The Puppet Villainess’s Splendid Rebellion - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 14

Full-scale training began.

No, it was closer to torture than training.

Demian seemed intent on grinding me down from the start.

“Your posture is wrong. Again.”

I did it again.

“Foot position. Again.”

I did it again.

“I told you to bend your knees. Again.”

I did it again.

I repeated the same posture more than twenty times.

My wrists were numb. My shoulders were stiff. My legs were beyond words.

Yet I never once heard him say ‘that’s good enough.’

Demian pointed out mistakes whenever he could, and each time I had to start the posture over from the beginning.

Is this bastard doing this on purpose? Is he deliberately nitpicking to wear me down?

I glanced at Demian.

He was snickering. In other words, he had an expression of obvious enjoyment.

‘…This guy, I knew it.’

He’s planning to make me collapse.

He wants me to give up on my own. He’s waiting for me to say I can’t do it anymore because it’s too hard, that I want to quit.

Then he can reduce his burden without lifting a finger.

Or maybe it’s just revenge for what happened at the annex last time.

But that was out of the question.

‘I absolutely won’t lose.’

I gritted my teeth.

Me, who before my regression experienced having my blood drawn, being abandoned, and even stabbing myself to death with a sword – would I give up just because training is hard? He’s underestimating me way too much.

‘Just try and see if I’ll lose to you.’

The harassment disguised as training continued.

We naturally skipped lunch.

Demian didn’t tell me to rest, and I didn’t say I wanted to rest first either.

At this point, it was more like a fight than training.

Who would get tired first, and thus who would give up first.

‘…I won’t lose.’

My legs were shaking. Even lifting my arms was difficult.

“Your posture still isn’t right, Princess.”

“…I can do more.”

I barely squeezed out those words in response to Demian’s sarcasm.

My voice cracked. It was hard to even stand properly. It felt like I’d collapse if even a breeze blew.

“…”

Then Demian suddenly stopped laughing and looked at me.

It was a strange look in his eyes.

How should I put it, discomfort? It seemed subtly uncomfortable too.

“What?”

When I asked, feeling uneasy about that look, he pressed his lips together tightly then immediately stepped back.

“…Let’s stop here for today.”

“…What?”

I doubted my ears.

“Didn’t you hear? I said we’re done for today.”

“But I still haven’t gotten my posture right?”

“If you collapse, it’ll be troublesome for me too.”

…So he knew I was about to collapse?

As I stared at him blankly in bewilderment, Demian looked me over curtly then suddenly turned around.

“Come out at the same time tomorrow.”

That was all. After leaving those words, he quickly left the training ground.

Thanks to that, I was left standing there alone.

“…What the hell?”

What kind of person is like that?

* * *

Damian Carter disliked Lorea Pryce.

No, dislike wasn’t enough. He found her disgusting.

The Emperor’s treasure, the Imperial Family’s demon.

The princess who had committed all sorts of evil acts against the Duke’s house with the Emperor backing her.

The princess who laughed beside him whenever the Emperor sent poison to his father.

The princess who led the charge saying it was ‘father’s will’ whenever the Emperor extorted the Duke’s house’s wealth.

He had never met her directly, but rumors were enough. As a member of House of Carter, Duke, there was no reason not to hate her.

But that princess had come to the Duke’s Mansion.

Shamelessly at that.

Asking his father to become her guardian, to hide her.

When he first heard that news, it was hard to contain his rising anger. How dare she? After doing all that to our family, how dare she come here and ask to be hidden?

In the end, it was already outrageous that she had occupied a room in the Duke’s Mansion, but the princess’s shamelessness reached the heavens.

The fact that she dared to enter and leave that child’s room, and on top of that, shamelessly demanded an escort – these were things Demian could not tolerate.

So he decided to torment her under the guise of training.

If it was the Lorea Pryce that Demian knew, if it was a princess who grew up like a hothouse flower in the Imperial Palace, she would surely scream and shout about how dare he make her do such training and return to the Imperial Palace.

If she said with her own mouth that she couldn’t do it, that she would quit, then even father would have nothing to say.

But.

‘…What the hell is she trying to do?’

It was strange.

The princess gritted her teeth and threw herself into the training.

Even when she fell, she got up, even when she made mistakes, she tried again, and no matter how harshly he treated her, she never said she would give up.

He deliberately prevented her from eating lunch. He gave her no breaks. He made her repeat the same posture twenty, thirty times.

And yet.

“I can do more.”

With a pale face, looking like she would collapse at any moment, she said that.

Did she even know what kind of face she was making?

Blue-tinged lips, trembling legs, eyes that seemed ready to go out at any moment.

Seeing that sight, rather than feeling satisfied, he strangely felt irritated.

No, rather than irritated.

How should he put it.

It felt unsettling.

That’s why he was the first to say they should stop.

He didn’t know why he did that himself. It just came out of his mouth on its own.

Strangely, even after returning to his room, he didn’t feel refreshed. He had opened a book but the letters wouldn’t register in his eyes.

‘I haven’t heard any news about the princess becoming an idiot.’

Why on earth was she enduring it so stubbornly when he was obviously tormenting her?

Why was a princess making such a desperate face?

It would have been better if she had just gotten appropriately annoyed and quit.

‘…It bothers me.’

Demian found himself thinking that and shook his head vigorously.

No, it wasn’t bothering him. It was just strange. He was just annoyed because she wasn’t moving as expected.

Yes, that was all.

Thinking that, Demian suddenly stood up from his seat.

‘…Let’s go to the library.’

He needed a book to read at night. Since he didn’t think he’d be able to sleep. At times like this, picking out a boring book from the library was perfect.

Of course, it was unavoidable that the corridor with the guest room would be on the way to the library.

He wasn’t going that way on purpose.

It just happened to work out that way.

When Demian came down to the lower floor and was crossing the corridor, he saw a familiar face.

It was Mia.

She was coming out from the direction of the guest room. She was holding a tray, and the food on it was untouched. Not a single bite had been taken.

“Mia.”

“Oh my, young master.”

Mia bowed her head in greeting. Then she let out a deep sigh.

“What’s wrong?”

“Her Highness the Princess has fainted completely. I was trying to bring her dinner, but when I knocked there was no answer, so I went in to check…”

“…”

“She had collapsed on the bed. No matter how much I tried to wake her, she wouldn’t get up. It seems like she doesn’t have the strength to wake up.”

Mia stared quietly at Demian. It was a strangely piercing gaze.

“Young master, even so, couldn’t you go a little easier on her?”

“…What do you mean.”

“Her Highness the Princess has a very weak constitution, and she’s only thirteen years old.”

Mia knew. That Demian had deliberately treated Lorea harshly.

She was someone who had watched Demian since childhood. She could see right through the heart of a sixteen-year-old boy.

“…It was necessary. She needs at least minimal physical strength to make it to the West.”

“That wouldn’t be the reason you made Her Highness skip lunch and trained her so hard, would it?”

Demian pressed his lips tightly together.

He had nothing to say.

Mia sighed as if she had expected this.

“It’s not that I don’t understand your feelings, young master. This Mia knows well that you find Her Highness disagreeable.”

“…”

“But Her Highness is still a child. She’s thirteen years old.”

Thirteen years old.

The same age as Demian’s lost one and only treasure.

To think that small, soft, fragile, warm child and that spiteful princess were the same age.

With that thought, the already uncomfortable feeling in his chest became even more suffocating.

“…I understand.”

Demian answered briefly and turned around.

His desire to go to the library had disappeared.

All the way back to his room, he couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling, as if a thorn was stuck in his chest.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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