Chapitre 35: MORNING TRAINING

"Sevin, we shall use the usual route. Woods, since you are unfamiliar with our route, follow behind us. Two laps around our house compound first."

Lexine frowned, her lazy instincts jumping to the front, covering her usually stoic face. If there was one thing she simply despised was exerting her physical body. That was the main reason she wanted to have a normal white-collar job after finishing school, one where she had the freedom to sit behind a desk for eight hours a day and at the end of the day take a car back home. It was not what most people her age wanted, but as long as it paid the bills, it was enough for her.

Cardial, however, wanted her to run. Her mind immediately reminded her of the time she tried to try for the track team in middle school but ended up vomiting all over herself because she over-exerted herself running. It was enough to scar her for life. She then gave herself to the listless life she now led.

The two werewolves noticed the look on her face. Aside from the frown that Lexine sported half the time, they had yet to see other emotions portrayed on their housemate's face. The disgusted look, therefore, did not fail to pass their eyes. Did she abhor running that much? "Is there a problem Woods?"

Lexine noticed the glowering look Cardial was giving her. He was practically saying, 'You already made us late, do you have any more setbacks?'

Lexine shrunk as her brain reminded her that this was a werewolf who could snap her in half if he so desired. With that as a reminder, she shook her head from left to right quickly. "Nothing at all. Lead the way."

"Good, do not get left behind. We shall not return or wait for you."

Sevin rolled his eyes at Cardial's tantrum. He seriously had problems keeping his anger and grudges in check despite clearly admonishing the werewolf who fought with Meddy the day before. After a few stretches, they began running.

Lexine huffed as she tried to keep up with Cardial and Sevin. It was clear that Cardial was punishing her for being late and making him wait. He was running too fast for her to keep up. She had trouble seeing him in front of her. Sevin was running at a slower pace, despite being faster than Lexine, she could at least keep up with his speed.

Lexine was in no way fit. She was not in any sports clubs and did not do any exercise at all. Unlike Ceeret who was in both the cheerleading squad and the volleyball club, Lexine had no athletic bone in her body. It was pure luck she had gotten her mother's metabolism which allowed her not to add too much weight. She preferred playing instruments to exercise. In fact, anything was better than exercise.

Lexine puffed and stopped to catch her breath. Her eyes were teary and her nose was runny. She placed her hands on her knees, keeping herself upright, as she gulped in air through her mouth. Her chest constricted and she felt dizzy. 'Damnit. I'm tired.'

Sevin immediately realized Lexine had stopped and turned to run back to her. "Are you alright?"

Lexine nodded without looking up. "Yeah. I just need to breathe." She took in a deep breath to steady herself before looking up at Sevin. "How long have we been running?"

Sevin raised a brow at her. She was asking this already? "It has been almost three minutes since we began."

Lexine plopped herself down on the grass beside the path and sighed, "I need a thirty-minute break, please."

Sevin chuckled, thinking Lexine was jesting. However, Lexine lay on the ground, and with a hand over her eyes, dozed off. Sevin stood there for five minutes to wait for her to catch her breath. After those five minutes though, her breath evened out and she began snoring softly.

Sevin glanced down at her, shocked. Did she just sleep in the middle of her training? Cardial was definitely going to be pissed at her, and probably him too. Using his bare toe, he poked Lexine's face. She swatted his leg away, as if it was a fly, then drifted back to sleep. "Is she serious? How does someone sleep that fast?"

Lexine mumbled something incoherent in her sleep and turned over. Sevin did not have it in him to wake her. It was probably a human thing, sleeping in the middle of the road.

Cardial, who had noticed both Sevin and Lexine were no longer following behind him, stopped to wait for them. He had not even broken a sweat. As he waited for them, he bent to remove a stone that had lodged itself on the under part of his bare foot. Blood dripped from the wound before closing almost immediately.

When they did not appear even after five minutes of waiting, he frowned. How weak were humans, they had not been running for more than ten minutes but she was already dragging them behind? Or had she hurt Sevin? Although she had said she had no plans of harming anyone, she was human, and that meant that she could not be trusted. She may have been playing a weak human, but that energy signature she possessed, was beyond his understanding. Since she was human, it should have torn her from the inside out.

Reluctantly, he turned back to go and check whether she had harmed Sevin. Running using his full speed, he found them near the house after five minutes. Lexine was sleeping and Sevin was standing over her, his toe poking her face. Cardial's lips fell further into a frown. How could she sleep in the middle of training? With long strides, he walked to them and woke Lexine up with a kick to her stomach.

