‘What will we do with the prisoner, your highness?’ Alon looked at the duchess with concern.

  ‘I will send a letter to my father; he is going to take care of this for us; even if the nobles hate us, their distrust for Velvent is higher, and the prisoner, just kill him, is not like we can turn him to our side.’ She closed her fan and put it on the table.

  ‘It will be done, your highness.’ Alon turned around and exited the office.

  ‘Humm, I wonder what the peasant is doing right now.’ The duchess thought to herself.

  Ariadne got up from her chair and walked to the window behind her. There, she saw Edmund lying down next to a tree in the green grass, and by his side, one of his female students was eating.

  ‘Is he doing a picnic while I’m working hard? I knew that giving him this much freedom was a mistake.’ She clenched her fist.

  Edmund opened his eyes and saw Ariadne looking at him through a window. He got up and waved his arms at her. Leah was surprised by his action but ?noticed the duchess looking at them. Leah got up and bowed to Ariadne.

  ‘At least he knows his place, but I don’t like it; he should be working, not having a date.’ She clenched her fist again and frowned at her eyebrows.

  Edmund stopped waving his arms and looked at Leah, cleaning her dress after sitting on the ground.

  ‘With your help, I thought of a way to provide basic protection for the soldiers; having someone to talk to is helpful. Thank you, Leah.’ He gave her a wide grin.

  ‘It's nothing, but your ideas are ?interesting; I could never imagine these simple protections would be so effective before you explained them to me.’ Leah picked up a bat next to her.

  ‘Let’s go; we can make this right away; it will give the soldiers a better chance.’ Edmund walked toward the mansion.

  ‘That would be my pleasure, Edmund.’ She ran a little and walked right beside him.

  Edmund entered the room he was using as a classroom, and with Leah's help, he drew what he envisioned: a vest that the soldiers would wear that could repel magic.

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  Unfortunately, as Leah remembered him a while ago, he needed to consider its weight. He would only deflect two shots of magic in the torso's area; he didn’t know how it would do against physical projectiles.

  .

  ‘I wonder how many arrows this will protect against.’ Leah spoke.

  ‘That is why we need a prototype; it depends on their velocity and power, but let's aim for two magic projectiles; that matters.’ Edmund held his chin deep in thought.

  ‘True, the way you talk about the dungeons, we will need much more protection from them.’ Her mind wandered as she stopped writhing.

  When the door ?opened, Ariadne's red eyes persuaded Leah’s soul; she had never felt like this in her entire life. Edmund noticed the duchess, looked at her, and continued his work as if nothing had happened.

  ‘You are done with your little date, peasant? I don’t feed you, cloth you, or give you everything you need so that you have dates with girls.’ Ariadne punched the table, making everything on it a table.

  ‘N-n-no, your Highness, w-w-e were talking about this device here; Edmund just wanted to change the location so new ideas could flood in his mind.’ Leah spoke with a trembling voice.

  Humph, is that true, peasant?’ The duchess crossed her arms while looking at the young man.

  ‘Yes, it is your highness; besides, I would never have a chance with such a beauty.’ Edmund laugh.

  Leah rolled her eyes but was taken aback as Ariadne grabbed Edmund's throat and pinned him against the wall, grinding her teeth and a furious expression.

  ‘Ah… here... we... are... again...’ He spoke, grabbing her arm using his two hands.

  ‘I wonder why you keep doing this to me, peasant; you never answered my question.’ The duchess sighs.

  ‘Well… it is... funny… That is all…’ He struggles to speak.

  Ariadne realized him, looked to the table Edmund was working at, and saw a drawing of some kind of vest as she walked past Leah. She touched her hand that was on the table.

  ‘Good job, continue.’ The duchess looked at Leah and smiled.

  ‘N-No, I thank the duchess, our goddess... for everything.’ She bowed as Ariadne got out of the room.

  ‘Wow, did you see how strong she is? Her speed and strength are improving daily, but she needs more training.’ Edmund coughs while holding his throat.

  ‘So you are testing the duchess with these silly games of yours? I don’t even know what to say.’ Leah nodded her head in disapproval.

  ‘Is the more natural way of doing it. If she is sentimental, her true power comes forward, and I saw firsthand that trying to test this in combat is dangerous.’ The young man sighs.

  ‘You are talking about your fight against the duchess? It was a legend; I don’t know what you are, but she is solidifying more and more than a goddess among the servants.’ She got her pen and started to write again on the tablet.

  ‘I’m a slave, and she was holding back in the fight; that is not her actual power; she used more strength and speed here in our fight.’ Edmund grinned at the young lady.

  A couple of weeks later, Edmund was walking side by side with Alon to the shooting range. To the side of the range, many vests covered the torso in front and back, giving ample space for the arms to move around.

  ‘So these are the protective vests you were talking about, hum? How can this be so effective? Look at how light it is.’ Alon took one vest and started to look at it.

  ‘If you are injured in the arm and legs, the combat doctors can patch it until the soldier can be transported to where the more experienced doctor and healer are. This helmet can give you half of the protection.’ The young man pointed at the helmets behind the vests.

  ‘Hum… Let me see if it works. I had other things to do and believe in my subordinates, but this is completely different.’ Alon looked at Edmund with a doubtful expression while crossing his arms.