Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

"I'll help you, I'll help you, I'm your sister after all."

"I want to go home!"

Anna thought for a moment, then nodded, "All right, you can follow Lieutenant Juan back to Sea Blue when it's time."

Catherine's tears were like a flood breaching the embankment, completely beyond her control now.

She cried and rolled on the bed like a little child, refusing to let her sister come near her, and wouldn't say what she wanted.

"Is Miss Navarre all right?" Eileen stood at the door.

Eileen had been picking vegetables in the western garden and had rushed back to the mansion as soon as she received the maid's message.

"It's nothing." Anna replied to Mrs. Mitchell with a bitter smile, "Just a child."

"I'm very sorry, Miss Navarre." Seeing the scene in the guest room, Eileen immediately understood what had happened, "It's my failure in teaching, I will discipline Scarlett. Please accept my apology on her behalf for both you and your sister."

Anna quickly gestured with her hands, "No, Scarlett did nothing wrong, you shouldn't discipline her, please don't."

Without allowing Anna to explain, Eileen lifted her skirt to curtsy and had already turned to leave.

She kindly closed the door behind her, leaving only the Navarre sisters alone in the room.

...

Late that same day, Scarlett reluctantly came to apologize to Catherine.

Scarlett's face was still streaked with tears and her eyes were full of defiance; it was clear she was apologizing out of necessity.

Catherine also looked like a tearful little calico cat, with her chestnut hair in complete disarray.

She huffily turned her head away, avoiding eye contact with Scarlett.

"You don't need to apologize, Scar." Anna answered for her sister, comforting Scarlett with a smile, "Catherine just lacks a bit of discipline, I think you were right."

Catherine angrily punched her sister in the side.

Scarlett curtsied with no emotion and recited flatly, "I'm sorry. I was wrong."

After saying this, she turned and left without looking back.

"What kind of apology is that?" Catherine nearly fainted with anger.

"Come on, what are you unsatisfied with? I was even thinking of having you apologize to Mrs. Mitchell and the young lady."

Catherine threw herself at her sister, wildly flailing her fists and shrieking with tears, "You go find her to be your sister! You all side with her, you all bully me!"

But before she could do more, she was easily subdued by Anna.

Anna wasn't particularly strong, but she was far more powerful than her sister.

Catherine could neither argue nor fight her way out, feeling extremely wronged, and began to cry again uncontrollably, "Why are you helping outsiders? Mother! Anna is helping outsiders to bully me!"

It took Anna great effort to finally soothe her sister.

"Seriously, Kate," Anna gently patted her sister's back, "you should go back to Sea Blue. If Lieutenant Juan leaves, you won't have a chance to go back. You would have to stay here for a very long time."

"If I go, what will you do?" Catherine asked through her sobs, "You'll be all alone, won't you?"

Anna smiled, "I'll be fine, don't worry."

Catherine spitefully used her sister's dress to wipe her tears and snot.

Anna sighed deeply, "Mrs. Mitchell has a point, this isn't home, this isn't Sea Blue. If you don't work, you starve. Didn't grandpa start from scratch too? Didn't he always tell us the story of how he went out to sea as an apprentice at twelve, dealing in fabrics, dying them, and traveling through the streets to sell them?"

Catherine huffed angrily, "Grandpa never told me that! He never told Olivia either, only you! He's biased."

"In any case, I'm staying here."

"Stay here for what? You've already met Mr. M, you should bring him back. All you have to do is ask, and he would go back for sure. Trust me, if you ask."

"He doesn't want to go, and I don't want to sway his will," Anna shook her head, murmuring wistfully, "I don't know why he's staying here, nor do I know what he's been through in the past year, nor why people here respect him so much. But I want to touch him, I want to know the real him, not just the one in my memories."

"You're such a fool, with your head full of love, but marriage and love are not the same thing, are they?" Catherine couldn't help but remind her sister.

"Either way, I'm not leaving, but I want you to go back to Sea Blue. You're sixteen and should be betrothed; you can't stay away from home too long. What about your reputation?"

"Don't worry, mother is there! She will be able to handle everything," Catherine burst into a tearful smile, "If I go back now, she'll be furious and definitely punish me severely. Besides, it's not like it's hard for me to captivate any man I want, is it?"

"But life here really is too hard, Mrs. Mitchell has already given us her best, and it's still tough."

Catherine was silent for a long time, thinking things through, she finally resolved, "I'll stay... I don't care about Mr. M or this damn place, but I can't just leave you here by yourself. Mother said we were like twin lotuses; we can't be apart. I won't leave you behind, I'm not that bad guy Mr. M."

Anna smiled helplessly.

"As for mother, isn't Olivia there, the little fool? She won't be lonely. Olivia finally gets to have mother's affection all to herself, she'll be happy." Catherine's eyes were swollen like peaches as she looked at her sister seriously, "After all, I have to take care of you!"

...

On August 11th, Wolf Town's church resumed its weekly proceedings.