Punishment

-----Yui's POV

Iris: "How much do you love your father?"

I still have no idea where mom is going with this. Do I be honest and say that I prefer my old father over him? Wouldn't that just hurt mom's feelings? For one, I could never compare my mom now with my old mother.

Yui: "I..."

Iris: "Hesitating like this tells me all I need to know. You don't like him, right?"

I'm being pushed into a corner here. Fuck it, I'll just be honest.

Yui: "I tried to like him. But he's never been much of a father figure like how my father was in my previous life. So no, I don't think I love my father."

Iris: "I figured as much. Oliver has never really been much of a father to you, I'm sorry about that."

Yui: "It's okay. I still have memories of my old father, so it's not like I grew up without one."

Iris: "If you put it that way, then I guess, hehe."

Yui: "Why did you ask though?"

Iris: "You asked me why I chose your father, why I chose Oliver. To put it simply, our marriage was not out of love."

Yui: "Like an arranged marriage?"

Iris: "Yes."

Yui: "Did you not want to marry him?"

Iris: "Oh no, I did want to marry him. See Oliver's family, the Latimers, are quite a rich family among the counts. Although I was brought up as a Duchess, our family was in the decline for some time. So I felt it was a good idea to marry someone with enough wealth to get us off our feet."

Woah. So mom is a gold digger? I guess that concept isn't known in this world, but wow. I didn't expect to hear about this. Go mom.

Yui: "Wait, then if it wasn't out of love, then why was Fabian and I born?"

Iris: "It was inevitable. Neither one of us had children of our own, so we needed to give birth to you two in the off chance that we die."

This kind of talk makes me think that I'm just some sort of pawn, acting as a placeholder for when mom dies. I know mom doesn't think of me in a shallow way like that, but I still can't help but think that.

Iris: "Now don't get my words twisted. Sure giving birth to you and Fabian did start off as just something I needed to do. But I still love the both of you. I may not love your father in that way, but I can truly say that I most certainly love you. You're a Leinhart after all."

Hearing mom bring up my insecurities immediately only to calm it down just as fast causes my eyes to well up in tears, however I don't let them fall.

Yui: "I love you too mom."

We share a smile together as our eyes don't part from one another for a second.

Yui: "Wait. But did you have someone you liked in a romantic way?"

Iris: "Sadly, no. By the time I got interested in those things, I started thinking of what would help my family. It was a bit of a sacrifice, but I wouldn't be where I am now if I didn't make that decision. Your father's money did help get us out of the decline early on, but now everything's stable."

Yui: "What about father? Was he romantically interested in you?"

Iris: "Of course. But ever since your birth, I think he's emotionally moved on. I don't mind of course, but I guess it's a little depressing."

Yeah no shit. Having to marry someone just to save your family, only to be stuck with them, unable to find someone you truly love. That just sounds like a nightmare. Wait, then what would happen when we do go to the Yarene Kingdom? Would mom finally be able to move on?

Yui: "Would you be able to move on when we go to Yarene? Have you told Oliver?"

Iris: "Nope~ He has no idea. I'm a bit evil, aren't I?"

From an outsider's perspective, yeah, mom would totally be seen as a villain. Marrying someone for his money, only to run away when given the chance. Of course I'm bias from wanting my mom to find her own happiness, so to hell what others think.

Yui: "Yes, you are. But aren't all humans evil in a way? They may say one thing, but hidden away are many selfish desires."

I know that all too well.

Iris: "Pfft, thank you for being honest."

Yui: "Have you told Fabian about the plan for Yarene?"

Iris: "Not yet. See your father has built a nice bond with Fabian. I'm afraid I might not be able to convince him."

I'm so glad I asked! Now I have another person to win over to mom's side. Although approaching Fabian who's in his third year might be a challenge.

Yui: "I'll do my best!"

Iris: "Huh? What do you mean?"

Yui: "I'll be the best little sister to Fabian so that he has to come with us!"

Iris: "Fufu~ When you two were little, you avoided Fabian, now you're saying something like that?"

Yui: "I've had a change of heart, haha."

Iris: "Well then, I wish you the best of luck. Like I said last time, the majority of my preparations are done, but I'll give you time to figure this out. Just let me know when you're ready. But just know that we can't wait forever. No matter what, we have to leave before the crowning ceremony."

Yui: "Yes. You can count on me, mom."

Iris: "Great. Oh and I'll also talk with Rupert as well. After our discussion from before, maybe I could try something. The only real issue is that him and his family will lose their noble status. The Queen of Yarene has only promised me a position, so Rupert would most likely work under me if that happens."

