Around noon.

The residence of the Count of Jaén.

"I'm late...... Hey? Margaret Ngore, who hurried into the restaurant, was taken aback.

"Yo," Jessica Hahn said with a mouth full of chicken legs, "Marco (Gree) (Lid) (Ter) ......" she greeted inarticulately.

The helpless smile of the girl sitting on the side. Jessica is the "owner" of the house, but Margaret is the host of the party. Margaret was the first to arrive, but was overridden by her guest.

The mansion of the Count of Hahn was typical, belonging to the residence of noble warriors: there were no frills except for the armour and swords hanging on the walls, there were few servants, and the corners and tables were covered with dust. It might be a good party for the unruly Secret Warriors, but for the ladies of the daughters, it's not so much fun......

"Jessica and I met on the street," the maiden deliberately picked up a handkerchief and wiped the corners of her mouth, although there was nothing there, "she was glad to entertain me." "The girl has long enjoyed playing her own role.

"That's right......" Margaret said reluctantly.

[It's rude to be noisy. Xiaowei reminded.

[I have my own measure. The girl said leisurely.

The number of people seated around the table increased to three. The presence of the girl originally made Margaret seem a little restrained, but as time passed, she slowly let go.

"It's a pity that His Highness Dimi couldn't come with him." After a while, Jessica said regretfully.

Dimi...... Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Dimiteo? Margaret looked puzzled.

"When I met Victoria," Jessica took a large sip of the orange liquid in her own glass—she claimed it was juice, but the girl's strong sense of smell told her that it contained fine fruit wine," and His Highness Dimiteo was beside her. He was still a bit of a ...... when we left."

"Only girls will attend this afternoon's party," the girl interrupted calmly, "It is not appropriate for His Highness Dimiteo to appear here. Why did you choose this place as the meeting place, Margaret? ”

"Ah, that's because I invited ......," Jessica said.

"Let me guess," the girl stared at the fork in her hand, "Margaret, you like to practice swords, and you have a good relationship with the people in the army, but you are not familiar with the ladies in the city. You want to take advantage of this opportunity to build relationships with people – but you don't know who is more worth befriending. So you set up this bureau. People who show disgust with this excessively simple environment are not qualified to be your friends...... Am I right, Margaret? ”

Margaret was a little embarrassed. She chose Jessica's house as the meeting place just because of a coincidence, who would have thought that the girl could make such a big nonsense.

"Oh...... yes," she said in a hesitation, "that's it." The girl's eyes made her panic.

[She wrote on her face that she hadn't actually thought about anything.] Even Xiaowei can see it.

[Worse than last time.] The girl also complained.

……

Meal.

Jessica's house in the large living room.

Margaret's sister Angel was the first to arrive, followed by the other nobles' daughters. A few girls with heavy makeup—girls who really didn't understand why they wore heavy makeup at a party where there were only girls—frowned at the "shabby" environment. Someone complained, but no one left.

The servant brought refreshments to the crowd and left. This makes it easier for everyone to chat. A girl with long, wavy brown hair asked why there was no band, and the answer was that Jessica didn't have anything like that at home.

At first, there were also expressions of condolences for the death of Margaret's father and grandfather. But soon, the conversation shifted to finding a man and a fiancé. Most of these noble ladies have no intention of serving in the army, and have already found or are looking for a suitable marriage partner. Margaret distributed the pamphlet written by the maiden and changed the topic in time. Each of the aristocratic daughters who took the pamphlet put on a look of reading it attentively, but the maiden was sure that more than half of them did not read it at all.

A few attentive girls noticed the signature of Prince Dimiteau after the preface, and their eyelids twitched slightly.

……

"Victoria, your qualifications for martial arts are actually very good, aren't you?" Suddenly, Jessica said. She tossed the pamphlet aside, and her eyes fixed on the girl's face as if she were staring at a marvelous treasure.

"Jessica?" Margaret laughed. She thought Jessica was whimsical again.

"Why do you say that?" The girl was also surprised. Has he been exposed somewhere? No, I don't.

"It's just a gut feeling." Jessica said.

Jessica jumped out of her chair, walked to the wall under the bewildered eyes of the big ladies, and stood on tiptoe to remove a long-handled battle axe from the pure white wall. This tomahawk is forged from stainless steel, and it weighs dozens of pounds, and Jessica is "sinking" when she holds it in her arms.

