Heir Of The Supreme
Chapter 70: Home Tutor Bodyguard Blaine! (3)

Chapter 70: Home Tutor Bodyguard Blaine! (3)

An adolescent girl nervously swallowed as her hands trembled, clutching a razor-sharp dagger.

The polished metal gleamed dangerously under the soft azure glow that spread from the moss above, a stark contrast to the sheer terror gripping her mind.

Several meters away, a long-eared creature stood watching her, its eyes filled with undisguised hunger.

Its elongated limbs twitched with anticipation, saliva pooling at the edges of its fanged mouth.

’Why... Why did I decide to go to that madman for help?’

Cecelia’s breathing grew erratic, her chest rising and falling in quick, shallow bursts.

Every fibre of her being screamed at her to run, to drop her weapon and turn around to flee that instant.

However, that wasn’t an option. As much as the girl lamented her current situation, sadly, it was already too late...

The creature kicked off the ground, breaking into a mad sprint as it barreled toward her.

That sudden motion shattered what little resolve she had left, her muscles locking in place. Terror clamped around her body like an iron vice, rendering her unable to move.

Cecelia’s fingers clenched around the dagger’s hilt, but her arms refused to obey her. The image of the monster’s gleaming fangs sinking into her flesh filled her mind, paralyzing her with fear.

Moments before the monster could sink its elongated fangs into her flesh, another dagger flew through the air, cutting through it with an audible whistle before embedding itself in the creature’s skull.

The monster’s feral attack was cut short with the sickening crunch of bone yielding to metal, signalling its immediate demise.

The bestial body collapsed in a heap at her feet, its lifeless form twitching once before growing still.

Stepping out from the shadows, an auburn-haired boy approached the freshly made corpse.

Without a word, Blaine crouched beside the creature and wrenched his dagger free.

A faint shimmer of crimson coated its blade, which he wiped clean against the coarse fur of the fallen monster.

Turning his head, his aquamarine eyes locked onto Cecelia.

While his face was unreadable, Cecelia could feel the disappointment radiating from him.

However, instead of shame, the princess felt a surge of righteous indignation.

He had just thrown her into battle, armed with nothing but a dagger, and expected her to win? With no proper training whatsoever?

Cecelia bit her lip to keep from screaming in frustration.

This was beyond simply being cruel. It was downright inhumane how Blaine treated her.

The worst part of all? Blaine’s expression showed that he honestly thought she could do it. He genuinely expected her to succeed, as if it was the most natural course of action.

Cecelia’s fingers curled into fists, feeling the dagger’s hilt bite into her palm.

The princess felt aggrieved.

The only idiot here was Blaine himself!

Did he seriously believe that anyone could accomplish the feats he could?

Unfortunately for her... The answer was yes.

After the age of six, Blaine rarely interacted with normal children. His world consisted of only warriors, knights of the Royal Guards, and members of the military. In fact, according to Blaine’s mental power scale, he even considered himself as ’weak.’

Needless to say, Cecelia was quickly cementing a place for herself on that scale... at the very bottom.

This cruel "training" had gone on for two days now.

Blaine would capture a Rank 1 monster that wandered too close to their camp and force Cecelia to fight it on her own.

After Blaine had killed two monsters in the same place, the smell of blood began to attract nearby creatures to their location.

Luckily... or rather, unfortunately for Cecelia in particular, all of them were Rank 1s.

After two whole days of this, Cecelia fought a grand total of three monsters, all coming to the same conclusion.

Whenever she failed, which was every time, Blaine would step in to execute the creature with ruthless efficiency and then move on as if he had done nothing worthy of note.

Letting out a sigh, Cecelia’s shaky knees gave out, and she plopped onto the damp earth.

Despite her earlier bravado about becoming stronger, the action of facing death head-on was far easier said than done.

Adrenaline and desperation were the only reasons she could even kill the already half-dead Rank 2 unknown. With those numbing her fear, she was able to push through long enough to deal it a decisive blow... and then several more for ’good measure.’

Trying to replicate that feeling was impossible. Cecelia was neither a soldier nor a warrior, at least not yet. She was a researcher and a noble, a girl who had rarely ever stepped foot on a real battlefield.

And yet, Blaine expected her to fight like a seasoned veteran.

After their initial conversation two days ago, Blaine had not said as much as another word to her.

He neither scolded her for her failures nor offered a single word of advice.

It was as if he expected her to figure it out on her own.

However, for the first time, he finally spoke.

"...Don’t you think it’s time you give up?"

It was as if the very act of Cecelia freezing in fear made no sense to the auburn-haired youth. Not understanding why, the princess was letting terror cloud her better judgment.

After all, turning perfectly stiff would just cause her to die faster. It was utterly counterproductive.

"..."

The words were so blunt that they struck Cecelia harder than any physical blow ever could.

Her heart thumped wildly in her chest, anger rising to match her humiliation.

Cecelia’s eye twitched.

What was she... a machine?

Her hands shook, but not from fear this time. No... It was rage.

Over the course of the past two days, she was genuinely starting to rekindle her distaste for the auburn-haired youth.

Initially, she had assumed Blaine was just another odd genius, someone too talented to relate to the struggles of average people.

His harsh methods could be chalked up to a brutal but effective teaching style. After all, there were many instructors like that in a world where only the strong survived.

However, after spending two days trying to understand the young Lionheart, Cecelia learned how to differentiate his emotions by the subtle shifts of his facial muscles.

While his face was, for the most part, a poker face, Blaine was only human in the end. It was impossible to conceal his emotions perfectly.

Every now and then, a sliver of his inner thoughts would bubble up to the surface.

That was why Cecelia had come to a stark realization.

Cecelia inhaled sharply, her gaze piercing through the boy before her.

"You... You never intended to teach me in the first place, did you?"

Blaine’s eyes widened slightly at Cecelia’s accusation. It was too subtle to usually notice, but Cecelia managed to somehow pick it up.

’...This fucker.’

If her etiquette instructor could hear her thoughts, she’d probably admonish Cecelia for using uncouth language unbefitting a member of the Royal Family. Unfortunately, Cecelia didn’t give a damn.

Forget being a member of the Royal Family; Cecelia was instead royally pissed.

"...This whole time you made me ’fight’ monsters... it wasn’t for me to learn through real combat, was it? You only wanted to kill my motivation... all so that I throw in the towel and give up."

As the weight of her accusation hung in the air, Blaine just slowly nodded his head.

If she guessed this much, he might as well come clean to her.

Cecelia’s fists clenched.

Even though she had suspected it, hearing Blaine affirm it himself really hit home.

"Why?" Her voice wavered, her grip tightening on the dagger in her hand. "Why go so far?"

Blaine’s lips slowly parted as he let out a short sigh.

"It’s too inefficient."