Iron Powder and Spellcaster

"What? Is that the Goddess of Beauty?" Winters was a little surprised, because he actually only saw naked women.

Anna smiled sweetly and nodded.

Although the girl in front of him was smiling, Winters clearly saw two faint wrinkles between her eyebrows. He also noticed that the joints of Anna's left hand holding the candlestick had turned white from clenching it too tightly and too hard, while the girl's right hand was twitching slightly unconsciously.

Did I say something wrong? Winters was a little confused. He also couldn't understand why Mrs. Navarre's daughter was obviously very angry, but she still pretended to be sunny.

The army admires men like Layton and Field who have strong personalities, are bold and unrestrained. Even if Winters doesn't like Major General Layton very much, he is willing to follow Layton on the battlefield.

Although Winters wanted to remedy the situation, he was not one of those art connoisseurs who could speak eloquently. The painting conveyed to him only the simplest intuitive feelings, so he honestly expressed his thoughts: "If you didn't tell me that it was Aphrodite, I would have thought it was Athena."

"How could Athena show her naked body to others?" Anna was slightly stunned.

"Is that so? I'm being shallow." Winters blushed again. He was thinking hard about words that could properly describe his intuitive feelings: "But the goddess in the painting feels more like a... …Female warrior, female samurai. Yes, that’s it!”

His thoughts suddenly became clear, and he explained with gestures: "Although the character in the painting is female (with secondary sexual characteristics on the chest), she is very toned, heroic, and well-proportioned. Even I don't have such beautiful abdominal muscles... I feel like she It would be more coordinated if there was an extra shield and a spear in the hand, but I mistakenly thought she was the goddess of war."

Anna covered her face and smiled sweetly: "Mr. Montagne, I have never heard of these comments from you, but they are quite new." Her brows were no longer wrinkled, her fists were no longer clenched, and her eyes were like crescent moons. This time they were A smile that comes from within.

Winters said embarrassedly: "I don't know how to paint. These are just my random thoughts."

"Interesting idea, Mr. Montagne."

"Perhaps if you have a chance, you can ask the painter himself what he thinks."

"In my opinion, the painter doesn't know what he wants to convey."

"Which artist created this masterpiece?"

"It's not a painter. My mother bought it from an unknown little painter."

"But I think he painted it beautifully."

"It's nothing more than a poor imitation of classical art. Many of the goddess statues in the classical era were so muscular and strong, and many of them were even male statues transformed into female statues." Anna took off the door latch and pushed open the kitchen to the living room. The door: "Come on, Mr. Montagne, you can tell the chef whatever you want to eat, please don't be polite."

But there was no one in Nuo Da's kitchen, and there was only a faint light from the oven. The door leading to the backyard was open, and it seemed that the servants working here had sneaked out.

Anna stood motionless at the door of the kitchen with her back to Winters.

"It's too late, it seems that the kitchen has already reached rest time. Then don't bother, let's go back." Winters was a little worried that the little hostess wouldn't be able to get off the stage.

"How about that?" Anna walked into the kitchen and lit the oil lamps everywhere with candlesticks: "If you don't mind, I'll prepare it for you."

Winters was a little flattered: "I'm not hungry anymore, why bother you to make something myself?"

"There are some ready-made ingredients, which are very convenient, as long as you don't mind it." Anna's voice was soft, but she couldn't allow Winters to refuse: "Please turn on the fire in the oven."

Winters subconsciously obeyed the order and began to add firewood to the oven.

Anna found two pieces of wheat bread leftover by the servants and cut off the crust that had hardened due to being left for too long.

Then slice thin slices from chunks of cheese and smoked meat in the pantry and layer them on top of the bread. Finally, I took out a pickled cucumber from the jar, cut it in half vertically, and put half a piece on each side.

Winters wanted to help, but he couldn't reach out at all. He could only watch Anna in a dress busy in and out of the kitchen.

After the secondary processing, Anna put the bread into the oven for baking. The cheese gradually melted and seeped into the gaps inside the bread. A few minutes later, Anna cut the baked bread into small pieces that were easy to eat with a knife, and led Winters out of the kitchen to a secluded pavilion in the corner of the garden.

There is a certain fragrance of rose in the air, and the cicadas chirp one after another all around. The bright moon covered most of the stars. Through the neatly trimmed bushes, you can vaguely see the light from the windows in the side hall not far away.

"Please use it."

Winters did not expect that things would develop like this. He just ordered food casually, but in the end he asked the little hostess to cook it himself.

He said to Anna apologetically: "Just leave me here alone. I'm sorry to have delayed you for so long. Mrs. Navarre may be impatient."

The girl did not leave, but gently sat on the stone bench with her skirt in hand. She smiled and said to Winters: "I want to thank you, Mr. Montagne, for giving me an excuse to escape from the boring party. .I don’t want to attend this kind of party at all.”

"Why, isn't the party going well?"

"What's so great about the party? Isn't the entertainment at the party just listening to the most powerful man bragging?"

"Well said! Miss Navarre, well said!" This witty summary made Winters smile and applaud. No one could empathize with this sentence more than the soldiers.

