For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 100

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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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Chapter 100

Vivian Asperada first met Raina Hart when she was seven years old.
At the Imperial Palace, where she had followed her father, someone caught her before she could fall.

“Be careful.”

Her late mother had taught her that gratitude should be expressed face-to-face.
Vivian Asperada lifted her head toward the woman who had helped her.

“….”

She thought she was looking at an angel. Those mysterious silver eyes and lavender hair were unlike anything she had ever seen before.
Startled, Vivian Asperada forgot to say thank you and simply stared at her in wonder.
The expressionless Grand Mage found the child’s inexplicable behavior somewhat perplexing.
She parted her lips to speak.

“…Is there something you want?”
“Thank… you…!”
“I see.”

Raina Hart nodded to accept the gratitude and continued on her way.
Vivian Asperada could not tear her eyes from the receding lavender hair as she turned to Pialtis with a question.

“Father, who is that person?”
“The Grand Mage. A monster—or rather, a prodigy—who reached the 8th Circle at seventeen years old.”

Until then, Pialtis was still an ordinary father.
Not quite a doting fool, but someone who tried to fill the void left by his wife, whom he had lost the previous year, through his daughter.
And that same year, Pialtis introduced Simona to Vivian Asperada as her new mother.

“Vivian Asperada, hello. What a beautiful child you are.”

A thick, cloying fragrance emanated from the beautiful woman’s embrace as she stroked her hair.

‘Warning.’

Seven-year-old Vivian Asperada gazed at her and recalled a butterfly encyclopedia she had read not long ago.
The caption beside the most vibrant butterfly illustration.

‘Contact causes respiratory distress. Severe cases result in death.’

Therefore, one should avoid the area upon discovery.
Her stepmother was like that butterfly.

“…Hello! Stepmother. I’m Vivian Asperada.”

Yet Vivian, who had matured early due to her mother’s death, smiled brightly at her instead of fleeing that place.
She did not wish for her father to be troubled because of her.
But she should have fled then.

“Tsk, tsk. Falling behind in your lessons again today, are you?”
“….”

At some point, my father changed.
From the moment his eyes opened until he collapsed into sleep.
Vivian had to take lessons from countless tutors he had hired.
History, piano, dance, etiquette, mathematics, foreign languages….
Everything was overwhelming for a seven-year-old to bear, but she endured it for her father’s sake.
And yet.

“So that you might marry into a respectable house!”

An unbearable sorrow washed over her.
Vivian hid herself in the Wardrobe of an empty room no one used, sobbing until exhaustion claimed her sleep.
When she opened her eyes, the room visible through the gaps in the Wardrobe door was dark.
Thinking it must be night, she decided she should return.
The moment she opened the Wardrobe door.

“…Ugh…gasp….”

The grotesquely enlarged shadow of Simona standing directly before the Wardrobe entered Vivian’s field of vision.
The darkness of the room was not due to the night.
The Butler, seized by the neck in the shadow’s hand, writhed in agony suspended in the air.
Vivian cried out in shock.

“Stepmother! The Butler, he…!”
“…I’ve overlooked it again this time, Vivian.”
“Stepmother…?”

She gazed down at Vivian crouched inside the Wardrobe, indifferent to what her shadow was doing.
A smile played across her lips, her eyes tilting upward with fresh amusement.

“It’s identical. This will work.”

She murmured words I couldn’t comprehend.
In that moment, Simona’s shadow opened its maw wide and devoured the Butler with ravenous hunger.
Vivian stared up at the hand descending over her head, her face etched with terror.
Warning, warning…. The words echoed repeatedly in my mind.

“Vivian, you mustn’t tell anyone what you’ve seen. You were merely dreaming.”

***

“….”

A black fog seemed to cloud my mind.
Vivian, lost in recollection of the past, blinked vacantly until a knock at the door pulled her back to awareness.

“Vivian-.”
“Shana?”

It was the voice of Shana, the second daughter of the Ranch.
Only then did Vivian remember the promise she had forgotten.

“Oh, that’s right. We were supposed to go pick figs today…!”

She had forgotten it all—the Dark-haired Man, the sleeping Raina Hart, and the lingering echo of profound sorrow.
With such momentous events unfolding, surely the other soul within her had also failed to keep her promise to Shana.
Vivian hurried to open the door and apologized to Shana.

“I’m sorry, Shana. I…?”

But she stopped mid-sentence. Upon opening the door, she discovered a basket sitting in the entryway—figs with plump, glossy skin arranged in perfect order.
What could this be. This flawless basket of figs.

“You brought back what you caught.”
“Huh? Oh? Ah, so I did catch it. Thanks for bringing it, Shana.”

Vivian quickly grasped the situation and hastily shifted her demeanor.
Shana grinned at her and spoke.

