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I leisurely passed my days while living inside the headquarters. Eating, sleeping, chatting a bit, eating again, doing a short exercise before eating again, playing a bit, and eating again, then wandering around here and there and another round of eatingā¦ Itās good to be able to eat snacks to my heartās content whenever I want to, but I have nothing to do. I even considered trying to read some books to spend my time.\n\nBut the most surprising thing was Captain Jullius is actually quite busy. If there werenāt any expeditions, I thought Captain Jullius would be playing, training, or spacing out, but that wasnāt the case at all. He woke up early in the morning then had breakfast and listened to Ortzenās miscellaneous reports. After that, as long as thereās nothing wrong happened, he would attend the court everyday. Since Ortzen wasnāt able to leave the headquarters, the one who accompanied him to the Palace was none other than Lather. Initially I thought heās just an ignorant young man, but surprisingly Lathy was a fallen noble who had even graduated from the college. I donāt know the detailed story of how he joined the Special Task Squad, but it looked like he was the one in charge to deal with any matters related to Imperial Palace.\n\nAfter he returned from the court, Captain Jullius ate his lunch and took a short break before having various lessons from Ortzen. In the past, he had free time after returning from the court, but some time ago Ortzen held him back to teach him about various things. I only heard about it in passing, in general Ortzen taught him about how to manage a territory and vassals, including the related laws, but I didnāt know why he suddenly taught those things. Anyway, thanks to that, Captain Jullius could only be fred when itās about dinner time, so I was bored to death until the evening.\n\nāSofia is also busy.ā\n\nI muttered by myself while staring into the training grounds which was located in front of the main building of the headquarters. Recently Sofia was learning to cook in the kitchen. She has long known that I have sweet tooth, so she told me she would make some for me even after we have left the headquarters and have been learning eagerly, but it turns out that half of the reason was because her hobby was cooking. Well, thereās nothing wrong with having a hobby.\n\nEven so, itās not good for me to be bored all day. Although I have been training my body every now and then but I couldnāt just doing it for the whole day though.\n\nāMaybe I should try to look for someone to exchange some blows with.ā\n\nI looked at the traces on the ground soil left behind by two members of Special Task Squad who were sparring together just now. Although Captain Jullius didnāt have much free time, our gap in skills were far too great with my current body, but itās worth trying to do it with other guys. I should try to find that circus performer and have him do a match with me.\n\n(T/N: to refresh your memory, circus performer is referring to Clauen)\n\nāI havenāt seen that circus performer these days.ā\n\nWould Ortzen nag at me if I randomly grabbed any member of Special Task Squad who looked promising than the circus performer to have a sparring with me? These days, Ortzen have been treating me very well. When I jumped out of the window in the middle of the night and made the alarm went off, he didnāt even scold me, much less got angry. Then it should be okay. Alright, Ietās look for any decent memberā¦\n\nāHuh?ā\n\nRight at that moment, I sensed someone else presence who didnāt even try to conceal his presence. Most people inside here tend to move stealthily, so who could it be? As the sounds of that personās footsteps became clearer, I turned my body around and I saw a man in his mid-twenties with goldenish brown hair thatās more like dull yellow color, approaching me. Iāve seen his face somewhere before, but who is he again? Emm, ummā¦ just by the fact that I couldnāt remembered him, then he must be an unsignificant person.\n\nāMiss Silla Epheria!ā\n
That unsignificant person called my name excitedly. Looking at the uniform heās wearing right now, he should be a member of Special Task Squad. What a coincidence. I could make him as my sparring partner to pass the time. Just by looking at his movement, seemed like he didnāt have much ability, so it should be fine as long as I didnāt kill him, right?\n\nāWho might you be?ā\n\nFirst of all, I decided to get to know his name.\n\nIn response to my question that guy had a slightly disappointed look on his face.\n\nāWe have met before, havenāt we?ā\n\nāIt seems so.ā\n\nI couldnāt remember who he is, but he looked familiar for some reasons.\n\nāIām the Vice-Captain of the Special Task Squad, my name is Sevus Luth.ā\n\nāVice-captain? Oh.ā\n\nThe loser from back then! No wonder I couldnāt remember him, heās deemed to be forgotten anyway. That guy was all smiles then he reached out his right hand that was hidden behind his back. He held a bouquet full of bright red roses in his hand.\n\nāItās a gift for a beautiful Lady.ā\n\nāā¦ā\n\nI coldly stared at the large bouquet. What is this, a duel challenge? He didnāt wear any gloves, so I was hesitated for a while and a moment later I came to realize of my current identity. Iām just an ordinary noble lady now.