Chapter 326 - CHALLENGE

"Do you have something to say to me?" When Veronica saw Betty staring at her intensely, she decided to face her. 'I didn't do anything to her. Why will she keep resenting me? Just because she had false hope for Arthur? I hate it for being hated without a reason.'

"Drawing swords while wearing a gown. You must be stupid enough not to know what a lady does in the household, do you?" Betty sneered at her.

Veronica chuckled at her words. "And you must be stupid enough to think a lady's duty is to only manage her household and a family."

Betty frowned and yelled at her, "What? Did you just call me stupid?"

Veronica's eyes twinkled as she said, "You see, I have people to help with managing the tower. All I have to do is to check if their work has any mistakes or not. For this, I have to study harder than any noble lady."

"And I practice sword fighting so that I won't be useless like other ladies in danger. Not everyone likes to depend on others." She asked past Betty and whispered in her ear, "As Arthur's wife, how can I be as useless as you?"

Betty clenched her skirt and trembled in anger. "You… Do you think just because you have fulfilled your duty, you can be a good wife?" 

She recalled her night with Arthur and warned her, "If you want your man to be faithful, you need to be good in bed, not in sword fighting."

Veronica raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

'So, she doesn't even know that Arthur slept with me. It's so funny when I think about this.' Betty giggled. "Just figure it out on your own."

After Betty left, Veronica jeered in her direction. 'What did she mean by that?'

Aria saw them having a conversation and eavesdropped from the corner. After listening to their conversation, her mouth lifted on its own. 'Well, well, look at that. This Mistress is already fighting with Arthur's past lover. How long can she stand it? This is going to be a fun show.'

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Later, Veronica went out with Arthur. 

Arthur noticed that she was quiet after lunch. She hadn't had a proper conversation with him. "Is there something bothering you?" With the back of his hand, he touched her face.

"Not really." Veronica shook her head. "For someone who got insulted yesterday, Miss Betty was sure confident today." 

"Confident?" Arthur scoffed. "What about?"

"She still thinks you will go after I guess." Veronica shrugged. Although she said that, she didn't like talking about it.

"She should look at her face before trying to fight against you," Arthur sneered.

"But it's true that I'm not as beautiful as before. All the women you hung out with are so pretty. I'm the only one who has scars on my body." Veronica lowered her head. Her eyes glistened with tears.

"What on earth are you saying?" Arthur embraced her body securely in his arms. "How can you say that about yourself?"

"But I'm ugly now…" Veronica sniffed. Tears streamed down her eyes. 'What is wrong with me? Why am I so upset? Why can't I stop crying?'

Arthur's heart broke seeing her like this. 'That wretched woman! She came to apologize, she said. I'll make her pay for this.'

He kissed away his wife's tears and told her, "What nonsense! Who said your body is ugly? Whenever I see those scars on your body, my heart fills with pride. Yes, I feel guilty that you had to choose that path because I wasn't there to protect you. However, it's also true that I'm proud of you because you can protect yourself and others with your ability. I absolutely love this about you."

Veronica looked at him pitifully. "Is that true? You don't think I'm ugly?"

Arthur cupped her face and spoke in a determined voice, "You are the most brilliant, most outstanding, most gorgeous, and most pure woman I've met in my life. No one can copy you. No one can replace you. Mark my words. If you don't believe me, I'm not sure how I can prove this to you." 

Looking at his helpless expression, in the end, Veronica circled her arms around his neck and demanded, "Just grow old together with me. I'll believe you."

Arthur chuckled. Kissing her forehead, he replied, "Yes, that is my dream. To grow old with you."

The couple stayed in each other's embrace until they reached the marketplace. They got off the carriage. The place was bustling with people as usual. Hand in hand, Arthur and Veronica strolled in the marketplace.

They bought some street food, ate spicy kebabs while watching street magic shows, and paid the magicians for the entertainment. Veronica felt a lot better as she wandered around.

She was checking out the shops when she noticed a strange shop in the corner. The surroundings of the shop were rather empty.

"Shall we go to the jewelry shop?" Arthur suggested. He didn't notice that his wife's eyes were somewhere else.

"Umm, can you go there first? I want to check out something," she stated. 

'Most definitely I don't want to, but if I don't, you will be sad again. I don't want to take the risk.' Arthur reluctantly agreed but warned her, "Don't wander around bad places. If something happens, call for me using this," saying that he gave her a small stone.

"I will!" Veronica agreed.

Arthur went to the jewelry shop and Veronica headed to the mysterious shop. When she opened the door, she found a woman at the reception desk. 

The receptionist saw a new customer and professionally spoke to her, "Welcome to our shop, Mam. How can I help you?"

Veronica greeted her back, "Hello, what kind of service do you provide here? I'm sorry I have never seen this shop before. It looked so mysterious that I was automatically drawn to it."

The receptionist humbly smiled. "You have a wonderful sense, Mam. Yes, you are right. The shop opened recently. As you can see these pictures of women are drawn on the wall; this shop is run by a lady named Nasha and we provide body massage to women."

Veronica instantly became curious. "Body massage? To relieve pain?"

The receptionist patiently explained, "Body massage does not only remove the pain but also relieves fatigue and improves body parts, such as – if you want your smooth shaped face, sharp nose, long neck, skinny arms, and legs, or huge breasts…"

"Huge breasts?" Veronica was startled. "You can make my breasts huge too?"

"…" The receptionist stared at her chest. 'Is there anything wrong with her chest? Why don't I see it?' 

Later, she cleared her throat and replied, "Excuse my rudeness. Yes, through massage we can make your breasts huge. All our experts are females. So, you don't have to be ashamed of someone seeing you naked or not. If you want, we can give you either a private or public massage."

"That will be wonderful. How much do you charge?"

"Per day, we take ten copper coins for public massage. You will have to be naked in front of other women. This is mostly for the commoner ladies. We give aristocratic ladies private massages. That is five silver coins.

"Our shop is open from dawn to late night. If you make an appointment first, it will be easier for you."

Veronica thought deeply, 'That magician had such big breasts. It won't be bad if I develop my breasts. Ovior gave me a huge amount to spend on a monthly basis. I can use that.'

She looked at the receptionist and asked, "Do you have a form?"

The receptionist answered, "Yes, for members, we keep forms."

"Please give me two forms," Veronica requested. "I'll give another one to Catherine. We will consult first before applying here.'

After taking the forms, Veronica thanked her. "I'll be here soon." 

"We will be waiting, Mam." The receptionist bowed.

Veronica went to the jewelry shop. She found Arthur standing in front of the glass box. She strode toward him and saw that he was looking at the ice-colored crystal necklace that was inside the glass box.

"Do you like this?" she asked.

Arthur turned toward her. "You took your time. If you were another minute late, I would have gone to look for you."

"Ahh, sorry about that. I went to collect some information about a new shop. I like this place." Veronica replied.

"All right. Shall we go there next time?" Arthur suggested.

"Oh, no you can't. It's only for women." Veronica grinned at him. "Our anniversary is coming soon, right? I'll give you a surprise."

"Oh?" Arthur became interested. "What do you want to give me? I'm curious."

'Shit, I forgot it was our anniversary. I should prepare something for her,' he thought.

'My huge breasts… I can't say that.' Veronica's face turned red. "It won't be a secret if I tell you, will it? Just wait for it."

'What is she planning to give me that her face is turning red just thinking about it?' Arthur's mind was filled with naughty thoughts.