Sleeping with the Enemy

"Young master, please wake up."

"Mmm... what is it..."

"...Sleeping here will tarnish not only your reputation but the family's honor as well. Please, get up."

"Yaaawn..."

I had nearly died just one day after regressing due to Irina's curse. Stunned by the realization, I had been spacing out quietly in the empty banquet hall when Kania walked in, so I quickly pretended to be dead drunk.

"Kaniaaa... carry me..."

"Young master, as you well know, I..."

"Right~! Our Kania's a black mage, isn't sheee?"

"...Young master!"

"And on top of that... because of the curse that comes with being a black mage, she's always in such a frail state... well, nothing to be done..."

"...I'll carry you. Please, stop now."

"Hehe... thanks! Kania!"

Kania let out deep sighs as she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hoisted me onto her back, then immediately started staggering this way and that.

"Urk... bleeech..."

"...Shall I set you down for a moment?"

"If you're carrying me properly... no need to put me down, right?"

"........."

Hearing that, Kania shuddered lightly for a moment before replying in a voice that suppressed her anger.

"...I'll mind my manners."

"Giddyup! Run, run!"

"...Haa, really."

With dead eyes, Kania slowly made her way to my dormitory, enduring my fake drunken ramblings.

"Kuhk! Cough! Cough!"

"What's this now?"

"Don't worry about it... just keep going, you black demon... ah, I just said black demon instead of black mage, didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Iii?"

"........."

And so, while riding on her back, I began infusing her with life force. If I don't do this periodically, Kania won't last long and will die.

So, I have to slip her some life force whenever opportunities like this arise. For reference, the more contact my body makes with hers, the more life force transfers over. That's why I planned to give her several months' worth this time, but I quickly remembered she was always on the lookout for a chance to kill me and gave up on the idea.

Instead, I clung tightly to her back, pretending to sleep, and infused a bit more than usual to ease her fatigue.

"Whether it's the gods' scheme or whatever..."

As I was in the midst of sharing my life force, Kania, carrying me along, suddenly muttered in a venomous tone.

"...For my sister's sake if nothing else, this time I'll definitely kill you."

'That's too much.'

I couldn't even spit out the blood rising with nausea from overexerting myself to share life force with her, yet here she was declaring she'd kill me. It left me feeling inexplicably down.

But as a villain, it was unavoidable. To Kania right now, I was trash leering at her sister—who had exceptional talent in healing magic—in every sense of the word.

"...Gulp."

I quietly swallowed the blood pooled in my mouth and, due to the side effects of transferring life force, began dozing off lightly on her back. Of course, I didn't fall completely asleep, wary of being murdered in my sleep.

Villains just can't catch a break.

.........

"...Young master, we're here."

"Yaaawn... where..."

"This is the room you'll be staying in from today. The academy prepared the highest-grade accommodations especially, so there shouldn't be any discomfort..."

"...Out."

"...Pardon?"

"I said get out. Let me sleep."

Interrupting her explanation, I waved her off lazily, issuing an order to leave.

"Then, if you'll excuse me."

Kania bowed at a perfect ninety degrees with an oddly bright smile. As I watched her, right when she turned to open the door, I quietly spoke up.

"Wait, don't go."

"...Pardon?"

"I said don't go yet."

"...Understood."

After I'd just been yelling at her to leave, now reversing myself, she tilted her head in confusion before nodding in acceptance. She probably went from wondering 'Why is the young master acting like this?' to realizing 'Ah! He's about to throw another tantrum!'

"...Come here for a sec."

Lost in such idle thoughts, I purchased Mind Reading Lv1 from the system skill shop window still floating before me and beckoned Kania closer.

"........."

She approached with a rotten expression. I hadn't done anything yet, but already getting looks of contempt—it felt like I was the boy who cried wolf from those Empire fairy tales.

Using the Mind Reading skill on her as she reached me brought up a window of emotions—everything except the last one was a sight to behold. Even the relatively tame "Unyielding Resolve" clearly stemmed from her determination to kill me no matter what.

This might make me hesitant to use Mind Reading from now on. Still, even at level 1, it shows emotions in such detail—impressive. I wondered how useful it'd be once leveled up.

"...Info window."

Finishing my test of the beginner skill Mind Reading, I muttered softly to bring up her info window.

'Her mana stat is weird? Because of the curse?'

Born with innate black magic mana, Kania had the potential to blanket the world in darkness. But she wasn't born only with black magic. The Self-Destruction Curse that came with her prodigious talent steadily eroded her life ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠force, making her mana highly unstable. At this point in time, without my help, she couldn't even cast spells properly.

That must be why her mana showed as a question mark.

'Yeah, I need to deal with that curse somehow.'

Of course, I'm alive right now because of that curse, but if left alone, there'll come a time when even my life force won't suffice. Her first major crisis would hit in just a few months, after all.

So, I need to rack up villainy points as fast as possible, advance to the next stage, and find a way to awaken her sister—the key to lifting the curse.

Finishing my thoughts on Kania's curse, I made a lazy shooing gesture, my face saying even speaking was too much trouble.

"........."

Kania mirrored my expression, gave a curt nod, and left the room. We got along great in moments like this.

After she left, I spaced out for a bit before checking my skill list.

"...Not bad, this'll help."

