Chapter 47: A Time of Peace and Comfort

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Parsifal was punished by being sent to the Central Workshop to refine metals, which involved the kind of bare-chested, sweat-drenched blacksmithing work.

But he didn’t seem unhappy about it.

“I never liked being a hunter anyway, fighting others for a living doesn’t suit me, and I don’t have that talent. Compared to that, I prefer tinkering with new things.”

These were his exact words to me, and perhaps this was why Madam arranged for him to study at the Central Workshop.

And my lie was never exposed, because two days later, my period really came.

As heavy as always, but even so, I didn’t stop training with the Duke, persisting in seeking guidance from him every morning on Order Power control techniques until I was exhausted before going for lunch.

Regarding this matter, Madam maintained a state of silence, neither supporting nor trying to dissuade anymore.

She just made different desserts for me every day.

Clothes would get damaged almost daily. And most of Peylo’s wardrobe consisted of delicate and beautiful Western-style dresses, which were obviously all expensive just by looking at them, and sometimes it was quite heartbreaking.

But this couldn’t be helped.

In the afternoons, the Duke usually stayed at the Central Workshop. On one hand, he was supervising the progress of the Thirteenth Moon, and on the other hand, he seemed to be secretly investigating something.

As for me, I would take a nice afternoon nap, and after waking up, practice alone in the castle grounds.

During this time, I became familiar with the hunters.

The castle guard was the Shanter Military Third Squad, with Captain Hoover being a burly uncle with a full beard, the kind of person who was rough on the outside but delicate in thought. He had worked for the Duke for over 10 years, and before that was the son of a hunter family. He would often tell everyone stories about hunting silver wolves in the snow when he was young.

Sometimes when I was tired, I would sit with them and listen to them chat about idle matters. They seemed very comfortable with me and would never call me Miss Sylvia, always addressing me as Little Peipei.

Every time they saw me, everyone looked very happy, especially Captain Hoover, who said he had practically watched me grow up.

Although not remembering them was quite disappointing. But I think, compared to the first and second squads, although the third squad was fewer in number, they were probably all the people the Duke trusted most.

One time Valarr was mentioned.

“That damn bastard actually tried to escape the other night, fortunately, Bella stopped him. Even though he’s a traitor who betrayed his master, he’s quite stubborn, refusing to talk no matter how much we beat him.”

“The bastard, daring to attempt to assassinate our little princess of Shanter Castle, killing him a thousand times wouldn’t be enough!”

When Hoover was saying this, his expression was extremely fierce.

I tilted my head and thought for a moment.

“Maybe, beating him, isn’t painful enough.”

“…Do you have any ideas, Little Peipei?”

“Have someone, use that, smoke. To smoke him out.”

Hoover had a sudden realization.

“Right! We found many smoke tubes in his room! Hey, you there, go tell Bella right away.”

As a hunter was about to leave with the order, I quickly called him back.

“Smoke tubes, give me a few.”

“What do you want these for?”

“Secret.”

I put my index finger to my lips and winked playfully.

…………

At night, I would almost always quietly read books.

After quickly finishing 《World History》, I took another book called 《Rules of Order》 from the Duke’s bookshelf.

This book gave me an initial understanding of this world’s concept of “energy”.

According to the book’s concepts, life needs energy, and energy is broadly classified into three types.

Physical energy to maintain survival, faith to maintain the soul, and order to maintain rules.

Both of the former must exist to be called intelligent life.

And when life masters rules through order, it is called power.

Order Power is the power of creation. Life borrows from the world’s source, creating fire, creating water, creating wind… and so on through rules.

Interestingly, in the following few short lines, the Abyss was mentioned.

The original text in the book was, [And opposite to creation is Chaos Power, that is the darkness from the Abyss that devours everything.]

There was one point I found intriguing.

Humans didn’t have Order Power before the epoch. Those who possessed Order Power were the extinct alien races. Humans mastering Order Power happened many years later.

This point was very vague in the book, almost glossed over, and it was difficult to make an accurate judgment.

In any case, I had a deeper understanding of Order Power, and should be able to use it more smoothly in the future.

Sometimes I would also read knight novels placed on Peylo’s bookshelf as a relaxing adjustment.

