For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 123

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

Chapter 123

The moment I pressed the call bell, Kevenriak teleported into the room. Like someone who had been waiting only for me to summon him.

“Didn’t you arrive awfully fast?”
“I was worried you might be in danger.”

Kevenriak opened his mouth as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Indeed, even before he knew my true identity, hadn’t Kevenriak always appeared instantly whenever I pressed the call bell?
I laughed lightly and asked him a question.

“What were you doing in your room?”

I had meant to tease him, knowing full well the answer.
I smiled, leaning the back of my head against the chair’s backrest. But in the next moment, I forgot even that I had asked the question. Kevenriak, who had stopped before me as I sat in the chair, looked down at me.
A face with distinct features and vivid colors. Dark black hair, pale skin, crimson lips, transparent blue eyes.
…He was handsome from this angle too.

“….”

I loved looking at that face, so I gazed upon him as though admiring a work of art. Kevenriak bent his upper body toward me with a slow, deliberate motion. We were close enough that our eyes reflected each other.

“I was waiting.”

At Kevenriak’s calm voice, I finally recalled the question I had asked. I had asked what he had been doing alone in the guest room.

“For whom?”
“For you, Raina.”

I asked quietly, and Kevenriak opened his mouth quietly.
What followed was a strange silence. The teasing remark I had meant to make returned as something sweet and sincere.
Even though we were merely looking at each other, a dense tangle of emotion dissolved into the air and seeped through my skin. It felt as though each cell was being pressed down with a heavy weight. I wanted to sink into the emotion that entered deep within my body with each breath.

“…It’s Vivian’s body.”

I barely exhaled the dense air that had filled me and spoke. Yet I could not clearly explain why I had said such a thing.
It was as though, if this were not Vivian’s body, there would be different choices of action available to me in this moment.

“I understand.”

Kevenriak lowered his head. Eyes like sapphire gemstones vanished from my sight. A comforting weight settled against my shoulder as he rested his forehead there. Instinctively, I lifted my hand and stroked his hair. Soft strands of black silk slipped between my fingers, tickling the nape of my neck and my cheek.

“So I’m waiting. For you, Raina.”

One of us had postponed their feelings; the other had soothed theirs.
At Kevenriak’s words, I felt something heavy settle in my chest. He was far too close. I feared he might hear the quickening of my heartbeat.
I steered the conversation elsewhere.

“What about Keri and Zikhard?”
“Would you like to see?”
“Yes.”
“…”

Kevenriak lifted his head and withdrew a thick tome from his subspace pocket. It was Zikhard.
The Grimoire of Magic remained dormant.

“It’s quiet.”

I lifted my head from where it had rested against the chair back. I opened the Grimoire of Magic that Kevenriak handed me. Perhaps due to the subordination potion, each page turned without issue.

“Is something wrong?”
“There’s something I need to verify.”

The Dragon had touched something within Zikhard’s memories, which is why Zikhard had gone dormant. And I had witnessed this state twice before.
Once, ten years ago, when I first encountered it in the Secret Vault of the Imperial Palace Library.
Once recently, when I instructed it to erase the contents regarding the sharing of life.

‘The first time was when I pointed out that Zikhard in the Imperial Palace had accessed information about Keri in Hibei. It had far exceeded the permitted access range.’

I had believed that was because I had identified a configuration error in Zikhard. The act of erasing the sharing of life itself contained no error to speak of. That dark magic must have been a setting that should never have been deleted.

‘Zikhard is being influenced by the original work.’

The form of the Grimoire of Magic itself was a kind of medium. It served to extract desired knowledge from the vast repository stored within Zikhard and bring it into the external world.
If the Dragon had touched something related to the original work, preventing the Grimoire of Magic from awakening…

‘Then Zikhard might contain information related to the original work right now.’

If I search through the bookshelves, I might discover other information about the original work.
But before that….

“Keri.”

I looked up at Kevenriak.
Perhaps because I had moved around quite a bit today. Even sitting still, my stamina seemed to drain away rapidly.

“Would you like to read?”

The place I indicated was on the bed.

***

Kevenriak gazed at me sleeping on the bed. About an hour had passed. Vivian’s exhaustion had broken my will to read.
He grasped Zikhard, which I had suspended in the air for comfortable reading. At the touch of someone other than its master, the Grimoire of Magic’s pages fluttered wildly before the cover slammed shut and refused to open.

