Chapter 167: Illiteracy Stress Syndrome

The hand she once habitually used to tear apart the throats of prey—

Was now incomparably clumsily gripping a slender quill pen.

The paper before her had already been filled with crooked and twisted Common Language letters.

“Snff…”

Ayla suddenly forcefully sniffed her reddened nose.

She forcefully sucked back the clear mucus that had nearly flowed into her mouth.

The pair of gray beast ears atop her head, which usually stood upright proudly, now drooped weakly at the sides of her head like withered leaves.

Her beautiful amber eyes had long since filled with aggrieved tears that continuously swirled around her eye sockets.

This was too much bullying against wolves!

And behind her—

Ryan comfortably leaned against the somewhat aged recliner.

Holding a sharp little knife in his hand, he carefully shaved and adjusted the walking cane he had long grown accustomed to using.

“Don’t stop. Copy the Common Language pronunciation chart I just taught you another twenty times properly.”

The old veteran did not even raise his head, his tone flat and devoid of emotion.

“If you skip even one copy, don’t even think about drinking a single mouthful of thick meat soup tonight.”

The moment she heard the words “meat soup”—

A long string of protesting rumbles immediately erupted from Ayla’s shriveled stomach.

“Ah! I’m not writing anymore! I seriously can’t keep writing!”

Ayla suddenly slammed the quill heavily against the desk like a child having a complete breakdown.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

She clenched her hands into fists and began pounding chaotically against the desk without rhythm, using it to express her intense dissatisfaction toward this cruel tyranny.

Faced with this unreasonable resistance—

Ryan could not even be bothered wasting words. He merely raised his free left hand and casually snapped his fingers crisply.

The alchemical trap 【Silver Thorn Binding】 instantly activated.

A Secret Silver thread flickering with dark light descended from the beam above like a venomous snake striking from its nest.

The flexible tip of the thread skillfully hooked onto a rag in the corner.

In merely the blink of an eye—

The silver thread wrapped itself around Ayla’s wildly flailing hands, then roughly stuffed the rag into her mouth before winding tightly around her head twice.

A massive pulling force came from above, directly hoisting the furry little wolf upside down into the air.

The previously noisy attic immediately returned to a reassuring silence.

Scenes like this had repeated countless times over the past two days.

At the very beginning—

When Ayla heard that Ryan was willing to risk sheltering her, she had naively thought she had finally found a long-term free meal ticket.

She had joyfully imagined that she could finally eat meat and sleep comfortably every day inside this warm and safe room while peacefully avoiding the outside turmoil.

But when Ryan later learned during their conversations, to his utter shock, that she did not even recognize a single Common Language letter—

All those beautiful fantasies completely shattered.

The old veteran directly pulled out an introductory dictionary as thick as a brick from the bottom of a chest and slammed it heavily before her.

Facing those densely packed words that resembled tadpoles—

Ayla immediately quit on the spot.

She loudly protested that forcing her to read and study was practically asking for her life!

Then she was naturally hung upside down from the attic beams.

Actually, for thick-skinned Werewolves, merely being suspended like this was not particularly unbearable torture.

The truly terrifying part was that Ryan, this devil, had actually moved the stove directly beneath her.

While leisurely reading newspapers, the old veteran slowly stirred the boiling stew inside the pot with a wooden spoon. Every now and then, he would deliberately scoop up a spoonful of delicious broth and loudly drink it in front of her.

This kind of torture instantly awakened every greedy craving worm inside Ayla’s stomach.

As a canine Demi-Human Race, her salivary glands were naturally more developed when facing delicious food.

Stimulated by the aroma of meat, crystal-clear drool overflowed uncontrollably from her mouth.

But because her hands were tightly bound, she had absolutely no way to wipe away the saliva running down her cheeks, forcing her to maintain this utterly humiliating and ridiculous state.

Anyone who had experienced such a predicament would understand exactly how cruel this kind of mental torment was.

Under the double assault of delicious food and wounded pride, she could only surrender without a shred of dignity.

But surrender was surrender. Every few hours, the moment she encountered those obscure and incomprehensible letters again, she almost uncontrollably started making another scene.

Something as dull as studying was simply too painful for a brain like hers that had been born disliking thought.

“Mmmmmm…”

With the rag stuffed into her mouth, Ayla twisted in midair like a fish out of water.

She stared pitifully at Ryan with pleading eyes, trying to launch a new round of begging.

Ryan sighed somewhat helplessly and casually waved his hand.

The Secret Silver threads binding her immediately retreated like a receding tide.

Bang!

Ayla dropped heavily onto the wooden floor. She yanked the rag from her mouth.

“Waaahhhhhhh…”

This time, she truly could not hold back anymore and burst into loud sobs.

She missed the aunt far away who had always spoiled her. In her brief memories, her aunt had never abused her before.

Just as she prepared to throw another huge tantrum—

Thanks to the extraordinary senses of a Werewolf far surpassing ordinary humans, she sharply heard the faint friction sound of Ryan preparing to snap his fingers again.

Ayla instantly shuddered and forcibly swallowed all her grievances back down.

Sitting on the floor with tearful eyes, she looked at the old veteran on the recliner.

“Ryan, why exactly do I have to learn your humans’ crooked and twisted writing?”

“We can already communicate perfectly fine with our mouths right now!”

She stubbornly argued back. As royalty, she could still understand and speak the continent’s Common Language during normal conversations.

Ryan stopped his movements and glanced at Ayla.

Then, with a headache, he lowered his head again and continued shaving the walking cane.

This little wolf cub was practically carved from the exact same mold as her aunt.

Back then, within the Black Iron Directorate—

It was precisely because her aunt Selenie had also been a complete and utter illiterate that she had caused endless life-threatening trouble for him as her partner.

Ryan would never forget it for the rest of his life.

He had never before seen anyone dare to swagger directly into a Black Iron Directorate headquarters to ask guards for directions—

Simply because they could not read the official wanted notices posted on the streets. That time, they had nearly been surrounded and completely wiped out.

So when he discovered the day before yesterday that this little wolf was equally hopelessly illiterate, he immediately became stressed.

Back then, he had been unable to defeat the terrifyingly powerful aunt. Now, bullying this still immature little wolf cub at least somewhat healed the psychological trauma from those years.

“Writing is extremely important, especially if your Demi-Human Races want to survive within human kingdoms.”

Ryan’s tone became extremely serious.

“If you cannot understand the rules and warnings written on paper, then your own stupidity may very well directly cost you your life.”