For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 118
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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 118
“A Knight from the Imperial Palace informed our client that you were the one who took away the noble lady. So we tracked you after spotting you in the Mercenary City. We happened to overhear about your teleportation to this village, so we followed.”
Deep within the mountains of the Rebel Village.
Tiernan Fargan was listening to four outsiders explain how they had come to be here.
The four of them, who attended the same Magic Academy, said they had taken on a commission to find the missing Vivian Asperada as their graduation project.
Of course, it was all a fabrication by the Disciples.
“Nox has come to visit!”
“How are the people in the forces doing?”
“So that’s why the sun of Tunterra rose in my dream last night.”
The mercenary’s true identity, which I learned upon arriving at the village, was the leader of the Rebel Forces. It seemed that ever since the city, my companions had been respectfully addressing him as Nox.
I couldn’t tell him that we were disciples of Raina Hart, searching for her soul that had entered the body of Vivian Asperada.
“Who commissioned you to find Vivian Asperada? If you could hear an eyewitness account from the Knight Commander, then… did the Emperor send you?”
Tiernan Fargan’s eyes grew sharp. If they had been commissioned by the Emperor, I would need to find a way to silence them. The existence of this village would be fatal to the Rebel Forces if it became known.
However, two of the four—a man and a woman—widened their eyes with expressions of complete ignorance.
“The Emperor?”
“Apparently the Emperor of Betuzhenia. That crazy person. We were sent by Jasmine.”
“Jasmine? Who is that?”
“She’s the final boss.”
“The final… boss?”
“No, sir. The person who entrusted the commission to our academy is someone who owes a debt to Vivian Asperada.”
Mabel and Ren spoke as if joking, while Jo wiped his brow nervously and smoothed things over.
Rose looked up at Tiernan Fargan, who still hadn’t let his guard down, and spoke clearly.
“How about you overlook the suspicious parts? We did save your life, after all.”
“….”
I couldn’t deny that they had saved my life. Without them, I couldn’t have guaranteed the Dark Mage’s defeat.
If, by some chance, that creature had overcome me and dominated my mind, the situation would have been catastrophic. The entire Rebel Forces would have become pieces on that creature’s chessboard.
“…Where did the Dark Mage disappear to? Is there a possibility he’ll appear again?”
“You’re disrespecting our Master? He won’t be coming out.”
At Tiernan Fargan’s words, Rose snorted. Jo moved Rose behind him and spoke to Tiernan Fargan.
“Ahem… The Dark Mage is trapped in another dimension. I believe he won’t be able to escape, but I cannot guarantee it. Predicting the actions of a supreme-tier Mage is not an easy task.”
At the mention of a supreme-tier Mage, Tiernan Fargan flinched. He had thought the Dark Mage was powerful, but he hadn’t anticipated someone of supreme-tier caliber.
…That was dangerous. Tiernan Fargan expressed his gratitude and spoke to the four of them.
“I’m grateful for your help. However, for the sake of safety, I cannot keep suspicious outsiders in the village. Especially not Mages carrying suspicious items.”
At the word “suspicious,” the eyes of the four suddenly gleamed sharply.
This Imperial Prince. After we saved him from drowning—
“Are you treating our Master’s keepsake as some antique without even a certificate of authenticity?”
“It’s not a keepsake, Ren. …Ahem.”
“…Then what should we do besides calling it suspicious? A keepsake of an Academy professor who’s at most sixth-circle made a supreme-tier Mage vanish in an instant.”
Even as Tiernan Fargan spoke, his mind was anxious. The Dark Mage had said Vivian Asperada wasn’t home. What had happened to Vivian?
And he had to evacuate the villagers to avoid this supreme-tier Dark Mage who could appear at any moment. Regrettably, it seemed the banquet would have to be postponed.
“Understood.”
It was Rose who opened her mouth in the tense atmosphere. She spoke to Tiernan Fargan.
“You don’t mean we should leave right away, do you? We also need time to reorganize before we depart. We need to wait until our mana accumulates.”
In truth, they had enough mana to leave immediately. But having come this far, it felt unfair not to properly search for traces of their Master. When passing through the village plaza, the name Vivian had come from people’s lips.
Our Master was definitely in this village.
Since the girl’s words made sense, Tiernan Fargan pondered for a moment before nodding. The debt of gratitude was too great to coldly drive them away.
“As long as you don’t cause any trouble and leave the village by today.”
“We shall do so. Thank you.”
Jo immediately accepted his proposal.
After that, the Disciples found the house where Vivian Asperada had been staying, avoiding the eyes of the villagers.
「Cold」
「No Visitors」
“….”
Papers affixed to the entrance door, split horizontally in two. And handwriting I recognized.
The Disciples stood before the entrance, silently gazing at the papers before speaking in bewildered tones.
“The Emperor wrote this?”
“He’s already met the Master? Has he regained his senses?”
“…Is this allowed? Why alone?”
“Still, it seems they’re together, so that’s a relief… *cough*.”
Our mad 7-Circle mage was already with the Master.
Behind the shallow sense of betrayal came a wave of profound relief.
