CH 3

“I see you enjoy hunting.”

“I’ve been out a lot lately, with the wild boars on the loose, and the lords suffering from crop damage.”

“That’s not a proper hobby.”

“Is there such a thing as a proper hobby?”

“You know, the kind of hobbies that young ladies of Lady Katya’s age usually have, like handicrafts or gardening, something refined and noble…….”

He replied as if she was asking the obvious.

“I’m the type to go because the villagers can’t call the hunters to catch the wild boars.”

“I understand there was no son in the duke’s family, so you have no choice but to do so now. Well, maybe you’ll stop after you become a countess.”

Count Gregory was the suitor who had duly put in his proposal to the Duke, and he naturally believed that the marriage would be consummated.

Katya had a saying that if she was slapped on the right cheek, she would slap the other person on both cheeks. As a result, there were few men who courted Katarina.

Count Gregory thought he had the upper hand in many ways, not least of which was his title and fortune.

“Isn’t it too early to mention being the countess? You haven’t even asked me to marry you yet.”

“Do you have a better option than me?”

“What?”

“Three social seasons have passed, the young ladies are almost all getting married as soon as soon as their coming-of-age ceremony ends at 18, and Lady Katya is already twenty-one.”

Gregory said, wiping a handkerchief through his tousled, glistening hair.

It was a gesture that resembled marking down the price of clearance merchandise in a general store.

“I hear the Count is older than my father.”

“Well, it’s not that I haven’t married, I just haven’t had any damsels in distress.”

“Oh, yes.”

“Of course, Lady Bianca has taken my fancy, both in face and in heart. But there’s plenty of competition, isn’t there?”

Gregory was being blunt now. Of course, Katya knew this.

He had been flirting with Bianca at the last party.

Katya didn’t seem to need to make any more pretences now, either. With her hands in her pockets, she lifted her long legs and placed them on the table.

As she crossed her legs, the mud from her boots dripped onto the table.

His face contorted in displeasure, but Gregory forced himself to speak.

“Lady Katya–”

“Katarina.”

Katya pointed out that it was annoying. Katya said when she noticed.

“What?”

“Katarina. I don’t like to be called by a half-hearted nickname when we’re not even acquainted.”

It was true, Gregory thought, the woman was tasteless.

But then he remembered the dowry he would receive if he took Katya as his bride and decided to cheer her up.

“I must apologise, Lady Katarina, for my friendliness.”

“Please continue with what you were saying.”

“Everyone else wants to marry Lady Bianca, but I think it would be more fun to live with Lady Katarina.”

“More fun?”

“Since you mentioned hunting as a hobby, you must be aware that taming wild beasts can be quite rewarding.”

Gregory chuckled, admiring his brilliant analogy.

The buttons of his chemise, hanging limply from his stomach, jiggled like a cannonball at any moment.

Katya wordlessly bit off the top of the ammunition canister with her mouth and opened the ignition cover to pour out the gunpowder inside.

“I don’t know, because when I go hunting, I kill them right on the spot, painlessly.”

Gregory stopped laughing at the murderous comment.

After positioning the breech downwards, she poured the remaining gunpowder into the barrel and pushed the cartridge case all the way into the chamber with a ramrod.

With deft fingers, it was loaded in no time.

“Oh, the minds of beasts that live in strange places, away from their families, watching over them. That’s not taming, that’s shaking them by the scruff of the neck.”

“What does that mean–”

Katya raised her musket with a grimace, took a cursory aim, and fired.

Behind the man, the plates on the mantelpiece shattered with a crack.

“I don’t know if you’re blind or if you’ve got a bad head.”

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m talking to you, and I want you to understand.”

“Hey!”

“I don’t feel the need to correct you if I don’t like it. If you don’t want to look at my bullshit, why don’t you just take it out of my face?”

Gregory couldn’t take it anymore, his body shaking with anger and fear.

“So fuck off before the count of three. Unless you want to leave the world today.”

“…….”

“By the way, I didn’t miss that one. If I aim at you properly…… you know?”

Katya said, reloading.

“One-two-“

The man noticed that it took a while to load the musket.

“You’re the reason you can’t get married!”

Gregory shouted and stormed out into the corridor.

But he had overlooked something. When Katya went hunting, she didn’t just take a musket, she also took a crossbow.

Pyong pyong.

Arrows flew at Gregory’s toes as he ran down the stairs.

“Argh!”

Gregory screamed as if he was being chased by the grim reaper, running for his life downstairs.

BANG!

Amidst the peaceful Duke’s mansion, the sound of screaming echoed, causing the Duke sipping tea in the living room to drop his teacup.

