“Wahaha! This is amazing! It stretches so much!”
It felt like she was hearing an auditory hallucination.
She even remembered giving a ridiculous warning to the servants.
“Only I can tug on Seila’s cheeks.”
“Only I get to tease her!”
Not exactly the fondest memory.
Anyway, aside from Garen, no one else had ever dared to pull Seila’s cheeks.
“But I get the urge.”
Even Seila herself had never seen skin this plump, moist, and porcelain-like before.
“No, it’s just that, my lady, your skin feels like soft, moist dough. I thought it’d stretch if I pulled on it a bit. It’s so soft and squishy to the touch, it just makes you feel so—oh, I’m sorry.”
Seila found Mary, who was babbling on, quite endearing.
It felt like she was looking at a young niece that never existed.
Mary, who had been chattering nonstop, quickly came to her senses.
“S-Sorry! I know I should behave properly, but I messed up again. I just like you so much, my lady. It makes my heart flutter when you speak kindly only to me. I got too excited. I’ll take you to your room right away. Is there anything else you need?”
Seila smiled gently.
“I’m thirsty. Bring me some watermelon juice.”
“Got it! I’ll take out all the seeds and blend it smooth. Leave it to me!”
Mary replied cheerfully and energetically.
Watching Seila’s back as she walked into her room, Mary clasped her hands together and bit her upper lip.
‘She’s so cool.’
To Mary, Seila was already a giant of a person.
A deep sense of pride was swelling up inside her.
“Hey, the lady I serve? That’s Seila, okay?”
Though no one was around to hear it, she was beaming with pride.
For the first time, Taycan questioned an order from the head of the house.
“Why should I be the one to teach the young lady?”
“I’m asking you as a favor.”
At DePhelto’s request, Taycan eventually gave a reluctant nod.
‘So this was Seila’s idea.’
How lightly must one regard swordsmanship to make such a proposal?
Since she couldn’t learn magic, she would learn swordsmanship instead?
And even planned to enter the prestigious Somarfi Academy as the top student to elevate House Devernon’s reputation?
‘Ridiculous.’
He, too, had been praised as a swordsmanship prodigy since childhood.
His skills had no equal among his peers, yet he still fell short of the bloodline of the swordmasters from House Queibek.
‘She thinks she’ll surpass them?’
A noble lady who had never once trained her body was saying things that insulted every swordsman on the continent.
“I will not teach her half-heartedly.”
“I’m entrusting her education entirely to you.”
“She might collapse or get seriously injured.”
“I won’t interfere.”
“Understood.”
Taycan, wearing a hardened expression, went to find Seila.
“I do not teach just anyone. Even if the order comes from the head of the house.”
“I understand. And I won’t be just anyone.”
Seila smiled gently and rose from her seat.
As if she had known Taycan would come, she was already dressed in training clothes typically worn by knights.
“And I’d like to apologize first.”
“For what?”
“The things I said to you could be seen as an insult to every swordsman on the continent, depending on how one interprets them.”
“…”
Taycan’s eyes narrowed.
She was completely different from before.
The shy, hesitant girl who used to fidget while apologizing was gone.
“That wasn’t my intention. It’s just… I have nothing. That was the only offer I could make to Your Excellency.”
Seila marveled again at her newfound grace.
‘Dude. That wasn’t it. I seriously didn’t have anything else to offer. Please don’t hate me. Okay?’
She had rephrased that into such an elegant statement.
Even though she laughed quietly at her own mental translation, her noble body simply smiled with poise.
She should be used to this by now, but it always felt new and thrilling.
“I understand.”
Taycan continued without much emotion.
“We’ll begin with a basic test.”
He understood her intention, but had no plans to go easy on her.
She would need to meet the minimum standards of what he considered a “13-year-old beginner swordsman.”
‘She’s never trained her body, not even once.’
He thought it important to show her just how tough and grueling the path of the sword could be.
“The foundation of swordsmanship is physical strength and stamina.”