“We’ll see the Master soon?”
“The Emperor will bring her?”
“…I want to go to the Kocha Festival.”
“Let’s ask her to go together next spring.”
She will return. Soon.
With the disciple she loves most.
***
“Forgive me, Miss, but did you say you would be alone in the room with that gentleman?”
“Is there a problem?”
“None at all.”
In the absence of the Duke and Duchess, Vivian Asperada was the highest authority in the household. The Butler shook his head and led all the servants out of the room.
Maya lingered with reluctance, watching Vivian with tears in her eyes, but Vivian, who had no memory of meeting her, waved brightly at the departing servants.
As the door closed with a soft click, a gruff voice flowed from behind Vivian’s back.
“When did I become engaged to a noble lady?”
“Oh my.”
Vivian turned her body to face Kevenriak, meeting his questioning gaze. Though she had arbitrarily declared herself his fiancée, one might expect the expressionless Kevenriak to be frightening. Yet Vivian’s eyes, as she gazed upon Kevenriak, were already suffused with romantic embellishment.
In romance novels, the male protagonist, no matter how wicked or fearsome, always grew tender before the one he loved.
“Lodger. Have you made any progress with that person? You haven’t made any at all, have you?”
“…What progress are you talking about?”
“I knew it.”
Look at how your momentum deflates the moment that person comes up. You’d make a perfect male lead for the real-life romance I’ve been rooting for.
But that didn’t mean I could just sit idle. That face—completely clueless about romantic progress between men and women. Shouldn’t I enlighten you a little?
Vivian tilted her chin up slightly and asked Kevenriak.
“Have you held hands with that person?”
“Yes.”
“An embrace…have you tried that?”
“Yes.”
Her raised chin gradually lowered.
Vivian Asperada. Fifteen years of life lived, seven years asleep, and then a few more days awake. Her romantic experience amounted to nothing more than a childhood promise made with Tiernan Fargan when she was eight.
“A c-c-confession too?”
“….”
The lodger nodded slowly. Vivian covered her face with both hands. What? You’ve done everything. So why aren’t you dating?
Kevenriak looked at the noblewoman as if she were strange.
“…What are you doing?”
“It feels like watching an adult living in reality….”
Rather than waste time guessing what was going through Vivian Asperada’s head, it seemed better to attend to my own affairs. Kevenriak took a step forward and spoke to Vivian.
“Stay in your room for a moment. I have somewhere to go.”
The timing was perfect. Since Raina Hart was asleep, I could rescue my disciples in the meantime.
“Huh. Where are you going alone?”
“I told you. I came to the Duke’s Castle because there are people I need to save.”
“I-I’ll come with you!”
“No.”
Mana gathered around Kevenriak as he attempted to teleport, then dispersed. Vivian had grabbed his arm.
Kevenriak looked down at her quietly. Since he was in a body that contained Raina Hart, he treated Vivian with considerable leniency. Even now that he’d regained his senses, the touch of anyone other than Raina Hart was intensely repugnant to him.
“You, lodger. If you wander about freely, you might get lost! Do you have any idea how vast our castle is?”
“…Needless worry.”
“Come with me. Yes?”
“Princess.”
Kevenriak seized the wrist of Vivian, who had taken his arm, and gazed down at her as he spoke.
“Do I appear so weak to you?”
The beautiful black beast’s cool blue eyes lowered their gaze. That serene stare seemed to warn the herbivore with hazel eyes. Vivian simply looked at him.
Had it been Raina Hart inhabiting this body now, she might have seen a translucent window. It was the first thing Kevenriak had ever said to Vivian in those forgotten days neither of them remembered. The frightened Vivian of that time had shaken her head, and Kevenriak had smiled with contempt before vanishing.
“But….”
Yet now was different from then. This was not a fleeting first encounter with some unknown villain. Vivian knew exactly who he was.
That day when he told her to lodge and lay sprawled upon the mountain. Seeing him, butterfly-like beneath the brilliant moon’s glow, the forgotten dreams of days past became vividly clear.
I once knew someone who resembled you.
“If you wander alone, you might be devoured. After all, you’re searching for your son.”
Something unsettling existed within the Duke’s Castle. Vivian could sense its location, yet strangely, she could not speak of the details aloud.
“…What are you talking about?”
A flicker of disturbance crossed those blue eyes before vanishing. Vivian spoke to Kevenriak.
“You’re the Emperor, aren’t you? Lodger.”
***
It was the year Vivian turned eight.
“Vivian, from now on, sleep with this at your bedside.”
“What is this?”
“You’ll have lovely dreams.”
Simona Asperada placed a sachet at the bedside of Vivian, who was seeking an afternoon nap.
She truly did have lovely dreams. In young Vivian’s dreams appeared a beautiful woman.
The woman’s feet touched the ground less often than they floated through the air. Her fine black hair, reaching to her waist, fluttered with her every movement. Her blue eyes, whenever their gazes met, curved like a crescent moon as she smiled. She danced.
‘Wow.’
Like a butterfly fluttering its wings.
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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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