Love Comes Without Warning
Fortunately, no other nobles came around looking to pick a fight with me.
"Selecting attendants based on looks…"
"What a vulgar standard. If appearance is the measure, there are far more impressive young ladies out there."
"He can't reach those ones, so he settles for the attendants he has, don't you think?"
Around me, the chatter of girls was far louder than anything else.
When a man openly badmouths another man, the odds of things turning physical climb high — so unless you're a shameless attention-seeker like the one earlier, men tend to keep a respectful distance.
Even a casual glance around confirmed that the proportion of boys was on the low side.
"He's looking this way…!"
"Quick, look away!"
Because of that, I could afford to be a little more generous in my attitude.
If the boys had been trash-talking me, I'd have had to throw fists. But when girls were the ones doing the insulting — what more could I really do?
And the moment our eyes met, they looked terrified.
Karen holding her ground in front of me was actually pretty impressive, wasn't it?
A righteous type like the Crown Prince doesn't act recklessly even when conflict arises. But once you become a villainess — an antagonist — you start using poison, political maneuvering, every underhanded method available. That's why people don't lightly cross a villainess. They know they could end up on the receiving end.
I was similar. I treated women so terribly that people feared me on their own.
Though it's a little strange that in the original, Yosef never once sexually harassed Alice, the female lead.
When I headed over to where Alice was eating, Karen held out a plate for me.
"Thanks."
"It's nothing, my lord."
Because of my reputation, there weren't many girls I could even hold a normal conversation with. Having been born with a handsome face and still being unable to charm women was a bit of a shame.
"This is delicious too!"
"…Is it? All right."
I tried the cake Alice had speared on her fork and held out to me. For an academy entrance ceremony, the chef had clearly given it their all — you could taste the effort.
But with the sheer volume they had to produce, the doneness is about three percent short. Still, considering the hard work, I'll hold off on filing a complaint.
"Is something lacking in the food, my lord?"
The moment Karen saw my expression, she picked up on whatever was wrong and spoke up with concern.
"Was it that obvious on my face?"
"Yes…"
After admitting she'd read my thoughts, Karen's expression turned slightly uneasy.
Originally, whenever a woman tried to get above herself, Yosef would crush her underfoot. Maybe that overbearing patriarchal streak of his was just that strong.
Just from the way Yosef usually treated women, you could easily predict how he'd act. Karen knew this well — she would quickly make up for whatever he found lacking, but she never pointed it out out loud.
"Speaking up about it directly like this… have you grown fickle?"
Normally she would have simply brought a better-tasting cake, or water to rinse my mouth with.
"…Hic."
Karen let out a small whimper, as if she'd taken my words as a threat.
"Don't worry so much. I'm not going to throw you away."
So I stroked her face, telling her to put her mind at ease.
…And why is my hand moving on its own again?
Feeling Karen's body go rigid, I immediately pulled my hand back. Yosef's old habit of freely handling women however he pleased had kicked in automatically.
Karen was so tense she couldn't even register the touch — she just nodded stiffly.
Even as she looked after Alice, Karen kept her ears tuned to Yosef's voice.
If he's about to cause an incident, I have to run over before it happens!
Like Pavlov's dog, Karen could tell from Yosef's expression — and even from the pitch of his voice — whether he was about to cause trouble. But there wasn't a single sign of it.
Has he really changed, just like Alice said?
Instead, he'd said something strange.
"Looks."
"…?"
He'd answered that the reason he'd chosen Karen and Alice was their appearance.
Because he liked how I look…?
Before meeting Alice, while riding in the carriage, Karen had known Yosef was studying her with sticky eyes. So she'd desperately tried to stay on his good side just to survive. That much, at least, was easy enough to understand.
But once he's used me once, he'll throw me away…
True to his scoundrel nature, Yosef had always picked up women easily and discarded them just as easily. That was why Karen had never been able to get close to him.
"Don't worry so much. I'm not going to throw you away."
But those words threw her into confusion.
Not throw me away — as a woman? Or as a maid?
Lately Yosef had been treating Karen generously, even expressing gratitude for what she did. It was a way of behaving she'd never experienced from him before, and now she found it hard to grasp what he wanted or what he was thinking.
So Karen decided on a bold move.
If he refuses, that means he's met the condition the head of the house spoke of. If he accepts… then nothing has changed yet.
At this rate, even if Yosef caused an incident, she might fail to catch the warning signs and be unable to stop him. That was why she resolved to act herself.
After returning to the mansion, I went straight into the bathroom.
On the first day, this is where I made Alice strip. I wonder what she was thinking when she looked at me then.
It was the place where, early in the novel, the heroine had been forced to do laundry — so it left a deep impression.
"Young Master Yosef."
"Karen? What is it?"
I found Karen's voice from outside the bathroom door strange.
There's no reason for her to follow me all the way here.
Karen was thoroughly terrified of Yosef. You could see it plain as day — she was worried that one wrong move and she'd suffer something terrible at his hands.
If she's come all the way to a place like the bathroom, she should be standing out there trembling.
The possibilities that came to mind were that she hadn't laid out the bathing supplies in advance and had come to deliver them, or that she was bringing the clothes I'd change into after washing and meant to leave them outside the door.
"…Hoo."
I heard Karen take a deep breath. It sounded as though she were about to make some momentous confession that would decide the course of her entire life.
"Would it be all right if I washed you today?"
"…What?"
Yosef had made this very demand of Karen before. Back then, they'd been at the Goldrain family estate, and the head of the house had intervened and shut it down. You couldn't simply use Anders blood that freely.
And yet, strangely, Karen had continued to remain at Yosef's side. If they were truly that worried, the sensible thing would have been to keep them apart.
"No. Go."
I simply refused.
