Never Yield the Initiative
“Good heavens.” “W-what’s gotten into the Young Master!” “Shouldn’t we stop him?” The maids whispered among themselves as they watched me stride past with a club in hand. Had a grown man been marching around armed like this, they would have summoned the guards at once. But because I was the young master of the household and still stuck in a child’s body, they let their guard down and offered no real resistance.
“Wait, that’s the young lady’s room over there.” “Oh no, we have to stop him!” At first the maids had simply watched with worried eyes, but the moment they realized my target was Marinne’s room they abandoned their chores and swarmed forward to intercept me. Everyone knew exactly what kind of catastrophe would follow if anyone dared lay a hand on the Northern Duke’s daughter. If Marinne were beaten with a club, the Edgar family’s ruin would be the least of our worries; the servants’ heads would fly like dandelion seeds on the wind.
Among them, Cani was the most aggressive in trying to stop me. Most of the maids understood the gravity of the situation but hesitated to actually lay hands on the young master’s body. Cani, however, who considered herself close to me, didn’t care about such boundaries. She latched onto both my legs without hesitation.
“Young Master, please have mercy on this pitiful maid. I’m begging you.”
“Ah, I’m really not going to hit her. I’m just going to instill some discipline, okay?”
With Cani still dangling from my leg, I reached the door to the room where Marinne was staying. In front of it, the maids had formed a desperate defensive line.
“Young Master, you may not pass beyond this point.”
Since their lives were on the line, I could feel their resolve; they would not retreat a single step even if it meant getting clubbed. Breaking through that wall with a child’s body seemed impossible.
“Fine, I’ll give up then.”
I value my own life too much to throw it away. There was no way I would actually beat Marinne. But these maids clearly didn’t trust me at all. With no other choice, I set the club down and raised both hands to signal surrender.
“Whew, thank goodness.”
The maids breathed sighs of relief. I slipped between them and stopped directly in front of Marinne’s door. As a man who loves peace and compromise, I politely knocked.
“My lady. My lady.”
“What.”
“It’s mealtime. Please come out and eat.”
“Hmph. I’m ab-so-lute-ly not eating.”
Marinne’s voice rang with triumph. She clearly thought refusing to eat meant she had won our battle of wills. Words won’t work, huh.
I ran a quick simulation in my head, liked the projected outcome, and immediately put it into action.
BANG!
“Hic!”
I no longer had the club, but I still had my own body as a weapon. Though it was a child’s frame, I ate well and exercised every day, so I possessed the strength of an upper-grade elementary student. My calculations told me that was more than enough to shatter a door in this world, whose structures were far more fragile than Earth’s.
BANG!
The wooden door began to creak and groan after only two kicks.
“Kyaaaaak!”
“We’re all finished…”
The maids, who had relaxed once I abandoned the club, screamed and came running. Before they could reach me I poured every ounce of strength into one final kick.
CRAAAASH!
The door flew off its hinges. Beyond it, Marinne stood with her mouth agape, staring in pure horror. She had never dreamed I would resort to such a barbaric method.
“Grab the Young Master!”
“I’ll take his right arm!”
Even as the maids pinned me down, I flashed a wide grin at the stunned Marinne. She recoiled as if she had seen a lunatic.
“You’ll eat your meal, right?”
“Mi… mi.”
“Mi?”
She had probably been trying to call me a crazy bastard, but my intense glare had turned her back into an obedient child. She quickly averted her eyes. An eight-year-old shouldn’t use such bad language anyway.
“If there’s food, you eat it!”
Whew. Operation successful.
Having read countless stories about villainesses, I had learned one ironclad rule: when reforming a villainess, you must never, ever hand her the initiative. In novels where the villainess seizes control due to status differences, the conditions for reforming her become ridiculously strict. You have to save her life or avenge her parents to earn her favor. But I wasn’t the protagonist. I had no confidence I could save her life, and I certainly didn’t have the power to take revenge on her enemies even if she had any.
