Chapter 4 Sleeping with the Enemy

"...Young master, please wake up."

"Hmm... What is it..."

"...Sleeping here not only be detrimental to your dignity, young master, but also brings shame to the family. Please get up quickly."

"Haah..." Just now, I had narrowly escaped death on the first day after my return because of Irina's curse. Still in shock from this fact, I was in a daze in the empty banquet hall when Kania suddenly walked in. I quickly pretended to be completely drunk.

"Kania... Carry me..."

"You know, young master, I..."

"That's right~! Our Kania is a dark sorceress, isn't she?"

"...Young master!"

"And... Because of the curse that comes with being a dark sorceress, I'm always so weak... Alas, there's nothing I can do..."

"...I'll carry you. Please stop talking."

"Hehe... Thank you, Kania!" Kania let out a heavy sigh, carried me on her back, and then started staggering along.

"Ugh... Vomiting..."

"...Should I put you down first?"

"If you carried me properly... You wouldn't have to put me down."

"......." Hearing this, Kania's body trembled slightly. Then, suppressing her anger, she replied in a restrained tone.

"...I'll be careful."

"Charge! Run, run!"

"...Oh, really." Just like this, Kania listened blankly to my fake drunken babbling and slowly walked towards my residence.

"Cough! Cough!"

"What's wrong this time?"

"Leave me alone... Just keep walking, Dark Sor... Ah, I didn't mean dark sorceress just now, Dark Dem... Right?"

"...." Then, while she was carrying me, I started injecting vitality into her. Kania wouldn't last long without regular infusions of vitality. So, whenever I had the chance, I would seize the time to replenish her vitality. Incidentally, the larger the contact area between my body and Kania's, the more vitality is transmitted to her. Therefore, I had wanted to take this opportunity to inject several months' worth of vitality directly. But then I thought that Kania was also waiting for a chance to kill me, so I gave up the idea. So, I pressed tightly against her back, pretended to be asleep, and started injecting a bit more vitality than usual. This was to relieve the fatigue she was feeling.

"Whether it's the tricks of the gods or something else..." Just as I was busy sharing vitality, Kania, who was carrying me, suddenly muttered in a resentful voice.

"...Even for the sake of my brother, I will definitely kill you this time."

'...That's too much.' To share vitality with Kania, I endured the nausea so much that I didn't even dare to spit out the blood that surged up my throat and could only hold it in my mouth. And yet she was threatening to kill me. For some reason, my mood became heavy. But as a pseudo - evil person, this was inevitable. In Kania's eyes, I was just a scumbag who coveted her sister, who was proficient in healing magic.

"...Gulp." I silently swallowed the mouthful of blood. Due to the side - effects of the vitality transfer, I was carried on her back and started to feel drowsy. Of course, I didn't fall completely asleep, for fear of being killed in my sleep. Indeed, being a pseudo - evil person wasn't that easy.

.....

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

"Haah... Where is this..."

"This is the dormitory where you'll be staying from today, young master. The academy has specially prepared the most luxurious room. There should be no inconvenience..."

"...Get out."

"...Ah?"

"I said get out. Let me sleep." I interrupted her explanation, impatiently waved my hand, and motioned for her to leave.

"Then, I'll take my leave." For some reason, Kania showed a bright smile and bowed respectfully. I glanced at her. Just as she was about to open the door and leave, I spoke softly.

"Wait, don't go."

"...Ah?"

"Don't leave yet."

"...Okay." I had just been urging her to leave, but now I suddenly changed my tune. She tilted her head in confusion for a moment, and then an expression of realization dawned on her face. Presumably, from the self - question of "Why is the young master like this?", she came to the self - answer of "Ah! The young master is going crazy again!".

"...Wait a moment, come here." While lost in my thoughts, I purchased [Mind Reading Lv1] from the floating system skill shop window in front of me and then called Kania to come before me.

"........" So, she walked towards me with a look of disgust. Being despised even before doing anything made me feel like the boy who cried wolf in the empire's fairy tales.

[Kania's Current Emotions: Disgust / Killing Intent / Anger / Contempt / Shame / Firm Will] Anyway, I used the mind - reading skill on her when she came before me. The emotions that appeared in front of me, except for the last one, were truly astonishing. Even that relatively normal emotion, 'firm will', was clearly derived from her determination to kill me. This made me a bit afraid to use the mind - reading skill. By the way, although it's only level 1, it's amazing to be able to understand emotions in such detail. I'm really looking forward to how useful it will be if it can be upgraded.