Yosef's memories were stimulating and thrilling — and at the same time, revolting. I had no idea what frame of mind Karen was in making this offer, but if she was forcing herself, I had no intention of accepting.
"Have you stopped chasing after women, Young Master?"
"I still have desires. I just won't go around flaunting them everywhere."
"…"
I gave Karen my honest feelings.
Crushing Alice with money and power would be easy, but that won't buy her heart. And if Alice ever turns malicious, she might come after me for revenge — so the moderate path is better.
Live with desires as excessive as Yosef's, and you end up ruined. To survive, I intended to get through academy life with a normal way of thinking.
"…In that case, I have something I must tell you."
"What is it?"
I'd expected her to run off in embarrassment after being refused, but she was still standing there. There was a touch of resolve in her voice.
"The truth is, I was assigned to serve you on the orders of the head of House Goldrain."
"I figured as much."
No matter how far House Anders had fallen, Yosef was not a confirmed heir. From the family's standpoint, sending Karen as a maid to someone older than Yosef would have been the better political move.
"This is a message the head of House Goldrain instructed me to deliver when Young Master Yosef showed signs of abstinence."
Hearing that, I paused to think. Whether I currently counted as abstinent was a bit ambiguous.
"It's not as though I don't take women at all, you know."
"Even so, you refused the offer I just made, so I'm telling you now. Originally, you would have opened the door at once and pulled me in."
"…"
I couldn't deny that. The original Yosef would have swallowed the free meal that had rolled right up to him without a second thought.
"His Lordship said that abstinence is a necessary condition for becoming the family's heir."
"Father said that? The greediest man in the entire empire is our father."
In the novel, the head of House Goldrain barely appears. In an academy-setting story, the students are supposed to fight among themselves — adults butting in would ruin it. Students scheming, playing money games, bickering with each other is the right formula. Let the adults fight, and it turns into a genuine political novel.
But even in those few appearances, he displays a greed that could swallow the entire academy whole — all to prove his rise in status beyond any doubt.
"…Yes. That is what I was told to convey. And he instructed me to deliver a certain item once signs of an heir became apparent."
"The thing Father wanted given to me — is it Gaia's Armor?"
"…Excuse me? How did you—?!"
In the original, the only trump-card equipment Yosef ever received from his family was that. In his third year, Yosef had appeared with a gemstone called Gaia's Armor and powered up. Thanks to it, his results became overwhelming — enough to threaten even the Crown Prince's position.
I can get a cheat item from the very start? I had no idea it came with conditions like these.
Presumably, the original Yosef — burning with rage, forgetting women entirely and training solely for revenge — had earned that gemstone through pure dedication.
"When can I receive it?"
"I've already sent word to the family. It should arrive tomorrow morning."
The academy wasn't far from Sentinel, the imperial capital. If Father simply opened the vault and sent a courier on horseback for express delivery, even a departure at dawn would get it here by morning.
"Understood."
Karen was enormously relieved that she hadn't been called into the bathroom.
Is he truly seeing me as a person, not a disposable tool?
The original Yosef would have pulled her in immediately. The current Yosef had refused her politely.
Is Young Master Yosef truly growing at last? I thought any change would only come after entering the academy.
The mission Karen had been given was of critical importance to House Goldrain: to find an heir born with the abstinence befitting a house that had itself been born of desire.
Yosef's other brothers had yet to show any sign of restraint. The youngest, Yosef, had the highest potential — and so they'd attached Karen, who carried genuine noble blood, to manage him.
"Karen."
"Yes?!"
For a moment Karen wondered if Yosef had changed his mind and meant to pull her in after all.
Young Master Yosef has rarely ever held himself back, so I thought that refusing just this once meant he'd undergone a real change. But what if he only held out once, and now his desire is surfacing again?
If that were the case, Karen's purity wouldn't be the only problem. Having misreported on the heir, she could face far worse. They might use her as a disposable outlet for Yosef's lust and bring in someone else to watch him…
Trapped in that horrifying imagination, Karen waited desperately for Yosef's next words.
Please, please, please! Be different from before!
Whether her prayer had been earnest enough, or whether he'd simply seen her trembling outside, Yosef began with a light laugh.
"Haha. You don't need to shake like that."
"Y-Yes?! I wasn't shaking!"
"Right, right. What I was about to say is not that I want you to come in right now."
Feeling as though her innermost thoughts had been read, Karen's heart clenched even tighter.
"You forced yourself to come here this time, didn't you?"
"Th-That's…"
"If you come to me of your own will someday, I'll accept you."
"Pardon?"
"I intend to keep you by my side for life."
"…Pardon?"
The words entered Karen's head, but it took time for her to properly understand them. That was how shocking they were.
Keep me by his side for life. Could he mean…?
The lifelong vows Karen knew of numbered only three: the vow between god and believer, the vow between sovereign and subject, and the vow of marriage.
Her face went scarlet. She knew he couldn't see her face through the bathroom door, but she still turned her body away, trying to hide it.
Why am I reacting like this?!
If this had been the old Yosef, Karen wouldn't have responded this way at all. But once that terrible man started treating her well, her favorability shot up by the full measure of the drop. He hadn't merely been lusting after women — he'd said he liked her looks, bought her proper clothes, and begun acting like a normal noble. He was starting to look like a decent person.
No. That man is still that Yosef!
Self-brainwashing changed nothing. The moment you start recognizing someone as a member of the opposite sex, romantic feelings pour out like a dam bursting. Whether it's friends becoming lovers or a master-servant relationship becoming something more — this is the starting point.
No, no, this is wrong. This isn't me…
Karen curled in on herself, trying to muffle the sound of her heart pounding so hard it seemed to rattle her skull. It was completely useless — but if she didn't do at least this much, she felt she would either quietly accept her own feelings or go completely mad.