42 - Who is the Perpetrator of Revenge?
Returning to Miria's room, Ray spent the night huddled in a corner, waiting for morning with restless anticipation. Intense self-loathing raced through his mind.
The desire to seduce Princess Ekaterina to achieve his revenge had vanished completely from his heart, replaced by a crushing sense of regret.
Even if he were to seek revenge, surely there were other ways. Was a method that toyed with a woman's feelings any different from the treatment Rui had endured?
Moreover, did Rui's situation even have anything to do with Princess Ekaterina? Such thoughts swirled in his head.
If Princess Ekaterina had learned the truth and reviled him, he might have been able to leave the castle with a sense of closure, even while feeling regret.
However, even after learning the truth, Princess Ekaterina's attitude had not changed. That was what made Ray hesitate to distance himself from her.
If it was the effect of Charm, he should leave. Even knowing that, he couldn't suppress the frustration at his own inability to make that decision.
He remembered Princess Ekaterina's words. He was the same, he didn't know what he wanted to do. The only saving grace was that he had noticed Princess Ekaterina's feelings halfway through.
Terror gripped Ray's heart when he thought about what would have happened if he had continued to hurt her. He would have become the same as the jailers and Fumiya who had tormented Rui.
As his thoughts wandered aimlessly, he looked up and saw Miria sleeping peacefully on the bed.
(Ugh, again.)
Miria's sleeping habits were exceptionally bad. Even now, she was tossing and turning, clutching the duvet. Slender legs extended from the hem of her nightgown. The hem had ridden up, revealing her well-shaped backside. It entered his field of vision, and Ray hurriedly averted his eyes. He didn't want to see anything that would remind him of last night, even for a moment.
"Nnh, uun..."
As if to grate on Ray's nerves, a sound resembling a moan leaked from Miria's lips.
(...She has no idea how I'm feeling.)
Ray found himself lacking restraint when it came to Miria. He felt a flicker of irritation toward Miria, who was sleeping so comfortably right in front of him while he suffered in agony.
Then, he took concrete action. Ray took out a few pebbles he kept in his pocket and lightly flicked one toward Miria.
"Hm? Nn, nnn..."
Miria reached out as if noticing the pebble that hit her backside, but she showed no sign of waking up.
(...Too careless. And she's a knight.)
Ray, who had been depressed, was appalled by Miria's utter defenselessness. He flicked another pebble. This time, she began to scratch her backside with her hand.
(...Terrible. This is the kind of moment where one loses all illusions about women. Well, at least now I can't make any associations.)
He couldn't imagine Princess Ekaterina doing such a thing. Feeling somewhat lighter, Ray continued to take out pebbles and aim.
But then, Miria tossed and turned, facing his direction.
(No target.)
Only her face and limbs were visible outside the duvet. Deciding it wouldn't be interesting to aim there, he waited patiently for her to turn over again, but then Miria's eyes snapped open.
"Ah."
"Hm? Ah, morning."
"Good morning."
"Huh? Did you sleep there?"
"W-well, yeah."
"What's with that? Kamui said those things, so I left the space next to me open for you."
"Was it open?"
"It was, wasn't it?"
"Ah, so you're saying I should have slept using your arm as a pillow?"
"Why does it lead to that?"
"Because you were spread out across the whole bed like a starfish. Being next to that meant it would end up like that."
"...Is that so?"
"Do you perhaps not realize your sleeping habits are bad?"
"I don't."
"Well, the person herself is asleep, after all."
"Hey, is it really that bad?"
"It's fine."
"Is it!?"
"Miria-san, you don't have anyone to show your sleeping form to, so you don't need to worry."
"............"
Through his interaction with Miria, Ray regained some of his composure.
"I'm changing."
"Go ahead."
"...Look away."
"At this point. We've already seen each other naked... should I just turn around?"
Recalling Miria's naked body brought last night back to mind, and Ray hurriedly stopped teasing her and turned his back to her.
"You're honest. Well, whatever."
Behind Ray, Miria began to rustle as she changed. To divert his consciousness, Ray began his morning routine of stretching. He regulated his breathing and slowly stretched his entire body. When that was finished, he did strength training. As he went through this routine, unnecessary thoughts vanished, and Ray immersed himself in his training.
After continuing his training for about half an hour, Miria's voice reached Ray's ears.
"Hey."
"Yes?"
"Why is Kamui so strong?"
"He's not strong."
"He was strong. He easily defeated the assassins I struggled with. And not just one or two. He took down all that many people all by himself."
"...Well, I suppose it's the result of training? But he's still far from enough. He doesn't even come close to Geel-sama."
"I wonder if I can become strong too?"
"You can if you train, right?"
