For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 137

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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 137

Vivian’s eyes opened just before noon.

“…Gasp.”

The brilliant sunlight streaming through the window startled me, and I sat up abruptly. Confused by the unfamiliar bedroom, I soon realized where I was. The Emperor’s Palace.

“Did the Grand Mage bring me here…?”

My last memory was nodding off in front of Raina Hart. I had insisted I wasn’t tired, but apparently I had fallen asleep anyway.
Vivian stretched and slipped out of bed.
I spotted a call bell to summon servants, but instead I tidied the bedding myself and washed up lightly. Then I changed into my day clothes and stepped out of the room. The barrier Raina Hart had maintained throughout the night let me pass through without resistance.

“Oh, I don’t know where the Grand Mage’s room is.”

I had intended to find Raina Hart directly, but I didn’t know which room she occupied. Before the news of the deceased Grand Mage’s survival had been revealed, Raina Hart had been moving through the Imperial Palace using instantaneous teleportation.
The room she used to occupy when she was physically present in the Imperial Palace was now mine. That left only one place….

“T-the Emperor’s room?!”

I let out a small gasp, covering my cheeks with both hands. I immediately shook my head to regain my composure.

“That can’t be right.”

I dismissed the fantasy and continued walking. I was thinking of visiting the Separate Palace that the Emperor had prepared for the Grand Mage.
Then, not far from the Emperor’s Palace, I spotted a familiar face.
It was Person, the Emperor’s Knight.

“Hello!”
“Young Lady, good day to you.”

Person noticed me and returned my greeting in response to my bright voice.
Vivian hurried toward him and looked around. Perhaps because the Emperor had summoned the nobles yesterday, the Imperial Palace was quieter than usual.
Even after confirming no one was around, I whispered to Person.

“Knight, where did the Grand Mage go?”

Like a spy conducting covert intelligence operations, with utmost secrecy.
Person smiled at the peculiar princess and spoke.

“Your Highness, you need not speak so formally.”
“Truth be told, I’m more comfortable with casual speech. Once you grow accustomed to it, I’ll gradually ease up on the formality.”

Vivian chuckled softly. By the time Person grew accustomed to her presence, she would no longer be a princess—she would have abandoned the Asperada name entirely once she became a restaurant owner.

“The fact that you’re traveling alone, Knight, means His Majesty the Emperor is not at the Palace, doesn’t it?”
“That is correct.”
“Then the Grand Mage wouldn’t be here either. His Majesty the Emperor is always beside the Grand Mage.”

Seeing Vivian’s disappointed expression, I somehow found myself thinking of Raina Hart’s disciples. I hoped they would maintain their good relationship. Person asked Vivian a question.

“Have you taken your midday meal?”
“No, I haven’t. I’m not particularly hungry.”
“Still, it would be best if you did. Raina Hart instructed me to look after you well, Your Highness. She was especially particular about ensuring you eat properly.”
“The Grand Mage did?”

At Raina Hart’s mention that she cared about her, Vivian’s eyes widened. Though she still wasn’t hungry, she readily agreed to have lunch.

“I shall have lunch prepared in the Emperor’s Palace Dining Hall.”

Until then, she planned to take a stroll through the Imperial Palace. As Vivian walked through the austere palace corridors, someone seized her and dragged her behind a secluded wall.

“Who—! Oh. Tiernan.”

The struggling Vivian blinked as she glimpsed the handsome face of a man beneath a mask. She was trying to determine if this was reality.

“Sorry for startling you.”

The moment he spoke, certainty crystallized. This was real. It was indeed the Tiernan Fargan I knew.

“Why are you in the Imperial Palace?”
“…I need to confirm something with Raina Hart.”
“With the Grand Mage?”
“Do you know where she is?”

Vivian hummed thoughtfully, drawing her brows together in contemplation.
Since Tiernan Fargan was the leader of the Rebel Forces, it might be acceptable to say he wasn’t in the Imperial Palace.
Then her gaze met Tiernan Fargan’s green eyes. She’d thought he was simply waiting for her answer, but instead he was studying her intently.

