The Male Lead Has Gone Mad Over the Troublesome Villainess - Chapter 9

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Male Lead Has Gone Mad for the Villainess — Episode 9
As conditions deteriorated, complaints and despair multiplied among the group, but Vanessa’s reaction was remarkably unremarkable by comparison.
I hauled Vanessa to her feet and dragged her out of the tent. The cold dawn air bit at my face. Around us, other tents began opening one by one.
Training shouts echoed from somewhere nearby. Here people were working this hard, yet she refused to try! If you lacked muscle, the least you could do was put in effort!
My goal was simple: make Vanessa capable of running away on her own two legs.
“Run, Vanessa. You managed ten minutes yesterday, so today we’ll do fifteen!”
“Oh nooooo, Rosana.”
I patted her quaking back. Vanessa flailed her arms and legs, finally managing something resembling a run. It had only been two days since she’d started even attempting this. Sigh. Teaching someone who couldn’t walk properly to run was no simple task.
It was like asking a baby who’d barely mastered the alphabet to write complete sentences.
But what else could I do?
Survival meant running.
“Pump your arms harder, Vanessa! Lift your knees higher!”
“I’ve never walked or run this much in my entire life. Back home, we traveled by Carriage…….”
“There’s no Carriage here. We use our legs to walk.”
Even nobles from the most ruined houses cling to Carriages, believing them the symbol of their status. My reminder of reality made Vanessa whimper, though she obediently raised her knees higher and swung her arms with more vigor.
She was actually following my instructions faithfully, even as she complained.
She really did look like a toddling infant.
“Vanessa, control your Breath. If you breathe too fast, you’ll tire quickly.”
“Huff, huff…… Yes…….”
About five minutes had passed. Vanessa was already struggling.
“Gasp, gasp.”
She was practically expiring. No, her stamina was simply atrocious. What was I to do? At this rate, the Monster fangs would shred her to pieces. I exhaled a deep sigh.
“Rosana…… why are you…… so good at running? Even after walking all day…….”
“I practiced hard. A full month before we left. Trained constantly.”
“A whole month?”
Vanessa stared at me in astonishment.
“When you want to live, you do whatever it takes.”
People were waking up and watching us with curious eyes. I’d grown accustomed to those stares by now. They’d looked at me the same way when I trained alone.
When Vanessa first began running alongside me, they’d watched with that same bewildered expression.
“Everyone…… is watching me…….”
“Imagine the Monsters are watching. Then you’ll run faster.”
Vanessa’s face twisted in distaste. Look at that — I was even finding humor now.
After ten minutes, Vanessa began to falter.
“Young Noblewoman…… just…… could we rest for a moment…….”
“Rest for one minute. Then we’ll run lightly for another ten.”
“Oh no no no!”
Vanessa collapsed right there on the ground.
“I feel like I’m dying…….”
“You’re still breathing. Hang in there, Vanessa.”
“One minute feels like forever……. And then we have to walk all day again…….”
“Think of it this way: there’s a Limited Edition Dress you need to buy, and the store closes in five minutes.”
“Oh!”
Vanessa’s eyes flew wide open.
“What will you do?”
“Send my servant to run for me. Fortunately, our maid is quite fast at Running!”
She’d fallen for it completely.
When I fixed her with a cold stare, Vanessa burst into laughter. It was better than her daily tears, though truly hopeless. How was I supposed to turn this noblewoman into someone halfway functional?
Well, I’d have to try.
After laughing for a while, Vanessa asked carefully.
“Rosana, will something truly terrifying really happen at Gracestone……?”
“Whether at Gracestone or elsewhere, it will absolutely happen. The Monsters are real, and we’re currently sticking our heads into their jaws.”
Vanessa’s mood darkened immediately. I patted her shoulder gently.
“A week ago, you couldn’t walk for even an hour. Now you can walk all day, and this morning you ran for fifteen minutes. That’s remarkable progress. At this rate, you’ll be able to flee before the Monsters like a nimble deer.”
Vanessa stared at me with glistening eyes. Laughing one moment, tears the next.
“Starting tomorrow, we should practice Jumping too, not just running.”
It seemed better to keep her too busy to think about crying. Vanessa’s face went pale.
“Jump like a grasshopper? How undignified!”
“You’ll escape better if you can clear obstacles. Who said we’d only run on flat ground?”
Vanessa sighed and muttered to herself.
“I suppose I’ll have to research dignified Jumping techniques…….”
Vanessa’s solemn expression struck me as almost comical.
So those things still mattered to her. I squeezed her shoulder, trying to instill some confidence.
“Come on, get up now. A minute’s gone by.”
“Nooo…….”
I hauled up the whimpering Vanessa. For the sake of her dignified sprint.
* * *
It was only when Vanessa, after days of relentless training, could run far longer than before that the other young noblewomen gathered their courage and approached me.
“Um, Lady Rosana.”
A young noblewoman still wearing a tattered dress and stubbornly refusing to abandon her formal shoes wet her lips nervously.
“Do you remember me? I’m Herott.”
I gave a small nod.
“……I overheard what you and the Young Noblewoman Vanessa were discussing. Will we really have to fight Monsters?”
“We’re heading to Gracestone, after all.”
Herott chewed her lip anxiously, her face creased with worry. The other young noblewomen behind her wore the same expression.
“But the Saint is traveling with us. Won’t she protect us?”
In this world, the Saint was only ten years old.
“……It seems these young noblewomen have grown far too many to hide behind a child.”
I exhaled deeply before speaking. Herott’s face flushed red.
Then, with tears glistening in her eyes, she asked:
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
They all looked at me with faces ready to break into tears, utterly lost about what they ought to do. After studying each of them carefully, I spoke.
“Things can change from this moment on. Take off your dresses and wear comfortable clothes. Trade those formal shoes for shoes suited for Running.”
“But how can nobility……? I came here because I wanted to meet the Crown Prince, you know.”
“Me too.”
Voices murmuring agreement came from all around. There was a reason they refused to yield even as their makeup melted under sunlight and sweat. After all, Ardena herself had pushed me toward them with that very intention.
There was no reason to assume the others weren’t thinking the same thing.
“You could die before you ever have a single conversation with the Crown Prince.”
At my words, Herott blinked.
“You’d stake your lives on that uncertain hope? Isn’t that a terrible gamble?”
During the first Spider Clan assault, many had already perished. If nothing changed, they would surely die in that same attack.
One of the young noblewomen standing in the back whispered softly:
“Please help us. Please, Lady Rosana.”
“Yes, please. Help us too. Like you helped Young Noblewoman Vanessa……help us that way.”
Their faces had all turned crimson. And for good reason. Originally, they and Rosana had not gotten along. That made sense—Rosana had lived performing the role of being superior to them, deliberately ignoring them.
Because her carefully maintained mask would slip otherwise. And they had envied Rosana in turn, believing she stood closest to the Crown Prince, given that she had even been engaged to him once.
The fact that they were now swallowing their pride and approaching me was itself tremendous progress. Yes, does pride put food on the table?
“You’ve thought this through well.”
I brushed off my hands.
“Let’s start with those shoes! The fact that you walked all the way here wearing them shows you have patience and endurance. There’s potential!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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