I Got Reincarnated as a Villainous Noble, and When I Tried to Create an All-Male Academy to Avoid a Bad Ending, for Some Reason the Gender Ratio Reversed? - Chapter 41

Chapter 41: The Duke’s Daughter’s Unexpected Side

“Hey, did you hear that rumor?”

“Yeah, yeah. The crown prince’s gotta be going through it, huh.”

“His fiancée trying to kill herself? That’s such a hassle. Shouldn’t he just call off the engagement?”

“Wait—what? Are you seriously aiming for him?”

“No way! The crown prince kinda scares me a little anyway.”

“True, true. If that’s the case, then maybe Olfusen-sama would be better.”

“Hey! Olfusen-sama is off-limits!”

“Wait, are you the one aiming for him?”

“Shut up!”

Right as I got to the classroom door, the gossip hit my ears before I even peeked inside. All about the crown prince and Marilyn. Guess the suicide attempt rumor really leaves a bad taste.

I thought I caught my name popping up for a second, but I pretended I didn’t hear anything and glanced into the room.

Marilyn was acting like nothing was wrong at all.

“……………………”

She was sitting there in her usual spot, back straight, looking totally chill—like the rumors flying around didn’t even exist.

The classmates around her didn’t seem to be staring her down either.

Since she was cross-dressing as Maris right now, nobody seemed to realize she was the person in the rumors.

I never thought the disguise would come in handy like this, but man, what a relief—for about two seconds.

“………………”

Suddenly Marilyn lifted her head.

The moment she spotted me, she slowly got up, walked over, put her hand on my shoulder, and whispered,

“Hey.”

“…………Huh?”

I reflexively glanced around.

No sign of the crown prince. Fran wasn’t here either. And except for a couple of her followers, nobody in the classroom was looking our way.

After double-checking all that, I whispered back,

“Now’s not a good time, right?”

“What’s not?”

Marilyn blinked her eyes wide, looking genuinely confused.

“If I’m seen with you, it’s gonna stand out.”

“It’s fine. Nobody’s even paying attention to me in guy mode.”

“Even so—”

“Plus, this might be my last chance to hang out freely at the academy, y’know?”

“………………”

Her words made me freeze up for a second.

Yeah… she had a point.

The worse her position got, the higher the chance she’d have to leave the capital. There was no guarantee she could keep coming to the academy forever.

So what she said wasn’t wrong at all.

“…Just for a little bit, okay?”

“Deal.”

The second I answered, she grabbed my wrist—not gently, like full-on clamped down.

“Hey, without Fran’s permission—”

“We’ll deal with that later.”

She started dragging me along.

She was way stronger than I expected, and honestly, the concept of holding back just didn’t exist for her.

Some of her followers in the corner of the classroom were losing their minds, but whatever—I let her lead me wherever.

And the place she took me to was the library.

Marilyn walked straight to the back without hesitating, pulled a few books off the shelf, and plopped down in a chair.

We sat across from each other at the table, and I glanced at the book she opened. Looked like a novel.

“………………”

She was quietly reading it without a word.

For someone who asked for a date, she was just… reading.

I thought that, but the quiet vibe of the library and the smell of old books was actually kinda nice for me too, so I decided to stick around for a while.

I picked up one of the other books she’d brought.

Turned out it was about plants.

It covered flowers, fruits, vegetables—stuff like growing conditions, climates, characteristics, all written out in detail.

Huh. So different grape varieties need different temps and soil? That’s kinda cool.

I never really cared much about fruit or wine, so I didn’t know a ton about grapes or anything, but this country’s big on grape growing.

As the next head of the marquis house, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to know this kinda stuff.

By the way, I’m a beer guy. Back when I was grinding at that black-company job, I didn’t have the luxury for fancy wine. Beer just hits different when you’re a corporate slave.

After that, we both kept reading in silence. Probably about an hour or so.

Feeling that nice, satisfied buzz you get from reading, I looked up—and caught Marilyn looking up at the exact same moment. Our eyes locked.

“You read a lot, huh.”

“You too.”

“Honestly, I’m kinda surprised. You didn’t really seem like the book type.”

I just said what I thought, and she shot me this intense deadpan stare.

“Rude much. I read books too, y’know.”

Then under the table, she stomped on my foot—hard.

“っ……”

And not just once. She kept grinding her heel in, over and over, super persistent.

See? No way this personality belongs to someone who reads quietly. She’s way too wild.

“What? You got a problem?”

“…Obviously.”

“Getting stepped on by me is basically a reward, though?”

She said it so casually, totally straight-faced—like that was just normal for her.

“How are you that confident in yourself?”

“Duh. I’m a duke’s daughter. I’m above you. Acting all high and mighty is only natural.”

“Villainess.”

“Oh, thanks for the compliment.”

Looked like nothing I said was gonna get through to her.

She was playing me on a whole different level from Fran.

Not exactly sitting on my face or anything, but yeah—my position was still nonexistent.

“Haa…”

When I let out a sigh, she smirked wide. The way she watched me like it was the most fun thing ever… yeah, her personality really was awful.

Pretty much exactly what the rumors said.

—Marilyn Lily Crystal was, without a doubt, a total villainess.