Changing clothes—but what to change into was a problem.
When Lilian arrived at the Count of Cohen’s manor, she was wearing a doctor’s outfit, but the top was completely unsuitable for exercise.
Moreover, due to the fabric and tailoring, any vigorous movement would easily tear the sleeves.
Lilian looked at the three sets of clothes before her: the doctor’s outfit, a maid uniform, and the one she was currently wearing, and realized that ironically, the two maid uniforms were the most suitable for physical activity.
Wearing a maid uniform to work out? How strange. But there was no other choice, so she had to go with it.
After explaining her plan to the head maid, the head maid thoughtfully handed Lilian a pair of pants.
She said they were old pants that Eleanora used not to wear, accidentally brought over.
Maid uniform plus pants—honestly, it looked very odd.
But no one would probably say anything, so she just put it on and went out.
The Count of Cohen’s manor didn’t have a place where one could exercise freely, but the Cohen estate did.
Perhaps during the empire’s founding, every noble family’s residence in the capital had their own training ground, but now things were different.
After all, the Dawn Empire had existed for six or seven hundred years, and the capital was constantly rebuilt and renovated, so the estates naturally underwent repairs and demolitions over time.
Therefore, to provide nobles a place to train and cultivate their skills, the Dawn Empire set up a training field at the Inner City garrison of the City Guard Knights.
Since most of the City Guard Knights were nobles themselves, this arrangement was fitting.
So Lilian was sent by carriage to the training field.
The journey was less than half an hour—frankly unnecessary.
She could have just run there herself and gotten some exercise along the way.
But she was brushed off with the excuse of “not wanting to lose the manor’s dignity.”
In other words, which family’s maid took a carriage when going out?
Lilian noticed that when other maids from the manor went out to buy supplies, none of them took a carriage either.
“The young lady might be upset and even scold us if she hears about it.”
The head maid seemed to be wiping away tears; Lilian didn’t even know what to say.
She couldn’t breathe!
So she had no choice but to accept it.
The carriage stopped, then the coachman, along with a soldier, took the carriage to the parking spot. The coachman would rest there and wait for Lilian.
Martin, the captain of the City Guard Knights, had a full beard and a typical middle-aged man’s look.
As captain, he loved his job—it was a leisurely position for his later years, just watching over this training field every day.
No political intrigue like the Imperial Guard who protected the palace.
No complicated affairs like the Outer City Knights, who patrolled and maintained public order.
Aside from the trainees in the regiment, Martin’s favorite pastime was observing the noble young masters and young ladies who came here.
Those who knew magic practiced at home.
Those who wanted to join the knights were already in the New Recruit Battalion.
Those who came here were either playing around or showing off to their friends, often making Martin call out the recruits, because nothing was better than a crowd showing off.
In short, no one actually came here to train.
So these little nobles often made a lot of foolish mistakes, which Martin enjoyed watching.
Oh my, what’s this? A young lady wearing a maid uniform, and pants on top of that?
That was rare. Noble ladies cherished their reputations; no one would deliberately wear such a strange combination here to show off.
Oh, right, maybe she lost a bet.
He knew those nobles too well; losing a bet and being made to embarrass yourself in front of many people—the training field was the best place for that.
This month alone, it had happened nearly 30 times, almost once a day.
But mostly it was young masters; young ladies hardly ever came.
That brat must be mortified.
Martin didn’t bother hiding his smile. “Go call the lads out; we’re in for a show today.”
“Yes, Captain!” A knight ran off.
Ah, another wonderful day.
Lilian walked around the vast training field but couldn’t find the equipment she wanted.
So she found a knight who seemed to be on guard duty and explained her needs.
“I’ll have to ask the captain. I think only the Little Training Field has those, but they’re all packed up now.”
Little Training Field? What’s that?
Lilian grumbled inwardly.
“Can I come along?”
Most people here were nobles; meeting the captain was no problem, so the knight nodded.
When Martin heard they were coming to him, he thought it was for some kind of assembly.
