Merlin immediately exploded.
“Wah… wah… Mom… wah wah…”
“Really… what are you doing? I’m scolding you, and you’re making it look like I’m bullying you. Listen to me! Stop crying!”
Ophelia’s tone was full of helplessness.
“Mmhm, Mom can scold me however she wants, Mom can punish me however she wants. Little Merlin was wrong.”
“Still ‘Little’? Honestly…”
It seemed Merlin’s mindset hadn’t adjusted yet.
Probably just like when Adult Merlin turned into Little Merlin and was a bit quiet and withdrawn, now that she was back to Adult Merlin, she still couldn’t adapt immediately.
As long as she didn’t keep that crying habit forever.
Thinking about Ophelia’s painful past made even Merlin’s heart feel bitter.
Ophelia was already hurting, and Merlin was still causing her trouble. How inconsiderate of her.
“Waaaah… waah, Mom, Merlin was wrong.”
“Enough, really, stop crying. If you cry your eyes out, you won’t be pretty anymore.”
Ophelia truly did want to give her daughter a good scolding, but she hadn’t intended to make her cry this much.
Though Merlin wasn’t crying with that aggrieved, suppressed bitterness from before; now she was letting go completely, bawling loudly.
Ophelia gently patted her daughter’s back to help her breathe.
‘Ah, at least I sent Orino out ahead of time, saying I’d educate Merlin.’
‘Really… when she calms down, will I have to comfort her? Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse? I mean, during the Little Merlin period, I spoiled her to heal her childhood trauma, to teach her to be spoiled, to teach her to be loved.’
‘But now that Adult Merlin has learned to be spoiled, she can’t stop, can she?’
But… this wasn’t over!
She had to make her learn her lesson, she had to punish her properly.
Ophelia’s voice turned stern again.
“Merlin, that’s enough. Even being spoiled has limits.”
Merlin’s dazed expression, still carrying tear stains, hadn’t had time to recover, and she felt the world spin.
“M-Mom?”
Before Merlin could react, Ophelia unceremoniously wrapped an arm around her waist.
Even though Merlin had returned to her original slender form and was no longer a chibi that could be lifted with one hand, it was still easy for Ophelia.
“Bend over!”
“? Wait, I am—”
Protests were invalid.
Merlin was forcibly pressed down onto Ophelia’s lap.
This position was far too humiliating for her current self. Her upper body was buried in the bed, while her lower body rested on Ophelia’s thighs.
“Remember this lesson! This isn’t over! If reasoning doesn’t work, then punishment will!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Ophelia lifted her hand and flipped up the girl’s thin skirt, revealing the long legs wrapped in white thigh-high stockings.
The Absolute Territory was exposed to the air—skin that was slightly plump, along with the girl’s rounded buttocks.
The cool air made Merlin instinctively tighten her cheeks.
Smack!
A crisp, clear sound exploded in the quiet room.
Ophelia’s force landed squarely on the most fleshy area.
“Wah—!”
A fiery sensation instantly spread through her nerves.
“The first one is for acting recklessly without thinking of the consequences!”
Smack!
Another one, heavier than before, louder.
“Ah! It hurts! It really hurts, Mom!”
Merlin’s legs, which had been together, immediately lost control.
Those long legs in pure white stockings thrashed wildly in the air.
The smooth fabric rustled against each other, and her delicate toes curled tightly inside the stockings.
“Next, for not repenting and trying to get away with it by acting spoiled!”
Ophelia looked at the white-stockinged legs thrashing in the air. Though the sight was pleasing to the eye, her hands showed no mercy.
Every time her palm met the taut skin, a red wave rose, falling like rain.
The shame broke Merlin more than the pain.
“Wahh… I won’t do it again! Really, I won’t!”
Even though she had returned to normal size, she was now like a three-year-old being spanked over her mother’s lap.
“I already sent Orino out! It’s just the two of us now! But some passing student might hear.”
“No… they’ll hear… Orino is still…”
“Waaah! Mom is a big meanie! Waaah!”
Merlin broke down, completely giving up resistance.
She buried her face deep into the pillow, leaving only her long legs to struggle instinctively.
Each time, the stockings wrapped around her calves would snap taut, then go limp in pain, trembling slightly.
Seeing the pink fingerprints appearing on her daughter’s fair skin, and those elegant but now pitifully thrashing white-stockinged legs, Ophelia finally felt half of her anger relieved.
“Remember it well!”
The final strike landed, especially loud.
Merlin jerked, her legs clamping together, then, as if all strength had left her, she collapsed limply onto Ophelia’s lap, only tiny sobs escaping from deep in her throat.
“I hate Mom…”
Merlin’s muffled voice came from deep in the pillow, thick with nasal congestion and lingering grievance.
“Do whatever you want. A naughty daughter deserves to taste a mother’s love.”
Merlin buried her face even deeper, leaving only a stubborn back of her head.
Ophelia sighed.
“Little kitty.”
She shifted, sitting sideways on the bed, and reached to open the ornate drawer of the nightstand, taking out a jar of Special Medicinal Ointment.
As the lid was unscrewed, a cool herbal fragrance filled the air—a secret elf medicine that quickly soothed redness and swelling.
“This might feel a little cold. Bear with it.”
Ophelia scooped up a bit of the translucent, pale green ointment on her fingertip, pressed her other hand gently onto Merlin’s still trembling waist, and then spread the coolness over the fiery red area.
The instant the cold ointment touched the hot, angry skin, the intense temperature difference made Merlin gasp.
“Hiss—! Ow! Ahhh! Hiss—! Ow! Ahhh!”
She instinctively tried to curl up, and her long legs in white stockings kicked wildly against the sheets.
“Don’t move. Stay still. Your legs are just as unruly as Little Merlin’s.”