Whip (2)
At least until Tiamat appeared, the villain in that scene had been Isaac.
Even though Eiden had spoken first… the entire performance he put on was simply too extreme and too brutal.
It was only natural. Cutting an arm off with lightning in such a way, what else could one say?
If the matter had ended there, Isaac’s public image would have suffered quite a bit.
Even if the person involved didn’t care at all about what others thought of him, Tiamat worried that his reputation would be damaged.
— Duke Havertz… I will watch over you directly from now on. I hope you won’t do anything unnecessary again.
That was why he had gone even further than expected. He had also used the language he rarely used.
Once the scene had been sealed off like that, it had become possible to portray the current incident as nothing more than a “nervous exchange between Duke Havertz and the Green Dragon.”
…Not “Duke Havertz violently attacks the hero,” of course. Though it could never be completely eliminated.
— That’s what happened…
Tiamat let out a pained expression after thinking that far. She had no choice but to.
With her legs trembling, she placed her hand against the wall of the dormitory.
Her wet, emerald eyes carefully turned back. She had no idea how things had turned out this way.
“Ah, Isaac… Did my method really make you upset? Then I’m sorry. But at that time, I had no other choice.”
She swallowed dryly and vigorously protested. Of course, she was also guessing why Isaac had reacted that way.
The light, sparkling gaze of the fawn-like girl shifted toward Isaac.
Towards the silver-haired Isaac Havertz standing slanted, still gripping the whip.
“Well… I wasn’t particularly upset.”
Soon the reply came. Isaac swung the whip hard, slicing through the air, and Tiamat shrank back dramatically.
“Eh, if it wasn’t that you were upset, then why…?”
“… ”
Isaac did not answer immediately. He merely glanced sideways as if organizing his thoughts, then suddenly swung his arm.
Crack—!
“……!?”
Tiamat’s large eyes widened in shock. The unexpected pain in her lower body left her unable to even scream.
Her lower half trembled as if struck by lightning, and from the point of contact, an unknown sensation raced through her entire body.
It felt as if she had been shocked by lightning.
“Huff, ugh. Hoo.”
Because she had been hit without warning, strength left her legs. She staggered for a moment, but Isaac remained completely unmoved.
“I am grateful for what happened earlier, Principal. If you had not done so, my position would have become quite difficult.”
“…Th-that…”
Tiamat’s eyelids fluttered as she turned back. If she could have, she would have shouted “Then why exactly are you doing this?!” — but…
“Strange… This is strange.”
She was in a state of great confusion. It was as if the feeling she had when Eiden had first groped her private parts a few days ago.
She had received a slap on the buttocks from an almost human young man, a situation she could not understand at all.
Somehow… that fact was tickling her between the legs. Perhaps it was the twisted desire born from humiliation and shame.
“You… you’re really…”
Without realizing it, she rubbed her thigh while barely managing to speak.
“…It’s strange. If I truly felt gratitude, I shouldn’t have done this. I should have given you a reward instead.”
“… ”
“This isn’t a reward, it’s a punishment…?! I just put my hand on the wall because you told me to, and this is what happens. Hoo.”
While speaking, she breathed heavily. Her face was flushed red, and her eyes sparkled with hidden heat.
Isaac gave a slightly softened smile and let out a chuckle. Tiamat instantly felt a surge of fighting spirit at the sound.
“A reward, isn’t it?”
“……What?”
Tiamat had no choice but to stare blankly at Isaac’s next words.
“It suits me, doesn’t it?”
He lightly flicked the whip with his fingertip, drawing a somewhat cheeky smile.
“Uh, ugh…?”
Tiamat felt her face burn at that smile. Her neck heated up, leaving her feeling as if she were truly a red dragon.
“W-what are you talking about…?”
She almost forgot even her own nature and barely managed to string words together with her last thread of reason.
“I have no idea what you’re saying. Anyway, I’ll go. I went out of my way to worry about you, and this is the thanks I get… I hate you…”
“… ”
“Even if I die soon, Principal, Principal, I only call you that…”
Tiamat muttered in a small, almost crawling voice.
She had been sulking for a while when she suddenly felt a pang of awkward silence. She rolled her eyes and checked Isaac’s expression.
What if he got angry? The same thought crossed her mind. As if scared of the great being in front of her, she pressed her lips together.
“…Tia.”
“!”
For the first time, Isaac fulfilled her unspoken wish. It had been quite some time since she had been called that way, sticky and close to him days ago.
Tiamat’s face lit up immediately as she looked at him. She seemed to have a tail that was spinning like a propeller.
But.
“While saying things like that, you don’t seem to have any intention of leaving the room at all?”
“…Eh?”
The moment Isaac’s lips twitched, she had no choice but to look down at herself.
Still… standing with her hand on the wall as per Isaac’s words.
Her face flushed crimson in an instant.
What on earth was this? Her breath stopped for a moment, and goosebumps rose all over her arms.
— If this is the case, it seems like I’m actually hoping for more punishment…!
Soon the embarrassment and shame that had risen pushed back the sticky desire.
“I-I really have to go.”
“Ah.”
Tiamat pulled her hand away from the wall in a panic, turned her body, and Isaac finally lowered the whip and grabbed her.
Despite the angry expression on her face, Tiamat did not shake off Isaac’s hand.
Standing near the entrance of the dormitory, she glared at Isaac in a grumpy manner.
“You’re really annoying…”
She furrowed her brows and muttered, and Isaac burst into open laughter at that.
“Tia, are you angry now?”
“…No.”
“It seems like it.”
“No, it’s not.”
Eventually she shook off Isaac’s hand in a fit of nerves. It was amusing that she still hadn’t left the dormitory.
Isaac eventually decided to drop the mischievous attitude for a moment. He gently stroked her emerald hair with a touch of tenderness.