‘What was Raina trying to find?’

It didn’t seem to be searching for magical knowledge.
Was it another story related to the future Raina had seen through her foresight? Kevenriak carefully arranged her hair.

– Your Majesty, the Rebel Forces are showing signs of movement as you intended. It appears they have only now realized that you have vacated the Imperial Palace.

Before coming to the Duke’s Castle, Kevenriak had communicated with Person at the Imperial Palace.
Taking advantage of the Emperor’s disappearance from the Imperial Palace, the Rebel Forces had begun to move. Not next year as Raina had foreseen, but right now.

– I have instructed the military commander as you specified, Your Majesty. I will report again if there are any other developments.

Kevenriak ended the communication after receiving that report. Raina’s foresight was gradually diverging from its original path. It was exactly as he intended.
On the day she had asked him to face the world together, Kevenriak had made a silent vow.

‘Raina, I will not put you in danger.’

In Raina’s foresight, he dies at the hands of the Rebel Forces. She had left a letter telling him to abandon the Imperial Palace and preserve his life, but Kevenriak could not do that.
The enemy would never leave the Emperor’s teacher alone. If rebellion broke out and war ensued, Raina, with her body restored, would certainly participate in the civil war. Tunterra would recognize the resurrected Raina and target her.
Therefore, he could not allow the Rebel Forces to rampage through Betuzhenia. And he had no intention of relinquishing the throne.

“I have found a way to stop the Rebel Forces!”

When she embraced me in that cave where she had encountered the Dragon, declaring there was a way to stop the Rebel Forces.
Kevenriak understood. Raina Hart and I were walking toward the same path after all. No matter how desperately I struggled to protect her alone, Raina had already come to my side. And that realization hardened my resolve.

When everything finds its place. If Raina Hart is still by my side even then, I will confess my heart once more.
I didn’t dare hope for her to answer with the same feelings. Simply seeing her smile would be enough to make me happy.
No matter what happens, Raina Hart will be at the end of my life.

[I will become your sword, Your Highness.]

In that moment, an unfamiliar voice echoed in Kevenriak’s mind as he held the Grimoire of Magic. His sharp blue eyes swept the surroundings with caution, but he sensed no presence of anyone.

“….”

Only after confirming there was no intruder did Kevenriak pull the blanket up over the sleeping Raina Hart’s shoulders. He opened his mouth quietly to her sleeping form.

“I want to spend my entire life with Raina Hart too.”

***

Crack.
Simona stared at the fractured wall. Merely a crack. Once damaged, the Mana Heart lacked sufficient mana production capability to generate the tremendous power needed to bore through the walls of the Subspace.
Cursed Raina Hart.

“Even in death, you obstruct me.”

Simona ground her teeth bitterly.
It was a life that had reversed through years with revenge within reach. Whether the gods wished to curse her, what lay before her eyes upon returning to the past were dozens of graves.
The day she buried her own kin with her own hands, the day she learned of Raphael’s death. She had come to the past, yet no one remained for her to save.

“Kekeke….”

She wept and laughed for a long time like one who had lost her mind. Everything worth protecting had vanished, leaving only revenge. She thought the second time would be easier. And it was. Simona had filled the void left by Duchess Asperada. Everything proceeded according to plan.

Until the variable named Raina Hart emerged.

“Why won’t that monster leave the Imperial Palace?”
“Why won’t Prince Tuntera become enslaved?”
“Why won’t it contract with the Grimoire of Magic?”
“Why…!!”

Everything had deviated from the plan. It was a complete disaster.
I had killed the insufferable Raina Hart. I had killed the insufferable red-haired Knight as well.
And yet, it remained a disaster still.

“…Yes.”

Simona’s shoulders shook with laughter.
I understood why.

“Raina Hart is still alive.”

That was why nothing could fall into place.
The monster consumed by vengeance thought thus. Simona laughed until her belly ached, then swept back her disheveled hair.
Why bother reclaiming time that had already been ruined?

“Raphael, I’ve decided.”

Click. Click.

“There’s no need to wait until next year. Let’s just split the continent in two right now.”

The Betuzhenia Empire and the Tunterra Empire would be buried beneath the fractured continent.
Simona smiled brilliantly.

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