Chapter 9: Basic Attack to bait out ultimate move.

Tidying up… the room?

What exactly is going on in this girl’s head?

Luvia’s eye twitched. She did not reply, merely gazing at Frosia with that faint, indifferent look…

The latter’s face grew redder and redder, until she finally couldn’t help lowering her head.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness! I misspoke!”

“I-I-I’ll go practice swordsmanship…”

Seeing her so flustered and embarrassed,

Luvia couldn’t help but curl the corner of her mouth.

“Do you like practicing swordsmanship that much? Being my maid is really wasting your time…”

Hearing these words, Frosia’s entire body stiffened.

“Lady Luvia, you must be joking. Serving you is naturally my honor…”

Although she said this, her lips were pursed and her expression clearly showed some disappointment.

“…”

Luvia said nothing more and instead looked behind her.

“Frostsha, come here.”

She beckoned to the beast-eared girl behind her,

then turned her head toward Shabella beside them.

“Shabella, this is a new servant I’ve taken in.” Facing the female knight’s strange expression, Luvia explained indifferently,

“I believe she has talent in combat. Help me train her.”

“Train her?”

Although it was rather sudden… Shabella still accepted the task.

“Of course, no problem, my lady…”

After all, she was currently Frosia’s teacher. Teaching one or two made little difference.

It was just… a demi-human?

She looked at the clearly nervous Frostsha, a trace of doubt rising in her heart.

Demi-humans could not be formally knighted, so was Lady Luvia simply trying to cultivate a bodyguard?

On the other side, Frosia, who had been quietly trying to slip away, also heard these words.

Why train… a slave she bought?

Wait,

she suddenly realized another issue.

According to Lady Luvia, this demi-human miss would become her classmate??

“Eh…?”

Frosia’s brain felt completely overloaded.

But at that moment, a fair little hand patted her shoulder.

Turning her head, Frosia once again met Luvia’s emotionless eyes…

“Hey, Frosia.”

Luvia’s voice was like a piercing cold wind, making Frosia feel as if she had fallen into an ice cave from head to toe.

What scheme was Her Highness plotting this time?

Frosia’s heart was filled with tension…

From Her Highness’s behavior, she had been trying to isolate her.

From forcing her to submit, to leaving her with no one to rely on, until she could only depend on her…

If this time, Her Highness was trying to send Shabella away from her side…

No, she couldn’t!

She could not lose Shabella as her teacher.

She absolutely could not stop growing stronger!

If even her training was forbidden, how long would she have to wait before she could avenge her father?

A storm of thoughts surged in Frosia’s mind.

Yet the Luvia before her simply watched her calmly, then pointed at Frostsha not far away…

“I forbid you from training better than her.”

“Whether you slack off, get distracted, or even use your own training time to teach her. In short, within one month, I want to see your swordsmanship fall below Frostsha’s!”

“…Eh?”

Hearing this, Frosia was stunned.

It seemed… quite different from what she had imagined?

Luvia arrogantly raised her chin and began issuing commands to everyone around.

“Shabella, when you teach Frosia, make sure to hold back a little. She still has to serve me, so the training cannot be too tiring.”

Black lines appeared on Shabella’s face. She had heard every word Luvia said earlier.

It was clearly a threat to Frosia, forbidding her from training better than her own servant,

yet when it reached this point, it somehow sounded like she was taking care of Frosia?

“As for my frostwolf servant… don’t worry about her feelings. Train her harshly for me!”

“She will become an excellent warrior in the future and serve me.”

Luvia pushed Frostsha forward, sending her in front of Shabella.

The latter’s expression remained quite dazed, as if she still hadn’t fully understood what was happening.

However, her slightly smarter younger sister seemed to have already figured it out. A strange light flickered in her ice-blue eyes.

“If you dare slack off during training, you’ll regret it.”

Luvia bared her teeth and waved her fist at Frostsha.

The latter immediately nodded like a pecking chicken…

“Good. You stay here and train. As for Frosna, you come with me.”

Under the strange gazes of the three,

Luvia calmly led Frosna away…

…

The two walked straight out of the Karris family estate.

As they headed toward the outskirts of the city,

the surrounding houses grew sparser and sparser, and the sun completely sank behind the mountains.

