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 44

Chapter 44: Morning After Confinement

—Next morning.

When I opened my eyes, Marilyn filled my whole field of vision.

Not Fran. The one with the flowing blue hair and those sharp, mature features—the duke’s daughter.

She wasn’t supposed to be in this room at all, yet here she was, staring at me with eyes full of murder.

No way I could make sense of the situation, so

“Why’re you here?”

I tilted my head and asked.

She let out this super exasperated sigh, like she couldn’t believe me.

“Hey, what’re you even doing?”

“I was restrained.”

I answered straight-up, and she gave me this look like I was literal trash.

“I knew you had that kinda kink, but seeing it up close is honestly gross.”

“No, that’s not it. I didn’t ask for handcuffs.”

“Whatever—just get up already. I’m starving.”

Ohhh. So the reason she came to my room was food.

She skipped dinner last night, so yeah, she’s probably super hungry.

And when she’s hungry she gets super irritable. That grumpy face right now? Definitely the empty stomach talking.

No way it’s because Fran’s sleeping all happy and cozy right next to me.

Still… coming to wake someone up just ‘cause you’re hungry… is she a cat or what?

While I was thinking that, she shot me this sharp glare.

“Hurry up.”

Looked like she was at her limit.

“You could’ve just asked a maid.”

“The vibe wasn’t right for that. The maids were all pressed up against your door having the time of their lives.”

“Huh?”

Wait—was it Rose? Rose doing that?

Totally possible. She’d do something like that.

Anyway, once Fran wakes up I’m totally ratting them out.

Thinking that, I tried to get up… wait, huh?

I went to stand like normal, but the handcuffs stopped me cold. Even moving my hand a little did nothing.

And the culprit—Fran—was still snoozing away, breathing all peacefully, clinging to my body like it was the best thing ever.

So yeah, I wasn’t going anywhere like this.

“Marilyn, I’ve got one request…”

I slowly lifted my face and cautiously asked.

“Can you look for the key to these handcuffs?”

The second I said it, Marilyn pressed her lips tight and hit me with the most contemptuous stare.

Then in this terrifyingly low voice she went,

“Pervert…”

※

“This is a first for me. The humiliation of searching for handcuff keys—never done that before. As someone from a ducal family, this is straight-up unacceptable.”

“…Sorry.”

“…Excuse me.”

After breakfast we headed to the academy by carriage.

The whole ride, things were super awkward. We were getting grilled about this morning’s incident.

By the way, Marilyn was fully in guy mode.

Wig on, boys’ uniform, the works. The change was so big she didn’t even look like the same arrogant duke’s daughter from yesterday.

“Anyway, I get it now—you guys are perverts.”

“I do NOT have that kind of hobby.”

“Ol-sama⁉︎ This makes it sound like I’m the pervert!”

“……………………”

“Say something!”

Fran looked unusually desperate. Her face was bright red—she was clearly rattled.

“Both of you are perverts. Handcuff play and all…”

“It’s not play!”

I denied it, but no way she was buying it. The look in her eyes was pure “pervert spotted.”

“More importantly, why are you even here? Aren’t you from a count family?”

Marilyn suddenly spoke up after we’d been rocking in the carriage for a while. She was probably shocked that Fran was just casually living at my place.

“Yes. I’m the second daughter of a count family.”

“That’s exactly what’s weird. A count family daughter living in a marquis house? Never heard of that.”

Yeah, it is weird. Guys and girls who aren’t married yet sleeping under the same roof? Not normal. Definitely not noble common sense.

But to Fran, it seemed totally obvious.

“I’m his fiancée.”

“That’s why it’s weird even if you’re engaged.”

“I’m his fiancée.”

“This conversation is going nowhere.”

For some reason Marilyn looked over at me.

Hey, I think it’s weird too, okay?

I’ve noticed the boundaries are kinda broken here, alright?

So stop looking at me like I’m the same type.

This makes me look like the pervert.

“…Weird guy.”

“No, the weird one is Fran, not me—”

“Ol-sama?”

“No, that’s not what I meant—it was just a figure of speech—”

While I was sweating bullets and panicking,

“Seriously such a weird guy.”

Marilyn watched me flail and burst out laughing, looking way too amused.

Laughing when someone’s in trouble… her personality’s still trash as ever.

※

When we got to the academy, it was weirdly noisy.

Unlike yesterday when everyone was buzzing with rumors, today there was this tense, suffocating atmosphere. Something was clearly off.

And the reason became obvious real quick.

“You’re the culprit, aren’t you?”

The crown prince was losing it.

“No! No, I swear, please forgive meeee!”

“Shut up! Damn it! Then who was it? Who spread the rumors around the academy?!”

He must’ve heard the gossip and started a full-on witch hunt.

He was yelling and getting in people’s faces, totally lost his cool.

We watched from a little distance away.

“He’s blatantly falling apart.”

“Ugh, so creepy.”

Marilyn glared at the crown prince with pure hatred. She’d probably seen plenty of his ugly side before. Her crossed arms were tense as hell.

Fran, on the other hand, stayed calm.

She watched every single move he made, super carefully—like she was hunting for weak spots.

“The plan’s going smoothly.”

“Yeah.”

But here’s where the real problem starts.

An enraged crown prince could do anything.

We absolutely cannot let him threaten Marilyn.

If he threatens her and forces himself on her, it’s game over.

Alright… this is where it really begins.