"It's Harper! She's out of control on the training grounds!"
"Out of control? What do you mean?"
.
.
.
"Ha!"
Being pushed back, she tried her best to hold her ground but still ended up falling.
Though she was an excellent warrior, she couldn't seem to be able to beat the head of guards.
Harper rubbed her bloody mouth, with the back of her hand, then reached for her sword, ready to stab the man.
At that moment the man had raised his sword to strike Harper.
"Stop!!!"
Everyone paused hearing the command.
Harper and the head of guards, halted in their position.
Walking towards them with the utmost authority, I had a cold air around me.
I walked in between Harper who was bleeding, and the head of guards who was only ruffled a bit.
"Head of guards what happened?"
Per the proper code of mannerism, the head of guards sheathed his sword and bowed in greetings to me.
"Greetings my lady. This insolent maid, came here to the training grounds challenging my knights. I had remained silent about this and watched.
I had been making conversation with my fellow man, when she suddenly spoke out of turn, insulting me!"
I raised an eyebrow to the man's recount of what had caused the trouble, then turned to Harper for her own explanation.
"Harper, what happened from your side?"
Sniffling a bit, she rubbed her nose and stopped glaring at the head of guards, finally facing me.
"My Lady, I had come here from training like I usually do. I noticed the eyes of discontentment that looked at me, but I ignored it.
Despite my fiery temper I even ignored the comment from the head of guards in which he said 'some maids just love fooling around in the training arena'
I came here with good intentions to hone my skills. I challenged some knights and of course, I beat all of them up.
I was about to leave as peacefully as I could, when I heard him insulting you! Saying that you're a a pampered and spoilt girl! He knows absolutely nothing about you! Yet he has the bladder to talk sh*t about you!"
One noticeable trait about Harper is the fact that she was very honest, especially to me. I knew that she wasn't lying.
I turned to the head of guards in question.
"Sir, is this true?"
"U-um...of course i-it's not!"
From the way he spoke, I could easily discern that he was lying.
I put an innocent smile and looked at him keenly. Though my smile looked kind my eyes staring at him were cold. Staring at him with condescension, seemed to send shivers down his spine.
"Of course, how dare you call me spoilt and pampered? A good knight is loyal and respectful to their master. Aren't I right?"
"Oh? Yes!"
As the only legitimate child of the Marquis, I had lots of power and authority over people serving in the mansion. I of course would use this to my advantage, if need be.
The other guards in the training area watched the on going drama, while munching on their invisible popcorn.
"Since you're so loyal and respectful you'll obey my every command right?"
"Y-yes?"
"Fine then. Jog around the field 99 times"
"Pardon?"
"Jog around the field 100 times"
"I thought you said 99?"
"And I thought that you didn't hear me"
"B-but-
"The other guards need to see you train hard in order to be motivated. It's a good way to inspire strength in them"
"My La-
"The Marquis will be glad knowing that the head of guards is a strong man who can run 101 laps around the field"
"101?"
"Make it a 102. So many questions might make it increase some more"
Seeing that my order for him to run around the field was absolute, he didn't argue further so as to not incur my wrath.
Harper quickly got a chair for me and herself, even bringing a cold glass of non-alcoholic wine.
We both sat down and watched the head of guards run 102 laps with bright smiles on our faces.
The other guards who had watched everything, watched their leader run around some joyful and others afraid.
Those who were joyful were happy because they disliked the head, who was always arrogant and bossy.
Those who were afraid were this way because of the way I had easily put the man in his place.
They began to doubt the rumors about me which said I was innocent and kind. But a strange kind of fear creeped up on all of them, making them unable to say bad things about me.
.
.
.
Henry personally cleaned Harper's injuries. He bent down to clean the cuts on her feet.
"I told you not to get hurt"
"And I didn't"
"If you didn't, then why am I cleaning your wounds?"
"I don't know. You're the one who wants to do it"
Watching them brought back a fond memory from our childhood.
Earlier that day, Harper had watched some people climb a tree and began to eagerly talk about tree climbing.
Henry who knew his sister well, warned. "Once you start talking about something, it means you want to do it. Don't try it. It's dangerous"
"Hmph. Don't act as if you know me all that much" She said storming out.
Later than day, Harper had tried climbing a tree, but ended up falling down from it.
Aunt Hazel, Henry and Harper's mum, came over and scolded Harper, not batting an eye about the girl's injury since she had decided to remain stubborn.
The little Harper had tried to remain indifferent and bared the pain.
After the incident, I was passing by and saw her huddled on the ground and crying. Her hands rubbing her injured knee.
I was about to go up to her, but was beaten by Henry who walked over to her with a medical kit.
He bent down to her level and began unpacking the contents of the medical kit. Slowly, he began to clean her wound.
"I told you not to get hurt"
"You didn't! And I didn't even get hurt" Harper said with shame, turning her head to the side.
The image of the pair of twins who served me, overlapped with their image as children.
Ah, such good times.
***
Ronald had been desperately trying to revive his broken business, but had been unable to. Punching the wall in anger he questioned the butler.
"D*mn it! When is father coming back?"
"The next two weeks"
A lot of the wealth of the Belv Duchy had been invested into Ronald's business. A bit more than 50%, which was a huge sum of money.
If Ronald's father, Duke Belv, who was currently in the capital, found out about the loss, he might even disown Ronald and make one of his mistress' sons, the successor of the family.
He couldn't have that!
"There's no way to market the finished products that are in the mansion! That business called 'Wine' is selling better quality at a cheaper price!"
"It seems so"
'Why? Why? Why?! Whoever is behind the fire, I promise to track you down and destroy you' Ronald thought, while gritting his teeth in anger.
Something then crossed his mind.
"Wait! Maybe Adrianna can help me! She's a popular noble lady!"
"Lady Deor? To be honest, I doubt she will. After all, your engagement has been broken"
"I haven't officially broken up our engagement"
"Still, the relationship is already broken now that you're with Lady Paisley. Why not have that miss so it?"
"Paisley? She isn't smart enough to advertise it. Plus she has zero influence. I'm sure Adrianna will help me. I know she's deeply in love with me.
She'll probably do anything that I want, once I tell her that I won't break off our engagement. Who else is better than me to marry her?"
The butler looked at Ronald with doubt, but refused to argue.
"If you say so, my lord. Anyways, Lady Paisley is inviting you formally to come to the Deor mansion tomorrow"
"Good. I'll go and even us it as a chance to talk to Adrianna"
'Adrianna will definitely help me. Maybe I should leave our engagement on after all. Paisley may be good, but Adrianna has a nice title. She isn't bad looking either. I can keep both of them! Why didn't I think of that sooner?'