Suddenly, Luvia stopped in her tracks and turned to question Frosna behind her.

“You should have guessed it, right? What I want you to do…”

Yet the latter avoided her gaze. After thinking it over again and again… she still chose to shake her head.

Seeing this, Luvia let out a soft sigh.

“Are you this dishonest even toward your own master?”

“Your life is in my hands, you know…”

Luvia reached out and gripped Frosna’s shoulder, then stared directly into her eyes.

From Frosna’s perspective, that indifferent yet exquisite face was drawing closer and closer…

Then,

their breaths mingled, the tips of their noses lightly touching…

Yet Frosna still acted like a puppet at someone’s mercy. Only the beast ears on her head twitched slightly, revealing her unsettled heart.

“Do you smell anything?”

Luvia asked softly.

“The scent of lies? Or the scent of sincerity…?”

She extended a finger and gently tapped the tip of the other’s nose.

“I know your nose can sniff out good things, right?”

“!?”

Luvia’s words were like a sharp thorn, piercing straight into Frosna’s heart.

The words “How do you know” nearly slipped out.

This was her greatest secret…

A secret known only to her and her closest kin!

As a demi-human… her mother had taught her from a young age to hide her value.

Demi-humans were disliked by everyone, struggling to survive caught between the human race and the beastman race. No one would ever treat them as “one of their own.”

And for Frosna…

Being able to smell the flow of mana with her nose and discover magical materials and hidden treasures—

Frosna knew very well what would happen if this talent of hers was exposed.

A powerless demi-human who had lost all her trump cards…

Among the beastmen, she might have her legs crippled and be turned into a living treasure-hunting device.

And if among humans, she would probably be sent to an auction house. Bought at a high price by powerful humans, branded with an even stronger soul imprint, truly never able to turn her life around.

But if she could hide this trump card… the possibility of turning the tables would always exist.

Because low-level slave imprints were not completely unsolvable. If she could find powerful magical items with this talent, she could escape with her sister!

But now…

The evening breeze blew past. Perhaps because her clothes were too thin,

looking at the master before her, Frosna suddenly couldn’t stop trembling.

Back at the slave market, she had seen her master casually point a finger, causing mana to gather on the slave imprint by itself. She had completed the branding without even needing blood.

And now, without her showing any flaws,

she had pointed out her deepest secret with a single sentence!

Even when the slave imprint had been branded on her, Frosna had not been this panicked.

Deep in her heart, she had always harbored thoughts of escaping.

But at this moment, that illusion was completely shattered.

Looking at the silver-haired girl’s young, almost childish face, Frosna’s heart was filled with despair.

“Let’s talk about cooperation.” Luvia smiled faintly.

The evening wind tore a small gap in the clouds above, allowing pale moonlight to pour down and illuminate her terrifying smile.

Frosna could no longer endure the pressure. A sour feeling rose at the tip of her nose.

She slowly knelt on the ground, tears filling her eyes as her body shook like a sieve.

She knew she had lost all bargaining chips. The only thing left was to show maximum obedience…

“Master, I shouldn’t have lied to you! From now on, I will be wholeheartedly loyal to you!”

“But please, I beg you… spare my sister…”

In her panic, Frosna spoke without thinking, almost laying everything she had on the negotiation table.

“I-I know… I know what kind of play you like.”

“I can let you enjoy yourself to the fullest. I can cooperate with you. My stupid sister definitely can’t do it!”

Her eyes spun into two dizzy spirals as tears streamed down.

“Wuu… During the day I can help you find treasures… At night… wuu~ I will definitely serve you comfortably…”

The girl’s voice carried a thick sobbing tone.

“My cries… sound very nice. I-I… whatever you want… I can do it all…”

She could no longer speak and simply kept wiping her tears…

“…”

As for the person she was desperately begging—

Lady Luvia, who had been smiling just moments ago, had completely frozen.

“…Ah?”

Wait, wait a minute,

was her smile really that devastating?

Why did she suddenly start crying? And what on earth was she saying?

Luvia fell into deep self-doubt…

Eh, no,

there were too many flaws. She didn’t even know where to begin asking.

She simply raised a slightly trembling finger and pointed at Frosna’s nose.

“Did you just… speak?”