“Captain Martin, right? Hello, I’m Lilian Elward.” Lilian gave a proper greeting.
Such a polite girl—too bad she lost a bet.
Martin sighed. “You’re here for the assembly, then? I already told them to get ready.”
Thinking about having to comfort the young lady later gave Martin a headache.
But Elward…
He hadn’t heard of them before.
What family was that?
What title?
“What assembly? I came to ask about the Little Training Field.”
The Little Training Field?
That place must be overgrown with weeds.
Who would bother training there?
And cleaning it up would be a pain.
Without thinking twice, Martin rejected Lilian’s request.
“The Little Training Field has been neglected for years and is no longer usable.”
“What about the equipment?”
“Most of it is broken, except for the stuff we use to train soldiers in our regiment.”
“Alright… thank you.” The young lady in front of him seemed a bit disappointed and turned to leave.
The knight beside him suddenly seemed to remember something.
“Captain, she seems to be from the Count of Cohen’s family.”
Count of Cohen?
Martin snapped to attention and hurriedly caught up to Lilian.
“Miss Lilian, may I ask if you’re the Count of Cohen’s—maid?”
Lilian was a little puzzled. What kind of question was that?
“Don’t be so formal, Captain Martin. Wearing this outfit, of course I’m a maid.”
Cohen? Possible.
Maid? That seemed unlikely.
Which maid had such fine clothes?
Martin had only noticed Lilian’s maid uniform from afar earlier and hadn’t looked closely.
Up close, he could see that the ruffles on the maid uniform were definitely made from top-quality fabric—something familiar.
It seemed like the material his wife had recently asked him to buy to make a headpiece.
Just the ribbon material alone cost 1 gold coin.
He couldn’t recognize the other fabrics, but from his exposure to his wife’s fabric knowledge, judging by the shine and texture, they were probably even better than the ruffled fabric.
Martin silently calculated: just the ruffles on Lilian’s uniform must be worth 2 or 3 gold coins.
The entire outfit—he couldn’t even estimate. Way beyond his league.
Only a few wealthy noble families like the Count of Cohen’s could afford this.
If she says she’s a maid, what else could he do?
Believe her.
This young lady—couldn’t she at least try to act more convincingly…
Martin grumbled inwardly.
He rubbed his rough hands and smiled awkwardly. “Pardon me. I’ll prepare the Little Training Field and the equipment for you right away.”
Lilian was a bit confused.
Weren’t these all unavailable just now?
How did his attitude suddenly change?
Another knight came in from outside.
“Captain, everything’s ready.”
A chill ran down Martin’s spine.
Good thing he stopped Lilian.
The usual routine was that once they left this room, the regiment’s soldiers would start working.
“Miss Lilian, please wait here. I’ll arrange everything now.”
Martin stepped outside.
A crowd had gathered, waiting for today’s little noble to make a fool of herself, but instead, out came the captain.
“Alright, lads, no work today.”
The crowd was a little disappointed.
Martin suddenly shouted loudly.
“But there’s a very important task—go clean up the Little Training Field, and do it fast! I’m only giving you fifteen minutes! Understand?”
“Yes, Captain!”
Everyone stood at attention.
“Also, this training field is specially reserved for Miss Lilian. Do not touch the equipment! Fulfill all her requests immediately! And when Miss Lilian is here, no peeking! Especially you few troublemakers—watch yourselves! If I catch anyone, you’re out of the knights! I’m not joking. Got it?”
“Yes, Captain!”
“Good, move out, lads!”
The crowd dispersed with a rumble.
Lilian came out of the room.
Seeing this, she was somewhat surprised.
When she first arrived and saw the sorry state of the training field, she thought this was just a place where the knights took in useless nobles.
But now, it seemed not quite so.
“Excellent discipline, Captain Martin,” she couldn’t help but praise.
“You flatter me, Miss Lilian.”
It had to be excellent. Martin wiped the cold sweat from his brow.
In a few days, Princess would come for an inspection.
If these troublemakers were all over the place, he wasn’t just risking his head—he was finished.
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