"...Information window." Just like this, I completed the test of the novice skill'mind - reading'. This time, I muttered softly and opened her information window.

[Name: Kania]

[Abilities: Strength 3 / Magic Power??? / Intelligence 7 / Mental Strength 4]

[Special Notes: Weak Physique / Unstable Magic Power / Self - Destruction Curse]

'...The magic power value is a bit strange? Is it because of the curse?' Kania, who was born with the magic power of dark magic, indeed had the potential to shroud the world in darkness. However, what she was born with wasn't just dark magic. Along with her innate talent for dark magic came her'self - destruction curse'. This curse periodically eroded her vitality, causing her magic power to be extremely unstable. Without my help, she couldn't even cast magic properly now. Perhaps this was the reason why her magic power value was shown as a question mark.

'...Sure enough, I have to find a way to solve that curse.' Although I was alive now thanks to that curse, if I left it alone, there would come a day when even my vitality couldn't solve it. In just a few months, she would face her first critical moment. So, I really had to accumulate evil points as soon as possible, progress to the next stage, and find a way to wake up Kania's sister. That was the key to lifting the curse. Thinking like this, I ended my thoughts about Kania's curse, with an expression of not wanting to talk, and casually waved my hand at Kania, motioning for her to go out.

"....." Seeing this, Kania also had an expression of not wanting to talk, nodded slightly, and walked out of the room. It's great that we're so tacit agreement in this regard. After Kania left the room, I stared blankly for a while and then started checking the list of skills I possessed.

[Skill List]

[Pseudo - Evil Intuition LV1]

(Description) As the intuition of a pseudo - evil, it can sense a life - threatening threat once a day.

[Information Probe Lv1]

(Description) Can view the important information of the target and display it in the form of a system window.

[Emergency Defense]

(Description) Can protect the target from a fatal attack once. (One - time use) (Purchase limit 1/3)

[Mind Reading Lv1]

(Description) Can briefly read the emotions of others once a day. (The first use is not subject to the cooldown time)

"...Looking at it this way, they should still be useful." Perhaps because the system was still in the novice stage, there were no powerful abilities that could defeat the Demon King for now. But even so, these skills were already very practical for me. First of all, the pseudo - evil intuition goes without saying. In my current situation, this is an indispensable skill for me.

The [Emergency Defense] skill seems to be the most practical one among my existing skills, apart from the pseudo - evil intuition. Although it's a one - time use and has a limited purchase count, which is a pity, judging from its ability to protect me from Irina's curse, its performance is indeed reliable. In addition, as long as the information search and mind - reading can be put to use, they won't be completely useless. Incidentally, the mind - reading skill has no cooldown time for the first use, so I can use it one more time today.

「...Item Shop.」Just as I was browsing the skills, this time I wanted to open the item shop, but instead of the item shop interface, a red prompt box popped up in front of me.

[Prompt: This function is not supported at the current stage!]

"...Is this level of evil deeds still far from enough?" Sensing the pressure from the system urging me to do evil, I closed the window and finally opened the status bar.

[Name: Frey Laan Starlight]

[Abilities: Strength??? / Magic Power??? / Intelligence??? / Mental Strength 9]

[Remarks: Fatigue]

"...What's going on? Why is it like this?" However, something was wrong. All the values except for mental strength were shown as question marks. I knocked on the status bar in a panic, but there was no response except for the mental strength. What on earth was going on?

'...By the way, the mental strength is quite high?' Presumably, in the last reincarnation, while doing evil deeds, I gritted my teeth and persisted without being eroded by evil, so my mental strength was rated relatively high. But why were the other attributes shown as question marks? Did I have to wait until the next stage to truly upgrade or view the attributes? Or was there some error in the system due to the after - effects of my return? I made all kinds of speculations while staring at the system window. Soon, I tried to upgrade the only attribute I could interact with, mental strength, but the system showed me another message: This operation is not supported at the current stage.

'...Sure enough, for now, I can only complete the tasks step by step and slowly accumulate points?' I sighed, closed the system, felt a wave of fatigue wash over me, and closed my eyes. The system also said that I was in a state of fatigue. Now was the time to take a short nap. From tomorrow onwards, I would officially face the obstruction of the heroines. I had to adjust my state, right? Just like this, not long after I closed my eyes, I fell asleep...

- Knock, knock, knock!

"...Hmmm?" Suddenly someone started knocking on my door, and I had to frown and get up from the bed.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, young master."

