Eek! Become the Villainess! Eek!

It’s a fact that has been emphasized many times, but Ruincrest Academy is an academy for the wealthy and the upper class.

Everywhere you go, you’ll find the children of some count, the daughters of mega corp executives, or even young tycoons who have made their own fortunes enrolling in the Academy.

However, families of meritorious retainers are revered even in this world of the upper class.

Why else would no one dare to stand up to Dehite Arbentaine, even though it wasn’t a rare occurrence for him to rape female students and sexually harass women?

Even considering that Dehite’s strength was high for an Academy student, it wasn’t as if there was no way to kill him.

But Dehite was the eldest son and heir of a family of meritorious retainers, and opposing Dehite was the same as opposing the Arbentaine Family.

So, knowing about Dehite’s reckless behavior, the students could only pray that their turn wouldn’t come. Even the thugs who formed a gang with Dehite were friendly with him, but secretly feared him.

But this reckless Dehite died so easily in a Duel Trial that it felt anticlimactic.

This news spread through Ruincrest Academy in an instant.

The rumors were exaggerated or downplayed repeatedly, and soon countless eyes began to focus on the person involved in the rumors.

Alice.

The person who killed Dehite on her first day transferring to the Academy.

In fact, after hearing the story up to this point, those who knew the ecosystem of the Academy were convinced that Alice would be retaliated against by the Arbentaine Family.

The fairness and guarantee of the Duel Trial?

That’s something for those who need to abide by the rules, and if a family of meritorious retainers doesn’t like tradition or doesn’t want to abide by it, they can change it as they please.

But Alice was not retaliated against by the Arbentaine Family. Instead, she began attending the Academy under the new name of Alice Arbentaine.

When this news first spread, no one believed it.

But the sight of Alice and Taylor Arbentaine holding hands and going to school together slowly began to catch the eyes of many. Those who were initially doubtful began to cautiously watch Alice or investigate rumors through the Arbentaine Family’s servants and employees.

The sources and contents of the rumors varied, but the conclusion was the same.

‘Alice killed Dehite Arbentaine. The Arbentaine Family highly valued Alice, who had defeated the family’s eldest son, and adopted her as the new successor and adopted daughter.’

Looking at the content itself, it’s a crazy rumor.

Even though the Ruincrest layer is a layer where the upper class has become a Galapagos, how can adopting the enemy who killed your child as your adopted daughter be a normal thing?

Moreover, the Arbentaine Family has the wealth and power to ignore the Duel Trial without anyone saying anything.

If they wanted to, they could carry out thousands of ways to assassinate Alice.

But Alice is attending the Academy without a scratch, and she has even been seen several times with Dehite’s sibling, Taylor Arbentaine.

Then, the students and professors who had been cautiously watching Alice began to feel that the rumors were not fabricated or exaggerated, but based on facts.

A family of meritorious retainers, unusual from birth, accepts even someone who killed their own child as an adopted child if they have the ability?

It was a strange rumor, but it was quite plausible.

The Arbentaine Family has always been meritocratic, and Perdain and Dehite were far from ordinary.

That’s how it was on the fourth week after Alice infiltrated the Ruincrest layer.

“The mandatory morning ideology class is now over. A-1 class students should rest and then take the afternoon elective classes.”

With Professor Nevia’s declaration of the end of class, the students had to press their temples.

“Ugh, my head…”

“Does it feel like there’s a lot of injected content today?”

“Yeah…”

“Labor is sacred, but have we ever done labor?”

“We’ve never done labor, so we should cherish it even more. Somewhere in the world, someone is continuing our share of labor for us, right?”

“Hmm, I see.”

Knowledge injection is basically forcibly inputting external data into the human brain, so it would be strange if it didn’t put a strain on the head.

Other students train at home in advance to prepare for knowledge injection, but in Alice’s case, gathering various information by integrating Theresa is routine, so it wasn’t that burdensome.

Well, what if it’s burdensome?

If they can’t endure this, they won’t be able to graduate from Ruincrest Academy, so the students had no choice but to grit their teeth and take the mandatory ideology class.

But since Alice came, subtle changes began to occur among the students.

“Lady Rivalia, can we discuss the impact of workers on the Ruincrest layer from a macroscopic perspective today?”

“I’m sorry. In the afternoon, I’m going to experience a labor simulation based on common land distribution. Most macroscopic perspectives are biased towards the bourgeois class, right? It doesn’t suit me.”

“18 hours of labor a day… are the workers Awakened too?”

“I don’t think so. According to Ark’s official statistics, Awakened people account for less than 0.5 percent of the total population. It seems that workers are doing labor with pure human bodies that can’t even handle mana.”

“There are also many workers with prosthetic hands or bodies.”

“Oh my! Prosthetic hands and bodies? That’s an extreme act that harms human purity…!”

“Isn’t the world where labor is forced the problem?”

Originally, the mandatory ideology injection at Ruincrest Academy was intended to instill critical and biased ideologies towards the central administration in the students.

