to spend it on cards and beers. Maybe he would be tricked by a swindler and lose everything. Divorce costs a fortune; we definitely cannot afford it. Even the domus would not approve it for an unregistered marriage unless there are very special circumstances.”
She knocked on the blackboard again. “So, get a few lines of settlement written before you marry. Secure yourself some small pin money and save it so that, in a desperate moment, you still have something to protect you and your children. Alright?”
“Alright, Miss Jade!”
“Boys! Don’t think you can just laugh it off,” Jade said sharply. “Be a responsible and loving husband to your wife. Otherwise – well, here are examples of your future.”
She wrote down several more headlines: cases of wives running away with or without their children, and one particularly grim report in which a wife had poisoned her husband because she could no longer endure his brutality.
“Also, if a man proposes to a woman and then suddenly decides not to marry her for no good reason,” Jade continued, tapping the blackboard once more, “the woman can sue him under the law. He must compensate her, because she had already spent time preparing her dowry and planning the marriage. And remember, a woman does not have as many years to find a husband compared to a man, who can find a wife no matter his age. His action may damage her reputation and make it much harder for her to marry someone else.”
Jade wrote another headline that illustrated this point.
“Of course, people like us rarely have the coins to take such matters to court,” she added. “But remember – you have the domus. The domus can help you seek justice. So again, don’t forget to ask the domus for help!”
She knocked the blackboard lightly with her chalk while the students hurriedly took notes. “Men and women must work together to maintain a loving and harmonious household. Each person has their own duties, and you must discuss things with each other, understand each other, so you can find the role that suits you best.”
She gestured toward the students. “For example, I would never ask Wendy to work in the bakehouse, because she’s much better at needlework. The same applies to husbands and wives. If a husband is good at farm work, it makes no sense to push him into the merchant trade. And if a wife is skilled in the kitchen, asking her to do needlework is like forcing a pig to climb a tree. Understand?”
“Miss Jade,” One of the girls asked, raising her hand, “does that mean we should also find a husband who suits us?”
“Of course!” Jade nodded. “Otherwise you’ll end up sleeping beside someone you dislike every night in the same bed! How could you endure that kind of life if you can’t stand the person? So, find a husband – or a wife – that you like. But be practical…”
She folded her arms. “Girls, I know some of you are imagining the romantic scenes from those serialised love stories. Boys, don’t think I forgot about your fantasy adventure tales where the hero marries a princess.”
“Let’s be realistic: princesses don’t marry peasants, and the sons of rich earls don’t marry commoners either. Those are stories. They are fantasies people write precisely because they don’t happen in real life. While rare cases might happen throughout history, they are so rare that the chances are about equal to suddenly finding treasure under your bed. Climbing up the social ladder requires generations of effort – very grueling effort – and certainly isn’t achieved by simply marrying into a noble household.”
The students stared at Jade attentively, listening to every word.
“So, instead of daydreaming, be realistic. Choose someone you are willing to spend the rest of your life with,” Jade said firmly. “Imagine that both of you grow old and weak one day. Ask yourself: after fifty years, when that person becomes a wrinkled old lump, will you still accept them? And will you tolerate their bad temper for fifty years as well?”
The classroom fell silent as the students tried to digest Jade’s words.
“Do not assume you can change or fix your future partner. That rarely happens,” Jade stated. “Forget the stories about a playboy becoming a loyal husband or a courtesan turning into a faithful wife. Those are just stories.”
With a hand at her hip, she emphasised, “Just as cutting the wings off a bird does not turn it into a fish. If a person’s temper is like that, it usually stays that way for the rest of their life – unless some drastic event happens. And most of the time, those drastic events never happen.”
Marriage laws were far simpler than employment regulations, largely because they favoured men. When in doubt, one could usually assume the law would side with the husband. For that reason, Jade focused on encouraging the girls to be realistic when choosing a future husband while reminding the boys of their responsibility as husbands.
Among the poor, marriage was seldom about love or romance. It was mainly about survival. Therefore, instead of emphasising love, Jade emphasized responsibility – a principle that aligned nearly with the morals of the Light.
After a short discussion on how to choose a future partner and what to do if problems arose, the two-hour class finally ended.
Students who stayed for the tuition session were given a thirty-minute break to grab a quick meal in the dining hall – usually offal pies and bone broth. Jade used the time to arrange the bakehouse’s work for the day and to check on Josh’s practice with piping techniques.
“Sensei,” Josh called as he approached the teacher’s desk beside the blackboard.
He understood that Jade had to supervise the tuition class. If she had been free, they would likely have moved on to more advanced cake-decorating techniques. Since she was not available, Josh did not complain. Instead, he continued practicing the stability of his hands. Jade’s movements were always steady and smooth, while his still wobbled slightly when he tried to pipe a straight line.
“Here – I managed to get Mr. Parkins to make me a new piping tip,” Jade said, holding up a small wooden piece that had been carefully carved. “Today I’ll teach you how to use flower nails and this piping tip to make flowers, particularly roses.”
Josh chuckled. “Then at tomorrow’s breakfast, everyone will have weird-looking baked mashed potatoes.”
“Oh, you’ll be fine. It’s not that hard.” Jade handed him the piping tip. “Go wash it first. I’ll come to the bakehouse soon.”
Josh nodded and left to do as he was told. Jade then turned to Miss Clara, who still appeared stunned by the lecture she had just witnessed.
“Miss Clara?”
The young lady blinked and quickly returned to the present. When she turned to Jade, she noticed the concerned look in the teacher’s eyes.
“Are you alright, Miss Clara?” Jade asked gently. “You can rest in your room if you need to. You don’t have to sit in the classroom every day, you know.”
Normally, Miss Clara would insist on staying. She had already agreed to take charge of the needle project, and she usually remained with the students to study the fascinating sewing techniques together with them. But her thoughts were so unsettled that she accepted Jade’s suggestion without hesitation.
“Miss Jade, my apologies, but I must stay with my Mama for a while,” she said softly. “Please excuse me.”
“It’s alright. Take a good rest,” Jade replied. She watched the young lady leave the classroom with slightly trembling footsteps.
Hope the pink bubble bursting didn’t hurt her too much, Jade thought as she gathered her things, wiped the blackboard clean, and headed toward the bakehouse.