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"You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by." —Job 11:16
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"BY THE way, what happened with the things I asked you to do, Emily?" Lantana asked her servant as soon as she left her room.
She was wearing a pastel purple dress that showed a bit of her legs and arms because it was mid-length and was off shoulder. Though a bit revealing, Lantana still looked innocent because of her no-makeup face and delicate features.
"Everything is taken care of, my lady. The duke has also arrived," Emily replied to her cheerfully.
As they strode down the grand staircase, they were immediately greeted by her father's exaggerated reaction. The moment his eyes saw Lantana, he acted the way he did when he first saw her buy a weapon. Right, he acted as if he fainted again. Good thing, the head butler was behind him and he was able to support his head from bumping on to the edge of the staircase post.
"My daughter! You are looking more and more like your mother with the way you dress right now. My heart can't take it!" he exclaimed dramatically with his right hand on his chest while still bending his body as if he was having a heart attack.
Lantana just laughed it off. Well, she was already starting to finally get used to his excessive reaction after seeing him everyday. However, hearing from his mouth how he spoke about Penelope's mother, she couldn't help but be piqued by her own curiosity.
The original Lantana had no personal clear memory about her own mother. It made sense though since she already died when the original was still young. She didn't even remember her mother's own face. Good thing though since the duke seemed to be a fan of his late wife. Because of that, large paintings of the late duchess were displayed around the whole vicinity of Montgomery's mansion.
Aside from the paintings that the duke placed all around the mansion, if Penelope's memory served her right, there was also a room which was dedicated to the late duchess—the music room.
From Penelope's memory, different paintings of her mother's face when she was young until she got older were all left in there. All of her belongings were also placed there—untouched.
The paintings around the mansion were classified in four types: the duchess's solo when she was still a teen until she became older—which are replicas of some paintings from the music room; with her husband when the couple were still young; when she was with Penelope when she was still pregnant or the latter was still a toddler; and lastly, the paintings of their whole family. However, the ones left in the music room were all solos.
Who knew? Maybe the duke wished for his daughter to never forget her mother's face. Or maybe the duke did it for himself and he was just simply longing for his wife.
Well, no one could really blame him though since even her, as someone who regarded herself as a goddess with Penelope's face, felt much inferior compared to the mother goddess's face.
She couldn't even find a flaw in her whole body, from her face down to her feet, everything looked perfect and well proportioned. Aside from that, even her attitude was perfect. Penelope always heard some old servants talk about the late duchess in the past—how they missed her in the mansion or how Penelope and her father were both pitiful for having a perfect wife and a mother to quickly leave the world.
Perhaps, that was one of the reasons why she always wanted other people's love aside from her family though, Lantana could say that she was very unlucky with the people that she chose. Or was it more like, she didn't know how to distinguish people which made her try to find love in wrong people?
Somehow, after knowing about Penelope's mother made Lantana wonder why good people always leave the world first. Aside from that, it made her ask, how did she really die?
Penelope was too young when it happened and Lantana couldn't recall any memory of the duke explaining it clearly to her. He just simply told her that her mother could never come back anymore and that she went to a very far place.
From a happy face, Lantana's expression quickly changed into a serious one.
"Father, I have two questions to ask you," she solemnly said, which made him stand up straight and turned to look at her.
His previous expression was nowhere to be seen. Right at that moment, his face exuded his business expression, very far from his usual comedic—more like melodramatic style as Penelope's father.
"How did mother really die and, father, may I make my own group while personally picking the members?"
The thin ice that lingered around them when she suddenly turned serious finally broke. Shock was written on the faces of Emily and Reuben while her father's expression remained the same. However, the somber look on his eyes faltered for a moment after hearing her questions. Though, she bet the first question was what really affected him anyway.
"Your mother… Hmmm?" he spoke, almost whispering, as if he was reminiscing about his past with Penelope's mother, who was also her mother now as well.
"Yes. How did it happen? I was too young that time and I can't really remember anything," she said, curious.
"Oh… Alright. Alright. Let's talk about that while eating," he said as he smiled happily at her.
Well, it had been too long since Penelope asked about her mother. Most of the time that she would hear her mother's name being spoken out loud, she would act out and disappear from the vicinity.
She couldn't really blame her though since she would always hear the previous servants when she was a child, comparing her to her mother or pitying her.
Good thing, her father immediately knew about it so they were quickly sent out. Fired and rated in a way that they would never be accepted to any noble house anymore as servants.
Still, those moments already made a scar in her life. And so, Penelope's mother's name became like a taboo, a forbidden word to say in front of the young duchess.
