Apocalypse Villainess? Nah, I'm Nice

Leo Joyce saw the two people in the hall—one standing, one sitting, both silent—and his eyes flickered.

He then smiled and said, ”May, what are you doing just standing there? Were you being willful and made Claire angry?”

May Joyce stammered and stuttered, finally managing a ”yes.”

Leo Joyce shook his head dotingly, then said in a warm, friendly tone, ”Claire, May has been spoiled rotten by me. If she did anything out of line, please be patient with her!”

Claire Chapman glanced at May Joyce.

His eyes held no emotion, as indifferent as if he were looking at a complete stranger. The look instantly made May Joyce feel as if she had been plunged into an ice cellar.

He didn’t respond to Leo Joyce, instead saying, ”I came today to discuss something with you both. I’m afraid the previous agreement will have to be a disappointment to you, City Lord Joyce. Miss Joyce is a wonderful person, but she is not right for me. After spending time together, I’ve realized she also holds many grievances against me. That being the case, I’d rather be direct to avoid wasting any more of Miss Joyce’s time. Bloodfall may be a small, newly established base facing many future hardships, its very survival uncertain, but if we have to rely on a marriage alliance to seek your protection, City Lord Joyce, I would be the first to look down on myself, let alone what others might think. So, let’s just end this matter here.”

Leo Joyce’s expression changed slightly.

The words were soft on the surface but hard underneath, making him extremely uncomfortable. Yet, he couldn’t use them as a pretext to lash out. If word got out that the City Lord of Southreach had flown into a rage after failing to force a marriage, it would be a complete loss of face.

He would be utterly humiliated!

He was furious.

He had given May Joyce free rein to pursue Claire Chapman, hoping to facilitate a happy union between them, but his primary motive had been to win Claire over. With a marriage alliance in place, would it be long before Bloodfall Base was absorbed into Southreach?

But now, judging by Claire Chapman’s tone, there was no room for negotiation.

Just as he was pondering the best way to handle this, May Joyce, who had been standing by his side, finally snapped out of her astonishment.

”Brother! What agreement is he talking about? What does he mean he’s disappointed you?! What’s going on?!”

Her questions shattered Leo Joyce’s train of thought, and a fire of rage ignited within him. He had pampered her for all these years, sparing no expense to keep her beautifully dressed every day, only to raise an idiot who couldn’t even hold on to a man!

He stopped her from questioning further with a stern expression. ”Go back to your room!”

May Joyce had never been scolded by him in such a tone. For a moment, she was stunned.

In her heart, her brother had always doted on her.

She understood that Southreach would always be more important to Leo Joyce than she was, but as long as their interests didn’t conflict, he would always indulge her every whim.

’But what was wrong with him today...?’

For a moment, she couldn’t tell if she was more upset by Leo Joyce’s scolding or by the humiliation of being rejected in front of Claire Chapman.

She bit her lower lip hard, then abruptly stood up and ran upstairs.

Leo Joyce watched her retreating figure, and an image of her charming, tear-streaked face flashed through his mind, stirring a strange feeling within him. He had always thought of her as a child, but without him realizing it, she had grown up...

”City Lord Joyce, I’ll take my leave now,” Claire Chapman said, standing up.

’Everything that needed to be said had been said. The atmosphere was incredibly awkward.’

’Since Leo Joyce hadn’t blown up immediately, it meant he still wanted to leave some room for civility. In that case, as long as no other issues arose, there was no need to worry about them having a complete falling out.’

’The sooner I leave, the better!’

Leo Joyce snapped back to his senses, looked at him, and suddenly gave a slight smile. ”No rush. I still have something to ask you.”

Claire Chapman was speechless.

The other man was being polite, so he had no choice but to sit back down.

Leo Joyce said slowly and deliberately, ”As my sister, May’s looks and family background are more than a match for you; it would be no insult. Her superpower might be a bit lacking, but she’s a woman. You can’t expect her to go out hunting. A little willfulness now and then can even be a charming part of life. So, from any angle, she is a rare and excellent match. Are you sure you’ve thought this through?”

”Miss Joyce is certainly outstanding, but...” Claire Chapman smiled as well. ”You heard what she said just now, didn’t you? She may have a temporary infatuation with me, but deep down, she looks down on me. If we were to actually get together and she later realized her true feelings, wouldn’t she regret it for the rest of her life?”

”Why take a woman’s angry words to heart?”

”People only say what they’ve already thought.”

The hall fell silent for a moment before Leo Joyce finally gave in. ”If that’s the case, then we’ll do as you say. The matter ends here. Of course, business is business, and personal is personal. I hope this affair won’t cause you to grow distant from Southreach.”

’Although he was a bit puzzled by how strangely reasonable Leo Joyce was being, this was the best possible outcome he could have hoped for.’

Claire Chapman immediately replied, ”Of course not!”

After seeing him off, Leo Joyce turned and went upstairs to the second floor.

His steps were unhurried but firm.

Meanwhile, May Joyce was sulking in her bed, her head buried under the covers. She racked her brain but couldn’t understand why her brother would treat her this way.

’None of this was her fault!’