"I wonder if I can."
"Instead of 'I wonder if I can,' shouldn't it be 'I'll try it'?"
"I guess. You're right."
"What happened all of a sudden?"
"I told you yesterday, didn't I? I couldn't protect the Princess. I don't want to feel like that ever again."
"Protect. I'm not protecting."
Far from protecting, he had hurt Princess Ekaterina.
"You did protect her, didn't you?"
"...Then, will Miria-san train too?"
"Yeah. I'll do that."
Saying so, Miria stood up and began training beside Ray. Wiping away her usual somewhat vacant expression, Miria imitated Ray with a stern look in her eyes.
There was no way she could suddenly handle the same training as Ray, and she collapsed onto the floor many times, unable to move. Even so, with a desperate expression, Miria tried to keep up with Ray.
The sight of Miria was slightly dazzling to Ray.
◇◇◇
Being under house arrest, he couldn't go to the training grounds. He had no choice but to train inside the room during that time. Ray sat still on the floor, unmoving. He was in the middle of practicing mana circulation. And Miria was also unmoving.
"M-my body..."
"That's because you're trying to do everything all at once. If you don't start with something just a bit tough, tailored to your own physical strength, you'll get injured."
"But Kamui was always at full power, right?"
"I started by walking. From there, I gradually increased the load."
"It didn't look like that."
Miria thought so because Ray's growth had been far too rapid. Additionally, there was the Super Recovery ability Ray possessed. Even if he overused his body with reckless training, Ray recovered far faster than an ordinary person. Even if it wasn't Miria, anyone would see that Ray was always training at full power. In reality, that was the case.
"...It's different for everyone. There must be a method that suits Miria-san."
Knowing his own ability as a matter of course, Ray had no choice but to say that.
"What kind of method?"
"Eh? You're asking me that?"
"It's fine, isn't it? Just a little."
"...In terms of strength, you can't beat men. I think women are superior in endurance. But there are no long-term battles with a sword. In that case, speed... ah, accuracy doesn't depend on gender. Accuracy, and well, speed is also necessary."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"...How about training centered on speed and accuracy?"
"I get speed, but what's accuracy?"
"Swinging the sword exactly where you intend."
"I can do that."
"Ah, so you're good at that."
"Good at it?"
"Hm? Can you really swing it?"
At Miria's reaction, Ray felt a subtle gap between the two of them.
"Of course I can."
"Then, shall we try it? Please wait a moment."
Saying so, Ray went to the bed and picked up the pebbles that had fallen on top. The pebbles he had been flicking at Miria.
"Why are there stones fallen in a place like that?"
"...Who knows? Maybe they came with my clothes? That doesn't matter, let's begin."
"Begin what?"
"Please cut it with your sword."
"...Cut what?"
"This stone."
"............How am I supposed to do that?"
"I'll throw it, so please cut it."
"There's no way I can do that!?"
"Then you're not swinging accurately, are you?"
"...No way, can you actually do it?"
"Well."
"Try it. Here, give me that stone."
"Haa."
As Miria said, Ray threw the stone he held toward Miria. Receiving it, Miria immediately threw it back toward Ray.
"Geh!"
While surprised, Ray drew his sword. Like an iai strike, he flashed his sword toward the pebble. Slightly after the sound of the wind cutting, the sound of the pebble shattering echoed in the room.
"N-no way!?"
"Miria-san, please throw it a bit more slowly from below. It's dangerous in a narrow room."
"I didn't think you could do it, so I thought I'd be a bit mean."
"If I say I can do it, I can."
"Why can you do it!?"
Miria thought she was used to Ray's lack of common sense, but she was surprised once again by this.
"I suppose it's the fruit of training?"
"What kind of training is that?"
"Practice swings."
"...With practice swings?"
Miria was bewildered by the unexpected answer.
"Is there anything else?"
"But, just with practice swings..."
"Ah, that's because your method is wrong. I thought the same thing while watching other people. I wondered what they were practicing swings for."
"Is it wrong?"
"You swing recklessly, as if you're just building physical strength, right? If you want to train your strength, there are plenty of other better ways."
"Then, what do you do?"
"Swing fast and accurately. Delivering the sword to a position without a hair's breadth of error, as quickly as possible. That's it, right?"
"That's true... but that's an ideal, isn't it?"
"No, it's a goal. And a goal has meaning because you reach it."
Regarding training, Ray always seriously considered the purpose and clearly imagined the effect to be gained. This was the biggest difference between Ray and Miria.
"...How much do I have to do it to become able to do that?"
"Who knows? What do you consider 'being able to do it'? At the very least, I think I'm still far from it."
"...How many times does Kamui swing?"