Well, moving forward. Since she already became Penelope, it didn't really matter to her. She had no attachments to the late duchess so why should it bother her? For now, all she had to do was to satisfy her curiosity.
As her father's lips made a satisfied arc, he led her to the dining room by himself as he started speaking. However, as soon as they sat down, she noticed how he spoke voguely and little about the death of Penelope's mother. It made her eyebrows meet in suspicion but she decided to not push it anymore because to her, he sounded as if he was trying to avoid the exact cause of Penelope's mother.
Lantana already thought of it before, the reason why she couldn't recall the cause of death of the late duchess was because of Penelope's incomplete memory. That seemed to not just be the case. Something was fishy with the late duchess's death and she would definitely uncover that one day. In the first place, why couldn't her father answer her question immediately?
"Then, what about my own knights?" Lantana said using Penelope's usual innocent tone.
Since they were just going in circles with the late duchess, she chose to change the topic instead. Anyway if he didn't want to tell her, okay. She just had to make sure that one day, she would find the real her. If he didn't want to show it to her, she could just force her way to see the light behind the mysterious death of Penelope's mother.
"My answer for that is definitely yes. But I do have one request. Commander Orlando will be in your group. I want to make sure that at least there's one person I could really trust in protecting you in your group."
"Sure, father!"
"Then, can I go to the main headquarters of the knights to personally pick them?"
"Of course. You are my daughter. There's no place here that you're not allowed to go."
"Alright! Then please summon all the knights in the headquarters: from the youngest to oldest. Also, please don't forget to include the newbies too."
Her father's smile curved meaningfully as he started getting food for her.
"Oh? Is that why you wanted to build your own group? Because you also found the new gem of our troupe?" he asked, interested in her reply.
Lantana chuckled innocently to shrug off his idea as she replied to him in a way that a normal young lady would say after seeing a handsome face.
"Ah? Is that what you think, father? The only reason I wanted to do my own selection was because I saw a lot of beautiful faces last time I went to stroll," Lantana replied, acting totally clueless, which made the duke who was chewing his food, choke.
THE LUNCH ended peacefully after that. Then, they rested for a while before the both of them headed to the headquarters of the knights.
The place was definitely large. It looked like a mansion instead of a headquarters. Though the main house was definitely bigger, she couldn't really ignore the size of the place. She assumed it could accommodate around ten thousand people. And though the knights of Montgomery were definitely smaller than her estimation, their numbers still astonished her. She thought they were around five thousand?
With her father escorting her, she faced the curious looks of the knights who were currently assembled with an innocent smile that made most of them end up blushing and averting their gaze from her.
When they finally reached the front where there was a platform, the duke scanned the surroundings as if to check if everyone was already inside. Then, she saw her father glancing at the grey haired knight on the other side, below the platform. He seemed to be communicating with him through their eyes.
The knight has a big physique. He looked strict and scary, especially with his eyes and eyebrows that often met which always omitted the feeling that he was always angry. He was wearing his sparkly armor and looked the same age as her father. With how he looked, he immediately knew that he was the commander that her father was talking about when they were eating lunch. From his aura, stance and appearance, he looked as if he was the highest person among the knights. He felt to her as if he was wearing a crown of dignity she could not see because of the way he carried himself.
"My dear daughter, that old man there is the captain of the knights, Sir Orlando Ricafort," she heard her father whisper.
So, she was right. Anyway, she didn't have anything to nitpick about him because he looked really alright to her. Aside from the fact that he always looked scary, he didn't seem to be a really bad person because when his glance passed by her, his lips curved a little as he gave her a warm smile which she gave back to him. Aside from that, she didn't sense any malice from him.
Afterwards, he returned his gaze to the duke whom she saw smiling in her peripheral vision. Then, he spoke.
"Is everyone here already?!" he said in a loud voice which startled her a little and some of the knights as well.
He scanned the place as if he was checking every member. When he was about to speak again, Lantana raised her voice a little.
"I-I don't think everyone is here already. The knight I saw with Emily last time when I went on a stroll is not here yet nor his brother," she said, acting like a timid cat.
However, what Lantana said made her father and the chief turn to her in shock while most of the knights started to talk about the person she was referring to.
"I wonder what did Siegrain do to catch the attention of the noblewoman beside the duke?"
"Where is that brat anyway?"
"Didn't he leave earlier to calm his brother down?"
"He was the first one to come here, right?"
"But don't you guys wonder? I've been wondering since I first saw her."
"Does anyone here know who the beautiful woman beside the duke is?"
"Right. I don't think I can ever find someone more beautiful than her."
"That woman is a goddess. Don't try to raise your hopes. Only someone with Siegrain's face can at least be a little worthy of that face."