Since I couldn’t rely on the protagonist’s ridiculous luck, the only path available was to seize firm control from the very beginning. And initiative is always easiest to claim early on. Right now she was an eight-year-old brat who still yielded to threats, but once her mind matured even a little she would brush off anything I said. We had years ahead of us. Even if it was risky, taking strong control now was the shortcut to an easier future.
I looked at the surrendering Marinne and smiled brightly.
“Then let’s hold hands and go together like good friends!”
“…”
Marinne’s face twisted as though holding my hand was worse than death, but the memory of what I had just done kept her from voicing any refusal. If the opponent’s expression sours, only an amateur lets his own face sour too. A true master keeps smiling.
I asked with a radiant smile, “Not going to take it?”
“I’ll take it, okay!”
Overwhelmed by the madness I had manufactured, Marinne grabbed my hand with a defeated look. This adorable young lady apparently didn’t want to admit her loss cleanly, because she immediately began squeezing with all her might. I had underestimated an eight-year-old girl; Marinne’s grip was far stronger than I expected.
“Haha, how refreshing.”
I pretended it didn’t hurt at all and kept my composure.
“Ugh…”
“I’m really not joking. It doesn’t hurt one bit…”
It hurt like hell, but Marinne, fooled by my acting, pouted and stopped resisting.
“You think you’ll get away with laying a hand on me, the Grand Duke’s daughter?”
She switched to verbal threats. It was honestly the most effective method. If I showed any fear here, the initiative I had fought so hard to claim would crumble. I kept my expression perfectly calm and spouted complete nonsense.
“The Northern Duke personally asked me to take good care of you, Lady Marinne. It’s perfectly reasonable to interpret that as him granting me implicit authority to discipline you.”
“Bullshit.”
Yeah, that didn’t work. I racked my brain desperately, but no better excuse came to mind. Regretting the irreversible mess I had created, I blurted out whatever came to me.
“Don’t you have to eat? I believe the Northern Duke would approve of my actions if they were done to make you eat.”
I regretted it the moment the words left my mouth. What father in any world would tolerate someone smashing down a door just because his child refused a meal?
Should I get down on my knees and beg right now?
Once I regained my composure, I realized just how insane my actions had been. It was a good thing the maids had stopped me from taking the club; if I had brought it along there would have been no way out.
“Still… if it was Father…”
“Huh?”
Contrary to my expectation that she would call it nonsense again, Marinne actually took my words seriously. It seemed that even back in the North, the Duke had placed great importance on eating properly. Thank you, sir.
Passing the maids who stared in shock at the sight of us holding hands, we headed down to the dining room. My parents, who had been conversing with grave expressions, broke into wide smiles the moment they saw Marinne and me holding hands.
“Oh, the young lady has arrived?”
“Haha, fortunately the soup hasn’t gone cold yet. Please eat while it’s still warm.”
“Ah… yes…”
Marinne avoided their eyes, seemingly overwhelmed by my parents’ excessive hospitality. Still, she possessed at least some conscience; she didn’t throw a tantrum at the table and quietly picked up her utensils.
Once I confirmed that Marinne had begun to eat, I finally started my own meal. Getting someone to eat really shouldn’t be this difficult.
After the meal, we returned to the rooms. Since Marinne’s door was now in pieces, I sent her to my room and took hers for myself.
“Absolutely not!”
Marinne resisted violently, as expected. I answered her coldly.
“Then would you prefer to sleep in the room with a giant hole where the door used to be?”
“Ugh.”
No matter how much she hated sleeping in my room, she apparently hated the broken one even more. She couldn’t refute me.
“Just endure it for one night. It will be repaired by tomorrow.”
I pushed her into my room, then flopped down onto her bed. Even though it was an unfamiliar bed, the exhaustion from everything I had done that day hit me the moment I lay down. Thinking about how I would continue reforming Marinne tomorrow, I fell straight into sleep.