“There she goes again, I thought he was a gentleman…….”

“At least she’s not killing or maiming anyone.”

Her father sighed, and Bianca, who had been sipping her tea quietly, smiled. How fortunate it was that it wasn’t a crime after all.

At her feet, an older Laika lay on the floor, her tail wagging gently.

It was an all-too-familiar sight in the Duke’s household, as suitors had been arriving since her coming-of-age ceremony.

Bianca’s suitors, too, had become like that when they offended Katya.

Gregory came running down the stairs, panting, and called out to the Duke.

“Your Highness the Duke, even if Smirnov give half his fortune as a dowry, no fool would marry a woman like that wretch!”

With those words, he disappeared into the vestibule. Katya, coming down the stairs, crossbow in hand, shouted.

“I should have shot that bastard in the mouth first!”

An arrow narrowly missed the closing door. Having missed her prey, Katya stomped into the living room, grumbling.

“Look at me with such contempt, huh? You think you can outdo me? I’d rather live alone for the rest of my life rather than marry someone like that, !”

Bianca shoved a sweet into her furious sister’s mouth.

Katya gulped down the sweet and slowly calmed down.

“Check upstairs to see if anything is broken, and if so, clean it up. My children could get hurt if they step on it.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The duke dismissed the butler and turned to his eldest daughter.

“How many times has this been rejected. I guess I’ll have to search for a groom elsewhere because it seems like I won’t find one in the south anymore.”

Count Gregory was practically Katya’s last suitor.

“I promised that I would raise you all well even on my own, but with this situation, I can’t face your late mother with dignity.”

The Duke, who had always been compassionate, spoke with a sorrowful expression. He knew very well that mentioning the deceased Duchess would weaken Katya’s heart.

“Do I have to get married?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, do I really need to get married when there are so many men out there I don’t like?”

“Don’t worry too much, I’ll see if there are any suitors in the north.”

The Duke spoke as if to soothe Katya, but he knew it was impossible.

The situation was the same in the north. Every family with a spirited son knew Katya’s name.

They all knew what she had done to Ivan Petrozsky as a child.

Katya suddenly clenched her fists and declared with a look of determination on her face.

“I’ve made up my mind, I won’t get married unless I lower my eyes to the underworld!”

She was way ahead of her time. It was a time when a woman’s happiness was thought to be determined by marriage.

The Duke grabbed his eldest daughter by the scruff of the neck at her outrageous declaration.

Just then, the butler returned to the drawing room with a pile of mail.

“Your Highness, a marriage proposal for Princess Bianca.”

“Send a reply to everyone. Bianca will not marry until my eldest daughter, Katya, is married first.”

The Duke set his face firmly, his eyes fixed on his eldest daughter.

“Father, what is Bianca guilty of?”

“Bianca, are you unhappy?”

“No, I like it! It would be fun to live with my sister for a lifetime.”

Bianca, unaware of her father’s intention, laughed innocently. Seeing her bright reaction, the Duke gently touched his forehead this time.

With both hands on her hips, Katya smiled triumphantly.

Unaware of the future that was about to befall her.

***

The Duke of Smirnov’s sudden announcement has shaken the South. Bianca’s suitors, to be precise.

“What the hell is this?”

Olen exclaimed, slamming his glass on the table. The son of the Marquis of Menshikov, he was handsome and the strongest competition among the suitors.

“The infamous Katarina must marry before Lady Bianca can marry.”

“Well, that’s an idea. Perhaps it would be better to send Lady Bianca to a convent.”

“That’s exactly what I meant. Doesn’t it mean that Lady Bianca shouldn’t marry for a lifetime?”

“What on earth has happened to the Duke last week for him to come out like this?”

Gregory, who was clinking glasses and cheerfully engaging with comrades, was taken aback by those words and quickly changed the subject.

“What’s the point of arguing when the decision has already been made? We should be thinking about getting rid of that Katarina.”

It would do no good to reveal to these bloodthirsty men that he was the one who had created this mess.

They all nodded in agreement. The suitors gathered for a council meeting.

“Who would want to marry a woman like that?”

“Heh, heh, you have to be a rogue to catch a rogue, don’t you?”

Gregory said sternly, stroking his greying beard. The attention of the suitors was instantly focused on him.

“Have you got any tricks up your sleeve?”

“Isn’t there a Count Petrozsky in the north?”

“You don’t mean Ivan, the youngest son, do you?”

Gregory nodded with a meaningful glance.

Amidst Katya’s resentment, Ivan had arrived in Padovangrad.