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"But the LORD said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'" —1 Samuel 16:7
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IT WAS as if the whole place of the knights suddenly turned into a cemetery. No one managed to speak a word after hearing what Lantana said. The awkward atmosphere continued for a short while—which felt like forever to the knights—until the duke finally decided to break the ice by faking a cough.
Actually, ever since his daughter woke up from being in coma, he felt as if something changed. He wasn't exactly sure with what he felt but, even the other servants who were close to his daughter, felt something odd that they couldn't explain.
The thought of his daughter being replaced was something that even occurred to his mind one time, however, he immediately shrugged it off when he was reminded of how tight the security in the whole Montgomery Duchy was.
If the security of the whole duchy was already something other fiefs could never achieve, how much more if it was the place where his family lived?
No one could possibly sneak into their mansion and pretend to be his daughter given the fact that his trusted servants were always guarding her room.
However, he could never deny the fact that his daughter really became bolder in expressing her opinion. He liked it but he also disliked it—especially how she expressed that the reason why she chose someone to be her personal knight was because he had a pretty face!
Her scumbag fiancé, who never really showed up at once when she was sleeping and in vegetative state, though the duke hated to admit it, also had a good looking face which was probably the reason why his daughter got bewitched by him.
Now that he thought about it, not once from the time she woke up did she speak the name of her fiancé nor her friend whom he never really had a good feeling about.
The duke promptly glanced at Siegrain, who was still feeling embarrassed after hearing Lantana's reason. Then, he scanned him from bottom up to his face and made a comparison between him and Lantana's fiancé.
Siegrain was oblivious to the duke's stares because he couldn't still move on from the praise he heard towards his face. Though he received a lot of them when he was still studying at the academy, receiving it from someone with an otherworldly face was really something else.
The duke, on the other hand, just finished evaluating Siegrain. And he approved! He might have looked handsome but he also had enough muscles in the right places and both his black shoes and sword looked worn out and old, indicating that he was probably always practicing. Aside from that, he knew that when the knight was still in school, he was someone who made a big name in the swordsmen department despite being a commoner because of his incredible ability to use his own aura.
'Good. Good. If Lantana were to choose one between them, she might as well just choose the knight that she recruited herself. Aside from his pretty face, he had enough strength to protect her from danger.' Duke Philippe thought to himself while nodding his head.
The duke glanced at Siegrain again who happened to accidentally look at him too. Then, the duke revealed a smile that seemed to have something ominous behind.
However, Siegrain, clueless about the reason for the duke's smile, just smiled back thinking that the duke was just being kind to him without knowing that the duke already evaluated him and that he just passed the evaluation.
"Father? Are you alright? Do you approve of my choice?" Lantana asked the duke who was left inside his wild imagination while waving her hand in front.
After hearing his daughter's sweet voice, Duke Philippe was finally brought back to reality as the bubbles inside of his mind about his daughter being married to Siegrain popped. Though he was greatly embarrassed, he did not let any of it be revealed on his face. Instead, the duke faked a cough for a few times again before he talked so casually to his daughter, as if his mind never wandered too far in the future earlier.
"Okay. I approve of your choice…"
Lantana was already screaming yes inside her mind upon hearing what the duke said. However, it was short lived as the duke continued speaking, making her annoyed inside, though on the surface she was showing a completely innocent look.
"But he has to prove himself to me—to us first that he deserves the position that you want to give him," the duke added in a tone filled with authority.
Most of the knights, especially the ones from the first order, silently nodded in agreement because for them, a lot of knights were more suited to become the future duchess's personal knight, compared to someone who just graduated and had only entered the family.
On the other hand, Lantana put value to her father's complaint in her mind. Then, she briefly glanced at the knights who were in front of her and immediately knew that they, too, thought that way.
Well, maybe that was the case then? Since her chosen personal knight had no other achievements in the duchy yet and probably not many people knew him, they were all doubting his capability if he could really protect her, and at the same time, there were also a lot of people who were coveting the place she was willing to give to someone else easily.
Well, what could be done? How could the unknown little knight deem himself worthy?
It wasn't like she was so naive like Penelope that she would only let her taste in men decide whenever she would do something—though she wouldn't deny that it was one of the requirements. However, she knew something was odd the first time that she met Siegrain. Though it was brief, there was something inside her that got stirred.
Having met with many dangerous people in the past, Lantana had developed an eye towards people—the people who seemed to bring the aura of death with them. Siegrain felt like one of those people and she never got wrong with her intuition.
Aside from that, the reason why she felt that something was stirred inside her was because she felt incredible power from him. But she did not know that it was mana at that time nor did she know why she felt it. However, on the other hand, it wasn't like the other people who were there also felt it. No wonder that they'd doubt him.
Her idea wasn't really well thought out. Even when she was a duke's daughter, not many people knew her. Aside from the gossip and slanders from the nobles when her body was fat and her infamous delusion towards her fiance, not much was known about the insignificant duke's daughter but the duke's love for her. From the eyes of the knights, especially the older ones, she was just probably a brat who wanted to mess around. In short, she had no influence.
In addition to that, if the knights who were there before Siegrain weren't given a chance to also prove themselves, her chosen knight could experience conflicts with the others that could hinder both of them.
If her personally chosen person was a knight who hadn't made a name for himself yet, then, to boost his popularity immediately and to get her fathers approval, shouldn't he just go and land a jab on the strongest opponent than to do many unnecessary and frivolous detours? Instead of fighting the small fries, it would be better to fight the bigger boss.
Alright! She decided!
As soon as Lantana made an internal decision, she didn't notice how her lips subconsciously rose and made a sweet smile, alluring everyone more while taking their breath away.
With a sinister smile hiding beneath her sweet facade, she glanced at the knights once more and then she turned to her father.
With a smile as if she would never be able to kill a mosquito, she spoke to him.
"Alright! I accept your condition, father. However, I propose an idea on how to make Siegrain be able to prove himself in front of everyone in a short period of time without wasting any more days. Don't worry. It's not something in favor of Siegrain so that no one could say that it's unfair," she said in a serious tone which sparked the interest of her father.
"Hooh? What do you propose? Let us hear your plans," the duke said, completely interested in what his daughter planned to do.
Lantana smiled as she went where Siegrain was standing and spoke.
"The knight commander is the strongest person here right?" she asked vaguely which made everyone who heard it creased their forehead.
Though he was confused, he replied, "Yes, my lady."
"Then... I want Siegrain to have a serious fight with the commander and win. What do you think? If he wins, he'll be mi—my personal knight. If he loses, then alright, he won't be my personal knight. Aside from that, this would also give all the other knights the freedom to compete for the position. I don't mind having more than one personal knight. If they want to be my personal knight and manage to defeat the commander, I wouldn't mind accepting them too…" Lantana said which made the knights who were confident with their ability to be hopeful.
Some of the knights who suddenly felt animosity towards Siegrain even took a look at him and snickered.
Just that, before their hope could even fully bloom, Lantana crushed it in just one go.
"However, I have a strict requirement that definitely needs to be met—and that is for them to examine themselves on their own and evaluate themselves if they have a face that could rival Siegrain's face or be it to be on par to Siegrain," Lantana added which made the people drop their jaws again.
That time, the people, even Lantana's father, had the same thought. 'Shameless!'
They couldn't believe it. Everyone was stupefied as they froze in their place.
What was she looking for? Personal knights or people who could be a part of her harem!?
How could she utter those words easily? Even the commander and the duke turned red from wanting to laugh so loudly after seeing the woman's positive expression and the knights' faces yet had to refrain themselves from doing it to not lose their authoritative aura.