Episode 79 - Duties 2 ‘The Forbidden Road’ | Censored ep.

Warning, a part of this episode might be triggering or feel uncomfortable to read.

The following morning went the same as the day previous. Eugene got up early and went for a 5km run. After 10 pull-up reps, she got breakfast and began her daily schedule.

This time at 10 pm, the three siblings studied poetry and the lot. Reciting and memorizing poetry as a Noble lady is a must. One must be knowledgeable in this art to look sophisticated in public.

At 11 pm, they studied embroidery, which everyone knows, is Eugene’s worst subject. Eugene’s supposed ‘flower’ was more of a mosaic distorted worm. How this happened? No one knows. --Aernest on the other hand is an ace when it comes to these sophisticated delicate things.

At 12 pm, they studied eating etiquette again. This time, they learned how to properly eat soup. Towards this particular time of the day, Eugene couldn’t count how many times she had rolled her eyes.

After their one hour break, they trained with archery at 2 pm. Eugene was able to redeem herself from embroidery with this subject. Eugene became the ace by hitting the bullseyes on her first shot. --This would create tons of uproar around the house for many days to come.

At 4 pm, the children studied the fundamentals of a human being, and that is to be able to read and write. Speaking was never a problem for the children as they grew up around people who spoke politely and formally, but reading and writing was a challenge. Eugene had no problem with this particular subject and was able to excuse herself out.

With this free time, Eugene wandered around the house for a little while before heading back to her bedroom. Here, Eugene took out her secret stash carefully hidden underneath her nightstand table. This secret stash was already wrapped in cloth so all she did was hide the secret stash underneath her dress and leave the mansion.

It was incredibly rare for Eugene to have time alone so she walked slowly, taking in the beautiful scenery of nature. She strolled by the beautiful garden, passing by Tulips and Crocuses, breathing in the flowery scent multiple times. Unlike her former life where she preferred to rest at home, she now looks forward to spending time strolling around looking for something new. --Which is not surprising seeing as she now lives in a mountain.

Eugene walked with one small bag in her hand, given to her by Aedelak who didn’t want her to starve herself during her time out. Before leaving the mansion she was lightly cautioned by Aedelak to not wander too far and to avoid entering places and roads with warning signs. Everyone knew that Eugene is ‘responsible’ and more ‘mature’ than other children so they didn’t worry much about Eugene and left her to walk alone.

Talking about ‘responsible’ and ‘mature’, Eugene’s footstep paused.

‘hehe.’ Eugene unconsciously mimicked Euria’s laugh; her laugh sounded incredibly evil.

Here in front of where she stopped, a very obvious red-colored wooden sign stood before her. --What’s responsible? What does mature mean?

Perhaps if this was her previous life, she wouldn’t care to go on a dangerous adventure, because why in the world would she? But this life, standing in front of this sign that specifically prohibits anyone from entering, she was curious. Very curious! It was like a magnet that attracted her!

‘To spend time alone, one must experience the thrill and danger of life. Right?’ Eugene unconsciously smiled wickedly in front of this red sign.

With her heartbeat slightly beating fast, she took one step towards the forbidden road without hesitation.

‘For a sign that warned people not to enter, it is suspiciously maintained.’ Eugene frowned, still walking forward regardless. She walked for 10 minutes until she came to a second stop.

There were two options in front of her. One road that was very obviously maintained, and the other that looked abandoned.

‘.......’ Eugene blinked her eyes.

If she walked into the maintained road, she wouldn’t have to get dirtied from wet grass and mud from the other road. But if she chose the maintained road, she most probably would be found out! Cause why and how else is a road maintained! This was her precious time alone! Shouldn’t she extend her time alone and possibly discover a hidden spot that no one would know?

Without a moment's hesitation, she headed towards the unmaintained road. While the other option was suspicious and intriguing, it was as if there was an invisible wall that prevented her from choosing that option. Not only that, Eugene felt that the danger sign was most probably for the maintained road.

Although she felt adventurous and crossed the 1st danger sign, she wasn’t that enthusiastic to cross the 2nd dangerous line.

Eugene continued to walk in between trees towards where her ears picked up sounds of water splashes. When she reached the end, her eyebrows were automatically raised. In front of her was the end of a cliff, but the sight around her was unexpectedly one of a kind! At the opposite end of her was another cliff, but to her left was a close up of a waterfall she could only glimpse from afar during her morning runs!

When she was a few months old, she thought that the river she visited every week was a man-made river rich people invested in. But as months progressed, she realized that she lived on a mountain and that the people she lived with were more than just rich people! They didn’t have to create a man-made river! They could just own a mountain and live with a nature-made river!

Calming her slightly excited breathing, she looked around at this godly abandoned spot. The space was so massive she reckoned Euria and Aernest could roll around 30 times without falling off the cliff. Taking out the secret stash she had hidden underneath her dress, she set the stash and her bag down.

Catching sight of a flat boulder in front of her, Eugene walked towards the end of the cliff, towards the boulder.

“Hmmph!” Eugene groaned whilst attempting to lift the boulder. ‘At most, this is 40 kg’ Eugene shook her head. --It was impossible.