\n\nPresenting a bouquet as a gift for a man wasĀ meant to ridicule the other party as if was saying āyouāre a coward just like a bitchā. Although I have always been a woman, but in the past, due to my position and appearance that were unusual for a woman, I received some bouquets for several times as a form for a duel challenge as soon as I was promoted to be a Captain. In my case, my deputy told me that the bouquet meant to say āwhere does this arrogant bitch come fromā. Even though I was a leader of a knight squad, but thereāre still those who looked down on me just because Iām a woman.\n\nAnyway the loser in front of me was just truly wanted to give me a gift without any hidden meaning, butā¦\n\nāā¦ thank you.ā\n\nI gave him a curt reply and received the bouquet. He didnāt have any sense in choosing a gift. A bouquet didnāt have any use,Ā you couldnāt even eat it. Itās better to give me a pudding that has been eaten like Captain Jullius did in the past. When I accepted the bouquet, that Luth guy smiled even more.\n\nāEven the blooming roses arenāt a match to your beauty, Lady.ā\n\nWhat the heck, I know very well that Iām a beauty. Ever since long time ago, Iāve always been this Empire most handsoā ah, now Iām not one anymore. Nonetheless, Silla is also beautiful. Sillaās only shortcoming was sheās too thin, but recently I have gained some weight so itās fitted to be called as pretty now.\n\nThat Luth guy still has a line up of praises to compliment my looks, but I didnāt even listen to any of them and just passed through my ears. If you want to flatter me, do it properly. His words couldnāt even be compared to half of all the fancy words inside the love letters I frequently got in the past. Compared to the ladiesā elegant and delicate handwritings, his level was too low, and it annoyed me listening to them.\n\nāSo, what do you want?ā\n\nHe cleared his throat once after I cut his bullcrap off with a single question.\n\nāIām trying to save the Lady from the evilās den!ā\n\nEmmā¦ Iāve left the Countās mansion though. At first I wanted to give him that reply but I doubted he might have heard of the accident related to Count Epheria household, and while I was still hesitating, he talked again.\n\nāMiss, you have been deceived by that bastard Jullius!ā\n\nāā¦, I donāt think so.ā\n\nOrtzen might deceived me, but itās impossible for Captain Jullius. Honestly, I could even deceive Captain Jullius although Iām not very smart myself. My answer made him (Luth) flied into a rage and resentfully clenched his fists.\n\nāDidnāt you also see it that day? That guy is a monster!ā\n
ā¦, if Captain Jullius is a monster, then does it mean Iām a beast in the neighborhood next door? Why were this bastard calling a good person as a monster? I frowned upon him and also felt offended by his remarks, but I didnāt know whatās going on in his head that he enthusiastically kept talking instead.\n\nāI, Sevus Luth, will swear in the name of the honor of Luth household to protect my Lady! You donāt have to worry about anything and leave everything to me!ā\n
What could I entrusted you with, as youāre just a bastard that is weaker than myself? I couldnāt bring myself to hear all the nonsense from this bastard who didnāt even know his place anymore. To have him as my guinea pig for my new weapon that Iāve been recently learned of, I threw his bouquet up in the air and rolled up the hem of my dress. His face turned red after he saw what I have done.\n\nāEhem, ehem, I actually like an aggressive woman.ā\n\nReally? Well, Iām not very aggressive though.\n\nāBut this place is too conspicuous. Iāll serve you well, so once weāre insideā¦ā\n\nWhile listening to his laugh-filled voice, I unwrapped the whip that was placed right below my knee. Originally, I hid it on my thigh, but Ortzen advised me not to hide any weapons over the knee if itās possible. Thus, I only made an exception by hiding a dagger on my thigh to prepare for the unprecedented.\n\nāā¦ what are you doing?ā\n\nAs I was holding onto my whip which has a long flexible rope with a small iron piece at the end of it, Luth confusedly asked. What else could it be? Instead of answering him, I grabbed the handle of the whip and lightly swang the whip.\n\nSwish!\n\nāArghhhh!ā\n\nThe small sharp iron piece has passed through that bastardās cheek. The faint small scratch that was hardly noticeable, immediately has some blood oozed out of it. I skillfully withdrew the whip and encircled it on my arm while taking two steps backwards. Come at me now.\n\nāW-what are you doing?!ā\n\nāI challenged you for a duel. Should we go to the training grounds?ā\n\nThe Luth guy looked at me in disbelief.\n\nāYou bitch! Are you crazy?!ā\n\nā¦ Why did he curse? Did he make a fuss because I attacked him first out of nowhere? The Holy Knight Squad frequently trained to deal with sudden attacks, but didnāt Special Task Squad also do the same? Itās important to train every now and then so you can deal with any sudden attacks. Or perhaps it was because Iām not part of Special Task Squad so he thought lightly of me.\n\nāAlthough Iām not a member of Special Task Squad, but a duel between us should be allowed, right? To my knowledge, only the Holy Knight Squad is prohibited to be challenged. Ah, in case if youāre afraid that you might lose, donāt worry Iāll be lenient.ā