But as soon as Alice entered the Academy, the first thing she did was hack and manipulate the data of the mandatory education hours and inject arbitrary content that she wanted… that is, red ideology, the sacredness of labor, and revolutionary red content.

Naturally, something with a sickle and hammer and a red armband began to slowly take root in the students’ minds.

“Um… is this right?”

Alice suddenly felt a sense of irony as she watched the high-ranking noble ladies and gentlemen having conversations full of red ideology.

Is it because knowledge is forcibly injected into their heads, rather than simply reading books or listening to professors?

The Academy students, who were bourgeois from birth, began to worry about the lives of the workers and understand their difficult lives.

It’s not a bad thing, but somehow, Alice felt a strange sense of alienation when she saw the young ladies drinking tea and discussing the reduction of working hours.

【Injecting the ideology of worker enlightenment from the lower layer into students who are from the upper class is surprisingly effective. At least, it allows the students to learn about the ecology and ideology of the workers, rather than being frogs in a well.】

“Really? I’m just trying to cause trouble…”

【Whatever Human’s intention, it is effective. The original purpose of knowledge injection is to train graduates who are rebels against the central administration, but by appropriately combining red ideology and the sacredness of labor, the students’ thinking direction has shifted to something other than rebellion.】

Alice started it as a joke, but Theresa was quite positive about the effects of ideology injection hacking.

They are high-ranking students, but basically frogs in a well, fledglings who have not yet emerged from their cocoons.

Naturally, the life and world they have lived in is all they know, and the high-ranking students are unlikely to grow into potential rebels just by thinking about the hard lives of workers in other layers.

‘But it’s strange. If they want to train Academy students as potential rebels, shouldn’t they have noticed that this has been hacked by now?’

【There are no traces of hacking. The circuit system is also operating normally, so the higher-ups will not notice the hacking.】

Certainly, Theresa made optimal adjustments to ensure that the professors or higher-ups would never find any errors in the ideology injection.

It’s not about eliminating the existing ideology, but simply adding a little red ideology, so there shouldn’t be any problems with the various written exams for the Academy students in the future.

Alice came to Ruincrest Academy to execute rebels, but she is postponing mass murder or execution as a last resort. If possible, it was right to refrain from killing all these young students just because they were a little hopeless.

Even though they are those who harm peace and order, if there is room for rehabilitation after living in the Academy, shouldn’t she find people who can be classified as exempt from execution to some extent?

Thus, Alice had been living a relatively docile and quiet Academy life since the day she beat Dehite to death.

“Alice, let’s go.”

“Ah, yeah. Okay.”

At Taylor’s words, Alice snapped out of her thoughts and got up from her seat.

“Sister, what are you going to take for the afternoon elective?”

“The same as you.”

“Really?”

“Honestly, it’s all the same no matter what I take. Wouldn’t it be better to take classes with my sister Taylor if possible?”

Taylor couldn’t help but smile at those words.

“Hehe, really?”

“I heard that the midterm and final exams are in a format similar to the Duel Trial. So, there’s no reason for me to focus and listen to something.”

“Are you confident?”

“Much more than our Taylor thinks.”

Over the past four weeks, Taylor and Alice had become much closer.

Of course, on the first day, there was a minor scuffle because Taylor misunderstood that Alice had raped her mother, Jess.

‘Um, it’s still a bit dizzy when I think about it again.’

At the time, Alice explained to Taylor, who was trying to attack her, “It’s a misunderstanding. It’s not what you think.”

But Taylor said, “Then why is my mom crying!” and Alice fell silent.

Would she go crazy and blab that she was an Overseer who had infiltrated the layer? She couldn’t say, “Your mom and I were plotting a secret plan to destroy the family.”

Fortunately, Jess came to her senses and corrected the misunderstanding.

It was fortunate that no one was hurt. If not, she would have had a life-or-death struggle with Taylor or followed in the footsteps of Taylor’s dead brother.

Anyway, thanks to that, Taylor followed Alice quite well.

Her brother Dehite’s actions flashed through her mind like a nightmare, so she was overprotective of her mother, but Alice was basically not a bad person.

She couldn’t be said to be as kind as a saint, but that alone was enough for Taylor to see her as an ‘ideal sister’.

Taylor’s former brother was the reckless Dehite, so Alice, who didn’t sexually harass female students or hang out in gangs and act like a thug, was a very ideal sister.

“Excuse me, Alice. Do you have a moment?”

However, that was not only true for Taylor.

A group of female students greeted Alice with a polite bow and a bright smile.

Alice also began to perfectly play the ‘ladylike’ role she had shown to Perdain to 120 percent.

“Ah, Britney. Thank you for the notes you gave me before.”

“Hehe, no problem. Lady Alice, who is a transfer student to the Academy, will need follow-up progress or notes.”

“Reading the notes, I felt how sincere Britney is about her studies.”

In fact, Alice was on good terms with most of the female students in A-1 class, not just Taylor.

The basic reason was that they had to be nice to Alice, who had become the Arbentaine’s adopted daughter.

