"I think you are right," Katherine walked to the soldiers' training area, amazed at the large area aided with all kinds of types of equipment, her gaze falling on one of the quiet-looking men.
From her experience, the quiet ones are the most mysterious. Now this man could either be a complete psycho or a complete gentleman.
"I should've given up on the commander long ago. I fell for him because he saved my life in the forest, but now that I think about it, wasn't it his job? It was me who put him on that pedestal when he was just so-so," Katherine walked to the man, her eyes stopping at his face, shifting to his eyes, who looked back at her, startled.
He was probably unsure what this crackhead girl wanted from him, and Katherine smiled.
"Your form is too strained. If you stand like this and hold this knife like this-" Katherine showed him, twisting her hand and looking ahead.
"-you will be able to strike back even harder without twisting your body at the odd angles to shift positions," Katherine said.
"Woah, what is this? Now a maid will tell us how to use our weapons?" One of the soldiers commented.
Katherine looked at the man in front of her with a gentle smile.
"It's your body. You know it better than anyone else. Try it. If you don't like it, don't do it," Katherine smiled with a shrug, and the man looked at his friends, probably feeling peer pressure.
It was too obvious his friends wouldn't like it if he went along with the girl's words.
"Delilah, what are you doing? Let's not waste our time. I have to talk to Dad after this walk," Tianna said, her words catching everyone's attention.
"Miss Tianna," The soldiers immediately stood from their place and bowed to her.
The news about her being the Alpha's daughter and one of the candidates for the Prince's wife was already out. Everyone knew her as an elegant lady full of poise and feminine charm.
"Is there something you need, Miss Tianna?" The same soldier who had been making fun of Delilah said, and Katherine noticed how different the behavior of people was regarding both the sisters.
She suppressed the urge to scoff.
It was the same way they were treated back in their orphanage too. The orphanage was her home for as long as Katherine could remember. The people who would come there would judge the kids based on the kinds of vibes they ooze since it was hard to decipher about their Wolf's strength or rank when they were so little.
Katherine had long analyzed this behavior of all those parents and to come on their radar and get chosen, she had trained herself in the forest to appear strong.
She didn't know if it was her pure luck or bad luck that on the day of their sports day when Katherine had aced three races, the leader of the Black OPS visited the orphanage for some business and saw her.
He took her under his wing immediately, and since then she has been treated and trained in those training centers among all the big brothers and uncles.
From the age of 9 to the age of 23, her life was devoted to the Black OPS.
'To say I was betrayed by the organization that I considered my family,' Katherine scoffed at herself.
"Please continue your training. I'll be off with my sister. Delilah, come," Tianna's soft voice snapped Katherine out of her thoughts, and she sighed before nodding.
She looked at the man she gave the pointers to one last time before following her sister.
The system, which had expected Katherine to cause some ruckus or create problems, quirked its brows.
'That's it? You are not going to do anything else?' The system asked.
'Nope. I just wanted to measure their emotions a bit more. Now I know what to do. They obviously won't believe if I become well-behaved and elegant like Tianna overnight and might think I am pretending. Besides, let's agree. Acting like a lady is not my cup of tea,' Katherine confessed, and the system nodded at her words.
This was the first thing the system noticed about the new candidate handed to it. This girl whose aim was to seduce the alpha king, the ultimate royalty, was anything but a lady.
'So what have you decided?' The system asked.
'Well, shouldn't you know that part? Are you going to stay back and watch what I am doing with some popcorn in hand? Isn't this your duty to help me increase my strength? Can you do your job? You lazy ass, system,' Katherine scoffed.
The system - "..." Look who's talking. It's as if you hear anything I have to say. Every time you have to come up with your own plans and now you complain?
The system - "Why do I have to get such a hard candidate? (TT)(TT)"
Katherine smiled at the system complaining in her head. Her mood lifted immediately.
"Look at the stark contrast between the sisters. One is not even a thorn but a useless weed while the other is like a fragrant rose,"
"I don't know, but for some reason, didn't Delilah look a bit different today?"
"Don't be swayed by her fake charm. Who knows if she is looking for her next target?"
The soldiers started to talk among themselves and Katherine clenched her fists.
"Don't mind their words," Tianna whispered, making Katherine hum.
"It's okay. I don't mind their words. I made some mistakes in the past, and this time I am going to rectify them all," Katherine said, making Tianna smile.
Tianna looked at the back of the girl, who had started to walk ahead as she was talking about all the things she was planning.
Now that she looked at her cousin, she could see what the chef was talking about. Not only Delilah's dressing style, but the way she carried herself and talked about things was also changing.
Was it really possible to have such a drastic change in a person overnight?
Those who don't know her might think that she was probably hiding her charm with her shyness, and now that she has tasted death, she was finally letting loose, but Tianna who has known the girl her entire life, knew something was definitely different.
