159 A Father's Punishment

Marissa Lovane Shinthar was staring out of her small room with lifeless eyes. The bars obstructing her view weren't anything new to her over the last month and half. However, she still couldn't muster the energy to even move from the uncomfortable bed she was lying on.

Across the way from her, Serius Londane Shinthar was in the same condition as he returned her lifeless stare.

They hadn't spoken to each other since the fourth day they got here. It was understandable, considering what they were going through.

Marissa honestly didn't think it could have gotten worse since the last time she was punished by her father. She was very much wrong. Instead of the month-long isolation in the prison under the palace, she was subjected to two months, along with her brother. She actually got a month reduced because she had called ahead! Lucky her… is not what she was thinking past the second day of her punishment at all.

Every single day since she was thrown in here, her brother and herself had to go through an absurdly strict exercise program. The program was being led by Dominus expert and was designed to push Warmasters to their limits.

The problem, for them, was that Marissa was only a late stage Optio while Serius was a Centurion. They stood no chance at being able to actually complete the program but were forced to continue it anyway. Originally, they were only supposed to go for seven hours a day. However, because of how far of a gap it was between Warmaster and them, they wound up taking twenty hours just to get halfway through the first day's task.

Every time they couldn't complete the entire task for the day, the work the following day grew worse for them.

Needless to say, it quickly became an endless spiral of torment that got worse day after day when the first day was already unbearable for them to continue. They had held hope that they would be able to survive on the second day. And then the third day came and they quickly noticed that everything was getting worse. It took them five days to realize what was happening and, by that time, it was already too late to even try to run. They didn't have the energy to resist.

Last time, Marissa was the only one punished and she only had to spend a month in the prison with no access to any of her hobbies. It was already hell for her. She didn't think her father would take things to a new level of torture though. It was the second time she had broken curfew and it had gotten her to this state. She was only late by two minutes too, but her father didn't care and still sent her and her brother away for three months…

She really couldn't see her father as anything but an abusive monster at that moment. She had had that thought for the Nth time already, but it still fit just as well as every single other time since she was thrown in there.

Her father had taken the second time she broke curfew as an insult to his commands. While he couldn't bring himself to execute his own children, he could make everything unbearable for them. The first time was just a warning, after all. Since they didn't take it seriously, he decided that he wouldn't hold back and gave them the harshest punishment he could come up with. If it wasn't for Marissa calling ahead and letting him know that they might be late, he wouldn't have had the time to come up with the punishment before they were sent away.

Little difference it would have made in the long run, of course.

They were even denied the right to send out messages to anyone. When they were set away they were allowed to leave a reply to anyone who contacted them. They even got the option to leave specific replies depending on who was trying to contact them as well. They both took advantage of it instantly and left a slew of different instructions for people.

The only people they were allowed to see was their tormentor and the people who brought them food. All other people were denied entry. Naturally, they didn't really have the energy to notice this or to talk with them as they didn't even have the energy to talk with each other past the third day. They needed shots of adrenaline and other energy boosters just to be able to start their tasks at this point. The thought of conversation was so far from their mind that it was impossible to even consider it.

That was, of course, until today.

A man had come down to their cells, which would have been surprising if they had the energy to be surprised. Instead, they both just gave him the blank, lifeless stare that was all they could manage at that moment. He was wearing a crisp and clean uniform with a major rank insignia on it. He stuck out like a sore thumb with his audience as both Marissa and Serius looked absolutely wretched. Any person would be hard pressed to find someone who looked worse than them.

Gone was the fire and passion of their eyes. They just couldn't take it much longer.

The man cleared his throat as he noticed neither of them even stirred when he stopped before their cells. Of course, they still didn't move when he did that, so he cleared his throat even louder.

Still, he got no response.

Thus, he sighed and abruptly said, "Princess Marissa, I have come seeking permission to investigate an unknown energy reading at Pleasant Falls Hill. It was detected near your vacation home that have there over a month ago. The energy reading only appeared for a fraction of a second before it vanished. Our devices were barely able to capture it."

Marissa didn't even twitch at his words. He didn't know if she was evening listening. Still, he had a job to do. Thus, he continued, "Your servants there had made a report for LEO to come and look into a Soundburst that erupted on the premises. We have analyzed the report and found that it could be the cause of the energy reading. However, we believe that there may be something that they missed. After all, the energy that was detected was not something that we are capable of emulating within the Empire."

Marissa's eye moved from the center of her gaze over to his body. She was listening, but she didn't really care about it. Why was he even bothering to ask her for permission for this? If it was a real problem then they would have just gone in without asking, even if she was a princess. She didn't have the power to stop them. Especially right now, there was no chance of her being able to do anything to them in retribution for another half a month at the least. She was sure there was something deeper about what he was saying, but she couldn't figure it out with how slow her mind was moving.

She was too tired to even remember that they had stashed Altair there. It was like her thinking was moving through molasses. She could barely form a full thought process with how drained she was.

The Major went on, "We believe that it might have been an attack that was aimed at you or your brother. Of course, we have no proof of this but what else could it be? It was located outside your vacation property, after all. There should be nothing else of value there, but still we would like permission, from you, to thoroughly check the premises for the cause or any hints as to what it might have actually been. We will notify you of the results as soon as we have any."

Marissa took a long moment to blink. When she opened her eyes again she struggled to wave her hand dismissively at him. She only managed to raise it slightly off the ground.

The Major frowned as he couldn't take that as permission. Thus he stated, "I see it is a bit hard for you to move at the moment. So, just blink twice in succession if you agree. Any other response I shall take as you denying us permission."

Marissa, slow as a slug, blinked twice. It took two minutes for her to do so.

The Major nodded his head in understanding. He then stated, "I thank you for allowing us to do this, Princess Marissa. I shall go and take care of it now so that I no longer bother you with my presence."

The Major turned around and left the prison. As soon as he was out the door he couldn't contain his smirk.

They had a theory. They thought that the unknown energy reading, while being far less powerful than the energy reading that they had detected twice before, was related to the girl that escaped them. It was a shot in the dark, but the Emperor was just as worried as they were about the massive spike that could have torn their homeworld apart.

Because of this, the Emperor had granted them permission to request entry from the Princess. Using that permission, they planned to scout the area and see if there was anyone around the age of Altair. If there was, they wouldn't play nice to secure her.

Since Marissa had given permission herself, she wouldn't be able to make much of a fuss if things went the worst for her. They had the Emperor on their side and her own permission. What could she possibly have to complain about?

Just because the Emperor had waited until Marissa was drained enough to not give it much thought didn't matter. He knew that she was late and had received a report that she had picked up some girl on that night. It did match up, even if only a little.