Anna stopped maintaining her ladylike smile and giggled. At this moment, Winters truly felt that Miss Navarre in front of him had become a living person of flesh and blood, rather than a puppet.

"Please use it, Mr. Montagne." Anna motioned for Winters to sit down.

Winters tasted Anna's creation and found that the bacon, cheese, pickles and bread were a wonderful combination: "The bread was a little dry, but it was really delicious."

"My grandfather often served me this way when I was young. Fresh bread will taste better if it has more moisture."

Winters was really hungry. The best way to praise a chef's skills is to eat. Winters tried hard to express his praise for Anna's cooking skills.

While he was busy devouring the food, Winters noticed from the corner of his eye that Anna had been staring at him.

Winters stopped and asked Anna with his eyes: What's wrong?

"Actually, I haven't eaten anything since the afternoon." Anna said quietly.

"Then you and I will get half of the food?"

"But I can't eat it."

"Why?"

"Only married women have the right to eat, burp and fart freely in the presence of men."

"Hahaha, why do you say that?" Winters found that Miss Navarre was really a wonderful person. Not only did she look at the world from a very strange perspective, but she was also very articulate and full of witty remarks.

"Montagne, do you have any sisters?"

"I only have one sister."

"Then haven't you ever heard your mother and your sister say, 'Any girl who is greedy can't find a man'?"

Winters recalled it carefully: "I have never heard my sister's mother say that."

"If you are a woman, your mother will tell you, 'What men want is a girl with an appetite as small as a sparrow. It is best to have no knowledge and only say how awesome you are. If a man finds out If you are more knowledgeable than them, then they will not marry you." Anna, who had taken off her disguise, no longer kept a smile on her face and looked a little depressed.

"So ladies have to act stupid?" Winters had never even held a young lady's hand, let alone getting married. He had never considered this issue.

"Yes."

"You can't pretend to be stupid for a lifetime, right?"

"It's too late for men to regret after they get married."

"Hahaha."

"What are you laughing at? Mr. Montagne." Anna huffed and let out the frustration in her chest: "That's the fact. You can have no scruples and eat when you're hungry at the party, and people will praise you for your calmness. Tolerance. But what about me? I am also very hungry, but if I do this, my reputation will be ruined, and the whole Hailan will whisper about me. Do you think this is fair? "

"It's really unfair, but this is a big problem that I can't solve by you alone. You and I can only solve a small problem." Winters thought for a while and asked Anna with a smile: "Are you going to marry me? ?”

"What crazy talk are you talking about?" Anna stood up in panic and looked at Winters with wide eyes.

"Since you don't plan to marry me, I don't plan to marry you either. Then why do you still worry about your image in front of me?" Winters explained to Anna calmly: "There are only two of us here, even if you are in front of me Even if you eat a whole cow, it won't reach the ears of the person you love. Since you want to pursue fairness, you shouldn't oppress yourself even when you are alone."

Winters pushed the tray with bread towards Anna: "Eat it when you're hungry, don't worry about me. I won't talk about it to others."

"Even if you tell others, I'm not afraid!" Winters blushed countless times tonight, and this time it was Anna's turn to blush: "Come here!"

"What?" Winters was a little confused.

"I want you to come here! Stand next to me." Anna repeated.

Winters looked confused and walked slowly to Anna. He was a little worried about whether he was going to be slapped.

The girl stared at Winters for a few seconds, then turned around and showed her graceful back to Winters: "Untie it for me."

"Don't be like this, I'm not thinking about getting married now!" Looking at Anna's beautiful back, Winters hurriedly refused. He was in such a state of confusion now that he couldn't figure out why he suddenly had to take off his clothes?

Anna was angry and anxious, punched Winters back hard, and stamped her feet repeatedly: "What are you thinking? I want you to help me untie my waist. I can't eat with this thing strangling me."

"I was scared to death. I thought you were going to sleep with me." Winters thought to himself.

Hearing that it was just about untying the girdle, he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Where is the girdle?"

Anna wore a ruffled blue dress with white velvet ribbons on the edges. The overall shape is larger at the bottom and smaller at the top. Below the waist is an exaggerated skirt supported by a skirt.

It was only at this moment that Winters noticed that the girl's waist was very thin, so thin that it was not as thick as a sixteen-pound cannon. This thin waist has gone against the normal shape of the human body, and has been completely tightened to this extent by external forces.

Having just admired the painting of Aphrodite showing off the beauty of the female body without restraint, and then seeing the slender waist that was forced out, Winters felt that treating women in this way was too cruel and sick.

"First untie the rope at the waist of the skirt, and then open the buckle at the waist inside the skirt. I will do the rest myself." Anna blushed with embarrassment. She didn't know what evil had fallen upon her, but she actually let a Men unbuckle themselves.

"Oh, okay." As soon as Anna said it, Winters understood. He unbuttoned the skirt with ease and loosened the criss-crossing string little by little.

"Why are you so skilled?" Anna noticed with alarm that Warrant Officer Montagne had untied her skirt in just a few moves, faster than her own maid.

"Isn't this just shoelaces? I have been wearing boots for more than ten years. I can do the work of putting on shoelaces and loosening shoelaces with my eyes closed." Winters replied proudly.