Lexine's eyes flew open. The first thing she noticed was Cardial glowering down at her. She clutched her stomach in pain. "What was that for?"

"You were already late in waking. Now you are sleeping in the middle of training. Have you no shame?"

She frowned at his words, as she sat up. "You should have just let me sleep. I'm already tired you know. I'd rather go back to bed.

Irritated, Cardial pinched the tip of his nose. "I thought we had already gone over this Woods. Headmaster left us as your charge. We cannot do much in helping you in case you are challenged to a duel. However, we can ensure that you have a chance of winning in order to keep your secret safe. This is why we need to build up your strength. Do not make this more difficult than it needs to be."

What made Lexine mad was that he was right. If she was going to stay in this world for the next month, she needed to at least keep up appearances. However, if he was going to train her, he needed to remember she was human.

"I'm sorry for making it seem like I am taking your kindness for granted. I will try my best, but you must please remember that I am human, we break easily. I can't run as fast as any of you, and I'm not that strong. Also, at home, we don't go through 'training' unless you are in the army, which I am obviously not. So please be patient with me."

Cardial frowned deeply making Lexine think she should have kept her mouth shut. It seemed that he was now angry at her. Sevin was the one who answered with a smile. "Of course. We apologize for running too fast. We'll try and consider you as well."

Lexine nodded in thanks and stood. "Let's begin then."

Forty-five minutes later, they were back at the house. Lexine slumped down on the rocky ground. On the other hand, Sevin and Cardial did not look tired in the slightest. They were doing push-ups in fact. Lexine was jealous of how much stamina they had. If she remembered correctly, they were werewolves. That probably explained their never-ending stamina. 'Well, at least I did not vomit this time,' was her proud thought. Lexine looked up at the morning sky, with her back laying on the hard floor. She did not feel like standing up. Her muscles protested with every move she made.

After a number of pushups, (she stopped counting at a hundred), the two began sparring. They threw their fists at each other. Lexine raised her exhausted body to watch them, in awe. Whenever she would think Sevin had the upper hand, Cardial would throw in a punch that would throw Sevin five feet back. The fistfight was nothing like what she had watched on WWE. The two werewolves threw punches that targeted the other's weakness over and over. Regardless of this, they still endured the pain and remained standing, continuing their spar for more than ten minutes.

It was a beautiful display such that she was unable to peel her eyes from their fight. This seemed to exert more energy than the running as they were left breathless after the ten minutes were over.

The door to their house opened and Adley joined them outside. Her uniform was a dark purple color and her feet were covered in brown leather boots. Her blue hair was tied up in a high ponytail and she held a scabbard in her hand. Her mocha skin glowed in the early morning light. "It is almost time for breakfast. You are once again late."

Sevin and Cardial let go of each other immediately after they heard her voice. "Adley. We seem to have lost track of time once more."

Adley rolled her eyes before looking at Lexine who was still lying on the floor. "If you try to keep up with these two you will die young."

Lexine nodded, agreeing with her. The two chuckled but did not refute her statement.

"Lexine, it is almost time to attend classes, you should go and get ready. The others are waiting for tea in the dining area. I suggest you begin with breakfast before taking a shower."

Lexine sighed. She was already tired but still had to make people tea? Maybe she should teach someone else how to make it so that she could rest a bit more before breakfast. With a groan, she pushed herself up and dragged her feet to the house.

Cardial rolled his eyes at her antics. "Do not get too tired, tomorrow after the laps, we are going to get a sparring partner for you as well."

Lexine froze at his words. Looks like she had encountered the calm before the storm. Not wanting to anger Cardial with his foul temper, she nodded faintly and walked into the house. Maybe she should just go back home and forget all about this new world? Her thoughts were jumbled up as she made the tea.

On one hand, she wanted to go back home, on the other hand, she wanted to find out whether or not her father really was part of this world. If he was, why did he not tell her mother about it. They were in love were they not? People in love shared their secrets with each other, did they not? Maybe he did not trust her enough? This thought hurt Lexine. She was going to prove herself wrong. It was just for a month after all. She held the rod pendant to the necklace that was gifted to her by her father and took a deep breath, steadying her thoughts. She had gotten through three years of high school, she could get through anything.

With that as her strengthening thought, she got ready for her first day at a school where a hundred percent of the school population could squash her like a bug if they figured out she was human. She was not her father's daughter for nothing, now was she? If she put enough of her energy into doing something, she was going to be good enough. She would do this for both her and her mother.