Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

It could be said that Miss Catherine Navarre was now surviving entirely on the milk candies and biscuits she had brought from Sea Blue.

Although Anna also ate very little, she would always gently embrace her younger sister and earnestly comfort her, "Mrs. Mitchell has been very kind and generous already. They are living a hard life now. As a cultured lady, you should be more understanding."

In truth, Lady Big Navarre was also struggling to adapt, but it was in her nature not to complain and to always bear her burdens in silence.

Moreover, since Catherine had already shown her immaturity, Anna naturally fell into the role of "the more mature elder sister."

Catherine grabbed her sister's hand and cooed, "I'm not complaining about Mrs. Mitchell, she is very nice, and there are few ladies in Sea Blue with her grace. But... you know, I just can't swallow it."

"Just endure it a little longer," Anna replied.

"That's right, there's also that Mitchell's — young lady," Catherine corrected herself at the last moment because Anna now strictly forbade her sister from using the words 'little slut' and 'little bitch': "She eats almost everything on the plate at every meal, not knowing the etiquette of a lady at all. How can an unmarried young lady eat up everything on her plate? That is a privilege reserved for married women!"

Anna's cheek rested on her sister's shoulder, "I think Miss Michel is very carefree, genuine and unpretentious, and that's good."

At these words, Catherine angrily pushed her sister away, "Go away, don't hug me, you might as well find that little slut to be your sister!"

"Alright, stop using the word 'little' — that one," Anna had to put on her elder sister's air of authority: "And, you're not much older than her, are you?"

Although Catherine always prefixed Scarlett's name with 'little,' she was in fact only a year older than Scarlett.

Catherine was sixteen, Scarlett was fifteen, and Anna was four months shy of nineteen.

In Sea Blue, at the age of sixteen, ladies were to become the mistress of the house, and the Navarre sisters were soon to verge into the realm of spinsterhood.

Gossip quietly spread through the living rooms, banquet halls, and small gardens, and the old rivals of Lady Navarre — the other women — were all eagerly awaiting to see a laughingstock.

That was also why for the past two years Lady Navarre had sighed day and night, losing sleep over her hatred for the young Serviati man, grinding her teeth in frustration.

"Mister M sure left happily, riding off to town and leaving the two of us here," Catherine turned her complaint towards that man.

She bit her sister's finger and said, "I can endure not eating well, or the bed being as hard as a rock, leaving me sore all over; I can bear it. But it's just so boring here, even more boring than the Monastery, and I'm about to be smothered with boredom. Today, I counted the leaves on that big tree outside, and it took all day."

Even Anna had nothing to say to that; she just sighed softly, because she felt the same way.

For them, the emptiness of the spirit was even harder to bear than the lack of material resources.

Of course, Mrs. Mitchell wouldn't make the "Sea Blue ladies" work in the fields, nor would she arrange for guests to do housework.

Under these circumstances, Anna and Catherine found themselves with almost nothing to do on Mitchell's estate, while everyone else was busy.

Scarlett went out every day to herd the cattle and sheep and also to cut hay for the horses.

Without fine fodder, the horses had to be exercised less and were largely fed on water-boiled straw — as they had not yet fully adapted to the coarse feed.

Curious and unwilling to admit defeat, Catherine followed Scarlett for a day.

When she returned that evening, Lady Catherine Navarre collapsed on her bed and refused to get up the next day.

To pass the time, Anna tried to learn embroidery from Mrs. Mitchell.

By the end of the day, Anna's fingers were pricked and dotted with blood. Even Eileen didn't have the heart to let her continue, but she still persisted.

And Catherine? She wanted whatever her sister had from childhood, so naturally, she insisted on learning embroidery too.

But after pricking her fingers twice, Catherine played the petulant child. She still held her needlework basket while circling around her sister, not really sewing, merely chatting to distract Anna.

Watching the behavior of the Navarre sisters, in the mouths of the few remaining maidservants at Mitchell's, the meaning of the term "Sea Blue ladies" was rapidly changing from "beautiful young ladies from a distinguished background" to "good-for-nothing showpieces."

Needlework was an essential skill for all ladies, regardless of how exalted their status, and even women of ducal and princely houses had to learn it.

However, Lady Navarre never forced her daughters to learn needlework because she had higher aspirations for them.

Upon reaching Mrs. Mitchell's, Anna began "catching up" with her lessons.

Compared to the Navarre sisters, who couldn't even leave the estate, Tang Juan spent his days rather comfortably.

After all, he was a man, and it was convenient for him to go anywhere.

So, most of the time, Lieutenant Juan stayed in the military camp. When he truly had nothing to do, he would take his men out hunting.

With its expansive forests and rich natural resources, the Newly Reclaimed Land offered Captain Juan the kind of hunting opportunities he rarely got in Vineta; he was thoroughly enjoying himself there.

Rabbits, roe deer, gazelles, and stags... Lieutenant Juan's game grew bigger and bigger. Within days of arriving in Wolf Town, he was already contemplating bear hunting.

Seeing the giant bear and lion skeletons in the cellar of Mitchell's estate, Tang Juan too felt the stirrings of competitive desire.

Lieutenant Juan's obsession with hunting actually eased the burden on Pierre.

The lieutenant had brought with him twelve Cavalry soldiers, and with their horses, they added a significant strain to the already limited food reserves of the militia.