"Anna?" Lothur found this woman's way of talking to him strange, as their relationship always seemed very good. "What's the matter?"
But Annaliese just pressed her jaw into silence, looking out of that carriage to avoid having to look at the fellow in front of her.
After entering her older sister's room and discovering that woman was destroying everything, Annaliese had heard everything Lothur had said the night before.
Annaliese had never seen her sister as angry as the night before. Still, after understanding the situation, she herself felt like beating Lothur until he regretted it.
Unfortunately, they couldn't risk his health for the time being because it would be tricky for Viktoria to become a widow so soon as the imperial dispute happened.
In any case, Annaliese was disgusted with Lothur and could not help but treat him in that drastic manner.
"Annaliese, your sister spoke to you, right?" Finally, Lothur understood some of what was going on and got right to the point. "Why are you so angry? I understand your sister, but you? I'm not even your husband..."
She then turned to him and looked at him with her eyes trembling with anger, wishing she could make him swallow his words.
He continued. "Well, it doesn't matter whether you're happy or not. That's how things will work out between Viktoria and me."
"However, I want to know if your word has any value. Does it?" He looked earnestly into her eyes, not bothering with her manners.
"What are you talking about?"
"Of course, my word has value!" She exclaimed with a specific tone of contempt mixed in with her anger.
"Good!"
"Now, I hope you are prepared to pay for our bet."
"What?"
"Your sister has already told you that she sees no problem in sharing me with others, so I won the bet. Therefore, you will train with me and do whatever I tell you to do."
"That's what you agreed to, right?" His eyes sharpened as he leaned his body forward to watch her more closely. "Will you back out now? Or will you keep your word?"
"Lothur!"
"Lothur..." She said slowly as one of his hands squeezed the soft material of her seat. "Are you sure you want to do this with me? I'm afraid I can't hold on..."
He smiled and said. "I'm willing to trust you."
"Plus, I don't think you're that hard in a fight..."
"Really? So, when do you want this to happen? How about now?" She looked at him wanting to squeeze him against a wall until he apologized for everything he had said to Viktoria.
"Let's do it tonight." Then, he remembered something and commented. "In fact, call that doctor who treated me before."
Her eyes widened in surprise, without precisely understanding what he was saying. 'You said you trust me, but you ask for a doctor to be present? What do you think I am?'
"Tsk!"
"Fine, I will call the doctor in case we need to treat your injuries."
"Great!"
...
As Lothur and Annaliese made their way to the academy accompanied by some Frost family guards, Mabel and her husband were in front of Viktoria at this very moment.
After Lothur's sudden recovery, his in-laws found out about such a thing and were obviously shocked.
They had even tried to find that man before dinner last night, but no servant had been able to find him.
After that, they left the matter for Viktoria to deal with, but mysteriously she had not gone to talk to them after she had said she would meet Lothur after dinner.
So, they were receiving this woman in the office of the patriarch of this family, sitting side by side behind a large wooden desk while Viktoria stood in front of them.
"Vicky, what happened last night? We waited for you for hours, but you didn't return." Then, her father began speaking, looking at her with surprise on his face, as something like this had never happened before.
Mabel then continued her husband's words. "After that, we discovered that several pieces of furniture in your room were replaced earlier today..."
"What happened?"
Hearing her parents' questioning, Viktoria felt a weight on her shoulders, feeling guilty for having to lie to them. "I had a little argument with Lothur last night, but we worked it all out."
"Anyway, at that moment, I was a bit stressed, so I ended up forgetting to come and talk to you..."
Viktoria had always been an exemplary daughter who followed the family rules and brought pride to this house. But after spending the night thinking about the argument she had had with Lothur, she felt that she could not tell her parents the truth.
Otherwise, Mabel would surely lose patience and do something to regret later.
On the other hand, Viktoria did not want to look like a weak woman who could not even control her husband. So, she wanted to keep Lothur's uncontrollable womanizing side to herself and her sister for now.
'I am sorry, but I will keep the secret about this until I can dominate him.' She thought about this as she watched her parents.
"A little argument?" The two looked at each other as they repeated their daughter's words.
Viktoria was always so calm. What could possibly irritate her to the point that she argued with Lothur?
"It's nothing. Lothur's mouth just reached a new level of nonsense, and I just went a little over the edge and argued with him."
"After that, I may have lost some of my tempers. I'm sorry."
'That seems strange...' Mabel looked at her daughter's face, with her intuition telling her that there was much more here than Viktoria seemed to want to expose. But since she trusted her eldest daughter so much, she put the matter aside.
"Well, but did you find out what happened to him? How did he recover so quickly?"
"Maybe there's something fishy about him?" Mabel asked with a dangerous glint on her face.
She did not think Lothur could be a spy for enemies of this family since they had done all kinds of tests on him and discovered every detail of his body.
And as someone who, besides attractiveness, had nothing else, they had ruled out any chance of him being a spy. However, he could still have agreed to join one of the factions vying for the imperial throne after joining the Frost family.
And thinking about how he had miraculously recovered, this woman could not help but think of that chance for Lothur.
Viktoria then replied. "No, mother. It is impossible that he got some miraculous resource from our enemies."
"I checked his body more than once, and other than the resources used by Doctor Snee, there was nothing else on his body."
"However, I did notice a difference in his body compared to days ago." She said, attracting the attention of those two.
"What is it?" Aiken asked in concern that Lothur was hiding things from them.
"Physically, he seems to be stronger than he was a few days ago."
"Oh? That's unusual..."
"Someone suffering considerable damage to their body and then for no obvious reason having a physical improvement..." Aiken thought aloud, remembering something about Physiques.
"Perhaps he has awakened his Physique?" He looked at his wife with a curious expression on his face.
Physiques were tricky to awaken because the cultivator often would not even know what kind of Physique he had until the awakening. But doing so might require several conditions, which might be pretty impossible to accomplish unless such a person was already aware of their Physique.
Therefore, most people in this world could not awaken their Physique!
However, every human had such a thing, even those with no talent for cultivation, as in Lothur's case.
Because of this, Aiken did not rule out the possibility since the young man had recently undergone near-death experiences, something common among the requirements of particular Physiques.
Mabel and Viktoria's eyes narrowed as they heard this possibility.
Viktoria's mother then said. "It's not impossible."
"Did he truly get it?"
"But what would his ability be? Regeneration?"
"Maybe."
"Tsk!"
"That is of no use to our family. Without him being able to cultivate, his ability will never become relevant." She said in an irritated tone, already assuming the worst for Lothur.
Meanwhile, Viktoria was reviewing all her moments with Lothur recently. 'He seems more confident than ever...'
'Is that truly it? Has he awakened his Physique and is more arrogant than ever because of it?'
'Hmm, I'll have to find out more about that!'