Villainess X Villain: They are obsessed with each other!

Chapter 282: Chapter: 281 Immortal Velentina [1].

Meanwhile, back on the Continent of Auranel, within the Hayes Family Estate, the sound of steel slicing through the air echoed across a spacious training ground.

"Come on! Swing it like a man!... Ah, I mean woman! Yeah, that’s it! Put more force into it!" Kathlyin shouted without the slightest trace of embarrassment for correcting herself midway.

She stood with her arms crossed, watching every movement with sharp eyes. "You know, if you want to catch up with Rosalina, you’d better give it everything you’ve got. I heard that when she was little, she practiced until her palms were bleeding."

"Ahh... Grandma Kat, please..." Rosel complained helplessly while swinging her wooden sword again. "I said I’m going to catch up... not in a single day."

Her expression practically screamed, please leave me alone.

Over the past few years, the little girl had grown considerably. She was nine years old now.

Her soft pink hair had been cut short until it rested around her neck, framing a youthful face that still carried plenty of childish innocence.

Yet hidden within those bright pink eyes was the faint beginning of maturity.

Countless hours spent training beneath the sun had slowly tanned what was once pale skin, and beads of sweat glistened across her forehead before trickling down her flushed cheeks.

Even though her arms already trembled from exhaustion, she continued swinging the sword exactly as she had been instructed, refusing to stop until her teacher gave the order.

Each swing was slower than the last.

The wooden blade cut through the air with a dull whoosh before returning to its starting position, only for Rosel to force it forward once more.

Her breathing grew increasingly ragged, and her shoulders burned with every repetition. More than once, she felt her grip loosening, but each time she bit her lip and tightened her fingers around the hilt again.

From the sidelines, a few servants quietly watched the training session while carrying baskets of fresh towels and water.

They had long grown accustomed to seeing the estate’s training ground occupied from sunrise until afternoon, yet even they couldn’t help but admire the little girl’s determination.

For someone her age, very few children could endure such harsh lessons without bursting into tears or begging to rest.

Rosel herself had wanted to complain countless times.

She simply knew it wouldn’t work.

Kathlyin had a frightening ability to ignore pitiful expressions whenever training was involved.

"Alright!"

Kathlyin’s commanding voice rang across the training ground.

Rosel immediately released the practice sword. It slipped from her tired fingers and landed on the ground with a dull thud while she herself dropped onto one knee.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she struggled to steady her breathing.

Every muscle in her small body ached from the relentless training session, and for several long moments she could do nothing except sit there, taking one deep breath after another.

Small droplets of sweat continued falling from her chin onto the packed dirt beneath her knees.

"Here."

Kathlyin walked over and casually tossed her a bottle of water.

Rosel caught it with both hands before quickly unscrewing the cap. She raised it to her lips and drank several large gulps without stopping.

The cool water slid down her throat, instantly washing away the dryness that had built up during training.

She drank until nearly half the bottle was empty before finally lowering it, letting out a long, satisfied breath.

"Haah..."

A satisfied smile finally appeared on her face as the cool water washed away the dryness in her throat.

She lowered the bottle and wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, looking far more refreshed than she had only moments earlier.

Once she had finished drinking, Rosel slowly stood back up. Despite her exhaustion, she straightened her posture before giving Kathlyin a small respectful bow.

"Thank you for the lesson."

Kathlyin simply nodded.

Her gaze quietly rested upon the young girl standing before her.

Several months had already passed since Rosel underwent her awakening, and even Kathlyin had to admit the girl’s talent was astonishing.

It could not truly be compared with monsters like Julius and Rosalina, but among the younger generation of the Three Floating Continents, it undoubtedly ranked among the very best.

That alone had been enough for Kathlyin to personally take Rosel in as her disciple, just as she had once trained Julius during his childhood.

More importantly, Rosel possessed something talent alone could never replace.

Discipline.

Even after collapsing from exhaustion, she never questioned why she had to train so hard.

She rested when told to rest, trained when told to train, and each day she returned to the training ground with the same quiet determination.

That kind of mindset was precisely what allowed true geniuses to become extraordinary.

What surprised her even more was Rosel’s natural affinity for weapons.

She was far more gifted than Julius had ever been.

Thinking about it now almost made Kathlyin sigh.

Julius had honestly been terrible with weapons.

She had tried....she had really, really tried.

When he was little, she had devoted countless hours attempting to turn him into some legendary swordsman.

She wanted him to earn an awe-inspiring title. Sword Demon. Sword Master. Sword Saint. She had read those names in comics years ago and thought they sounded unbelievably cool.

Just imagining someone shouting, "The Sword Demon, Julius!" or "The Sword Saint, Julius has arrived!" had been enough to make her excited.

Unfortunately...reality had been incredibly disappointing.

No matter how hard she trained him, Julius remained... average.

He could swing a sword well enough, and his fundamentals were solid after years of relentless practice.

But that was exactly the problem.

He never showed the kind of instinct that made true weapon prodigies shine.

Whenever she demonstrated a complicated technique, Rosel could grasp the idea after seeing it only a handful of times.

Julius, meanwhile, needed to analyze every movement, memorize every step, and polish it through sheer repetition before he could reproduce it properly.

There was simply no helping it.

Back then, she had also heard that the daughter of the Valentina Clan, who possessed talent comparable to Julius, was proficient with practically every weapon she touched.

She had been unbelievably jealous.

What kind of unfair talent was that?

Still, there was nothing she could do about it.

Now that very same talented girl from the Valentina Clan had ended up beside Julius anyway. The two of them were practically inseparable.

Well...

They were lovers, weren’t they?

Kathlyin nodded to herself.

"Anyway..." she thought while looking at the exhausted Rosel with burning determination.

’No matter what happens, this time I’ll make Rosel a Sword Demonness... a Sword Saintess... a Sword Mastersess... and also a Sword Queen!’

She clenched her fist dramatically.

"I’ll make her the greatest sword... man..."

Kathlyin paused.

"..."

"...Close enough."

"Kat."

A familiar voice suddenly interrupted her passionate internal monologue.

Kathlyin blinked before turning around.

Standing a short distance away was Elizabeth.

The two sisters locked eyes immediately.

Kathlyin frowned.

"What?"

Elizabeth didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, she narrowed her eyes suspiciously while carefully observing her identical twin from head to toe, as though trying to determine whether she had secretly caused some kind of disaster again.

Kathlyin’s own frown deepened.

Why was Eli looking at her like that?

After several moments of uncomfortable silence, Elizabeth finally spoke.

"By any chance..."

She tilted her head slightly.

"...did you recently kill someone from the Valentina Clan?"