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"Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." —Proverb 31:30
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"MY LADY, what are you going to do with the things that you bought?" Emily, who was sitting in front of Lantana, asked with curiosity.
"I'll use them?" she replied with a hint of sarcasm.
"But will the duke allow you, my lady? You never learned how to use a bow."
'I know that one, Emily. The first day I occupied this body of your previous master, I immediately felt how weak she was. She was so feeble that a minute of jogging would definitely make her collapse. How could she even handle practicing on how to use any weapon?' She thought in annoyance.
It's a good thing, though, that things were changing after she started her physical training with the body. What was more, she even felt like her previous strength in her first life was rapidly coming back.
"I can always learn. However, I still don't have a plan to use this weapon. I would still like to continue with my makeover."
"Makeover?" Emily's forehead creased because of the unfamiliar term her lady used.
"My transformation. My total renewal. Don't you think it'll be pretty funny to see the people who used to criticize me and their pathetic reactions after discovering that I'm really beautiful but they chose not to see that because they were envious of me for being beautiful despite my size before? I won't make a move because this appearance is already my revenge, however! If any of them try to harm me, I will not stand still anymore."
"That's the spirit, my lady!" Emily said in an energetic tone as she tried to secretly wipe her tears.
"My dear… What is that thing you are holding right now?"
Lantana's face froze as her heart went wild. Cold bullet of sweat formed around her forehead as she raised her head. Right. They had already left the carriage, but she was still holding the bow. But she thought it was still too early for the duke to come back. That was why she was so listless. Why was he there already anyway!?
She sighed deep inside her. She guessed it couldn't be helped but to explain things earlier instead of creating any more misunderstandings and unnecessary confusion.
The duke, who looked as if waiting for her at the front porch of the mansion and was about to greet her with enthusiasm, was taken aback upon seeing the object that she was holding with her hands.
She forced a smile as she raised the weapon.
"A bow?" she said with a smile that looked as if she was caught cheating in a test.
"Explain, my daughter."
The duke had an aura of seriousness he didn't usually show to Penelope. That was why Lantana's heart was beating so loudly deep inside.
"I bought it because I want it?" she said in a tone with uncertainty that made the duke widen his eyes in disbelief.
In the end, the duke immediately saw her newly purchased weapon before she could even prepare an excuse. He was dumbfounded at first upon hearing her reply. He kept on looking at her with a panicked face and then to the bow. After that, a loud gasp came out of his mouth before he dramatically lost his balance in shock. The good thing was, the head butler was behind him, so he didn't fall because of his overreaction.
However, because of her sudden purchase, he nagged her for a few long, straight hours about her decision and how dangerous handling a bow could be. But of course, in the end, the charm of the most beloved daughter still prevailed. Good thing she asked Emily to buy a lot of takeaways from that heavenly dessert shop. Because of those treats, she managed to bribe him with the other servants who received her gifts and in the end, he let her had her weapon but he told her that if she wanted to use it, she had to tell him first so that he could hire a trainer who could teach her about her newly-found hobby.
Funny thing there was, up until the present, she hadn't used the bow. She just… Let it hang in her room like a display furniture.
"MY LADY, do you really want to go to the ranch?" Emily asked her in an anxious tone while following her quick footsteps.
It had been a few days since she made a reckless purchase that up until now, she didn't know the reason why. Although she knew how to use a bow, it was never her favorite weapon in the past. She would either use a gun or a dagger before but a bow? She only used it whenever she felt like it, so why did she buy that ordinary bow? She didn't really get it, and it had been bothering her for days now. The money she spent was definitely not the case here since Penelope's family was too rich to even care for a little gold. The case she had here was the unknown reason why she even bought it in the first place because she couldn't understand it at all.
"Yes. What's wrong with that?"
"B-But, my lady! You wanted to go to the horse stable as well, right?"
"And?"
"T-That place is filled with men! Since the training ground of the knights is near that place, the whole place is filled with men, my lady!" Emily said exaggeratingly with eyes about to drop on the ground and red cheeks that looked like they were burnt.
"So, what?" she said nonchalantly.
"The men there are vulgar!"
"Vulgar?"
