Must a Villainess Be Punished? - Chapter 3

Originally, I had planned to go back to Cen Qi if Chu Ruoqing refused.

Then he made me angry.

How dare he reject me?

My wounded pride turned this into a war.

Unfortunately, Military University’s scholarships were lavish, and Chu Ruoqing held down a job on the side. He no longer needed money.

Hiring people to beat him up was even more hopeless. Who could take on a street-fighting top-tier Alpha?

Threats and bribes both failed, and Chu Ruoqing was such a model student that he never gave me anything I could use against him.

I had no leverage at all.

After repeated setbacks, I pulled every string I could and finally contacted a legendary black-market dealer who was said to be capable of anything.

The dealer went silent for a moment after seeing the undisguised words MILITARY UNIVERSITY—XIE JIN in my Starnet username.

**[Contacting the black market violates university regulations. Why aren’t you using an alt account?]**

Oh. I had forgotten.

I refused to admit my mistake, so I blustered, “So what if it’s against the rules? Do you know who my brother is? No one would dare touch me, even if I broke university regulations!”

That boast made me exceptionally nervous.

If I ever did anything truly heinous, Military University wouldn’t need to intervene. Jiang Shechuan himself would beat me half to death with a belt.

Still, his strictness hadn’t stopped me from growing up crooked.

**[You paid a fortune to add me just so you could brag about your family?]**

Of course not.

I had devoted myself to research over the last few days. In novels, beautiful young ladies of noble birth like me always played the villainess.

And there was only one reliable method for ruining the beautiful, powerful, tragic male lead: drug him.

Military University kept a tight rein on its students, though, so finding a seller was difficult.

In the end, I followed a trail of tiny clues to this black-market dealer.

“Do you have that kind of drug?”

**[…What kind?]**

I threw my shame aside and hammered out a reply.

“Something that puts an Alpha in rut—something even suppressants can’t stop!”

An Alpha in rut would leak pheromones uncontrollably.

If Chu Ruoqing wouldn’t cooperate, I would just have to harvest them myself.

This time, the dealer’s silence lasted even longer.

Just as I concluded that the supposedly omnipotent dealer was nothing but a fraud trading on an inflated reputation, a reply appeared.

**[I do, but I don’t recommend using it.]**

A drug dealer was telling me not to use drugs?

That pompous act was exactly like Chu Ruoqing.

I rolled my eyes. “If you have it, then hurry up and make the deal.”

I poured the packet of powder into the water dispenser in our suite.

Afterward, Chu Ruoqing suddenly stopped using it.

Military University’s dorms were two-person suites, and the water dispenser stood in our shared living room.

Chu Ruoqing came and went several times without so much as glancing at it. He went the entire day without drinking any water.

I grew frantic.

How was I supposed to replace the drugged water if he didn’t drink it?

I needed my beauty tea before bed!

“Ahem. Come here.” I stopped him the next time he passed.

Chu Ruoqing glanced at the glass in my hand. His expression was far from pleasant.

“What?”

I forced the glass into his hand, then rolled my eyes and produced a lie on the spot.

“I made you angry before. Consider this tea instead of wine—my apology.”

Chu Ruoqing studied the cold water with a few tea leaves floating on its surface. One corner of his mouth lifted.

“Xie Jin, when someone says they’ll use tea instead of wine for an apology, it means they drink the tea. Not the other person.”

Why did he have to be so difficult?

My temper slipped its leash again. “Why do you have so much to say? My brother brought those leaves from another star system. Without me, you couldn’t afford them in your entire life!”

The curve vanished from his lips.

“If the young lady thinks so little of me, how could her apology possibly be sincere?”

He swirled the glass, mockery in his voice.

“You’re awfully determined to make me drink this. You didn’t put something in it that shouldn’t be there, did you?”

My heart stopped.

“O-of course not.” I swallowed. “Do I look like that kind of person?”

Chu Ruoqing said nothing, but his face plainly answered, *You are exactly that kind of person.*

Guilty under his stare, I snatched the glass back and gulped down the tea.

“I drank it. What more proof do you need?”

In fact, I had prepared for this possibility when I bought the drug. I had deliberately ordered something that affected only Alphas.

I would be perfectly fine, while Chu Ruoqing, lulled into lowering his guard, would fall into my trap.

My plan should have been flawless.

Even after all that, Chu Ruoqing remained unmoved.

He leaned against the dispenser with his arms folded, watching me steadily. No matter how I coaxed him, he refused to drink a single sip.

At last, just as my patience ran out and I prepared to pour the water down his throat by force, my legs gave way.

I collapsed to the floor, bewildered.

“What is happening?”

I clapped a hand over my mouth, horrified by the soft, limp little voice that had come out of it.

Chu Ruoqing, who had watched my performance with cold eyes from the beginning, finally moved.

He came to stand over me and lowered his lashes.

“I told you I didn’t recommend using it. Why won’t you ever listen?”