Lucia’s hand was cold, and her strength was terrifying.
Her palm enveloped Lilia’s hand, leaving no room for the girl to struggle.
Her fingertips moved across that warm, smooth skin, leaving behind an icy touch.
“The first stroke, gravity base point. It must be steady, and it must be heavy.”
Lucia’s voice was right next to her ear.
Every word carried a vibration that traveled through their joined hands.
Guided by Lucia, Lilia’s fingertip drew a steady point on the smooth surface of her back.
The strength, speed, and even the injected Magic Power were precise down to the smallest detail.
Lilia was completely stiff.
She could clearly feel every pass of her own fingertip.
The skin beneath her would tremble slightly, and that tremor would travel back into her own body through their tightly gripped hands.
Shame, tension, and a trace of excitement she would never admit to even if she died were crashing around inside her heart.
“The second stroke, Law Lever. It must be fast, and it must be accurate.”
Before she finished speaking, Lucia’s hand led hers to strike out a perfectly straight line.
It was so fast that it left only an afterimage.
“Meow!”
Lilia’s body jerked uncontrollably.
A wave of numbness rapidly surged across her back.
“Focus.”
Lucia’s voice betrayed her dissatisfaction, and the strength of her grip increased.
“You’re distracted.”
“I… I’m not! Meow!”
Lilia was anxious to retort, but as soon as she opened her mouth, her voice was so soft it could practically drip water.
It sounded as if she were acting spoiled.
Heat rushed to her face in a burst, and her cheeks burned intensely.
Her heart was pounding wildly, stuck in the back of her throat.
‘How am I supposed to focus like this!’
The pervert’s breathing and heartbeat were right behind her.
Her hand was being held in a death grip, and her fingertips were still being moved across that bare back.
‘This is harder than closing my eyes and dodging 100 light spheres!’
“Still being stubborn?”
Lucia gave a light snort but surprisingly didn’t pursue it further.
Her hand continued to lead Lilia’s, sketching stroke by stroke across that smooth skin.
“The third stroke, constructing the pressure matrix…”
“The fourth stroke, connecting the amplification nodes…”
One complex Rune after another took shape under Lilia’s fingertip.
Every stroke and every turn was impossibly perfect.
Lilia’s mind had already given up on thinking.
She could only be led by that hand, forced to feel that unreasonable method of circulating Magic Power.
She had to admit that this pervert’s level of Magic was something she couldn’t even begin to touch.
Under this humiliating yet efficient teaching, her understanding of the Space Pressure spell was deepening at a rapid pace.
But the price was…
As the Runes grew more complex, the sensations brought about by the Sensory Link became increasingly absurd.
One moment, an itch would flare up in the softest part of her lower back, making her want to laugh and causing her body to writhe.
The next, a sharp sensation would hit, making her gasp until tears almost formed in her eyes.
—
“Almost there.”
Lucia’s voice was soft, even carrying a hint of soothing warmth, but to Lilia’s ears, it sounded utterly terrifying.
“Only three strokes left.”
She didn’t stop.
Instead…
“The seventeenth stroke, locking range…”
“The eighteenth stroke…”
Lilia let out a muffled groan of shame.
“The nineteenth stroke, activate!”
The moment the final stroke landed, a complete, purple-glowing Space Pressure Rune suddenly flared to life on Lucia’s back before quickly fading away.
Lilia let out a shrill, sobbing scream that didn’t even sound like her own.
Her entire body jerked violently in Lucia’s embrace, and then she began to tremble incessantly.
—
An unknown amount of time passed before Lilia woke from the chaos.
She found herself lying on the Bed, covered by a silk quilt.
Her body felt refreshed and had clearly been cleaned, but a lingering sensation remained in the marrow of her bones, making her legs feel weak just thinking about it.
She moved her fingers, and all the memories from before she lost consciousness flooded back into her mind.
The feeling of losing control completely exploded in her head.
*Boom—*
Lilia buried her face deep into the pillow, wishing she could just suffocate herself.
‘Too embarrassing.’
‘I actually… fainted again because of something like this!’
“You’re awake?”
A cold voice rang out in the room.
Lilia jerked her head up.
Lucia was sitting in a chair not far away, holding a Tea Cup and slowly savoring some red tea.
She had changed back into her black silk nightgown and looked elegant, as if the person who had just tormented her until she fainted wasn’t her at all.
“What… what did you do to me? Meow?”
Lilia’s voice was shaking.
“Helping you review your lessons.”
Lucia set down the Tea Cup and turned to look at her.
“And incidentally, I helped you thoroughly consolidate your newly promoted Third Tier realm.”
Lilia froze.
She hurriedly calmed her mind to inspect her body.
Then, she discovered that the Third Tier Magic Power inside her, which had been somewhat unstable, was now incredibly solid.
Her perception of the Laws of Space was also much clearer than before.
That torture-like “teaching” session had actually… caused her strength to improve this much!
This realization left her heart filled with both hatred and confusion, an unspeakable sense of frustration.
“It seems this teaching method is quite effective.”
Lucia stood up and walked to the bedside.
She leaned down, her Shadow enveloping Lilia.
“From now on, we’ll use this method for our lessons. How does that sound?”
Lilia’s body went completely rigid.
She looked at Lucia’s “I’m doing this for your own good” expression, and a chill rushed from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.
‘This pervert… is serious!’
‘She wants to turn this Punishment, which makes me want to die of shame, into our daily routine?!’
*Knock, knock.*
At that moment, there was a soft knock on the door.
Lilia’s heart skipped a beat.
That sound… it was Lilith!
From outside the door, Lilith’s steady voice drifted in.
“Your Majesty, the late-night snack you requested is ready.”
‘She’s right outside!’
‘The sounds that I and this pervert made just now… doesn’t that mean… she heard everything?!’
Lilia’s face burned bright red, and she wished she could disappear from the world immediately.
“Come in,” Lucia spoke flatly.
She straightened up and casually opened the door.
The Head Maid, Lilith, pushed an exquisite dining cart and walked in quietly.
She placed the snacks and hot drinks from the cart onto the table one by one.
She set the utensils down gently without making any unnecessary noise, her gaze always fixed on her own hands.
She didn’t look at the little girl on the Bed who was wrapping herself tightly in the quilt with only her eyes showing.
Nor did she look at her own Sovereign’s slightly messy nightgown and languid expression.
But the tips of her fingers, hidden beneath her White Gloves, trembled slightly in a place where no one could see.
While she was outside the door, she had heard everything.
The Miss’s suppressed crying, and…
Her Majesty’s joyful, wicked whispers.
Lilith’s mind was a blank.
She didn’t understand.
What exactly was Her Majesty doing?
As soon as that thought appeared, she crushed it.
‘Impossible.’
‘Her Majesty is a God, she is the Eternal Order, and absolute logic.’
‘She wouldn’t possess the lowly, chaotic, and illogical emotions of an Ordinary Person. All of this is just a Game.’
‘Yes, a… Game that Her Majesty found interesting, and so she played it,’ Lilith told herself.
She set out the final snack, bowed, and prepared to withdraw.
“Wait.”
Lucia spoke.
Lilith stopped in her tracks.
“Take these to my private meditation room.”
Lucia pointed to the snacks on the table.
Lilith froze.
The private meditation room? That was the most heavily guarded place in the entire Evernight Palace, a place of the purest Magic Power, and Her Majesty’s absolute forbidden zone.
Aside from herself, Her Majesty had never allowed anyone to enter.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Lilith didn’t ask further questions and prepared to leave with the cart.
“Let her come too.”
Lucia’s next sentence caused both Lilith and Lilia on the Bed to stiffen at the same time.