"Who are you?" Tianna asked suddenly, catching Katherine off-guard.
The girl stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face her cousin.
"So you finally realized?" Katherine asked Tianna, whose pupils dilated.
"What do you mean?" Tianna asked, even more surprised at the pure confidence that her cousin was oozing.
'What are you doing, Katherine?' The system stood alert.
"What I mean is that you finally recognized I changed my perfume to the Identity brand whose tagline is Who are you?" Katherine asked, and the system heaved a sigh of relief.
'I swear you will give me a heart attack before completing any task,' The system groaned before falling back into Katherine's headspace, making the girl smile inwardly.
Tianna smiled, her gaze looking behind Delilah again and again.
"You nearly had me there. Are you serious about this change? Are you okay? You said something about -" Tianna stopped talking when she looked behind Katherine.
Katherine, who was walking backward, stopped in her place when she felt something behind her.
Rrrrrr...
The sound of a low growl echoed behind her, and Katherine looked at Tianna with wide eyes.
"It isn't what I think it is, right?" Katherine asked, and Tianna gulped before nodding.
"It is what you think it is," Tianna whispered.
Katherine closed her eyes before taking a deep breath and turning around.
She looked at the large animal in front of her, her heart thumping loudly.
'Isn't this amazing? This is the first time I have seen such a big bear,' The system said, and Katherine gritted her teeth.
'Aren't you supposed to save me or something? Why are you complimenting the bear?' Katherine asked.
'Hmmm, let me look at the manual,' The demonic system clicked its tongue before humming.
'It's not written in the manual. I guess, you are on your own,' The system wanted to teach Katherine a lesson for giving her a heart attack earlier.
"Delilah, what are we going to do? The Prince said that we should take a few guards, but I completely forgot about it because I wanted to have some time with you. What if it kills us?" Tianna's eyes brimmed with tears, and Katherine sighed.
"Run," Katherine said to Tianna.
Tianna looked at her sister, wide-eyed.
"What do you mean by run? How can I leave you like this? I will -"
"It's no time to think about kinship. Be helpful and useful. Go and bring some guards with you. I will try to keep the animal busy till then. You... You know I can dance very well. Maybe I can use some tricks to dodge his attacks. Just hurry," Katherine said, and Tianna immediately nodded.
"Rrrrrrr!" The bear roared when Tianna started running, a scream leaving Tianna's mouth.
"Help! Someone help!" Tianna rushed towards the entrance of the forest which was close to the training area.
Meanwhile, Katherine turned to look at the bear.
'Think Katherine, think. This isn't the first time you have faced a wild animal. This is just a normal bear. Let's focus on our even breathing rather than his size,' Katherine told herself, her body trembling when the bear started to move towards her.
'F*ck it. I am not Katherine anymore. I am Delilah, the coward. I need to run too," Katherine ran as soon as the bear started to move towards her faster.
As Katherine ran towards her forest entrance, she realized what kind of weak body she was in, because she had taken only three steps when her foot was entangled with the uplifted root, and she fell face first on the ground.
The sound of the bear cooing sounded behind her, and she closed her eyes in utter embarrassment.
This was the clumsiest fall of her life.
'So this is how Katherine Moon couldn't survive in this system world for a day,' Katherine thought in her mind.
No. She wasn't someone who gave up so easily.
Katherine turned around, looking at the bear with aggression paired with anxiousness.
If she was going to die, she might as well try her best to survive.
"Hey! You bloody bear! Are you not ashamed to look at a lady's rear? Do you call yourself a man? Where is your gentlebear behavior?" Katherine shouted at the bear, who paused and looked at her curiously, tilting its head.
'What is this? Is he also contemplating if I am worth calling a lady or not?' Katherine thought before clearing her throat and continuing.
"What I mean is, I am female at least. You bears must have it too, the gentlebear behavior. Don't you know how to treat a woman right? What would your bear-girlfriend think of you if she heard you were gazing at other women's body parts?" Katherine nodded at herself.
The bear kept looking at her for some time before he huffed loudly and sat near her, making her flinch when it placed his head on her lap.
'What is this? Is he convinced? Wait. Could it be that I mentioned his girlfriend, and he got emotional? What if he recently got heartbroken? Is that a thing in animals too?' Katherine hummed thoughtfully before she smiled, daringly placing her hand on his head, the low satisfactory sound, making her sigh in relief.
'Damn it. Maybe that's the reason I got a second chance at life. How can the moon goddess take away such an awesome person like me?' Katherine praised herself while the system rolled its eyes.
"I swear, you are the first person I heard spouting this kind of nonsense when their life is in danger," The system said.
Katherine smirked before shaking her head and moving her index finger to deny the system.
"No. No. No. You choose the wrong words. It's not nonsense if it saves your life," Katherine grinned, proud of herself.
The system - "..." I swear something is wrong with her.