TPSR 15

Chapter 15

The next day.

The moment I arrived at the training grounds, Damian blurted this out without warning.

“Starting today, we’ll begin real training.”

…What?

“…Real training?”

I couldn’t help but ask back.

Real training?

That meant everything up until now hadn’t been real training.

Running half a lap and gasping for breath. Collapsing after failing to do even one push-up. Repeating the same stance dozens of times until I passed out like I’d fainted.

I stared at him in disbelief.

“Then what was everything before?”

“A warm-up.”

Damian replied calmly. Not even blinking.

“I had to confirm whether Her Highness was willing to be trained.”

Is this man serious right now?

I glared at him as if I could kill him with my eyes. I honestly felt like fire might shoot out of them.

But the one receiving my blazing glare only smirked.

“Why are you looking at me like that? I can’t teach real techniques to someone who might quit halfway.”

“If this were the imperial palace, I’d have you whipped on the spot.”

“The Grand Duke’s territory is extraterritorial.”

“…Ha.”

I was speechless.

No—actually, I had a mountain of things to say. That torture-like training had just been a test? A confirmation of my will? Then he could’ve said that beforehand!

But arguing felt pointless. No matter what I said, he would just twist it and slip away with that irritating grin.

“…Fine.”

I clenched my teeth. It took all my strength to swallow my anger.

Endure it, Lorea.

You’re the one who has to endure.

“So what are we learning today?”

“Self-defense.”

Damian stepped closer.

“A technique to break your opponent’s balance when they grab you. Try throwing me.”

He demonstrated.

He grabbed my wrist, twisted his body, shifted his weight toward the opponent. The idea was that the person grabbing you would lose their balance and fall.

At a glance, it looked simple.

When Damian did it, it seemed effortless.

I grabbed his arm just like he showed me. Twisted my body. Shifted my weight.

And—

Thud.

I was the one who fell.

“……”

“…Truly pathetic.”

“It was a mistake.”

I jumped back up, grabbed his arm again, and twisted.

Thud.

I fell again.

“Your angle is wrong.”

Of course it is. I don’t even have the basic strength. There’s no way it would work properly.

And more than anything, compared to my body, Damian was simply too big. He’s only three years older than me, but why is he built like a flagpole? With my size, I couldn’t possibly overpower him.

A head and a half taller is just unfair.

Isn’t it usually girls who develop faster? Even if I’m small.

‘And he’ll grow even taller once he becomes an adult… I can’t believe it.’

Just imagining what he’d look like seven years from now made me feel dizzy.

Anyway, when I tried to twist my body, I wobbled first. When I tried to shift my weight, I didn’t have enough strength in my arms and just ended up hanging onto him.

Ten times.

Twenty times.

Thirty times.

I fell, stood up, and fell again. My knees scraped. My palms stung. My whole body throbbed.

Still, I kept getting back up. I had no intention of giving up.

Damian looked at me. His gaze was different from yesterday’s mockery—more puzzled than amused.

What now?

You worked me to death yesterday, and now you’re annoyed that I’m trying hard again?

Ignoring him, I reset my stance.

“…Wait.”

This time, Damian grabbed my shoulder first and gently pushed me back.

“Let’s eat lunch first.”

Only then did I look up. The sun had long passed its peak.

It was already past lunchtime?

After glaring at the sky for a moment, I turned back to Damian.

“You made me skip lunch yesterday.”

“Someone might think I dared to forbid Her Highness from eating.”

Oh, really?

Sure, he hadn’t directly told me not to eat. He just hadn’t let me go until well past lunchtime.

I felt like arguing would only make my head hurt more, so I didn’t respond.

“Anyway, let me try one more time. I think I’m close.”

“…Close to what?”

“Throwing you. I’ve got a better feel for it than before.”

It wasn’t a lie. Compared to the beginning, I definitely felt something. The angle seemed clearer. The timing made more sense. My body just couldn’t keep up yet—but in my head, I understood it.

“One more time.”

Damian looked at me for a long moment. Then he let out a deep sigh.

“That’s enough.”

And suddenly, he grabbed my wrist and hoisted me over his shoulder like baggage.

What are you doing?

“We’re going to eat.”

“Wait, I haven’t—!”

Before I could protest, my body was dangling upside down and the world flipped over. I kicked my short legs uselessly over his shoulder. It didn’t make a difference.

“Put me down. I’m not done yet.”

“If you don’t eat, you’ll collapse.”

“I won’t.”

“You collapsed yester— no, you almost collapsed, didn’t you?”

Says the man who caused it.

Maybe he took my silence as surrender, because he snorted softly and only set me down on a chair once we reached the dining hall.

Does this man just carry people around with one hand?

“You need to gain some weight. That’s why you don’t have any strength.”

“I’ll take care of myself.”

“It didn’t look like you were.”

He never lets a single comment go.

I glared at him resentfully, then took a bite of the sandwich Mia brought me.

The moment I did, the muscle pain hit all at once.

While training, I’d been too focused to notice. But now that I was sitting still, my whole body screamed in protest. Shoulders, arms, legs, waist. There wasn’t a single place that didn’t hurt.

“Ugh….”

Damian sat across from me, watching me sideways.

“Techniques like that don’t work just because you force them.”

‘And who forced me into that brutal training?’

I cursed him in my head but didn’t say it aloud. Instead, I chewed my sandwich. I was hungry, after all.

“…Unexpected.”

Damian spoke suddenly.

“What is?”

“I thought you’d quit. But you didn’t.”

Quit?

Me?

‘I’ve been dragged to an underground prison, pelted with stones, and stabbed to death. What is this compared to that?’

I smiled faintly to myself. I’d lived twenty years and gone through things like that. And he thought I’d give up because training was hard?

“I have something to do.”

That’s what I said instead.

“I have to go to the West.”

The land of mages. I had to go there and meet that man. Only then could Carlos and I escape the imperial family. For now, that was the only way.

Damian looked at me. He seemed like he wanted to ask more, but in the end, he didn’t.

“Eat slowly. Once you’re done, afternoon training begins.”

With that, he stood up first.

I stared blankly at his back.

“…Weird man.”

It felt like he wanted to ask something. What was he curious about?

I didn’t know.

And I didn’t care to know.

Several more days passed.

Every day, I fell, stood up, and fell again. Bruises layered over my knees. The blisters on my palms burst, hardened, and burst again.

Still, I didn’t give up.

And on the eighth day of training—

“Hyah!”

With my shout, Damian’s unmoving body tilted.

Then, with a heavy thud, he fell beside me.

For the first time, I had thrown him.

“…Huh?”

I stared blankly at Damian rolling on the ground, unable to believe it.

My heart pounded wildly.

“Did you see that?! I threw you!”

Damian stood up and dusted himself off.

“Yes, I saw.”

His tone was calm, but I didn’t have the space to care.

I was happy. So happy that I jumped up and down in place.

“I did it! Finally!”

I’d fallen over and over for days, and finally I’d succeeded. My body had remembered. The timing and the angle had matched perfectly.

“I threw you! See? I told you I could do it—!”

I bounced excitedly.

Then—

My legs gave out.

My body, pushed beyond its limits for days, couldn’t handle the sudden jumping.

My vision tilted sideways.

…Huh?

“Princess!”

I saw Damian reaching toward me, his face startled.

But the ground was too close. I was already falling. It was obvious my body would soon hit the ground. Everything moved in slow motion.

At that moment, an arm wrapped around my back.

The world flipped.

Thud.