Saint Key Knight Order
“By the way, Lijie…”
Linda suddenly hugged the back of her head with both hands, as if she had remembered something bad, and pulled on Lijie’s arm with a troubled expression.
“What’s wrong…”
With a subtle look of disdain, Lijie glanced sideways at Linda with emerald eyes, like a proud cat.
“The first class… If I remember correctly, isn’t it Etiquette Class?”
Linda looked at the girl beside her with hopeful eyes.
Lijie’s beautiful eyes showed a thoughtful expression, then she raised her eyebrows and smiled.
“Seems like it really is.”
When she heard Lijie’s confirmation, the hope in Linda’s eyes vanished without a trace, instantly turning into despair.
Seeing Linda beside her suddenly deflate, Lijie pressed her lips together and chuckled, teasing cheerfully.
“Isn’t Etiquette Class good? Just find a nice spot to sleep and you’ll be fine.”
“Ugh. You’re teasing me again!”
Linda protested, bumping Lijie’s shoulder.
“You know it too. That unwanted old woman has been eyeing me for ages. She finds ways to pick on me every class for no reason. Isn’t that just nitpicking?”
“Then why don’t you just obediently practice those manners?”
“Hmph.”
Linda wrinkled her nose in slight jealousy, glancing at the cool and elegant beauty beside her who exuded grace with every movement.
Unlike Lijie, a genius girl from a noble family who was raised perfectly from childhood, Linda was…
Well, she was a commoner girl from the Meadow…
Uh, in a sense, also ‘gifted.’
When she was just a little girl, she dared to climb onto a horse’s back and gallop around.
Holding the reins and laughing as she played, she scared the local herders half to death.
As Linda grew older and more unruly, she became dissatisfied with just being the king of kids her age and preferred playing with all kinds of animals on the Meadow.
Her parents simply gave up managing her, since children there always became independent early.
They let her roam freely with the animals.
After meeting Lijie, Linda lost count of how many times she patted her chest and proudly called herself ‘King of the Grassland.’
But Linda always felt that the way Lijie looked at her wasn’t like she was seeing some king—more like she was looking at an animal with a few screws loose.
In short, though Linda had a pretty face, she was a wild child through and through, raised among animals since young and growing up completely untamed.
Later, after awakening a higher Sacred Seal, she was recommended by the local church to the Holy City.
Truly, fools have their own fortune. When Linda first entered the Holy City, she was totally dazed, staring blankly at the countless magnificent buildings and feeling utterly lost.
In the eyes of others, she looked exactly like a bumpkin entering the city, every move out of place with her surroundings.
Whether lucky or unlucky, Linda was a silly girl, but also a cute and pretty silly girl.
Soon enough, she caught the eyes of some noblewomen.
It had to be said, Linda was only sixteen at the time, but years of physical activity had given her a surprisingly mature figure.
Tight leather clothes perfectly outlined her curves, with a well-shaped chest and hips—big up front and curvy at the back.
Moreover, that wild aura from the Meadow was exactly to their taste.
Her wheat-colored skin, radiating health, made those women swallow hard, and when those wild, predatory eyes landed on them, they couldn’t help but feel heat surge and clamp their legs together.
Linda, of course, had no idea why these women were staring at her.
She sat on the ground, bored, picking at her toes and gazing up at the sky, wondering what to do if she got lost.
That group of ladies, bold as could be, generously handed her a bottle of clean water.
Then, in Linda’s innocent gaze, they asked if she wanted to drink the sisters’ water.
Parched, Linda eagerly accepted, even snatching the water bottle from a woman’s hand to drink.
She never imagined back then that a woman would desire her body, wanting to claim her.
Now, just thinking about it made Linda break out in cold sweat, her body trembling in fear.
In her mind, women only liked men.
How could she have known she’d be targeted by women the same age as her mother?
That’s why, girls have to protect themselves when they’re out.
Linda was so scared because if Rosetta hadn’t come by on a walk and stopped those women, she might have been drugged and taken away, ending up as their plaything.
She couldn’t even imagine how hopeless she’d feel waking up the next morning.
Thank goodness for the Captain…
Rosetta was furious at the time, immediately grabbing those women without a word.
She was someone who couldn’t tolerate even a speck of sand in her eyes.
To have something like luring innocent girls happen in her own Holy City—it was like a slap to her own face.
Because of that incident, Linda caught Rosetta’s attention.
Whether it was her talent or her Sacred Seal, Linda was perfectly suited for her Saint Key Knight Order, so Rosetta personally brought her into that year’s batch of new members.
And so, Linda, like a wild duck, joined the ranks of the white swans.
Though it was never stated outright, in reality, the Saint Key Knight Order favored recruiting daughters of nobles.
On one hand, the probability of extraordinary talent emerging among commoners was frighteningly low.
On the other, even if an exceptionally gifted girl did appear among the commoners, she had almost no channel to reach the Saint Key Knight Order.
A lucky girl like Linda, blessed with the right time, place, and people, was rare indeed.
This also meant her manner and bearing within the Knight Order were utterly ‘out of the ordinary.’
Simply put, she had no concept of etiquette.
And it wasn’t just a simple lack of concept—the unrestrained wildness fostered by the Meadow was etched deep into her DNA, impossible to erase.
So Linda always felt wronged, getting called out and scolded by the professor every Etiquette Class, and sometimes even dragged to the podium to be embarrassed.
Compared to the riding courses others dreaded, Linda hated Etiquette Class even more, even though it was supposed to be a relaxing period in everyone else’s eyes.
Knowing Etiquette Class was coming up, Linda’s walking pace slowed to a crawl, and even Lijie couldn’t drag her along.
“His Highness will be there too.”
After thinking for a moment, Lijie suddenly smiled.
“Really?”
Linda instantly perked up, curiosity brightening her eyes.
“Of course. Didn’t you see the Captain leading His Highness away? They must’ve gone to change clothes.”
Change clothes…
Linda, no longer so innocent, couldn’t help but imagine all sorts of indecent scenes.
A few seconds later, she shook her head, scolding herself for thinking such things about the Captain.
How could that be possible?