Her eyebrows raised upon hearing Emily's words while starting to feel a little irritated. What the heck was she talking about? She only wanted to go to the stable that day because she decided to have a stroll around Montgomery. Emily suggested to her to use Penelope's horse if she wanted to so that she wouldn't get tired.
However, she knew from the body's memories that the horse that Penelope owned was just a baby; a small and weak white horse that was only good for walking. If she went to the back of the mansion and just waited there for them to give her a horse that they thought was the best for her to use in her stroll, she'd just become disappointed. To avoid that scenario, she chose to go directly to the stable to find the best one that would suit her taste, but why was Emily blocking her?
Yeah… Why was Emily blocking her way now? She even stuttered earlier while avoiding her glance and lowering her face to the ground.
"T-The men there don't know the word appropriateness! They are improper and always naked from their torso!"
Men? Naked? So, what? It was just the torso, so why was she reacting like a teenage girl who just confessed to her crush after telling her those trivial things? The nerve of this woman stopped her from going there when she was already blushing too much beside Lantana.
"I wonder, are there any handsome employees there?"
Upon hearing her question, Emily gasped as her eyes rounded in shock, as if she couldn't believe what her lady had just said. However, based on her reaction earlier, Lantana believed that there were a lot of handsome faces there.
'Not only do pretty faces await me, for sure, toned bodies too!'
And then, while Emily was still in shock, she went ahead with a sweet grin on her lips, thrilled with her expectation that did not fail her at all.
NOISE coming from different voices welcomed Lantana as soon as she got closer to the knight's training area. In Penelope's memory, before going to the stable, a person has to pass by the training area first, where a lot of men were called to train from early morning until the sun goes down.
As she walked closer as if a strict teacher wearing high-heeled shoes, an arch arose from her lips upon seeing the 'vulgar men' that Emily was talking about. She could almost feel their burning stares piercing against her body as she got nearer to their place.
"Who is that?"
"Why is there a woman going here?"
"Hey, does anyone of you have a lover as pretty as this girl?!"
"Come on, Siegrain, ask her if she's lost!""
"Why me?!"
"If you don't want to, then I will."
"Excuse me, miss. Are you lost?" a small guy—not the one who volunteered to approach her—asked as he took her right hand and put it on his lips. Which surprised her because the man—he was little.
The guys who were arguing about who would be talking to Lantana earlier all widened their eyes as they looked at the man, their hands, and her face consecutively. Then, gasps escaped from their mouths as if they couldn't believe what had just happened.
"Hey, Arthur! What the heck are you doing to the lady?!" the man, whom she presumed to be Siegrain, suddenly said in a loud tone that made it sound as if he was shouting after he recovered from his shock.
"I am being polite to the lady because none of you want to talk to her, brother," the boy, seemingly around twelve to fourteen years old, replied with confidence and a smug smile on his lips.
As if he couldn't believe what his brother just said, Siegrain marched towards our place and pulled his brother away from Lantana by the ear which made the young boy whimper in pain and shot annoyed looks at his older brother.
"I'm sorry, lady. This boy just really doesn't know how to act sometimes. Please do not take his rude actions to your heart," Siegrain said apologetically as he bowed while forcing his brother to do it as well.
A soft laughter escaped from Lantana's lips as soon as she saw the cute young boy sulk while squinting his eyes towards his oblivious brother while making faces.
While chuckling with her hand covering her mouth, she observed her surroundings.
Emily was right, most of the around fifty men were half-naked while Siegrain, Arthur and a few were wearing a white long sleeves that were almost fully covered with their sweat, tracing their bodies with fully toned muscles. Even the young boy has building blocks of muscle in his body, although it was still nothing compared to the older ones. Most of them were very dark while a few like the brothers were still lightly tanned, and she could say… No one was really ugly.
The brothers both possessed almond hair, though their eyes were different. Siegrain's eyes were emerald green while Arthur's were hazel brown. Aside from them, the four people near them also have gorgeous faces. The others were not unsightly either, but they weren't fit to her standard, so she didn't bother to include them at the count.
'Gosh. This place is a sweet haven to the eyes. Whenever I get bored in my room, it's not a bad idea to always frequent this place.' The lady thought as she let out an evil smile that people mistook as an innocent smile.
However, the sudden action of Lantana made the men around her silent again while she noticed that the brothers were both turning red while trying to get secret glances at her.