Night had already grown very late.
Outside the window, moonlight spilled like diluted mercury, quietly falling into the room through the delicate latticework.
The dim glow outlined the vague silhouettes of the furniture within.
The night was very quiet. Only the occasional indistinct barking of dogs in the distance, along with the faint sound of horns as the city guards changed shifts farther away, marked the passage of time.
Cui Ciyou sat cross-legged on the soft, comfortable bed, not asleep.
His eyes were lightly closed, his breathing steady and deep as he practiced a special form of "meditation."
Cui Ciyou could feel his Mental Power increasing at an extremely slow, yet unmistakable rate.
This force of spiritual consciousness seemed, like mana, to follow a certain law of depletion and recovery:
Every time it was exhausted and then fully restored, its total amount increased by a tiny fraction.
The feeling of continuously growing stronger was undoubtedly pleasant.
Just as he was immersed in this introspective exploration, an extremely faint set of deliberately muffled footsteps came from outside his door.
Then came the soft click of a key opening the lock.
Eris had probably threatened the male servant Thomas into giving her a spare key.
Cui Ciyou slowly opened his eyes. In the dim lighting, his black pupils looked somewhat brown.
He did not need to use that special Perception ability.
Based on what had happened over the past half month alone, he already knew who had come and what she wanted.
Hah... she's here again. Cui Ciyou sighed helplessly to himself.
The door was silently pushed open, and a petite red figure in a silk nightgown slipped inside on tiptoe like a nocturnal cat.
Moonlight happened to shine through the window, illuminating her fiery red hair.
It also lit up her delicate little face, slightly flushed with excitement, nervousness, and the anticipation of a prank about to succeed.
It was none other than Eris Boreas Greyrat.
She gripped a small but exquisitely made wooden sword tightly in her hand.
Standing on tiptoe, she carefully crept toward Cui Ciyou's bed one step at a time.
Her movements were exceptionally light, and she had suppressed her breathing to the bare minimum.
Her ruby-like eyes gleamed with foxlike cunning. She clearly believed her infiltration had been flawless.
When she finally reached the bedside and confirmed that the figure on the bed truly seemed to have no reaction at all,
Her large eyes instantly burst with unconcealed excitement and... ferocity!
"Die!... Pretty boy... Divine Punishment!"
It was a low shout filled with rage and determination.
Although she had deliberately lowered her voice, it was still perfectly clear in the silent room.
Eris gripped the sword with both hands, raised it high, then swung down with all her strength.
The sword cut through the air with a sharp whistle, chopping viciously toward the face of the figure on the bed.
This strike was incredibly fast and came from a tricky angle.
She had even used the fierce opening stance of the Sword God Style that she had learned from Ghislaine during this time.
If an ordinary person had encountered such a sneak attack in their sleep, they would likely have been seriously injured—or even killed—with a single blow!
This girl's perseverance... or rather, obsession, is terrifyingly strong.
Cui Ciyou watched the shadow of the wooden sword rapidly grow larger in the moonlight.
Seeing Eris's little face twisted somewhat fiercely from the exertion, a profound sense of helplessness rose within him once more.
Aside from her talent with the sword, this strength of will really does deserve praise.
How many times has this been already? I can't even be bothered to keep count.
Just as the wooden sword, carrying fury and murderous intent, was about to strike Cui Ciyou in the face, he lazily raised his left hand.
His movement looked utterly casual, even somewhat languid, but it was terrifyingly fast.
Smack!
With a soft sound, Eris felt her wrist go numb.
The wooden sword she had swung down with all her strength was lightly caught around the blade by one of his hands.
No matter how hard she tried, she could not push it forward even an inch!
Then a burst of deft force traveled through her hand, making her fingers around the hilt loosen involuntarily.
The wooden sword was effortlessly taken from her and casually tossed to the foot of the bed.
"Ah!"
Eris let out a startled cry. Before she could react, her vision blurred, and her wrist had already been firmly seized.
The next second, an irresistible force struck her, and her entire body was easily pressed onto the soft bed.
Cui Ciyou's right hand clamped onto both her wrists like iron pincers, twisting them behind her back.
At the same time, his left knee lightly yet precisely pinned down the knees of her flailing legs.
In an instant, Eris was subdued. Like a small insect caught in a spiderweb, she could not move at all.
"Sigh! Lady Eris."
Cui Ciyou looked down at the little girl beneath him, her face bright red with anger and humiliation as she continuously twisted and struggled.
He could not help sighing, his tone full of profound weariness and frustration.
"Let's not even get into whether we actually have some blood feud over a murdered father or a stolen wife between us..."
"But it's been half a month now—fifteen whole days. Every night, without fail, you come here three times to 'punish' me."
"And every morning, as soon as dawn breaks, you come another two times."
"That makes five times a day, seventy-five times over half a month... Seventy-five times! Isn't your perseverance a little too incredible?"
"If you could put even a tiny bit of that energy into studying, you could probably read the History of the Founding of the Asla Kingdom by yourself by now."
The more Cui Ciyou spoke, the more exhausted he felt.
For the first few days, he had found Eris's unyielding spirit somewhat "interesting."
He had even been in the mood to symbolically "teach" her a lesson with the sword sheath a few times after her failed sneak attacks.
But as time passed, this day-after-day, utterly unoriginal repetitive "harassment" had left him deeply... irritated.
"Let go of me! You bastard! This is all your fault!"
Pinned down tightly by him, Eris kept twisting and struggling, screaming angrily.
"If you hadn't spanked me, acted so arrogant, and insisted on becoming my tutor, then I never would have..."
That pretty boy really is good at arithmetic!
In the middle of her fury, that thought unexpectedly crossed Eris's mind.
"Stop!"
Cui Ciyou immediately cut her off, his tone tinged with helplessness.
"Eris, let's make this clear."
"First, when we met for the first time, you were the one who hit me first."
"Second, from the moment we met, you kept calling me pretty boy and bastard. Who exactly was being more arrogant?"
"Third, I admit that I hit you with a sword sheath, but you bit me hard too. That makes us even."
"Fourth, and most importantly, it was you—"
At this point, Cui Ciyou stressed his words.
"For all these days, every night and every morning, you've been coming into my room on your own initiative to attack me... I'm the victim here, okay?"
Looking at her angry, unwilling little face, he could not help glancing at his right shoulder, which had long since healed without a trace.
He once again marveled at how "vicious" this girl was.
She may be young, but that ruthlessness and violent streak really are... worthy of the future Mad Dog.
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