’She liked Claire Chapman so much, but he was completely bewitched by Paige Summers! He even came to her home just to reject her and give her the cold shoulder!’

’And that agreement...’

’Could her brother have made some secret deal with Claire Chapman?’

’Maybe her brother gave him something valuable to pretend to like her, and now that he has it, he’s showing his true colors?’

’No, no, no.’

’Claire Chapman didn’t seem like that kind of person. Besides, if that were true, her brother would never let him get away with it. There would be no reason for him to scold her instead!’

She couldn’t figure it out, but that didn’t stop her from growing sadder and sadder the more she thought about it.

When Leo Joyce pushed the door open and entered, she knew it was her brother. As he walked to her bedside, she couldn’t stop herself from throwing off the covers and sitting up, looking at him with red-rimmed eyes. ”Brother! What did I do wrong? Why did you glare at me and scold me?”

Leo Joyce chuckled, sat down on the edge of the bed, and reached out to stroke her face.

”You call that scolding you? You’ve clearly never seen what I’m like when I’m really scolding someone.”

May Joyce threw herself into his arms and said pitifully, ”Well, I never want to see it!”

Leo Joyce’s body stiffened.

When May Joyce was little, she would often throw herself into his arms coquettishly like this. But as time went on, though she remained close to him, she no longer hugged him in this manner.

It was only then that he was suddenly struck by the realization that she had truly grown up... Her full breasts pressed tightly against him. His hands rested on a slender waist that seemed as if it could snap with a single touch, and with a downward glance, he could see her pert, round bottom...

Beneath her thin clothes, everything was so tantalizingly within reach!

A faint, almost imperceptible flash of light blue flickered in Leo Joyce’s eyes.

He realized... he was aroused.

A voice suddenly spoke in his mind: ’You have spent so much effort, sacrificed so much, to become the City Lord, and she has no idea. All she knows is how to enjoy what she has. You plan for her future, but all she does is complain about you because of another man! A magnificent body like this... who knows who will get to enjoy it in the future? You worked so hard to raise her, and what have you gotten in return?!’

The voice grew louder and louder, finally coalescing in his mind into a single command: ’Possess her! Then she will be yours forever!’

Leo Joyce seemed to enter an irresistible dream state.

Following the desires of his heart, he pushed May Joyce down onto the bed. Facing her slowly panicking face, he offered a gentle smile, but his hands... tore her clothes apart.

”Brother? Brother! No, don’t!” May Joyce shrieked in terror.

Her hands were pinned firmly above her head by Leo Joyce. She was already completely naked, thrashing like a fish out of water in a final attempt to awaken him with her struggles and resistance.

But in return, all she got was Leo Joyce’s strong, naked body pressing down on her without hesitation.

In that instant, May Joyce’s world shattered...

Before long, moans of pain mixed with pleasure echoed from the room.

Inside the room, the two people completely lost in their lust failed to notice a rigid figure that had appeared outside the door at some unknown point.

Maisie Joyce stood numbly, letting the debauched sounds enter her ears, her heart filled with a seemingly endless sorrow...

”Did Leo Joyce really say that?”

In the room, Paige Summers asked in surprise after hearing about Claire Chapman’s experience that morning.

Claire Chapman dug a finger in his ear. ”Don’t get it, do you? Good, that’s right, because I don’t get it either. The funniest part is, he even said, ’business is business, and personal is personal’... He was willing to lend us The Power Corps for May Joyce’s sake before, but now he’s spouting this nonsense. It’s like he’s slapping himself in the face. What do you think? Is he genuinely magnanimous or just a hypocrite?”

Paige Summers shook her head. ”Normally, you could say there’s no happiness in a forced relationship, and that he was doing it for his sister’s sake, which would be blameless. But something feels off to me. His attitude was a little too good. He didn’t even wait for you to find a way out; he built a ladder for himself first!”

”Exactly! A man who could climb to his position can’t be easy to deal with. For him to be so open-minded... I just can’t bring myself to believe it. I was originally thinking that if he gave us a hard time, I could bring up selling him grain to defuse the situation... But with things as they are, I don’t want to mention it anymore.”

”If he’s just putting on an act, then he definitely has a bigger move planned. If we really sell him the grain, there’s no guarantee we’ll ever see the Crystal Cores. To be safe, let’s just wait and see for a while.”

Paige Summers nodded.

”Alright.”

Having made their decision, the two of them took no further action, simply waiting for a notice from the Black Market.

The shop owner was true to his word. Before three full days had passed, he sent news.

He said he had about twenty-some people who had experience operating machinery. Most of them were ordinary people, and while the rest had First-tier Superpowers, they were the useless kind. He asked if that would be acceptable.

Of course, Paige Summers said yes and immediately asked the owner to arrange a face-to-face inspection.

There were twenty-six people in total: twenty men and six women. Although they all looked sallow and emaciated, they had no major health problems, and none were over fifty years old.

Paige knew this was just from starvation, so she wasn’t picky. In any case, once they reached Bloodfall Base, they would be well-fed, and their spirits would improve significantly.

She asked each of them what they used to do. Unexpectedly, two of the men said they had previously worked at The Foundry!

Paige Summers was inwardly delighted. In the end, she generously decided to take them all.