Chapter 1 1

"I can't wait for the day of the party to arrive... I need to sew a new dress!"

Lucinda says, bouncing happily as she twirls around holding the hem of her skirt, imagining the dress she would make.

"Stop chattering and get back to stirring that spoon. We don't want to burn the candy!"

Catiline replied, focusing on stirring the wood to increase the flames of the fire.

Her face was full of charcoal stains. Each time she tries to clean with her hands, it gets even more dirty, you could see how focused the young woman was. She frowns, checking closely if she had put enough wood.

"You'll never find a husband, not in your way!"

Lucinda says, picking up the spoon she had left aside and slowly stirring the pot again. She looks at her sister with a bold smile on her lips and continues.

"You know! You're already old enough to get married... I'm sure we'll find beautiful rich suitors at the party. Maybe we'll marry some merchant, or better, someone from the army... God, it would be splendid, sister!"

Lucinda happily talks, while her sister looks serious.

Cateline thinks it's hard to find a man who is not injured or crazy from the war.

Lucinda is ambitious and wants more than just marriage.

Cateline sighed, and picked up another spoon nearby and went to the pot to assist her sister, who was lost in her thoughts and had almost stopped stirring the candy..

"You know we're not going to the party, right?! We will stay at the entrance, selling sweets, or have you forgotten, sister?"

Cateline says a little disappointed at her sister. She knows how much Lucinda wanted to go.

"I know, but what if we sell everything? Who knows? Even if it's at the end of the party... What do you think?"

Lucinda answers with a sad expression on her face that soon goes away. She focuses on the candy thoughtfully.

"That's it! Let's sell all the candy before the party!"

She smiles again, bringing cheer to the place.

Cateline gives a smile, looking at her sister. She knew how lively the young girl was and never gave up.

"Look, I don't mind just selling the sweets, you can go to the party..."

When Cateline says this, Lucinda turns to her and replies.

"No way I'm leaving you alone! No way... We'll sell everything together, and if some thief or whatever, a pervert, comes, I will not leave you alone selling the sweets, never sister."

Lucinda was always responsible, just like everyone else in the family. She cared for everyone's safety and health always first. With all those wars and disasters going on, the family needed to stick together more and more.

"Right... So let's sell all these sweets..."

Cateline says, confident in what she had just said. She smiled at her sister sincerely.

The two wrapped the sweets in banana leaves and corn, which smelled delicious. They only had a few jams left to make. Despite the hard work, the young women would soon reap the rewards..

All income from the property depended on their recipes and items produced by them. The party in the village would be a great opportunity to earn extra money, so the girls were working hard to produce as much as possible for such an event.

Two days pass and the time for the long-awaited party had arrived. Lucinda was excitedly packing the small cart, putting everything they needed to take to sell. She hums softly, smiling.

She wears the dress she said she had made especially for that day. It was a green dress, made with fabrics she bought with her savings when she went to the village.

Lucinda was always very beautiful. Her dark blond hair and greenish eyes were striking, as was her body. She was very short. This always attracted men.

The young woman was cautious. She wanted someone rich, or with a lot of money at least, so she never gave anyone the ball.

Cateline, on the other hand, had honey-colored hair like her father's, greenish eyes that pulled her mother's, like her brothers.

Cateline was much taller than her sister, with a beautiful body too, but due to lack of delicacy and sensitivity men never paid attention to her, the girl always wore old clothes, and did not take care of herself well, but this was never a problem for her, since she did not care about the opinion of others. Cateline was saving her savings to buy her long-awaited house, with an enormous space for plantations.

"You look beautiful!"

Says Milenna, mother of Lucinda, Cateline and Martin.

She had just come from the garden, with her youngest son Martin, where she was harvesting some vegetables for dinner, he was stunned to see his sister.

"Mommy, has Lucinda become a princess?"

Martin asked while pulling a part of his mother's dress, who soon after heard the question burst into laughter with Lucinda.

"No, dear... But who knows one day, right?"

She says, putting the basket of food on the floor.

Cateline takes some baskets to the wagon. She is carrying some bread that she had just baked to sell. Her clothes are dirty with flour.

"Don't tell me you're going out like this?"

Lucinda asks as she approaches patting Cateline's clothes trying to get the dirt off.

Cateline wears a worn out dress, dark blue. It looked like they had worn it for years; it was already fraying and you could see some moth holes.

"Let's just sell things as usual. It's no big deal..."

Cateline speaks, lifting the heavy basket of bread to put in the cart, Lucinda holds a kind of package, wrapped in an old fabric.

"What is this?"

Cateline asks her sister, Lucinda holds out her hand handing over the item.

"It's a party! And I know you, I wouldn't let you ruin my groom hunt, you'd scare even the customers like that..."

Says Lucinda, smiling at her sister waving the package for Cateline to take.

"A dress...?"

She says after unrolling the fabric.

"Go try it on. Since I didn't take your measurements, I don't know if it will be good..."

Lucinda says, a little worried, but animatedly.

"Thank you very much. You know you didn't need it, sister."

Cateline gives a big hug to her sister who continues to hurry insisting that she try on the dress right away.

"Hurry up! We're going to be late, then you thank me!"

Lucinda says, pushing her sister into the house.

Cateline tried on the dress, it was long in light color, something very simple, usually the fabrics without color were much cheaper, Lucinda had little money and Cateline knew that, so she didn't mind the simplicity. Unfortunately the dress was a little tight, making Cateline's bust a little exposed, but nothing that a cape would not solve, so she would cover her marked curves.

Cateline had a long hooded cloak to cover the bare parts of her body. Soon it would get cold, so she would have no problem putting it on beforehand.