27. Mental Education
27. Mental Education
"Are you a puppy, Phrygia? Do I need to housetrain you too?"
"Hic... ugh... aahh...."
He forced her head down toward her own excrement.
Shahra Phrygia, who had always stood above others, been treated as precious, been taught to move with grace—she now saw her own soaked crotch and the whitish vomit entering her vision.
The pain wracking her insides made it impossible even to stand on two legs, but she could at least recognize what it was.
Her arms trembled violently.
The fact that she, the successor of Phrygia, had wet herself in front of another person would be utterly humiliating, but her state wasn't good enough for her to care about such pride.
"Now, I'll give you another chance. Speak."
"I... I am the daughter of the Golden Duke... Like Russell, I can also back you..."
"That's not it."
-Kung!!
Once again, his fist slammed into her abdomen.
"Aaaack... Ack"
He no longer held Phrygia by the hair.
When the drumbeat resounded again, Phrygia clutched her abdomen, her face contorted, and rolled wildly over the rotten leaves.
The fearsome thing about this strike therapy was that despite her looking in such agony, it caused no serious health problems.
"Now, think again."
"Huk... hiuuk... I'll give you... everything I have... so you can become the next Golden Duke... I'll..."
"....Hmm, you still don't get it."
The prospect of the next Golden Duke seat did make his thoughts pause very briefly, but he erased it immediately.
That wasn't what she needed to say right now.
"Is... is even that no good..? That's... everything I have.."
As the fist approached again, Phrygia, leaning her body against a hollowed-out log, trembled all over.
What she had just put on the table was everything Shahra Phrygia could offer.
Offering the succession rights to the Phrygia Duchy implied promising him the position of her consort.
It wasn't just a position to sow his seeds; it meant giving him her body, her wealth, her status—everything—so he could formally inherit the title.
She had promised all the wealth and status she could give, yet the ordeal didn't end, and she seemed lost as to what more to say.
It wasn't that he didn't know what it meant, but that wasn't what Phrygia had to say now.
It seemed she still didn't understand what his words implied.
"P-please... please stop it... at this rate... at this rate I really think I'm going to die.."
When he approached silently, Phrygia clung to his trouser leg, crying.
The slapping had stopped, so her head would no longer ring, but blood streamed down from her horribly torn mouth, and her face was so swollen she couldn't even open her eyes properly.
If anyone saw her now, they would never imagine she was the young lady of Phrygia.
Having grown up ignorant of pain and fear, she must be on the verge of going mad from the terror and agony she was experiencing for the first time.
He gently stroked her wrist.
"You won't die."
It might hurt a lot, but don't worry. People don't die from this much.
She had no idea how much he was regulating his strength right now.
"Wha..?"
"People don't die from this much. I'm pretty much the top expert on this stuff, so you can rest assured."
"I... I can't put any strength in my legs, my whole body hurts... I really feel like I'm dying.. please stop..."
"Why should I stop? I told you. Tell me a reason why I should spare you. What you're saying now isn't a reason or anything, is it?"
Given that her speech was still coherent, she was definitely in good health.
He grabbed both of her arms, which were clinging to his trouser leg, with one hand and lifted her.
Her soft belly was fully exposed.
"Wha..?"
-Kung!!!!
Once again, the drum resounded.
"Aaaack!!"
"Phrygia. Let's not do this. Why are you making me the bad guy...
You tried to kill me too, didn't you? You made an attempt, so I'm doing the same thing."
"Hic.. hic.. "
Phrygia, who once again produced a drum sound from her stomach, vomited only stomach acid and collapsed, clutching her throbbing belly.
Her breathing, choked and ragged, was short as if she had the hiccups.
"You tried to kill me, so I can kill you too. Now, think about it. Think. You're good at that sort of thing, aren't you?
You tried to kill someone and got caught by that person. What on earth is the first action you should take?"
"I... I should...?"
When he all but gave her the hint outright, her trembling stopped for a moment as she thought hard before opening her mouth.
"So what... what do you want me to do..."
"If you don't know, then it can't be helped."
He clenched his fist again and strode toward Shahra, making her shriek and fall backward.
"That's not it...!! I'll do it... I'll do it properly..!!"
Phrygia, who had been sobbing for a long time, interrupted by her nonstop hiccups, seemed to have come up with something as she neatly gathered both knees to sit.
She placed both hands neatly together and lowered her head.
It was the posture of the deepest apology in this world—kneeling and prostrating flat on the ground... the dogeza.
"I'm sorry.... I acted... out of line.... "
With a trembling voice, Phrygia continued her words of apology.
It was a speech essentially saying she was sorry for rudely throwing her weight around and wished to sincerely compensate for the damage she had caused.
He was deeply moved.
The fact that Shahra Phrygia apologized to someone for the first time was a monumental event.
She was even using honorifics.
That she had been such an ill-mannered brat was clearly because she had never been taught to do this before.
"Good. Now you finally understand. If you've pulled that kind of shit, the very first thing is to bow your head, apologize, and show sincerity. Got it?"
"Y-yes... yes...!"
Lowering her head, Shahra listened attentively to his words.
"Well done, Shahra. You're a kid who can do it if she tries."
That Shahra Phrygia thought for herself and apologized to the other party... it was tremendous progress.
He stroked her messed-up hair and praised her.
