Five years later, the fifth queen of England stood outside the bow and learned how to open and retract the bow. Standing on the left side of the archery, Isabel seems to have transformed into a longbowman with superb archery skills. However, her mind was not thinking about how to teach the art of archery to the queen, who was only 16 years old at the time.

Looking at Catherine very calmly: "Since your step-grandmother is willing to take you in, why won't you and the other children be educated?" ”

Catherine felt a little sore in her arms after pulling the bowstring a few times, and lowered her arms and the longbow she was holding to shoulder her: "Actually, step-grandmother doesn't have much time to take care of me and the other children, and there are many things that she needs to deal with every day in Lambeth Palace. ”

Yesterday, Catherine quietly told Isabel a very secret affair about herself: she had been in love or an affair with the Duchess's music teacher for a while last year. The reason why Catherine told her about this very secret affair was probably because of her relationship with one of Catherine's eldest sisters, who had the same name.

Such a "secret affair" that Catherine did not dare to talk about in public was not a thing at all for modern Isabelle. In the later society that advocates equality between men and women, the ambiguity or love between men and women, and even sexual relations, have become almost as ordinary as eating and sleeping that everyone needs, and there is no novelty at all. At most, you can die for love, kill for love, go crazy for love, and give up everything for love. What's more, there is only sexual relations left between two people who love each other, or people who do not love each other can also have sexual relations, and so on.

However, it is now the English society of the mid-16th century, where religion was the focus of life. Women in this era who desire to pursue the pleasures of the opposite sex will be regarded by the public as the most shameless and cursed sin. Therefore, Isabel, who is a traditional, conservative "aristocratic woman of the north", pretended to be surprised and did not let her go any further.

Since she wants Catherine to develop freely, then she can't stop her pursuit of love. Now it seems that her relationship with the music teacher is her first love. As long as you have your first love, you will inevitably not look for a second relationship and a second love. Isabel intends to learn more about Catherine's attitude towards love.

"Well, the Duchess will naturally be busy. But the simplest reading and writing English is still taught to you and other children, right? ”

"Of course, the Duchess at least taught me how to read and write English."

Isabel remembered her personal maid Anne. Poor kitchen maid Anne Cook only said before coming to Aske Manor, that she could not read or write at all, and was basically illiterate. Later, with her help, he barely reached the level of the first and second grades of primary school. It follows that the majority of English women in this era did not have access to education.

"It seems that the Duchess does not want to take care of you and the other children. Okay, do you want to continue practicing archery? She felt that Catherine was almost rested, and glanced at the longbow in her hand.

"Isabel, can you give me an arrow? I want to see if I can hit the target. ”

Isabel drew a heavy arrow from the quiver behind her and walked up to her and handed it to her: "This arrow is a heavy arrow, not an ordinary flying arrow. If the arrow lands on the ground halfway, I won't reprimand you for not trying. ”

Catherine looked at her and nodded understandingly, and when she took the arrow, she also swept the shaft of the arrow up and down with her hand: "Well, it's a bit heavy. Is it because it's so heavy, so you call it a heavy arrow? ”

Isabel was amused by her expression and words: "Catherine, you are so cute. In fact, the weight of the shaft is only part of the reason. The more important reason is that the weight of the shaft of the arrow and the iron arrow of the arrow can cause great damage to the knight wearing the armor of the quasi-lancer at a very close distance, or directly kill the knight. ”

"Oh, I see. So, what is a quasi-lancer ... Armour? ”

"I'll tell you about that later. Now, you can try to shoot an arrow first. ”

"Well, you can't laugh at me if I miss."

"Of course, I'm not going to laugh at you."

Catherine, who was standing behind the beam, placed the arrow on the bowstring, raised her left arm to aim at the target directly in front of her, and pinched the tail of the arrow with her right hand and pulled the bowstring. Before he could fully pull the bowstring, he hurriedly shot the arrow when he did aim at the center of the target. With such a shooting method, it is conceivable whether the arrow can hit the target.

Glancing at the arrow that had just landed at the bottommost edge of the target, Isabel turned her head and nodded at Catherine, "Well, it didn't miss the target." If this is your first time shooting, not bad. ”

Catherine's face flushed, "I'm sorry, Isabel, I let you down. ”

"How so? I just wanted you to give it a try and didn't think about anything else. ”

"Uh, why don't we go and rest for a while?"

Isabel nodded and walked over, taking the longbow from Catherine's hand. When the two returned to the left stand and sat down, the direct sunlight on them was still comfortable, and there was no feeling of summer sunshine at all. Catherine put her skirt between her legs and looked at her with a happy smile: "Okay, can you tell me what quasi-lancer armor is now?" ”

Isabel looked sideways at the young and beautiful girl and smiled, "Of course you can." But can you tell me about the Duchess's music teacher? ”

A sweet smile flashed across Catherine's face, "Actually, it was Henry Mannox's Fixative Mass that attracted me in the first place. Later, he also wrote a hymn for me with English lyrics. ”

"Well, you were touched by this hymn of his? Developed a love affair between a man and a woman for him? ”

"Probably. I had never found myself so fascinated by a musician before I met him. ”

"Catherine, love is always the main topic of conversation between men and women."

Catherine recalled the wonderful days she spent with the musicians, and suddenly whispered: "Isabel, I know that you are the female companion of His Royal Highness the Duke of Richmond, have you ever loved His Royal Highness?" ”

Isabel would be hypocritical to say that she didn't like the Duke of Richmond. However, she felt that she treated the Duke of Richmond as if she was just an eldest sister treating her younger brother, and smiled lightly when she thought about it: "There is love. But not to the point where you love music teachers. ”