Without any choice, she got her stuff and moved it over to the boulder instead. She picked up a huge leaf, big enough to cover her entire body, and propped it at the side of the boulder. Using this as an umbrella to prevent water from splashing on to her.

Like this, she settled down on the ground and had her new table set up!

“.....” Eugene poured rose tea into her cup and slowly sipped on her hot tea. With a deep breath in, she closed her eyes and relaxed her tensed shoulders.

“Ha..” Eugene sighed in satisfaction. The combination of tea and the view of nature couldn’t be expressed into words.

“Killer view?” Eugene muttered. Attempting to describe the scenery before her. To her left was huge amounts of white water cascading down, surrounding itself by water vapor. It flowed as if there was an unlimited amount of water rushing to gush out and hit below with a huge roar. There were power and beauty in it despite being a little rough. Even so, it felt as if Eugene could watch this beautiful infinite water for a long time.

On the boulder she converted as a table were books she bought the last time she went to the capital, and besides it was a small basket of sandwiches and tea specially prepared for her by Aedelak.

Taking another sip of the tea before she set her cup down, she glanced at the books stacked on top of one another. ‘Don’t give your life to anyone’, ‘The Art of Torture, Military edition’, ‘The blinding promise of United West Liasel’, ‘Occul Island’, and ‘The Art of Magic’.

“.....” Eugene picked the 2nd book that was the reason behind all this secretness, ‘The Art of Torture, Military edition’. Towards this book, she was curious but didn’t dare to openly read the book whilst Aedelak was behind her that day. Only when Aedelak took her sights off her for a moment that she handed the book to the book guide to buy.

Back then she was curious about this book because she was reminded of her former family who’d bring in people she didn’t know and would torture or kill them cells away from her cell. She wanted to compare her memories of torturous methods her family used to the torture methods used in this world.

On the first page of the book was an introduction page along with a table of contents of various tortuous names. Below it was a disclaimer that these were what military men used in other countries.

“....” Eugene’s eyebrows raised in question. This book was sold in Xenperia so why aren’t there tortuous methods Xenperian soldiers used?

Her questions were answered at the 2nd disclaimer. -- The military unit of Xenperia is excluded due to it being newly formed and also having no available public information.

To this Eugene only nodded. --The military unit has been around for less than a decade, it would be weirder if there was something about them in the book.

‘It seems like the author only wanted to include facts and actually proven methods.’ Eugene nodded a second time. This time to acknowledge the author for his honesty. Flipping towards the end of the book, Eugene’s eyes caught on the same Walsh. --She will remember his name for next time.

Flipping over to the 2nd page of the book, she began to read.

“.... Jesus buddha.” She unconsciously muttered, her eyes widened from the disturbing graphical illustrations in front of her eyes.

This was the first story of the book…

After capturing a city that had rebelled against the kingdom, the military general sent to subdue the rebellions ordered for his soldier to build a small stage in the middle of that town. Rebellions would be hung upside down with their legs spread and be sawed from their crotch down. The person subjected to this method could only die from blood loss or a heart attack. This torturous method is used to scare the rebellions but was mainly used to please the general.

“.......” Eugene blinked.

‘Nevermind.’ She thought.

This method was crueler than the methods her former family used. To be sawed from the private area down? With a blunt saw? She would rather die from being tortured to death by electrocution.

‘Were they too easy when they tortured criminals to death?’ Eugene couldn’t help but compare her former family to the general written in the book. ‘But being skinned alive is just as bad... Right?’ Eugene scrunched her eyebrows. The most ‘painless’ method her former family would use is one crack to the neck. The worst method she saw was skinning people alive for information, or burning parts of their body.

“..... Urgh.” Eugene muttered, closing the book.

She blankly stared at the opposite cliff in front of her for 10 full minutes. The first story in the book said that this happened 10 years ago. Not only was that general still alive and well, but that rebellion city was burnt down and uprooted soon after.

This is the world she is currently living in...

Taking a deep exhale, she set the book down and laid down on her back. She watched as clouds moved slowly across the blue sky in front of her and sighed. Raising both her arms up, she stared at her short pale limbs.

Whatever happened to her former toned arms that were insured for a hefty amount of money? Thinking about that now, insuring her body parts was a weird situation to be in. If not for her fussy CEO whom she only met once or twice, she wouldn’t have insured her body.

Eugene remembered when news broke out that her body was insured, netizens went crazy. Some called her out for living too luxuriously, having too much money, or deserving to be insured. If they knew how she was living now, would they be shocked?

She lived on a private mountain with a family that had too much power and wealth. One is close to the Emperor, another is close to the Empress, and their offsprings were close to the future Emperor. She reckoned that this would be more shocking than having her limbs insured.

Eugene couldn’t help but wonder if people in her former world would be able to survive in this place if they weren’t born into a good family. Like the book she just read, if you are a commoner, your life can be taken just like that by people of higher status. There wasn’t police or anyone to help you.

Shrugging her shoulders, she blinked towards the blue sky. It didn’t matter if there were people from her world here or not. It wasn’t any of her business, and she wasn’t interested in mingling with anyone either.

Her life was too fragile to care about anyone else.

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