Seeing the warm praise follow right after her apology, Shahra shyly raised her head.
"Th... then, you're stopping... now?"
"No. If it could be ended with just words, a duel wouldn't exist."
But then, if a single word could grant forgiveness, he wouldn't have started in the first place.
At the realization that it wasn't over, Shahra's face looked as if the sky was falling.
But she didn't try to run away or anything.
She seemed to think that such an action might only provoke him further.
That Phrygia was acting with consideration for the feelings of the person in front of her—the results of his education were already showing beautifully.
"Still, you seem to be having a really hard time, so I'll do something good for your body."
And so, he decided to give Shahra a reward.
He pressed the back of Shahra's ears and under her chin with two fingers.
"Hiiiiiiik?!!"
At that, Shahra shot up like a frog struck by an electric shock, collapsed face-down on the ground, and began coughing violently.
"Kolok! Kolok!!"
Blood poured from her mouth and eyes.
At the sight of the blood spat out in clumps, Shahra trembled as if she would die on the spot, but she soon realized.
"How is it? Does your body feel lighter?"
"Huh...? How..."
The fact that her physical condition had improved.
"I told you, didn't I? I'm something of a specialist in this field. You're actually healthier than before—how is it?"
Phrygia had felt dreadful pain, but refreshingly, her body was in its optimal state.
He had stimulated her acupoints and infused her with vitality to restore her body.
He made her expel the blood pooling in her face by herself, and restored her burst blood vessels.
It was a process that would naturally take a considerable amount of time, but he pressed the acupoints to accelerate it and even infused vitality so as not to strain her body.
Even though that much blood had been expelled, Phrygia's body would actually be in better condition than before.
The proof was in the luster returning to her skin.
A brief smile flitted across Shahra's face.
It seemed she'd briefly entertained the hopeful thought that maybe this could end now after all.
"Alright then, shall we start over from the beginning?"
"...From the beginning?"
"We need to review before you forget."
She could be a congenital psychopath.
But he knew for a fact that acquired effort could alleviate the symptoms.
This method might not have been the right one, but he would teach Phrygia social skills in his own way.
Once this education was completely finished, she would learn what it meant to respect another person.
She would learn the fear that if she committed a rude act against the person in front of her, her head might end up smashed.
The night wore on.
She was broken again and again, and remade again and again.
----------------------------------------------
Lucia was not in a very good mood.
Atlas was absent.
Although he had told her in advance when they parted the day before that he'd take a day off because of various exhausting things, she realized Atlas had really felt fatigue too.
But one strange coincidence had occurred.
Coincidentally, Shahra Phrygia, who had had a serious conflict with Atlas the day before, was also absent.
According to Perda, the person who saw her the most, she originally holed up in her room whenever she was in a bad mood, but something about the situation felt fishy.
However, there was nothing Lucia could do.
She just waited forlornly for him to come out again.
The next day, both of them returned to school.
Shahra Phrygia looked her usual self, but Atlas was in a rare good mood.
He was even humming a tune, apparently extremely pleased.
"Wow, it's been nothing but annoying lately, but it's been a while since I did something really rewarding, you see."
She didn't know the details, but just seeing Atlas smile after so long was enough to make her happy.
As she walked down the hallway, she saw a group crowding in from the opposite side.
The long blonde hair standing at the very front caught her eye.
It was Shahra Phrygia.
"Hut..!"
Lucia protectively stepped in front of Atlas.
"Why are you worrying about every little thing like that? Let's just walk past."
"...Okay."
Finding that funny, Atlas tapped Lucia on the arm and tried to walk past Phrygia alongside her.
Even as they passed right beside her, Lucia prayed for no trouble, and then a miraculous thing happened.
-Nod
"Good morning to you."
That Shahra Phrygia slightly bent her waist in a bow toward Lucia and Atlas.
"Wha... what the hell, all of a sudden..!"
It gave her goosebumps.
Phrygia, who had never once greeted anyone in the Academy before, was suddenly greeting them.
And it wasn't just any greeting, but one where she bowed her head.
Wondering if this was some kind of trick, Lucia stepped warily in front of Atlas again, and Phrygia got annoyed.
"What's the matter, Russell? It's just a polite greeting. Are you saying you don't want to accept my greeting?"
Infuriatingly, she wasn't wrong.
Right. It was just a morning greeting.
A perfectly ordinary... morning greeting, without any great meaning or tricks.
"Yeah, good morning. Lucia, let's just accept the greeting and move on."
As if it was no big deal, Atlas exchanged the greeting refreshingly and then moved his feet again.
Lucia was impressed that even though Phrygia had done him so much harm the day before, Atlas was such an adult.
"Y... yeah... good.. morning.."
She didn't like it, but there was no reason to refuse it outright.
Just as she was about to wave lightly like Atlas and follow after him, a small voice reached her ear.
"Yes, Atlas-nim.."
'Atlas... -nim?'
She turned around immediately.
As they passed each other, Lucia Russell clearly saw Shahra Phrygia's gaze.
The girl's eyes were fixed not on herself, the Russell, but on Atlas.
Phrygia had only glanced sideways, but it was certain.
She had thought the greeting was directed at both of them, but it wasn't.
Phrygia had used honorifics only toward Atlas.
'What on earth... happened last night...?'
Lucia's worries only grew deeper.