At higher levels, one might use magic to grow beyond physical limits, but the basics were always body and endurance.
“Let’s see if you really have the aptitude for swordsmanship.”
He deliberately made the test harsh.
“This is a push-up.”
A strange movement, unknown to most nobles—but familiar to Seila, who had lived on modern Earth.
“This is called a burpee.”
The moves were easy enough.
She had once bought a one-year gym membership and gone for two whole weeks.
‘This should be doable…’ she thought at first.
“Begin.”
Time passed.
Ten minutes. Twenty. Thirty. One hour. Two hours.
Her breath was caught in her throat.
“This is a squat. It may look simple, but it improves balance, strengthens the quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings…”
Seila screamed internally.
No matter how much her mind screamed, her noble body simply furrowed her brow and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Taycan watched her with a conflicted heart.
‘Strange. She should’ve collapsed by now.’
Her face was pale, her body trembling.
She had long surpassed her physical limits and was now relying solely on willpower.
‘She’s a noble lady who’s never trained… How is this possible?’
He had thought she would collapse in under two hours.
He expected her to beg him to stop, or to curse at him in a fit of rage.
That was what most of his students had done.
‘Is this even possible?’
Even as she looked like she might fall over at any moment, she kept performing the exercises.
Sweat gathered and dripped from the tips of Seila’s glossy hair.
‘I will not die. I will see the ending.’
Seila knew she was the type of character who could die at any moment.
That’s exactly why her will to live was so strong—it was the one thing holding her up.
‘So… dizzy…’
The sky was spinning.
‘I have to endure this.’
If she couldn’t get through this, there was no way she could handle what was to come.
This was one of the easy trials.
‘I must… endure…’
Suddenly, a loud ringing filled her ears.
‘Huh?’
Her dizzy vision went dark.
She couldn’t see anything anymore.
A chill ran down her spine, and a strange sensation crept in.
‘No way…’
It felt like the literal threat of death she had only ever read about was now coming for her.
‘So this is what it’s like.’
One experience was enough to understand.
‘Death is coming.’
After that, she remembered nothing.
Taycan carried Seila on his back and ran down the hall, leaping from the third floor to the first.
“Pryx!”
Pryx was the resident physician of the Devernon estate.
He had treated Taycan on the battlefield several times and ended up working for the Devernon family because of that connection.
One of the few people who could scold Taycan without fear.
“What happened?”
“Please examine her!”
“What the hell did you do?”
Pryx grunted as he examined Seila.
“Taycan! Why are you just standing there? Massage her limbs! Now!”
Meanwhile, Pryx quickly mixed potion ingredients to make a recovery potion.
After a while, he wiped sweat from his brow and sighed.
“What did you do to the lady?”
“I was simply teaching her the fundamentals of swordsmanship.”
“If I’d been even one minute later, it could’ve been fatal. Remember how I used to tell you you’d be the death of someone someday?”
Pryx slumped to the floor, breathing heavily.
“But no one’s died yet.”
Usually, people passed out before reaching their limits.
“That’s because they give up before dying! I mean, how hard did you push her?! Were you actually trying to kill her?!”
He scolded Taycan for a long while.
“Even back on the battlefield, I told you…”
“Please stop bringing up what happened 20 years ago.”
“It’s been 20 years and you still haven’t changed.”
“If I listened to physicians, all I’d be able to do is breathe.”
“You insolent brat! Talking back to your elders!”
“You’ve already given me this same lecture 798 times.”
“Only 798? That’s not nearly enough!”
Pryx clicked his tongue.
“Do you realize something?”
“What?”
“That young lady has never once needed my treatment in ten years. Not once. And now, after one day with you, she ends up like this? That means what you did was attempted murder! You killer!”
Taycan clamped his mouth shut, clearly tired of the nagging.
He looked down at Seila’s pale face and fell into thought.
‘Not once in ten years, huh…’
Was that even possible?
Was she really that strong? Or had she just been silently enduring the pain?
‘Not really my concern…’
And yet, for some reason, it bothered him.