Ah~ I never thought of that. I knew nobles are loyal to the king, but I never thought about the idea of nobles becoming regular citizens. Now I see why mom only garnered the commoners affection. But then again, Rupert did marry a commoner himself, so maybe he sees it differently. However I feel like getting George and Mark to come with us has just gotten even more difficult...

Yui: "I think he wouldn't mind. He does seem to still value you when I was visiting."

Iris: "Ooh? Then I'll visit him in a few days. I have a few things to sort out."

Yui: "Okay."

Iris: "Is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

Yui: "Not really."

Iris: "Great! I'm looking forward to that punishment Alice was talking about."

Ah- I totally forgot about that. I was so engrossed in talking with mom that I forgot about it. I try and thing of another topic to talk about in hopes to postpone the punishment, but I can't think of anything. In the next moment, mom stand up from her chair, cutting me off of my thoughts.

Iris: "Alright. I'm looking forward to this."

Our talk ended there and we met up with Alice in our courtyard. Mom is sitting by at a bench close by as I stand out in the middle of the courtyard with Alice. Mom used to watch me train with Alice growing up, so I'm used to it, however this time, several maids and butlers also came to witness this "punishment". It's still crazy that my father was just a mere pawn for my mom, but I'm thankful he never became a figure in my life, so I have no complaints.

Alice: "You ready?"

Yui: "What's the punishment?"

Alice: "I'll be going all out for 1 minute. Try not to get hit."

So I'm going to be focusing on defense? Got it.

Yui: "Yes!"

Alice: "If you do get hit, then we go again."

Yui: "Huh?!"

Alice: "It won't be a punishment otherwise, hehe."

If she's going 100% on me, then do I even stand a chance? I might be able to last 10 seconds, I'm sure of that, but a whole minute?

Alice: "Alright, let's begin."

Yui: "Mm!"

We both took our stances before Alice came rushing towards me with incredible speed. I successfully block her quick attack, however I feel the side of my shirt has gotten drenched with water.

Alice: "Pfft! You didn't even last 2 seconds."

Yui: "You're using magic?"

Alice: "I did say I'm going all out didn't I? Don't worry. It was just a simple water ball, I won't actually hurt you."

Hmm, maybe I should also go all out. Alice doesn't know of my ability, so maybe now's the time to show off all my hard work.

We start again, only this time I'm now aware of her off-hand. For now, I stick to dodging her water attack whilst deflecting her attacks with her rapier. It's quite intense as I need to make sure the position I'm in after dodging won't expose myself to an easy attack from her rapier. Thankfully from all our sparring, my foot work's swift, being able to properly dodge her water magic.

Usually, Alice would be talking during our training sessions, but I could see that she was serious, focusing purely on trying to get me. It only got my blood pumping more as I do my best to keep up. Her attacks are so unbelievably fast that I'm just barely able to deflect it, and right when I started to feel the rhythm, her water attacks would throw me off, causing me to refocus on her attacks once more.

The intensity of this fight is straining my body already, or it could be that Alice is picking up the pace. Suddenly, she launched a different water attack. Judging from how she swung her arm in a horizontal way, does she expect me to duck? Not wanting to risk exposing myself, I also use my off-hand to counter her water magic, taking control of it the moment it leaves her hand. Sure enough, it was a water slice. I Immediately throw it back her way in the form of a bigger water ball, but she managed to dodge it with ease.

She looks visibly confused by what happened as she begins to launch even more water magic my way at a distance, with our swords no longer making contact. My eyes struggle to keep up with how much water magic she's throwing my way. Knowing that I may not be able to control all of them, I take control of ones I'm sure I can and launch them back at her while dodging the rest of her attacks.

I'm getting severely out of breath by this point. It feels like we've been fighting for 10 minutes, let alone 1. Is it over yet?

Alice: "Wait."

She finally stops, allowing me to finally catch my breath as I rest my hands on my knees, panting heavily. Meanwhile Alice still looked composed as ever. I still have some ways before I catch up with her it seems.

Alice: "What was that?"

Yui: "H-huh?"

Alice: "You took control of my magic. How?"

She looks quite confused, but I'm prepared to reveal it to her anyways. It's why I did it in the first place.

Iris: "Yeah! I'd like to know as well!"

Mom also came running over, with many of the maids and butlers following behind her. I guess I'm about to reveal my secret to the whole household at this point.