The system was still in beginner mode, so no overpowered abilities to take down the Demon King, but these would be plenty useful for now.

Villain's Instinct goes without saying—exactly what I needed in this situation.

Emergency Defense seemed the most practical alongside it. A shame it's one-use with purchase limits, but it saved me from Irina's curse, so performance is solid.

Info Search and Mind Reading would help regardless. Note that Mind Reading has no cooldown on first use, so I could use it once more today.

"...Item shop."

After browsing skills, I tried opening the item shop, but instead of that, a red alert popped up.

"...Still too early for this level of villainy, huh?"

Feeling prodded by the system to commit more villainy, I closed the window and opened my stat screen last.

"...What? What's going on?"

Something was off. Every stat except Mental Fortitude showed as question marks. I poked at the window in panic, but nothing happened except for Mental Fortitude.

What the hell was this?

'Huh, Mental Fortitude is pretty high though?'

Probably from gritting my teeth through all the evil deeds in the previous loop, trying not to be consumed by malice.

But why were the others question marks? Did full stat access come at the next stage? Or was this a glitch from regressing?

Mulling over possibilities while staring at the system, I tried leveling up the only interactive stat, Mental Fortitude, but the system just repeated that it wasn't supported yet.

'Yeah, guess I have no choice but to steadily rack up villainy points for now.'

Sighing as I closed the system, I felt exhaustion crashing in and shut my eyes. The system noted my fatigue, so now was the time for a nap.

Starting tomorrow, the heroines would really start targeting me—better to be in top condition.

I drifted off to sleep soon after closing my eyes, but...

- Knock knock knock!

"...Hm?"

Sudden knocks at my door jolted me awake, forcing me to scowl and sit up.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, young master."

"...Kania?"

I'd planned to vent extra anger at whoever dared knock late at night to farm villainy points, but it was Kania at the door.

"What's all that?"

"...My luggage."

For some reason, she'd piled her belongings from home all along the hallway in front of my room.

"Then, excuse me."

"...?"

As I tilted my head at the bizarre scene, Kania shoved past me, entered, and started unpacking.

"...What are you doing?"

"Unpacking my things, obviously?"

"No, why are you unpacking here?"

"Because I'll be staying here from today."

"...What?"

Startled, I calmed my pounding heart and spoke slowly.

"...What nonsense is that? Lowly you should go to the commoner dorms with the rest of the rabble. This is the noble dormitory."

"...You didn't know?"

Kania smiled quietly and said something I never expected.

"...I enrolled in the academy as your personal servant."

"What? What are you talking about?"

In the previous loop, Kania had definitely enrolled as a regular student. Why...

"Yesterday, I sent a telegram to your father asking permission. And fortunately, he approved."

"...Why the hell?"

"Because I've served you since we were young, and I'm worried about you. No other reason."

She answered my dumbfounded question coldly, then added with a slight smirk.

"Oh, and the duke said... to keep an eye on you so you don't cause trouble. If you kick me out, he'll have you expelled from the academy."

"...Damn it."

The moment Kania said "expelled," the system threw up a red warning.

Yes, the system imposed these restrictions on me. The first one—expulsion from the academy—was the issue now.

According to our ancestor's words in the prophecy book, it was a compulsion because Blacktail Fantasy 2's backdrop was the academy...

Explaining the situation to my father, who already knew I was a villain, and kicking Kania out or reverting her to regular student status? This damn world wasn't that lenient.

Due to the magic on the prophecy book, the moment I regressed, everyone except me had their memories adjusted regarding its contents. The reason for that magic? If anyone learned I was the villain, I'd suffer life force and lifespan penalties.

So, if the 'game scenario' in the prophecy held, my father would now treat his wastrel son strictly yet with conflicted affection, unable to cast me out.

Awawkward and bizarre setup, but it's the 'scenario's' 'compulsion'—what could I do? No wonder our ancestor spammed "shitty trash game."

In short, the father who uniquely supported and encouraged me in the previous loop—when I couldn't tell anyone the truth to overload the hero's armament with 'goodness'—was no longer on my side. No allies to help me.

Lost in gloomy thoughts, Kania finished unpacking into my room, lay on the cot, and gave me a cold goodnight with a smirk.

"Well then... good night, young master."

"........."

She closed her eyes and fell asleep peacefully.

"...Crazy."

I considered throwing a pointless tantrum, storming out, and sleeping elsewhere, but doing that repeatedly without reason might make Kania suspicious. And crucially, there was nowhere else to sleep.

Looks like sound sleep was off the table from now on.

'Hell, can I even sleep at all?'

.........

"I offer my prayers to the holy Sun God once more today..."

While Frey spent the night staring at the ceiling, in the women's dormitory not far from his, a petite girl clasped her hands devoutly in prayer.

"...Though I, a heretic who dared doubt the Sun God's existence, have been pitied and granted another chance, I can only offer my deepest gratitude."

Known as the "Pure White Saintess" for her silky white hair and kind, innocent heart, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she watched a golden aura rise from her body before continuing coldly.

"And so, with shameless impudence, I earnestly beseech the Sun God..."

"...Please help me tear Frey Raon Starlight to shreds this time."

She finished her prayer, her expression icing over.

"...If needed, I, Perloché Astellade, offer my life as well."