Harem Training System: Every Girl I Train Makes Me Stronger!

William found Headmaster Albert in his office the next morning before the man had even finished his first cup of tea, which was a violation of decorum that would have normally pricked at William’s sense of propriety.

But today, propriety felt like a luxury he couldn’t afford. His nerves were frayed, his mind a storm of images: Lia’s collapsing spine, her hollow eyes, and that damned, automatic apology that sounded more like a death rattle than a courtesy.

"What’s wrong with you here, Instructor Wade...? Especially with that expression of yours, I see." Albert set his porcelain cup down with a soft clink, his eyebrows lifting slightly.

He was a man who read people for a living, and the raw, unvarnished intensity etched into William’s features was impossible to ignore. "Looking like a man who has either just come from a battlefield or is planning to start one, you are right now."

’And there he goes again with that weird-ass talk... trying to imitate that green master from outer worlds.’

’Anyway.’

"I need access to the royal archives," William said, cutting through the pleasantries like a blade through silk.

He didn’t bother with a greeting or an excuse. "Specifically... I need everything on file regarding the Valestria family lineage and their private household records if that’s okay."

The shift in the room was instantaneous. The warm, morning sunlight streaming through the office windows suddenly felt cold.

Albert’s expression transformed from mild curiosity into something considerably more guarded, a practiced, political mask that signaled William had just stepped across an invisible line.

"That is... a significant request, Instructor Wade, but I knew that one day you’d look for it." Albert said, his voice dropping an octave, losing its grandfatherly warmth. "Those records you are seeking right now... are sealed for reasons of state security and noble privacy."

"May I ask what could possibly justify such an intrusion?"

"You can ask... And I will tell you honestly, because I have no interest in wasting our time with diplomatic dancing." William didn’t wait for an invitation; he pulled out the heavy oak chair across from Albert’s desk and sat, leaning forward until he was invading the headmaster’s space.

"You see, Headmaster Albert... I’m worried about one of my students right now, which is Lia because, you know... she’s from an important family, and she’s kind of difficult to talk to about all her feelings to me because of how cold and plain she is..." William said while scratching his head. "...in terms of personality."

Albert opened his mouth to deflect, but William pressed on, his voice growing harder, more dangerous.

"You see... I’ve been worried about her for days, long before Seraphina’s arrival, because of how weird she acts, but yesterday... yesterday was different."

"It wasn’t just concern anymore... to me, it felt more like it was a recognition." William’s jaw tightened, the memory of the courtyard burning in his mind. "I watched her flinch so many times, Headmaster Albert."

"I watched her collapse into a submissive apology the exact second Seraphina’s carriage door opened..."

William held his own chin. "She apologized for existing before a single word had been exchanged, and that... isn’t noble discipline."

"That isn’t ’family strictness’ or the pressure to succeed either."

William leaned closer, his eyes locking onto Albert’s with a hunter’s focus. "That is the reflex of someone who has been broken from the inside... and worse..."

"That is the posture of someone who has been conditioned to expect punishment for simply breathing..." William clenched both his fists. "I really need to know what kind of hell they raised her in."

"I need to understand what happened behind those Valestria walls... because if I don’t find out, I can’t protect her." William gritted his teeth. "And if I can’t protect her... I’m failing as an exclusive instructor for her."

The silence that followed was deafening. William could hear the faint ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece, each second feeling like a hammer blow.

He watched Albert’s throat bob as he swallowed, seeing the moment the headmaster realized that William Wade wasn’t asking for permission; he was stating a demand born of a very specific, very violent kind of certainty.

Albert studied him for an agonizingly long moment. The silence in the office stretched, growing heavier with every passing second, thick enough to choke on.

William didn’t break eye contact, but beneath the surface, his mind was already calculating, assessing the Headmaster’s microexpressions, and weighing the threat of a refusal against the necessity of the truth.

He wondered if he would have to push harder, to the point that he would have to threaten to take his skills elsewhere, or maybe... if he would have to burn this entire institution down to get the answers he needed.

He’ll do anything... for his student. No matter what the cost is.

Finally, the older man exhaled a long, weary breath that seemed to carry the weight of years of political maneuvering. He reached up and rubbed his temple as if a migraine had suddenly taken root there.

"The Valestria family carries considerable influence at court, Instructor Wade," Albert said, his voice hushed, almost conspiratorial. "They are not merely nobles that you see every day, but... they can be called the pillars of the kingdom’s stability."

"If word got out that this academy was conducting unauthorized excavations into their private household records based on nothing more than an instructor’s... suspicion... then the consequences would be catastrophic." His eyes flickered with genuine concern. "The backlash could dismantle this academy’s standing."

"And for you? You would be blacklisted from every reputable institution in the realm before sunset..." Albert shook his head. "Look, Instructor Wade... I just saved your career, but this time... I really can’t save you if it’s connected to that kind of thing."

"You’re no longer the so-called Zero-rank Instructor... so it’s best that you do something else other than having to put that family into that matter."

"I understand the risks," William replied, his voice flat and unshakable. "But this is for Lia’s future--"

"Do you?" Albert’s gaze sharpened suddenly, cutting through William’s calm like a blade.

The grandfatherly facade dropped completely, revealing the shrewd administrator beneath. "I am not asking rhetorically, Instructor Wade..."

"This isn’t a request for a student’s disciplinary file... It’s more like that this is a request for treasonous information." Albert rubbed his temples again. "You are asking me to gamble the future of this academy on a gut feeling that can’t be trusted as the main source of information."

William didn’t flinch and he didn’t blink hearing that answer. He leaned forward until his elbows rested on the mahogany desk, bringing himself level with the man who held his career in his hands.

"No... you have to trust me that this is not what you or I called a gut feeling anymore, Headmaster Albert..."

"It’s more like a diagnosis." William’s voice dropped to a dangerous, gravelly register. "I’ve spent months training that prodigy girl..."

"I’ve watched her push herself past every reasonable human limit, enduring pain that would make seasoned veterans vomit, and all of that while maintaining that eerie, hollow composure."

William slams both his fists on the table. "She doesn’t train to win... that’s not what she’s looking for other than she... trains like she’s trying to outrun something that’s already caught her."

He paused, letting the raw emotion of the memory surface. "Two days ago, I sat beside her in the quiet of the evening, and I asked her a question, a simple, innocent question about what makes her happy."

"And she looked at me with eyes so empty to the point that I could see her genuinely lost with that kind of question... and it felt like looking into an open grave." William relaxed his fists. "She didn’t have any answer for that because... she has never been allowed to have one."

William’s jaw clenched so hard it pained him. "And then yesterday, I watched her spine buckle... I watched her entire body physically betray her as she collapsed into an apology for the crime of existing in front of her own sister!"

"That isn’t noble discipline, Headmaster Albert! That is trauma etched into bone and sinew!"

His eyes burned with a fierce, protective fury. "If there is something in those records... or maybe if there is evidence of cruelty, of abuse, of some twisted conditioning that explains why a child has been taught to fear her own blood, then I need to see it!"

"Because right now... I am trying to save a girl while working entirely blind!"

"And in my experience, when you’re fighting an enemy you can’t see, you don’t die from a clean wound!"

"You die when you realize too late that the monster has been standing right behind you."