After the knot around the waist was untied, Anna stopped letting Winters help and slowly loosened the remaining parts. This process is not about taking off the corset, it is just like loosening shoelaces so that the corset is no longer so tight.

Anna took a few deep breaths happily after getting rid of the corset. It was obvious that this corset not only constricted her waist and abdomen, but also compressed the space in her lungs. She glared at Winters, sat back on the stone bench, and ate with a vengeance.

Winters couldn't help but begin to feel a little pity for the young lady, and he pushed the rest of the food towards Anna. One person ate in silence, the other person watched in silence, and sat like this for a long time, until Anna ate all the remaining bread in one go.

"I haven't even taken a few bites," Winters joked, "but it's all in your stomach."

"If you want to eat, why don't you make it yourself?" Anna immediately came back.

There was no food left, and Winters felt that there was no point in sitting here, so he asked, "Then let's go back to the party?"

"If I don't go back, you are not allowed to go back either. Your mother will definitely send someone to find me if you go back."

Winters was speechless, and the two sat in silence for a while.

There was the sound of boot heels hitting the stone slab in the distance. The footsteps were getting closer and closer. It was obvious that someone was coming. Anna immediately put away her lazy posture, straightened her back, and sat on the stone bench.

Winters stood up and looked in the direction where the footsteps came from, and saw a familiar figure walking out from behind a neatly trimmed bush that was as tall as a man - it was Antonio.

"So you are here and you can't hide away if you don't like social situations." Antonio said to Winters with a smile. Then he saw another figure beside the stone table, his expression began to become complicated, and a playful smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

As soon as he saw Antonio's expression, Winters knew immediately that his uncle had gone astray. Before he could explain, Antonio had already greeted Anna: "Good evening, Miss Navarre!"

Anna also stood up politely and curtsied in return: "Hello, General Serbetti."

"I hope this little guy Winters didn't cause you any trouble."

"How could it be? M. Montagne is very polite."

Immediately afterwards, Antonio turned his head to Winters and asked Winters happily in the old language: "[Old Language] Did you kiss her tonight?"

Old Language, known as High Language and Aristocratic Language in the Northern Empire, is a language that has deep roots in Imperial Language but is not the same. In the past, this language was mainly spoken by the aristocracy and the clergy.

After the Alliance overthrew the emperor and the nobility, they abandoned the terms High and Noblespeak and called them Old Speech.

Call the imperial language lingua franca or continental language.

There are only a few words in Old Tongue and Common Tongue that are interchangeable, but most of the pronunciation and grammar are different, so a Tongue Tongue user may be able to understand individual Old Tongue words, but never the entire sentence.

During the imperial era, the clergy and the aristocracy had a monopoly on knowledge, so most books in the past were written in the old language.

In today's republics, only the intelligentsia learn the old language because they need to read the documents of the past. The vast majority of people only know lingua franca, which is enough for daily production and life.

On top of Old Speech there is Ancient Speech, the original pronunciation of which has been lost.

Only researchers who need to read books from the ancient empire will learn the Old Tongues—and the clergy, because the authentic scriptures recognized by the Catholic Church are written in the Old Tongues.

And because the three languages ​​use the same set of letters, people today can "hard-read" the ancient language using current grammar.

The church also has a unique set of ancient pronunciation, which is called "ecclesiastical pronunciation". It is said to have been passed down orally from ancient times, and generally only clergy can learn to use it.

The Army Academy set up courses in Old Language and Ancient Language, so Winters and Antonio were able to use Old Language.

Antonio suddenly changed a language. Winters didn't understand it at first, but was shocked when he reacted.

Winters didn't expect that his uncle would dare to say such rude words in front of a lady, and even a gentle woman would slap him hard. He turned his head and glanced at Anna. Anna tilted her head and looked at the two of them doubtfully, showing no sign of anger.

Winters relaxed a little. It was obvious that Anna couldn't understand the Old Tongue. He also answered his uncle in the Old Tongue: "[Old Tongue], can you please stop causing trouble?"

"[Old saying] Okay, okay, young people have their own ideas." Antonio smiled, but obviously he still thought about the matter wrongly: "[Old saying] My things are done, when do you want to leave? Come to me again, I’m not in a hurry.”

After he finished speaking, before Winters could explain, Antonio bid farewell to Anna and left the place in large strides.

Watching Antonio's figure disappear behind the bushes, and listening to Antonio's footsteps getting farther and farther away, Winters no longer knew what to say. Antonio already had a preconceived idea, and it would be troublesome to explain it later.

He sighed, turned around and said goodbye to Anna: "Miss Navarre, we had a great time getting along today. But I have to go home, please allow me to say goodbye."

Anna smiled brightly and said to Winters: "[Old Slang] So, do you want to kiss me?"

After saying that, she slapped Winters and walked away angrily.

Finally, Anna appears, the main story will be pushed tomorrow! (Chronological order) Thanks to book friend Shrimp Pond for his recommendation vote, thanks to book friend 20181013204343295 for his recommendation vote, and thanks to Social Justice Lao Wang for his recommendation vote. Bow and thank you.