“Suddenly opening the door and coming in felt weird. If it was too much mischief, I’m sorry. It was fun.”
“…Tsk, I am the owner of the Academy. Do you understand? Even if it’s the dormitory assigned to you, there’s no reason I can’t do as I please.”
“Yes, well. Then let’s do it like that.”
Isaac smiled calmly, and Tiamat had no choice but to bite her lip.
She rubbed her stinging buttocks and frowned.
“It hurts, you bad boy. You just wanted to hit me, didn’t you?”
“It seemed to please you.”
“… ”
One of Tiamat’s eyes silently slit open. Isaac quickly nodded as if about to activate his language.
“I understand. I’ll stop.”
“…You really are.”
Smiling lightly and raising both hands, Tiamat pressed her temples.
She wanted to get angry but couldn’t bring herself to do so. She sighed quietly at her own miserable situation.
Still, she glanced at her own stinging cheek and then noticed the watery whip still lying on the table.
— It doesn’t seem like he’s going to hit me without warning again.
“?”
She glared at Isaac with sharp eyes, but the response was only a vague head tilt.
It would be no use trying to continue the conversation on this topic. Tiamat swallowed her humiliation and finally brought up the main point.
“Isaac. About Eiden Cashmil.”
“… ”
And Isaac’s expression changed.
He looked at Tiamat with a serious gaze stripped of the playfulness from just moments ago, and Tiamat could not help but shrink back instinctively.
It was a gaze she had seen once before. Recalling it for a moment, Tiamat soon realized it was the same as when mentioning Douglas.
Even though it was different from his usual attitude, it felt too cold, almost carrying a hint of killing intent.
This time it was not related to Douglas, but instead some other existence was involved.
Tiamat felt a small bitterness and spoke up.
“Probably the one Emperor Carlos sent to keep you in check. The sudden appointment of a ‘hero’ is already suspicious.”
The Emperor, Carlos de Altmain. The pinnacle of this country that fundamentally could not stand against the great mages of the Havertz family.
His intentions were as clear as day. He called Isaac to the Academy first and then placed someone who would antagonize such an Isaac.
Perhaps the Emperor’s calculation had gone wrong… because the hero he had chosen with the Holy Sword was too immature to stand even a little against Isaac.
Still, it could not be ignored.
At the very least, the hero was acting as the Emperor’s subordinate, and since this Academy required communal living, it could not be overlooked.
“… ”
Tiamat quietly took a step forward and stroked Isaac’s cheek.
At the sudden skinship, Isaac looked at her with wide eyes.
“Tia…?”
“Don’t act so brutally, Isaac. Looking at it from a distance, it would harm you too.”
“… ”
Isaac closed his mouth, and Tiamat smiled sadly.
“To put it bluntly, it’s been less than a week since I met you… but how long do you think I’ve lived?”
Insight. The wisdom accumulated over a thousand years pierced the essence of a person.
It was not merely talking about the ability to read emotional fragments. It was a natural ability born over long years.
“You know it too, right? Somewhere inside you— it’s twisted quite a bit.”
“… ”
She could see it. The extreme poison that had taken root in the heart of this young man of only twenty-three in front of her eyes.
— Heart.
The heart that had twisted so much it was almost miraculous that he had survived that age. What kind of incident had happened in the Havertz family of this generation?
Perhaps only the existence of his younger sister was his support. Looking at the gentle expression Isaac showed Charlotte, she could not have missed it.
So how could she not worry?
In other words, she was holding the weight of a high-rise building that could collapse at any moment with only one pillar.
— Perhaps I won’t be able to take on the role of that pillar.
Still, she wanted to help. Not just for reproduction, not for personal interest, but purely out of goodwill toward one student.
Tiamat silently pulled Isaac’s head into her embrace. Because of the difference in their body sizes, the posture was rather awkward, but… anyway.
Isaac accepted the hug while muttering a little awkwardly.
“I’m fine, Tia. I’m not broken enough for you to worry about.”
“Someone who got insulted suddenly had his arm cut off?”
“…Can’t we treat it?”
“That’s what you’re saying after seeing such a mindset. You’re too extreme.”
Tiamat clicked her tongue, and Isaac could not find a rebuttal and scratched his cheek.
It was true that he could not say he had not been damaged by the five years of suffering.
The time spent without being found out by Douglas, caring for Charlotte, and dealing with the remnants of the Sephirot from below…
“… ”
Isaac closed his eyes tightly. It had certainly not been peaceful or easy.
It was extremely hard…
And if it was painful, it was painfully so.
“Look.”
Tiamat, who had once again read that emotional fragment, let out a knowing snort.
Tap!
And she lightly pushed Isaac’s chest, making him sit on the bed.
Isaac, who had fallen over in a daze, raised his head blankly.
“Tia?”
“… ”
Tiamat answered without words by peeling off her top. The upright breasts were fully revealed, and Isaac let out a dry chuckle.
“So you came here to do that? I thought it might be something like that.”
“Won’t you look at me like a woman dyed in lust? It’s not exactly that.”
“If it’s not exactly that… then what?”
Sitting on Isaac’s knees, Tiamat tied her emerald hair into a ponytail.
“…I heard that humans don’t always have relationships out of sexual desire alone.”
“Eh?”
“Sometimes it’s for proof of love, sometimes for a somewhat milder exchange of emotions. And sometimes… for healing wounds.”
“… ”
Isaac closed his mouth again with a slightly panicked look, and Tiamat shook her ponytail slightly and lowered her upper body.
“Push me away if you don’t want it. If you think what I’m doing won’t make your heart feel better.”
And she pressed her lips to Isaac’s.
Extreme Poison Awakening
Twisted Heart of the Young Hero