"It differs by the day. There are days of a thousand, and days of ten thousand."
"Ten thousand? Where is there time for that?"
"You make time."
Ray said it casually, but Miria knew that Ray was far busier than she was.
"...Enough already. What are 'days of a thousand'? When you don't have time?"
"No, it's when I swing slowly."
"You're saying things I don't understand again. Why swing slowly when it's training to swing fast?"
"Geel-sama said it. When you move your body, strength enters various places."
"Ah, the method for investigating the training locations."
"Yes. Similarly, when swinging a sword, I swing slowly to confirm which parts move and how that movement affects the swing. Doing this allows you to realize where you're putting in unnecessary strength, so it's quite good."
"...Monster. It's just as Geel-sama said. How do you come up with such things? And actually do them?"
"Maybe it's my personality? I'm relatively obsessive. You could say I'm the type of person who isn't satisfied until I've pushed things to the limit."
"Are you a mage or something?"
"I wanted to become a scholar."
"A scholar?"
"...A magicologist."
Realizing he had let it slip and spoken of his original world, Ray hurriedly corrected himself.
"What's a magicologist?"
"I heard that people who research to master the ways of magic are called that. Well, I heard it's only said by a very small number of people, so it's not a term that's generally understood."
"Is that so."
Miria was simple enough to be easily deceived by that.
"Well, if you train like that, you'll become able to do it."
"I can't imagine it at all... but well, I'll do it."
"Go ahead."
"Throw the stones."
"............"
Silently, Ray took all the pebbles out of his pocket and began flicking them with his fingers. With quite a serious intensity. The pebbles Ray flicked hit Miria's hands and feet one after another.
"I-it hurts, it hurts, ah! No! Stop it!"
"...Could you please start with practice swings?"
"I'm sorry..."
◇◇◇
Timing it for when the maids were no longer coming and going, Ray headed to Princess Ekaterina's bedroom. He didn't really want to come, but when Miria asked if he wasn't going, he had no choice but to go.
He opened the door to Princess Ekaterina's bedroom with a timid air. The bed he saw was painful to look at.
Princess Ekaterina was sitting still on that bed, unmoving.
Noticing that someone had entered, Princess Ekaterina stood up from the bed. Turning toward Ray, she opened her mouth with a slightly surprised look.
"...You came."
"Yes."
"Where is Miria?"
"Miria-san couldn't come, so she told me to go alone."
"Did something happen?"
"She's bedridden."
"Eh?"
"She says her body hurts and she can't move."
"Was she injured?"
"No, she's been training since morning, and that's why she became unable to move."
"Training... she worked that hard?"
"Yes. Since there's nothing else to do. Besides, Miria-san got a bit too enthusiastic."
"I see."
"If there's nothing in particular, I'll take my leave now."
"You can't!"
"...Um?"
"I haven't forgiven you yet."
"That's..."
"You are still my slave even now. Therefore, I won't permit you to act as you please."
"I understand that."
"I can't fall asleep today either."
"...Princess, surely that's a bit much? I think it's better if I don't get close to you anymore."
"I told you. You are still my slave."
"...It'll only cause more hurt."
"You're already hurt."
"Even so, any more than this..."
"Just listen to what I say."
"But..."
Ray was unable to utter a word until the end. His face distorted from the pain of his slapped cheek.
"...My hand hurts more. Perhaps I should use a whip from next time."
While rubbing the hand that had slapped Ray's cheek, Princess Ekaterina spoke spitefully. In reality, the pain in his cheek wasn't that great. It was just that his heart ached from being slapped.
"I'm getting into bed. Help me change."
"...What do you intend to do by having me do that?"
"Nothing. I'm just making you do it because you'll probably hate it."
The emotions of Princess Ekaterina that reached Ray were complex. Sadness, anger, resentment—various emotions were intermingled, and because of that, Ray couldn't see her true feelings. All Ray knew was the fact that he was hurting Princess Ekaterina terribly.
"You should stop already."
"I'm perfectly fine. Charm doesn't work on me."
"Have you perhaps lost the ability to tell that as well?"
"...Don't speak so insolently, you filthy slave."
"A filthy slave shouldn't get close."
"It's useless to try and escape from me like that. I'll have you make atonement for hurting me."
No matter what Ray said, Princess Ekaterina would not break her stubborn attitude. It was obvious she was being stubborn, but Ray didn't quite understand what she wanted him to do by being stubborn.
"What do you mean by atonement?"
"I will never let you be free. You are my slave for life."
"...If that serves as atonement, then that too..."
Pain shot through Ray's cheek again.
"Go back."
"Eh?"
"Disappear from my sight!"
"...Yes."