The Villainess's Petty Ploy (6)
Zeke felt strength surging into the hand gripping the baguette.
Then he let out a deep sigh.
Haa—
'Yeah, she must have had her reasons. That female general might've demanded money as a condition for my discharge from the military.'
Honestly, it was hard to believe she'd handed over money for no reason at all.
His body had been tied to Yustia in the past,
and their relationship seemed complicated, so this actually felt more natural.
"Iriel, so you were the one who handed all that money to the military."
"Yeah... Sorry."
"Fine. If there were unavoidable circumstances, it wasn't your fault."
"Uh... That's not it?"
A vein bulged on Zeke's forehead.
"...Then why did you do it?"
"B-Because you said! You'd leave as soon as you had money...!"
"I. Said. That. Did. I."
Zeke cracked his neck with a series of pops.
Iriel shrank back, seeing how pissed he clearly looked.
'He wasn't like this before, Zeke! The military turned you into a weirdo!'
The loyal, dependable puppy was gone, replaced by a wolf baring its teeth and growling.
"...So you did it to make me come straight to you...?"
Hoo...
"But I gave you a necklace too!!!"
Iriel glared at him, looking utterly wronged.
Zeke furrowed his brow, staring her down.
'Fuck, loosen up those eyes? Wanna get beat to hell and then patched up, is that it?'
Zeke pressed his fingers hard against his eyes.
Yeah, maybe it was all too late now anyway.
He'd saved Serena from those goblins somehow,
and now he was crashing at her mansion, living pretty comfortably.
He even got a fat allowance once a month,
and with the baguette as his weapon, he'd landed the swordsmanship instructor gig at the academy.
Everything was going smoothly with his plan to help the heroine,
so maybe Iriel's stunt wasn't worth dwelling on anymore.
'Broke and whining? That lasted right up until the carriage ride to Lamieli.'
Crunch.
Still pissed, though. Real pissed.
Zeke closed his eyes, cooling his heated head.
Sip... Hoo—
'My temper's gotten way better, seriously.'
If this were the Dave Continent,
he might've thrown equal-opportunity fists right here, turning Iriel into mush and smashing her face in.
But living in this soft world had softened his heart too, apparently.
He'd developed the patience to let it slide once or twice.
"...Right. Got it. ...That's how it was. Understood."
Zeke nodded stiffly.
Iriel quickly added,
"...But when I pulled you to the academy, it seems the family decided to 'deal' with you. And yet... you, for my sake...?"
Tears welled up in Iriel's eyes.
She was trying to recapture that wistful mood again.
But.
Thud.
That snapped the threadbare patience Zeke had been clinging to.
Smack—!!!!!!
Zeke's baguette slammed into Iriel's ass!
"Kyahhhhh!!!!!!"
Iriel had been inching closer to Zeke,
only to get launched by the sudden swing, rolling across the floor.
He'd tried to hold back, but he just couldn't.
'This bitch, for real! That was you too!?'
Forcing him into the academy sword instructor role willy-nilly,
now the Yustia family gunning for him,
and the money on top.
If not for this woman, the romance novel possession might never have happened.
'Fuck! She's the villainess, alright!!!!'
Thud.
Iriel flew a good distance before crashing face-first onto the floor.
It was an undignified sprawl, hardly befitting a duke's daughter.
Even Serena's jaw dropped!
Of course, if he'd swung with the full force that first gripped the baguette,
40%
—Zeke himself could've been the cause.
So he'd pulled back almost all his strength at the last second.
But Iriel, smacked on the ass with a baguette, had no idea how desperately considerate that had been.
'...Wha, what...? Zeke... hit... me...!? On the ass?'
Her eyes shook.
Iriel was so shocked she forgot the pain in her ass for a moment.
Why...?
I told you everything.
You know I know now.
I even apologized in person.
I gave you a necklace worth way more than your soldier pay.
I came here myself because you were in danger...!
Zeke, you like me.
So why the hell...?
She'd endured that grueling class today, thinking of him the whole time.
Even his special treatment of Serena—she'd magnanimously understood it was for her sake.
She was grateful for his devotion, pitied him for risking his life for her.
Yet he'd hit her.
Iriel struggled to accept the situation as it was.
No matter how she thought about it, she'd deserved praise at best—no way she'd done anything wrong.
'Ah... it hurts...'
It was her first time ever getting hit by anyone.
Not even her strict father or aunt resorted to corporal punishment—they called it vulgar.
No slaps or switches.
Just restrictions on snacks, allowance, movement,
and endless verbal torment.
Pressuring those around her to control her.
As the mental fog cleared,
Iriel finally felt the sharp pain ripping through her ass like flesh tearing.
It burned so hot it now felt chillingly cold.
Tears welled up from the pain and injustice.
'It hurts so much...! Feels like it's split in two...!'
Flinch.
Touching the spot with trembling fingers only made the throbbing worse.
The pain spread to her lower belly, stabbing like needles.