But the plots were mostly boring, with protagonists almost all following the same template: noble knights wearing bright silver armor, riding sturdy horned beasts. They were mostly righteous and skilled with swords, cutting through obstacles in the story, beheading great villains, and finally marrying noble princesses.

Obviously a realistic version of a Mary Sue.

Perhaps because they were Peylo’s books, the stories often unfolded from the princesses’ perspectives, constantly expressing their admiration for handsome knights.

That was probably her girlish heart.

Time flew by swiftly, and the weather gradually became increasingly cold.

Life in the castle was ultimately much more comfortable than in the small village. Living conditions were considered top-tier in this world, each meal was so sumptuous it made me feel happy, and I no longer had to bathe in the small stream, although the coolness was quite comfortable…

Maids were always on standby outside the bedroom door, just say what you want and it would be done.

I feel that going on like this would spoil me…

During this time, my growth rate once shocked the Duke. The formation speed and toughness of ice blades became increasingly skillful, and I could vaguely make decent shapes now.

Practice with the Duke also became increasingly easier, of course partly because he was holding back, but my progress in combat was evident.

During this period, Carlos came to the castle twice, both times hurriedly coming and being locked in the study with the Duke doing who knows what, then quickly leaving, barely giving me time to say a few words.

Of course, this was also because I didn’t want to talk to him.

However, every time he came, he would bring me Osmiru cake to eat. So I secretly decided that if he brings them again next time, I would make up with him.

It would be perfect to ask him what he’s been doing so mysteriously lately, as Duke Scalliger won’t tell me, and Madam knows as little as I do…

Speaking of Madam, there was one thing that troubled me.

She worried too much about me.

Every morning she would wake me up on time, decide what clothes I should wear, brush my hair, and wouldn’t let me sleep in even when I wanted to.

She was also very strict during meals, not letting me eat too much or too little… this is my guess. Then there were the napkins, utensils, eating, leaving the table, and all sorts of table etiquette, she would start nagging me at the slightest mistake.

With so many delicious things in front of me, having to chew slowly, heaven knows how uncomfortable I felt.

Not just table etiquette, other aspects were the same. Because I always did poorly, she eventually simply spent some time each day specifically giving me etiquette lessons.

“A girl needs to have proper manners when going out.”

What followed this sentence was the beginning of a nightmare.

Standing posture, sitting posture, deportment, curtseying, conversation… Madam began devil-like training on me from every aspect, to the extent that I recently developed an illusion that I was actually quite affected.

Later, when it came time for etiquette training, Madam and I would first play hide and seek in the castle.

I’m not sure if Peylo had also played cat and mouse with Madam countless times like this before, but she could easily find me every time.

Then put on a childlike smug expression.

After a while, I understood that resistance was futile, only by quickly learning all these things could I escape from this suffering early.

My attitude became much more serious later on, and now I can barely meet Madam’s standards.

In short, life during this period could be called peaceful and comfortable.

Except for one memorable incident.

One day, when Madam took me to get clothes custom-made at a clothing store in the business street, an unexpected situation occurred on the way back.

The horned carriage was blocked by a crowded crowd when passing through the circular plaza, and just as I was wondering why so many people were gathered, screams came from the distance.

Lifting the curtain, I saw raging flames.

There were many people in tattered clothes tied to wooden frames, with large piles of hay stacked at their feet, being set on fire by people wearing black robes holding torches.

As the flames spread to their bodies, the piercing screams made one’s heart shudder.

I heard conversations in the crowd.

“What kind of people are being burned?”

“Seems like heretics, those evil people who don’t know how to revere the gods…”

“How terrible… but heretics deserve to die indeed.”

“I heard they were merchants from Sylgaria?”

“Can’t merchants be heretics?”

“That’s true…”

Those people quickly turned charred black in the flames, their bodies constantly twisting and struggling, their throats scorched by the heat waves letting out inhuman cries, gradually falling silent in pain and despair.

Nearby, a priest clasped his hands to his chest, bowing his head in prayer.

“Noble Goddess of Sin, please send down the fire of sin to punish these people who worship evil…”

“Alright, stop looking,” Madam pulled down the carriage curtain, “You’ll have nightmares.”

“Mm.”

It wasn’t until the horned carriage had turned around two streets that I suddenly realized those people being burned to death were the merchants we had caught.

Apart from this incident, my days in Winter City could be called peaceful and comfortable.

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