"Jessica?" The girl said tremblingly and stood up.

"Don't you ......" Margaret tried to stop her, but it was too late.

Jessica said "Hi", her little face turned red, and she raised her hand with all her might, and "toss" the axe sideways in the direction of the girl-

"Wow!" The ladies screamed.

The girl jerked backwards and knocked over the chair. The tomahawk landed on the floor in front of the maiden, making a "dang" sound.

"Do you want to kill me!" The girl yelled.

"Rest assured, the axe is pointed downwards and will damage the floor at most." Jessica gasped.

"......" The girl was speechless.

"No, Jessica, it's not a problem...... "Margaret didn't know what to say.

"Hey, Victoria, aren't you very fast?" A girl with short brown hair said. Aside from Margaret, she was the only one of the ladies present with a sword.

"I see you have a lot of strength," Jessica chattered to herself, glancing at the chair that had been knocked into the corner by the girl, "maybe you can still walk like a fly in heavy armor - I've always envied Dad, so it must be ......"

"Don't talk about it." The girl holds her forehead. She propped up her chair. One of the guards knocked on the door, and with Jessica's permission, slowly walked in, hanging the axe back on the wall. He didn't show any strange emotions, and the guards and servants of the mansion had long been accustomed to the nonsense of the eldest lady. The guard smiled at the crowd, bowed, and left.

The girl has also calmed down.

For a moment, I reflexively wanted to reach out and grab the tomahawk. With the speed and strength of the "perfect body", picking up this axe with one hand is like picking up something.

The girl could tell that with Jessica's little strength, the axe could not touch her at all, and even if she did not move, the axe could only barely land on the floor under her feet. Jessica doesn't seem to know what to do, and she doesn't do things without measure.

Margaret counted Jessica a few words, then turned her gaze to the girl.

"You just hid really well. Jessica aside, you may be more ...... than you seem. Uh, more ......"

"Strong." Jessica said. Not every girl likes the adjective "strong", but Jessica has no scruples about saying it.

"You're not the only one who said that about me, Margaret." The girl smiled wryly.

"It's not that I can't understand," said Margaret, who was a little jealous of the girl's qualifications, "that you want to be a scholar." But in this country ......"

Margaret didn't finish her sentence. In the Empire, strong warriors were valued more than literati.

"Don't listen to them," a waist-length girl pouted, "and if you can come up with such a magical taxonomy, you should concentrate on being a scholar." ”

"Don't listen to her," the brown-haired girl with the sword sneered, "If you're willing to practice martial arts, I recommend ......"

"You can learn some simple self-defense skills." Margaret played the round.

……

Time flies.

"I'm tired." The girl soon got tired of the tea party tricks.

"It's getting late," Margaret said, glancing at the wall clock, "and that's it." ”

The crowd said goodbye to each other. The girl realized that almost every girl could call her name, but she couldn't remember who most of them were, and she relied on Xiaowei to remind her in her head.

[You just didn't deliberately remember it.] Xiaowei hit the nail on the head.

......The girl was a little ashamed, the people she got along with were the best of the young generation in the whole continent, and she really didn't value these aristocratic daughters who would marry soon......

"Will you go back with me, Angel?" Margaret asked.

"No," replied Angel, "I stay at a friend's house. ”

Margaret shrugged. She had to rush back to Engor Manor overnight, and even dinner could only be eaten in the carriage, so there was really no need to force Angel to suffer with her.

"You're really working hard, Margaret." The girl said.

"As a marquis...... and the patriarch of the House of Engor," replied Margaret, "I am still very immature. Therefore, I had to work harder. ”

The girl nodded. She didn't have much affection for Margaret, but in terms of hard work, Margaret was indeed worthy of admiration.

At this time, the girl did not know...... This meeting will be the last time Margaret and herself will meet.

----------------------------------

A few hours later. The suburbs of the imperial capital.

Margaret woke up. She opened her eyes.

“……”

The familiar carriage of carriages catches your eye. The marquis lifted the curtain and looked out the window, the sky was full of stars, and the bright moon had risen in the sky.

Is it already midnight? Margaret thought. She wanted to take a nap after dinner in the car, but she didn't think about sleeping until now. It seems that I am really tired......

To Margaret's surprise, the carriage apparently had not yet reached the Engor manor, and was parked in the wilderness.

"What's wrong?" Margaret poked her head out of the window and shouted to the front of the carriage.