"What... is she doing?"
Lucian, with a stupefied gaze, pointed at Verity, who was jumping about.
"Some kind of exercise?" Gideon scratched his blonde hair, his grey eyes filled with the same confusion that also filled Lucian's.
Just then, Mr. Cillian, the swordsmanship teacher, walked in with a cheery greeting.
"Hello, boys. Oh, she's here again," he spoke, his voice tinged with a bit of curiosity.
For a couple of days after the bizarre new lady of the Castellan family had appeared before them in simple male clothes, greeted him, and watched, she had been visiting them since then.
However, unlike the usual staring, she seemed to be doing something different this time.
The boys soon pulled their attention back to practice, and for a while, Verity's presence was ignored.
However, as the swordsmanship class was coming to an end, the teacher was a bit stunned to find the young girl, drenched in sweat, still watching them.
How long had she been exercising?
His curiosity got the better of him, and the next day, after guiding the boys and leaving them to practice on their own, he especially observed the young maiden.
Her hair had been tied into a long bun, and she still doing the same jumping combo, along with some other moves he couldn't quite tell.
This left him astonished.
Just how much stamina did this child possess to go on for so long?
After a while, Verity, who was yet again drenched in sweat, sat down to watch and was startled to find a young black-haired man with dark eyes staring at her with interest.
Recognizing him as the boys' teacher, she bowed respectfully, then continued watching the boys.
Cillian's eyes crinkled with laughter as he muttered, "She even acts like a boy!"
***
The new thing she had decided to adopt was acting like a boy.
It wasn't that she didn't want to live the dream of gowns and tea parties and enjoy the fullness of the fantasy setting as a noble lady.
In fact, she would love to live that kind of life.
However, her plan gave her no such liberty.
During her one-year stay cooped up inside, she came to understand the best way to escape the OG's fate would be to do everything within her power to stay occupied until the whole plot finished playing out.
Her best shot, which was leaving the Castellans, had been shut down before it was even proposed.
Hence, she thought of a much better idea.
It wasn't that she didn't think of living normally and simply avoiding the same actions as the OG Verity.
It was just that she believed a more radical choice was even better—efficiently crippling any possible attempt of the plot to rally her in.
She didn't just want to avoid; she wanted to be so OOC that nothing about Verity's OG villainous script would possibly apply to her.
And just like that, a crazy idea struck Verity—becoming a knight!
The more she read about knights, the more the idea appealed heavily to her.
Since she would have to go to the academy whether she liked it or not, if she centered her classes mostly on combat-related courses and music as well, the chances of ever meeting the female lead and triggering anything would effectively crash.
Not only that, after the academy, she would be in service, away from the female lead, the crown prince, and other main characters.
And when the story eventually ended with the female lead marrying either of the male leads, she would apply for early retirement by paying a hefty sum, then spend the rest of her life either traveling or living in a semi-secluded village with a good sense of community.
What made this plan very feasible was mostly the nature of Verity's title.
Though she had now been made the young lady of the Castellans per Rosanna's request, it was nothing but an empty title given by the Duke to fulfill all righteousness.
She still remained nothing but a street kid—an extremely lucky one at most—and as long as she didn't go too far and end up doing something that would cause problems for the Castellans, she was pretty much free to do whatever.
However, the Duke didn't want this known to her.
That bastard wanted Verity under the naive assumption that she had an actual role to fulfill for the Castellans, when it was nothing more than an empty title.
But she was no child, and she knew better.
That was why, no matter how hard-hearted the Duke remained, she would keep pushing until he relented from the sheer volume of nuisance she caused him.
She knew her request to be taught swordsmanship would be waved off.
She also knew her request for male clothes would be rejected, but Verity was determined—one way or another, the Duke would relent.
That was why she had to completely adopt male mannerisms to the extreme.
The more radical she behaved, the more force she exerted on the Duke till she had him pushed to the very edge of the wall.
***
Cillian enquired and was regretful when he found out that the Duke had specially placed a ban on the young lady from learning any swordsmanship at all.
Feeling guilty that all he would ever do was let the child watch, he couldn't resist gifting her a couple of beginner books on swordsmanship.
"You may have something similar in the library," he explained, "but they can never really hold the same depth as these ones."
That day, he learnt that the child could not speak, but had no issue expressing her gratefulness, bowing so low he worried she would break her back.
Meanwhile, Verity managed to smuggle out a training sword into her room, where she spent days reading and practicing till she eventually got the hang of it.
She knew there were probably a lot of flaws in her swordsmanship, but along with the basic self-defense moves she had learned from her past life and the skill level she had observed of the boys, she was sure her next plan would succeed.
***
As soon as the blonde boy placed his weight forward for a deadly strike, Verity, who had positioned her sword for defense suddenly let go of it, shocking everyone and leading the boy into a hopeless stagger.
Crouching low in a half split, she swept him off his feet with a kick, sending him rattling down in a solid slam.
And then, awkwardly standing up, she hurriedly retreated from the fallen boy picked up her sword and pointed it to his neck.
She blushed lightly.
The entire sequence was cool, but then the ending ruined it. If only she could backflip with a stand, like all those cool movies... sigh.
All eyes on the field and beyond were filled with immense shock.
And then, with a resolute scream, Lucian yelled, "That's... cheating!"
Verity smiled. Oh, but it wasn't.
***
[A While Back]
Having not seen the passionate child for weeks, Cillian couldn't help but sigh sadly. It seemed the young lady had eventually given up.
He always felt it quite disappointing how parents acted as stumbling blocks to the dreams of their children, especially noble parents.
They were so rigid with society's prescribed rules, they would rather keep them at the detriment of the child.
He had seen it again and again till it left him vowing to never do such to his child.
It was a pity... he could tell the young lady was very motivated.
Not only did she personally craft clothes for herself, as he had heard, but she persisted for so long. Such a pity indeed!
But then, his melancholy was dashed into pieces when the child reappeared with more neatly made male clothing, politely returning his pile of books while making an absurd request.
[Teacher, please permit me a duel with Gideon.]
Cillian blinked, rubbing his eyes and re-reading again and again till he could no longer deny it, and then he stared at the child before him, burning with such confidence that his words stuttered,
"I—"
[The Duke has given me permission, but I need yours too. What do you say, Teach?]
Cillian had to confirm her words were true, and even then, couldn't curtail his immense shock.
He shook his head at the ridiculousness of it all.
What was he to say when the Duke himself had already spoken?
All he could do now was tighten the rules as much as possible to avoid any disastrous outcome, especially when he noticed the young Gideon could barely hide the devious intent brewing within his eyes.
***
[Presently]
Cillian had prepared for anything except this—definitely not his own students being beaten so helplessly and shamefully!