Chapter 14
The real training began.
No—
It was closer to torture than training.
From the very start, it felt as though Damian intended to grind me into the ground.
“Your stance is wrong. Again.”
I did it again.
“Your foot placement. Again.”
I did it again.
“Bend your knees. Again.”
I did it again.
I repeated the same stance more than twenty times.
My wrists went numb.
My shoulders ached.
My legs were beyond saving.
And yet, not once did I hear him say, “Good enough.”
Whenever he found the slightest flaw, Damian pointed it out.
Every time, I had to start over from the beginning.
Is this jerk doing it on purpose?
Is he deliberately nitpicking just to wear me down?
I stole a glance at him.
He was smirking.
No—
He looked like he was openly enjoying himself.
…Just as I thought.
He wanted me to collapse.
He was waiting for me to give up on my own—to admit it was too hard and quit.
That way, he’d get rid of me without having to dirty his own hands.
Or maybe this was simply revenge for what had happened in the annex.
Too bad for him.
I’m never losing.
I clenched my teeth.
I’d endured having my blood drawn, being abandoned, and even stabbing myself to death in my previous life.
Did he really think I’d give up just because training was difficult?
He underestimated me far too much.
Just wait and see.
The harassment disguised as training continued.
Naturally, I skipped lunch.
Damian never told me to take a break.
And I refused to ask for one.
At this point, it wasn’t training anymore.
It was a battle.
A contest to see who would break first.
Who would be the first to surrender.
…I’m not losing.
My legs trembled.
Even lifting my arms had become difficult.
“Your posture is still incorrect, Princess.”
“…I can keep going.”
I barely managed to force the words out in response to his sarcastic remark.
My voice cracked.
Standing upright alone was exhausting.
One strong gust of wind felt like it would knock me over.
“…”
For the first time all day, Damian stopped smiling.
He stared at me.
There was something strange in his eyes.
It wasn’t mockery.
It looked more like…
Discomfort.
Or perhaps unease.
“What?”
His expression made me uneasy enough to ask.
He pressed his lips together before finally taking a step back.
“…We’ll stop here for today.”
“…What?”
I thought I’d misheard him.
“Didn’t you hear me? We’re done for today.”
“But I still haven’t gotten the stance right.”
“If you collapse, it’ll only become a nuisance for me.”
…So he knew I was about to collapse.
I could only stare at him blankly.
Damian glanced at me one last time before turning around.
“Same time tomorrow.”
That was all.
Without another word, he left the training grounds.
Leaving me standing there alone.
“…What?”
What kind of person is he?
Damian Carter hated Lorea Friese.
No.
“Hate” wasn’t nearly strong enough.
He despised her.
The Emperor’s treasured possession.
The Imperial Family’s demon.
The Imperial Princess who had committed every imaginable outrage against House Carter under the Emperor’s protection.
The Princess who was said to have smiled every time the Emperor sent poison to his father.
The Princess who had proudly declared, “This is His Majesty’s will,” every time the Emperor plundered the Grand Duke’s wealth.
He had never met her personally before.
But the rumors alone were enough.
As the heir to House Carter, he had every reason to hate her.
And then—
That Princess had actually come to the Grand Duke’s estate.
Brazenly.
Asking his father to become her guardian.
Asking to be hidden here.
The first time he’d heard the news, he had struggled to contain his rage.
How dare she?
After everything she did to our family… how dare she come here asking for shelter?
It was infuriating enough that she’d taken over one of the rooms in the estate.
But her shamelessness seemed to know no limits.
Entering that child’s room without permission.
And then, as if that weren’t enough, shamelessly requesting an escort.
Neither was something Damian could tolerate.
So he’d decided to make her suffer under the guise of training.
The Lorea Friese he knew—
The Princess raised like a delicate flower inside the Imperial Palace—
Surely she would scream about how outrageous it was to subject her to this kind of treatment and immediately return to the Imperial Palace.
If she admitted with her own mouth that she couldn’t continue, even his father wouldn’t be able to object.
But…
…What is she trying to prove?
Something wasn’t right.
The Princess gritted her teeth and endured.
Whenever she fell, she stood back up.
Whenever she made a mistake, she tried again.
No matter how mercilessly he pushed her, she never once said she wanted to quit.
He deliberately prevented her from eating lunch.
He never gave her a break.
He made her repeat the same stance twenty times.
Thirty times.
Even then…
“I can keep going.”
She said it with a pale face.
Looking as though she could collapse at any second.
Does she even realize what she looks like?
Blue lips.
Shaking legs.
Eyes that looked ready to close at any moment.
Instead of feeling satisfied…
Seeing her like that irritated him.
No.
Not irritated.
What was this feeling?
It was…
Unsettling.
That was why he’d stopped the training himself.
He wasn’t even sure why.
The words had simply come out on their own.
Even after returning to his room, the feeling refused to leave him.
He opened a book.
The words wouldn’t register.
I never heard that the Princess had become an idiot.
Then why…?
Why is she enduring this when I’m so obviously tormenting her?
Why does someone like the Princess look so desperate?
She should have gotten angry.
Complained.
Quit.
Wouldn’t that have been easier?
…This is bothering me.
The thought surfaced before Damian quickly shook his head.
No.
It wasn’t bothering him.
It was simply strange.
She wasn’t behaving the way he’d expected.
That was all.
Convincing himself of that, Damian stood up.
…I’ll go to the library.
He needed a book for the evening.
It didn’t seem like he’d be able to sleep.
Whenever that happened, reading something unbearably dull usually helped.
Of course…
The quickest route to the library happened to pass the guest rooms.
That couldn’t be helped.
It wasn’t as though he was deliberately going that way.
It was merely a coincidence.
As Damian crossed the first-floor corridor, he spotted a familiar face.
Mia.
She was coming from the guest wing.
A tray rested in her hands.
The food on it was untouched.
Not a single bite had been eaten.
“Mia.”
“Oh, Young Master.”
She bowed politely before letting out a deep sigh.
“What happened?”
“The Princess fainted.”
She looked genuinely worried.
“I brought her dinner, but when she didn’t answer my knocking, I went inside…”
“…”
“She’d collapsed on the bed.”
“No matter how much I tried to wake her, she wouldn’t open her eyes.”
“I don’t think she even has the strength to get up.”
Mia quietly looked at Damian.
Her gaze carried a subtle accusation.
“Young Master…”
She sighed.
“Couldn’t you have gone just a little easier on her?”
“…What do you mean?”
“The Princess has always been physically weak.”
“And she’s only thirteen.”
Mia knew.
She knew Damian had deliberately made Lorea’s training unnecessarily harsh.
She had watched him grow up.
A sixteen-year-old boy’s thoughts were hardly difficult for her to read.
“…It was necessary.”
“If she’s going all the way to the western territory, she needs at least the minimum amount of stamina.”
“I doubt that’s why you made her skip lunch and trained her without a break.”
Damian fell silent.
He had no answer.
Mia sighed again, as though she’d expected as much.
“I understand how you feel, Young Master.”
“I know you dislike the Princess.”
“…”
“But…”
“She’s still just a child.”
“She’s only thirteen.”
Thirteen.
The same age as the one precious treasure Damian had lost.
That small…
Soft…
Fragile…
Warm little girl.
To think that vicious Imperial Princess was the same age as her…
The thought made the uncomfortable knot in his chest tighten even further.
“…I understand.”
Damian answered quietly before turning away.
He no longer felt like going to the library.
The entire walk back to his room, the discomfort in his chest lingered—
Like a thorn lodged beneath his heart, refusing to come out.
