Ch 70: Anger
"Sorry," Melissa apologized, bowing her head to Lucien.
Lucien narrowed his eyes. He wanted to scream at her at that very moment. Lucien wanted to ask whether she cared at all for other people's time. He had told her specifically to be on time, had even gone as far as to say she should arrive five minutes early, yet the girl had completely dismissed his instruction and had shown up ten minutes late. Now it was eleven minutes, and counting.
"Do you think I am doing all of this for myself?" Lucien snapped, his voice thick with irritation. "I am doing this so that you can keep up with the other students." And so that you can help the other main characters and him to save the world from its doom. That last part he kept to himself.
"Sorry, I have never woken up this early before." Melissa kept her head lowered, her hands scrambling along the sides of her leggings as though searching for something to hold onto.
"So, what?" Lucien replied sharply. "Do you think with the strength you currently have, you could fight against the dangers this world holds?"
Melissa stayed silent.
Lucien wanted to add more, but seeing the girl trembling, he stopped himself. The memories of his previous life, of Evan, were surfacing and conflicting with him, softening his irritation in ways he did not entirely welcome. Those memories were making him think that it was only natural for the girl to arrive late, and worse, making him view it in a strangely positive light, that despite never having woken this early in her life, she had only been ten minutes behind.
Lucien did not know what to do with this conflicting nature of his. Whenever he found Melissa sad or nervous, the memories of the story would come flooding back, the story where she was such a pitiful girl, much like his previous self Evan, who had deeply connected with her and resonated with her feelings in ways that were difficult to separate from his own.
So in the end, he shook his head and decided against adding any further harsh words. "Make sure to come on time from tomorrow," Lucien said, letting the words settle before continuing. "I will be training you personally to build your physical strength, so until then, make sure you are here on time."
"Lift your head. For starters, we will begin with some stretches." He waited for Melissa to raise her head. When she did, her eyes were glistening with moisture, and for a brief moment he felt a sharp anger directed entirely at himself for being so harsh on her. She was so naive and kind and, more than anything, innocent, a girl who had likely never been lectured or punished in any serious way, and the thought of that made his harshness feel unnecessary and cruel.
But Melissa did not cry. She simply gave a small, quiet nod.
Lucien started demonstrating a series of stretches, shoulder stretches, hamstring stretches, side bends, toe touches, and several others, and the girl followed along in silence, performing each one with surprising accuracy.
"Have you done these stretches before?" Lucien asked, observing her form with mild curiosity.
"Yes, my brother taught me," Melissa answered quietly.
Lucien nodded. He knew she had a brother who worked as an adventurer, venturing in and out of dungeons, but not much beyond that was known to him.
In the original story, her brother had never appeared at all up until Lucien's death. The fact that Melissa's parents had been killed was something her brother likely had never even learned, and from what Lucien had gathered during dinner at the Duskbane Palace with Melissa's parents, they had no reliable means of contacting him. Melissa’s brother appeared only rarely to visit, consumed by the never-ending pursuit of climbing higher rank as an adventurer, and her parents had spoken with grim fear about how deeply their son had been swept up in that deadly path and had wanted Melissa to avoid it.
At that point Lucien was unable to say to them that their daughter was also going to join the same path as her brother because she had to, her fate would make her so that she could become even more stronger and one day fight against evil. She was after all the favored child of heaven and no one, not even her parents would have strength to stop her from becoming stronger and one day she would fight against the world ending doom.
"Then you must know some other stretches as well," Lucien said. "Name some of them."
Melissa nodded. "Yes, he taught me a few stretches and exercises." She raised her hands and began counting them off on her fingers one by one, reciting each name carefully while Lucien listened.
"Good." Lucien nodded once she had finished. "Perform those stretches in order. I will observe you and give pointers where needed. After that, you will run laps around the field until six in the morning."
"Wait, wait." Melissa's eyes went wide. "Do you mean nonstop? Who runs for two whole hours straight?"
"First of all, it is not entirely two hours," Lucien corrected her, his tone measured. "Right now it is four fifteen. By the time you finish your stretches it will be closer to four thirty, which means you are running for one and a half hours, not two. And yes, you will be running without stopping, taking a break only when your legs give out."
"No, I will not," Melissa took a step back and crossed her arms firmly in objection. "Please allow some rest in between. How could you expect me to run for that long on the very first day?"
Lucien exhaled slowly and conceded, at least inwardly, thinking that he was perhaps not seeing the situation through Melissa's eyes. He could, if he wanted, run for ten hours straight, and perhaps at the very end his legs might finally give out. But two hours was nothing to him, he would only have to stop occasionally for water and to clean his sweat off.
But Melissa was not him. She had likely never undergone any serious physical training, and pushing her to that extreme on the first day would do more harm than good. He decided to be a little more lenient. "Then after every lap, you may rest for a few minutes," Lucien said, and before she could find any opening to negotiate further, he added, "Only a few minutes. Understood?"
Melissa nodded rapidly, as though terrified he might reconsider and take even that small mercy away from her.
"Then begin," Lucien said, watching as the girl stood completely still like a statue.
Melissa nodded again and began her stretches, starting with neck and head rotations.
Lucien observed her quietly with his hands settled in his trouser pockets, offering pointers whenever her form slipped. He was going to make Melissa strong. That was decided. And it would begin here, with her body, because without a physically capable foundation, she would struggle to keep up with the others when the time came to clear dungeons.
***
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