Sally Cooper, the new proprietress of the "Cooper's Ale House," had just left her tavern when she eagerly called out to a bookkeeper who was passing by, "Hey, did you know the duel began?" ”

"What duel?" The bookkeeper didn't quite understand what she was talking about.

"Someone is talking about it in my liquor house, there's a duel going on on the river, don't you know?"

"I don't know, I just came back from outside."

"Stupid, let's go." Sally impatiently urged the clerk to leave, then turned to look at the houses across the street, "I remember, those two guys seemed to be talking about the open space to the west. Well, it's probably not started yet, and it's still too late to go. ”

In the main building of Richmond Castle, less than half a mile from where she was, the lord's wife, Mary Fitzroy, Duchess of Richmond, was standing in her room talking something while she hurried in the direction of her memory.

Mary's hands rubbed against the tights on the outside of her chest and abdomen, and she raised her eyelids and glanced at the valet on the side, "Amy, why doesn't this tights feel firm?" ”

The maid Amy glanced at Mary's tights with some embarrassment, "Ma'am, I did remove the baleen from your straitjacket according to Miss Isabel's dressing habits. ”

Mary stared at the maid, "Well, you're right. But how beautiful and sturdy does Isabel's tights look? ”

The maid recalled some of the things Isabel had talked to her before, and hurriedly added: "Madam, I thought that Miss Isabel said that in order to make the tights strong and beautiful on the body, and not make it difficult for you to breathe, you can add some shredded hard cloth to the tights. ”

Mary nodded thoughtfully, "Amy, go find a piece of hard cloth and cut it as she said." ”

Amy agreed and walked over to the closet on the side of the room to rummage through the hard cloth. At this moment Mary's other maid, Kelly, walked briskly into the room, saluted her, and reported, "Madame, there may be a duel going on on the shore to the west of the castle. ”

Mary, who had been in the north for nearly half a year, no longer felt strange and frightened by the bloody act of settling the dispute with the duel. Instead, she sees duels as a good way to embody chivalry outside of the battlefield. And as the cousin of Her Majesty Queen Catherine, she also followed Her Majesty's precept most of the time: "Your wish is my wish." ”

"yes, I see. Kelly, do you know who's dueling with whom? Mary didn't even lift her eyes, but looked intently at the men's leggings and high riding boots on her legs.

Kelly tilted his head and recalled what he had seen in front of the window, "In the open space of a large and somewhat noisy crowd, there seemed to be a man and a young woman standing. ”

"A young woman?" The maid's words not only caught the attention of the duchess, but even Amy, who was rummaging through the hard cloth, couldn't help but stop what she was doing. Then Mary looked up at the maid and asked eagerly, "Kelly, do you see clearly?" ”

Kelly thought for a moment and nodded, "Yes, ma'am." The young woman was probably wearing a leotard...... Madame, her clothes are very similar to the ones you are wearing. ”

By this time, Mary had already guessed who the young woman who was participating in the duel was. Before she could speak, the maid Amy walked back to her with a piece of hard cloth and said, "Madame, I think this young woman must be Miss Isabelle. ”

Mary glanced at the hard cloth in her hand, as if to say to herself, "What is she fighting someone else for this time?" ”

When the two maids saw that she seemed to be speaking to themselves, they remained silent. When Amy was holding the cloth in her left hand and the scissors in her right hand thinking about how to cut the cloth, she heard the Duchess instruct: "Amy, don't cut it, quickly stuff the cloth into the tights." ”

"Yes, ma'am." While Amy agreed, she saw the Duchess turn her face to Kelly's side, "Kelly, immediately have someone prepare a horse for me, I will go to the duel scene." ”

Kelly glanced at the Duchess's anxious face and said yes, lifted her skirt and trotted out into the corridor outside the room. When he saw a manservant standing in the corridor on the right outside the room, he hurriedly ran to the manservant, "Quick, go and prepare a horse for Madame immediately, go quickly." ”

Regardless of whether the lord, the Duke of Richmond, was in the castle or not, the words of the lord's wife were orders that no one dared to disobey. The manservant in the corridor did not dare to stop for a moment, ran to the staircase on the third floor and explained a few words to another servant who was standing, and the other manservant hurriedly agreed and ran down the stairs to convey the lady's order to a manservant at the staircase on the second floor.

The manservant on the second floor ran to the first floor and explained a few words to the manservant who was waiting at the staircase on the first floor. The manservant on the first floor then trotted to the two sergeants armed with hooks and sickles guarding the gate of the main building, and conveyed clearly: "Sergeant, Madame needs a horse, please lead it to the stairs outside the main building at once." ”

The Duchess hoped that before she arrived at the scene of the duel, Isabelle's duel with someone else had not yet begun. However, many times the hope will always be disappointed. As Mary walked from the third floor to the first floor, the two men in the dueling arena were already in an offensive position.

"Offense is the best defense", Isabel can't remember who said it. If not Rommel, it was Carl von Clausewitz, author of On War. Therefore, in every duel in the past, she always attacked, attacked, and attacked.

And Karl Fox, the opponent of today's duel with her, also took an offensive stance, presumably because he thought his swordsmanship had been practiced well. Or, he didn't believe in the fact that a pampered aristocratic lady was still a master of swordsmanship.

Guided by her incisive tactical thinking, Isabel chose the stabbing sword that was mainly based on stabbing and supplemented by slashing, but chose the custom-made short sword for the duel. On the other hand, the opponent is using a great hand and a half sword, and she must not allow herself to suffer a big loss in weapons.

As Carl holds his sword in both hands, point the tip of the sword straight above his head. As he raised the hilt of his sword to the center of his head, he shouted to Isabel, who was standing a dozen paces away, "Your Excellency, are you ready?" ”

"It seems that this kid did learn some swordsmanship." Isabel nodded at the other party as she held the short sword in both hands and hung it down at her sides.

Sally Cooper, who was watching from the sidelines, had a conflicting thought in her mind: she wanted the two sides to start a duel immediately, but she didn't want to see Isabel put to death.