The Villainous Noble Son Wants to Capture His Stepsister! - Chapter 4

“Ghehhh… GHEHEHEEEH…”

A grotesque, guttural groaning echoed through the air—like the sound of a monster writhing in agony.

The usual training grounds, where the ducal knights practiced their drills, felt unnervingly different today.

“Gufh… Gheegh… Ughh…”

No human should be capable of making such noises.

And yet… they were coming from me.

No. No! I refused to believe it!

Just the other day, I had vowed to reform myself—to transform the villainous noble Kraut into a respectable man.

Fueled by this noble ambition, I had dashed out of my room, determined to run my way into greatness…

And then…

I collapsed before even making it out of the mansion.

Despair.

I despaired at my pathetic stamina!

And so, I decided to start with jogging—building up my endurance from the ground up.

But of course—predictably, tragically—after running for just a few minutes, I was already gasping for air like a dying animal.

This body—spoiled, overfed, and utterly neglected—was worse than a goblin’s.

Hell, it was worse than my past self, and in my previous life, I had been the king of couch potatoes. I had spent my school years as the ace of the “Go Home Immediately After Class” club (self-proclaimed).

As I lamented my terrible condition, my vision blurred, my head spun…

And then, before I knew it—

I tripped over my own feet and faceplanted into the ground.

“Ghah—!”

“Young Master!?”

Sebastian’s voice reached me, full of concern.

But I couldn’t even acknowledge him.

My head was spinning, my legs were shaking. I was barely clinging to an orz position, using the last of my strength to avoid collapsing completely.

I barely managed to suppress the nausea rising from my stomach.

The ringing in my ears made it hard to hear, but I could just make out the knights in the distance… chuckling at my misery.

This was humiliating.

This was going to be so much harder than I expected.

But for the sake of my beloved heroine, I would not give up!

The Next Morning.

“From now on, I don’t need any sweets with my tea.”

“……”

As I sipped my morning tea, I casually informed Heliotrope of my decision.

She stared at me as if I had just committed high treason.

…Huh? Was this really such a shocking statement?

She looked more betrayed than someone who had been shoved off a cliff by their closest friend.

“…Are you certain you don’t want any, Master?”

“Yeah. No need to prepare them. …Though, throwing them away would be a waste, so you all can have them instead.”

This was a classic medieval fantasy world where sugar was a luxury.

And yet, because this was a ducal household, I had been indulging in exquisitely crafted, sugar-packed confections on a daily basis.

It was pure excess.

And now that I was on a strict diet, these sugar-loaded desserts were my greatest enemies.

My arch-nemesis.

Its power level was 530,000.

That said, throwing away perfectly good food?

My Japanese “MOTTAINAI” spirit could never allow that.

So, instead, I’d have the servants eat them. Most of them were women, so they’d probably enjoy the sweets more than I ever did.

Besides—

Kraut was absolutely despised by the household staff.

I needed every bit of goodwill I could get.

This was an investment—a slow but steady way to raise my approval rating.

“If you like sweets, you should have some too, Heliotrope.”

“…Thank you, Master.”

Her response was polite as always.

But her expression?

It definitely looked like she still thought I had been replaced by an imposter.

She looked somewhat dazed, like she wasn’t fully present in the moment.

But still…

Was this the first time Heliotrope had ever thanked me?

Well, technically, when Kraut purchased her from the slave merchant, he had smirked and taunted her with,

“I bought you, so how about showing some gratitude?”

And she had glared daggers at him as she forced out a bitter,

“…Thank you. Very much.”

Yeah.

I refuse to count that.

That was less gratitude and more thinly veiled murder intent.

Yep.

I definitely need to raise Heliotrope’s favorability if I ever want to release her from slavery.

Otherwise, she’ll chop my head off the moment I remove the contract.

The Next Day.

As much as I wanted to dedicate every waking moment to my diet, I couldn’t afford to.

Starting today, I would finally begin my studies.

And my tutor was…

“Young Master, you wish to pursue knowledge of your own accord…!? This Sebastian is overwhelmed with emotion!”

“Ah—uh, yeah. Let’s get started.”

Before the lesson had even begun, my tutor—Sebastian, the ever-reliable but overly dramatic butler of the Wertheim family—was already on the verge of tears.

Also, for the love of all things holy, please stop calling me “Young Master.”

Sebastian wasn’t just any butler—he was extremely competent.

He managed the ducal estate flawlessly and was apparently qualified to teach arithmetic, territorial management, etiquette, and even dance.

…Honestly, could we just put him in charge of everything?

Once Sebastian finally stopped crying, we began the lesson.

Kraut had neglected the education expected of a noble heir his entire life.

Now, I had to catch up from scratch—which meant our lessons moved at an accelerated pace.

That said—

I had attended university in my past life, even if I never actually graduated.

I had studied economics, so subjects like math and finance were already second nature.

After seeing how quickly I grasped the material…

Sebastian started crying again.

“As expected of you, Young Master! You are a prodigy worthy of inheriting the ducal house! You may even surpass the Duke himself!”

“Ah—uh, yeah. Sure.”

Wasn’t that bar set a little too low?

I mean, my parents barely even managed the territory themselves.

They delegated everything—including their own son—to their subordinates and spent all their time partying in the royal capital.

They only returned to the duchy a few times a month at most.

Some months, they didn’t return at all.

In other words, my parents lived it up in the capital, while their son was left to do whatever he pleased in the duchy.

Classic villainous noble family behavior.

I could already feel the exhaustion of those working under them.

Still, for my own future plans, their neglect was actually convenient.

So, as much as I pitied the people dealing with them…

I wasn’t going to do anything about it just yet.

Alright, time for the next lesson—

…Wait. Etiquette?

Well, I was a polite Japanese citizen in my past life, so I should be fine, right?

I failed both dance and etiquette.