"...Kania?" I had wanted to fly into a rage at the person who dared to knock on my door late at night to accumulate some evil reputation points. But for some reason, it was Kania standing at the door.

"What are all these?"

"...These are my luggage." For some reason, the luggage I brought from home was piled up in the corridor in front of the room.

"Then, excuse me."

".....?" While I was puzzled by this strange scene, Kania suddenly pushed me aside and walked in, starting to unpack the luggage one by one.

"...What are you doing?"

"I'm unpacking the luggage?"

"No, why are you unpacking the luggage here?"

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

"...What?" I was shocked when I heard this. Then, calming down a bit, I said slowly,

"...What are you talking about? A low - class person like you should go to the dormitory for low - class people. This is the noble dormitory."

"...Don't you know?" After listening to my words, Kania smiled quietly and said something I didn't expect.

"...I entered the academy as your personal attendant, young master."

"What? What does this mean?" Clearly, in the last timeline, Kania entered the academy as an ordinary student. But why...

"I sent a telegram to your father yesterday. Fortunately, he agreed."

"...Why?"

"Of course, it's because I'm worried about you, young master, who grew up with me. There's no other reason." Kania coldly answered me, who was dumbfounded. Then, she slightly raised the corners of her mouth and added.

"Ah, yes. The duke said... to keep an eye on you, young master, and not let you cause trouble. He also said that if I'm driven away, you'll be expelled from the academy, young master."

"...Damn it." The moment Kania said the word 'expelled', a red warning window popped up for me from the system.

[Warning! Game Over Crisis!]

- The Pseudo - Evil Path system determines the following three situations as 'game over':

[First: Unable to continue studying at the academy due to expulsion or other reasons.]

[Second: The death of any of the main heroines.]

[Third: The death of the system owner in a situation other than the 'final battle'.]

Yes, the system restricted me like this. And currently, the most troublesome problem was my expulsion from the academy. The prophetic book recorded the words of the ancestor, saying that because the setting of "Dark Fantasy 2" was in the academy, there was such a coercive force... As a result, I was now in a very awkward situation. You might say that since my father knew I was a pseudo - evil person, I could just explain the situation to him, drive Kania away, or get her expelled. This damned world wasn't that simple. Due to the magic imposed on the prophetic book, from the moment I returned, the memories of all those who knew the contents of the prophetic book, except me, were reset. The reason for this magic was that the system had set a punishment mechanism: once someone discovered that I was a pseudo - evil person, my vitality and lifespan would decrease. Therefore, if the 'game script' written in the prophetic book was correct, then now my father should have become a person who was extremely strict with me, yet had a complex love - hate relationship and couldn't bear to drive me away. Although this setting was very strange and unreasonable, this was the 'coercive force' of the'script'. What could I do? Indeed, the ancestors often said, "This game is really shitty" for a reason. Anyway, the conclusion was that in order to make the hero's sword, which was motivated by "good", go berserk in the last reincarnation, I couldn't reveal the truth to anyone. And my father, who was the only one who supported and encouraged me, was no longer on my side. That is to say, I had no helpers. Immersed in such gloomy thoughts, before I knew it, Kania had moved all her luggage into my room, lay down on a simple bed, and coldly smiled as she said goodnight to me.

"Then... Goodnight, young master."

"......" After saying this, Kania quietly closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

"...I'm really going crazy." I flew into a rage for no reason and thought about going out to sleep. But soon I realized that if I continued to lose my temper for no reason, Kania might become suspicious. And most importantly, even if I went out, there was no place to sleep. It seemed that I wouldn't be able to sleep well in the future.

'By the way, can I really still fall asleep?'

.....

"O supreme Sun God, today I also offer you my sincere prayers..." Just as Frey was staying awake through the long night,

"...You, who have mercy on me, a faithless one who dared to question the existence of the Sun God, have given me another chance. I can only be grateful, and even more grateful." Not far from the dormitory where he lived, a petite girl was in the girls' dormitory, devoutly clasping her hands together and offering prayers.

"Even so, I still have the audacity to plead with the Sun God..." She was known as the 'Pure White Saintess' by the world because of her soft, flowing white hair and kind, innocent character. When a golden halo began to bloom around her,

"...Please help me tear the life of Frey Laan Starlight to pieces this time." Then, she turned cold - faced and ended her prayer.

"...If necessary, I, Pelosh Astrad, am also willing to offer my life."