A-1 class was for the most talented elites, and Alice, the heir to the Arbentaine Family, was at the top of the class caste, even though she was a newcomer.

Alice’s position was higher than expected, and Alice didn’t act recklessly like Dehite did, but rather treated the students comfortably.

In addition, Alice’s appearance was so perfect and her skin was so white that she could chew up any noble lady, but Alice, who had such an appearance, was strangely tomboyish and treated the female students comfortably, so many students quickly became close to Alice or expressed their affection.

“Actually, we’re planning to go to the gas factory dungeon practice class for the afternoon elective class. Lady Alice may not have adapted to the Academy life yet, so we’re going to take this opportunity to teach you how to earn elective credits. Do you have time?”

“That’s right. I heard that a quaint oriental-style restaurant has opened in the central center area.”

“We want to treat Lady Alice, so how about joining us?”

Alice’s sense of time slowed down drastically.

Her eyes quickly moved between the ladies and Taylor.

In the slowed-down time, Alice felt that Taylor’s eyes had become strangely cold.

On the other hand, the female students, including Britney, were smiling brightly at Alice, but they didn’t even look at Taylor.

‘Ah, is this some kind of love triangle or political drama between the students?’

Looking closely, there was even a slight shadow on Taylor’s face.

It didn’t seem like she was being bullied, but it didn’t seem like Taylor was the ‘popular’ type.

‘Taylor is also a lady of the Arbentaine, but… she’s completely excluded from the succession battle, so she’s only being servile to me? Well, her family environment is like that, so Taylor wouldn’t be very sociable, and her brother was a thug, so she couldn’t have lived her school life with her shoulders straight and proud.’

Britney and the other female students may not have been intentionally trying to ignore Taylor, but Taylor had rarely stood out or raised her voice in the Academy.

‘It’s kind of cute even if I think of it as a power struggle between girls.’

She had been doing large-scale or bizarre things, such as causing trouble between mega corps, fighting True Ancestors, or spreading red ideology to the lower layer, but now she was seeing the small-scale politics of the students… especially the young ladies, at the Academy, and it was almost cute.

At that time, Alice’s gaze turned slightly towards Taylor.

She was already clutching the strap of her bag with one hand.

It seemed that she was half-convinced that Alice would follow Britney instead of her.

“Lady Alice?”

Alice’s slowed-down time returned to normal.

Alice smiled warmly at Britney and replied.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I’m really grateful for Britney’s kindness, but I’ve decided to spend the afternoon with my sister.”

“Oh my…!”

Britney was also a lady who had eaten some high-class rice, so she immediately understood Alice’s words.

Alice was demanding that they treat Taylor as her sister and a lady of the Arbentaine.

‘Lady Alice wants to integrate Taylor into the mainstream of the class…’

In the past, when Dehite was alive, Taylor was, to put it simply, an outsider with no friends.

Dehite was acting recklessly, and Taylor was just holding her breath and attending the Academy, so it was natural.

“But Lady Alice. Lady Taylor is in A-1 class, but she’s been an outsider with no friends for half a year…”

“…!”

At that moment, Britney inhaled sharply as one of the ladies in her gang was about to say something senseless.

“Ah, I see! I’m sorry. Lady Alice! So, you don’t have time today?”

Just as one of the ladies in the gang, who had no tact, was about to say that Taylor was an outsider and wouldn’t be of any help to her studies, Britney quickly cut her off.

Britney had just saved one of the tactless ladies.

“Yeah, that’s right. I have to go as an older sister to see what classes my cute sister is taking.”

“Then Lady Alice’s elective and practice classes are…”

“I’m fine. Thanks for the consideration.”

“I see. Well, today isn’t the day, but next time, I’ll be sure to invite both Alice and Taylor together.”

“Thank you for your boundless consideration, Britney.”

​

Thankfully, Alice responded with a ladylike smile.

Britney breathed a sigh of relief, as if she hadn’t been upset at all by the slight to her sister.

As soon as Alice and Taylor left their seats, Britney suddenly flicked the forehead of the clueless young lady.

-Thwack!

“Kyaa!? W-What are you doing all of a sudden, Britney?!”

“Consider yourself lucky to be alive today.”

“Y-Yes?”

Starting with Britney’s words, the other young ladies began to add their own comments to the clueless girl.

“Sigh, Sarani, your cluelessness is cute, but there’s a limit.”

“That’s right. You should know you’re safe thanks to Britney.”

“Was I that wrong?!”

“Are you really that clueless?! Unlike that bastard Dehite, the new heir of Arbentaine wants to treat Taylor properly as his sister! If she didn’t like it, she could have called for a Duel Trial on the grounds of insulting her sister’s honor!”

“H-Huh…!”

Although Alice treats the female students kindly, she is someone with an undeniable temperament who dunked Dehite on the very first day.

★

★

★

“Alice, thank you…”

“For what?”

“…Just thank you.”

“Pfft.”

In fact… Alice didn’t think that deeply about it.

From Alice’s perspective, it was just kids playing cute.