“Word’s already spread through the village that you’re a fig expert. And you even managed to squeeze four days’ wages out of Paul? That’s impressive, Vivian.”

It was thanks to Paul regaling the tavern with tales of Raina Hart’s exploits.
Vivian felt bewildered inside, but she laughed shyly for now.

“And this.”
“Isn’t that a wooden sword?”

The object Shana held out was her wooden sword.
Vivian took the wooden sword and asked Shana.

“Did I leave my wooden sword behind too?”

The other soul carried her wooden sword with her everywhere, always.
She seemed reluctant to be separated from it, so Vivian had always kept it within sight for her sake.

‘Why together with the figs…? Did I leave it at the ranch?’

As Vivian pondered this unexpected turn,
Shana delivered even more startling news to her.

“Are you going to keep playing dumb?”
“Playing dumb?”
“Vivian, you said you were going home but went deeper into the mountains instead, right? Paul was so worried you might encounter an orc that he followed you with the village elders.”

Shana couldn’t contain her eager tongue.

“They all found the beast you caught there! You captured the Mountain Lord, didn’t you? Goodness, Vivian!”

Her heroic friend moved Shana so deeply that she embraced her tightly.

“Huh…?”
“How did we know you caught the Mountain Lord? Your wooden sword was there too! It disappeared while they were disposing of the corpse.”

And yet, there it was, sitting plainly on Vivian Asperada’s front doorstep.

“When did you go back to the mountain? Even if you tried to cover your tracks, everyone’s already figured out you’re a hero. You’re so amazing, Vivian!”
“Ha ha….”

Vivian Asperada laughed awkwardly.
The wooden sword she’d lost was sitting in front of the entrance? I’d seen this situation somewhere before….
As Vivian Asperada’s gaze shifted uncomfortably, she caught sight of a black cat perched atop the distant wall.

***

“Huff… gasp….”

That night.
Vivian Asperada climbed the mountain near her home, wooden sword in hand.
No matter how I thought about it, what I’d witnessed didn’t seem to be a cat, but rather a person hiding behind the wall.
I’d seen the dark hair rising above the wall because of their height.

‘That person brought me the wooden sword. The being who grants wishes….’

It was that man.
The man with tears in his eyes.
Since it was too dark and dangerous, I walked until I reached a path bathed in moonlight, then stopped.
It was the Walking Path at the foot of the mountain.

“Over here…!”

Vivian Asperada called out to the man who must be hiding nearby, watching over me—or rather, the other soul dwelling within my body.
One could call it meddling.
But.

「When you fully awaken, I will disappear.」

I didn’t want it to end like this.
And yet, feeling this way, I was leaving that man behind.
I didn’t know the circumstances of the two of them, but there was one thing I was certain of.

“Will you keep hiding?”

If you just hide and watch from afar, you two will only drift apart and miss your chance.
The protagonists in the romance novels I’ve read were like that. It happened to be an era when sad endings were in vogue, so I witnessed far too many of the characters I rooted for fail to achieve their happiness.

‘That’s why I want to support you both. In reality, a happy ending is possible, isn’t it?’

An early autumn night. The chilly weather was perfect for coercion.

“If you don’t show yourself, I’ll sleep right here! Then I’ll become terribly ill, and the person you love will suffer greatly too. My body is so frail, you see!”
“….”
“Don’t even think about using magic to heal me just because you’re a Mage. I’ll sleep here every single night until you appear!”
“….”

Still won’t come out?
Vivian, now stubborn, stretched out flat on the damp fallen leaves and squeezed her eyes shut. As if to say she would sleep right here.

“I wonder if you know that I’m exchanging diary entries with that person. I’ll have to write down everything about how I caught a serious illness from sleeping rough because of you. Oh, it’s so cold. Oh, my head aches.”

The sound of footsteps crushing fallen leaves came from near her head.
Vivian cracked open her eyelids slightly.

“…What do you want, young lady.”

The man standing with his back to the moon wore an expressionless face.
That bare, unguarded expression he’d shown today seemed to be revealed only to her.
Actually, I like it. It’s romantic.

‘Caution.’

The man resembled a black butterfly from an encyclopedia.
The blue spots on his wings glowed beautifully in the moonlight.

‘High vigilance. Difficult to recapture once lost.’

Vivian smiled brightly at the man.

“Board with us. At our house. Of course, I’m on the second floor. You’re on the first.”

The man’s eyes twitched at the absurd proposal.
Vivian held up three fingers toward him and continued speaking.

“Three compliments about you in the exchange diary per night.”
“….”
“As a bonus, limited-edition figs hand-picked by her.”
“….”

At the subtly shifted gleam in my eyes, Vivian opened her mouth.

“For your reference, the benefits I mentioned earlier won’t return after one more minute.”

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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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