Iriel lay there shivering, legs crossed tight.
'Haa... Ngh...'
Strangely, the stinging and pulsing felt hard to distinguish as pure pain.
Her body heating up, she bit her lower lip.
'It definitely hurts... Hurts like hell...'
This sensation was utterly new, unfamiliar. A weird high, heart pounding loud.
'Are you that mad? Or is my body broken...?'
She unconsciously licked her lips.
Lick.
After twitching for a while, Iriel finally stood, rubbing her ass.
Tears brimmed in her eyes.
"Zeke!!!"
She pointed at him, yelling.
Zeke replied with a bored face.
"I've been putting up with it so far, but no more. Drop the casual talk. Iriel."
"...?"
Grip.
Iriel clenched her fist.
"How dare you just now!! Do you even know what you did!?"
She bellowed.
"...?"
But as Zeke stared blankly, she switched to polite speech.
"Same as last time, I guess. Haa. Get out of my sight. Iriel Yustia."
Her pointing finger trembled at Zeke.
She wasn't about to turn and run like before.
Her lips twitched like she had more to say.
Zeke felt a rare deep rage, but that nagging 40% death fate bugged him.
Enemy's an enemy, but what a dumb one.
Usually, a good smack fixes that.
Zeke pondered how to handle this woman.
'Haa... Tsk. Fine, for an ambiguous enemy like this, better to keep her alive and torment her long-term. Time to properly reform that nuisance. Bitch.'
Zeke walked over to Iriel and reached for her forehead.
Her eyes followed his fingertip.
"What the hell now!!"
Thwack—!
A crisp smack echoed, and Iriel collapsed with a red mark on her forehead, out cold.
Zeke grabbed her red ponytail to keep her from face-planting.
Serena gaped at the sight.
'Instructor... so ruthless...!'
"Serena."
Serena snapped her mouth shut, swallowed hard, and replied.
"...Yes?"
"Can you take this woman back to the mansion?"
"...To our house? Yustia...?"
Zeke nodded.
Serena glanced at Iriel, still gripped by the ponytail.
'She did warn us ahead of time... But she's not the one in mortal danger, so why...'
"Yes, got it."
Jealousy flared, but Zeke looked pissed, so she agreed.
"Can you carry her alone?"
"?"
Serena tilted her head.
"What about you, Instructor?"
"Guests are coming, so I gotta greet 'em. Serena, skip academy tomorrow. Tell her that too."
She widened her eyes at his casual tone.
"No way! It's dangerous for you!! The Yustia family! Stay here instead. They can't touch you inside the academy!! I'll call our knights...!"
"Serena."
Zeke cut her off.
"Don't worry. I've got a plan."
"At least let the mansion knights...!"
"Serena. Have I not earned your trust all this time?"
"...?"
"I'll wrap it up quick and head back."
Serena bit her lip.
Searching for a way to stop him, her eyes landed on the red hair gripped in his rough hand.
"...But how do I carry her alone?"
Zeke nodded.
"Fair point. I'll carry her then. Should buy enough time for a quick drop-off."
Serena suddenly stepped forward,
summoning unknown strength to hoist Iriel over her shoulder.
She turned to Zeke.
"Instructor, if you're not back before dinner, I'm sending the knights."
From experience, she knew begging more wouldn't work.
Better to send him off calmly.
Zeke smiled faintly at her gruff words.
"Got it. Thanks. Make dinner tasty."
"Like you'll eat bread again."
A bit away from the academy, next to Soy Spoon's bakery, in the attached slums.
Zeke entered a dingy back alley, wary of ambushes.
He dropped the man he'd been carrying onto the ground.
To avoid struggles, he'd bound the guy's hands with cloth Soy wrapped around bread.
Thud.
Thud.
Zeke kicked his face to wake him.
"Well, Hades, time for our little chat."
"Guh...!"
"You with us?"
"Ptoo!"
The man spat blood-mixed saliva at Zeke's face upon seeing him.
But Zeke smacked him with mana-infused baguette, splattering it back.
Splat.
"Heh heh heh...!"
The guy laughed even after eating his own spit.
"What?"
"You think no one knows I'm captured here? For Yustia's hunting dog to make such a mistake."
"Dunno... Doesn't really matter...?"
Zeke toyed with his lips, eyeing him.
'Better to use this one as bait than squeeze info out.'
Extracting info was easy.
A little "caress" like with the guild master, and he'd spill tears and snot with everything.
Then raid the base and smash it—simple.
But Zeke leaned toward an option handling three birds with one stone.
'Kill each other off starting now.'
Making others do the work suited him more than getting his hands dirty.
'To use as bait, minimize exposing our forces... Rip off one arm and send him back pretty. Load him with fake intel.'
Zeke rolled the recording crystal in his pocket with his fingers.
A slight worry crept in.
'Iriel seemed real airheaded—whole Yustia family like that? Can they even crack this code?'
Zeke furrowed his brow.