“Why?”
“It’s nothing.”

Noticing how Tiernan Fargan averted his gaze, Vivian narrowed her eyes. She’d realized he was embarrassed.
A clever idea had occurred to her.

“So you breached the Imperial Palace’s strict security just to find the Grand Mage?”
“…?”
“I thought maybe—”

She smoothly redirected the conversation, regarding Tiernan Fargan with playful eyes.

“—you came because you wanted to see me.”
“W-what…?”

At Vivian’s words, Tiernan Fargan visibly flustered. Vivian was perceptive—she’d known since their reunion that he was searching for someone within her.

“You know, Tiernan Fargan, my other personality is gone now.”
“…”
“Do you still like me?”

Tiernan Fargan’s face flushed at her question. She knew his heart. Alongside the embarrassment of being caught, he couldn’t comprehend her intention.
Tiernan Fargan was good at distinguishing Vivian’s two personalities. Though he couldn’t tell immediately, conversation would reveal the difference.
This Vivian was a different personality from the one who ignited flames within him.
And yet.

“…Why are you saying such things?”

Her words sounded as though she were saying that without that personality, she was nothing. He couldn’t accept that.
It’s been you all along.
It was this Vivian who’d promised him a childish future in their youth. It was this Vivian who’d recognized him.
Both personalities were special to him, but if he had to distinguish when he felt that flutter of excitement…

“I—”

Ding—.
But Tiernan’s words were cut short by another sound: Vivian’s communication device ringing.

「Lodger」

“Lodger…?”

Tiernan murmured upon seeing the sender’s name on the surface, and Vivian made a hushing sound before accepting the call.

“Yes, this is Vivian.”
“Princess.”
“…!”

The Lodger’s response never came through the communication device.
The moment the connection established and coordinates were obtained, Kevenriak teleported to Vivian’s side. The Emperor of the Betuzhenia Empire. Tiernan pulled Vivian into his embrace and drew his blade toward the Emperor.

“….”

Then I realized my mistake. If we were to divide into opposing sides, the Betuzhenia Emperor and Vivian would be on one side, and I on the other.

“Your Majesty, what’s the matter?”

Vivian broke the awkward silence and asked Kevenriak. The Emperor had been radiating happiness ever since the Grand Mage returned. But Kevenriak’s rigid expression was deeply troubling.
The expressionless Emperor looked as precarious as the day I first saw him. The anxiety of losing a beloved once more. The only reason he hadn’t collapsed was because he could feel Raina Hart’s heartbeat.

“…I’ve captured all the shadows, but I cannot find my Master.”
“Has she gone missing?”

Kevenriak nodded at Vivian’s question. The Emperor seemed utterly indifferent to the fact that the leader of the Rebel Forces had infiltrated the Imperial Palace.
Vivian grasped the situation he faced. The shadow of her stepmother and the missing Grand Mage. Perhaps the Grand Mage had entered within the shadow.

“Let’s go.”

And I understood why the Emperor had come to find me.
With the determination to seize even the slimmest thread of possibility, he intended to take me with him. Until recently, I could feel Raina Hart’s soul within my body.

“I’ll search for her.”

I couldn’t speak because of the oath, but fortunately Vivian could sense the shadow’s location and the soul within it.
Kevenriak tried to teleport with Vivian, but Tiernan grabbed the Emperor’s arm.

“I’m coming with you.”
“Tiernan?”
“I’m worried about what you might do to Vivian.”

Kevenriak’s blue eyes fixed sharply on him for a moment. Tiernan didn’t avert his gaze. Vivian found herself caught between two beasts—one black, one white.

“….”

The Emperor clicked his tongue softly. There was no time for pointless squabbling.
With Kevenriak’s magic, the three of them teleported.

***

「It was a Separate Palace where no one ever visited. The Fourth Prince regarded Kin as a spy and attacked her with his sword.
Though it was the Imperial Prince’s attack, she had no intention of accepting it passively.
Kin drew her blade and counterattacked minimally. She expected the exchange to end quickly, but the clash continued over ten times.
‘He’s strong. Why is he hiding his power?’
Kin marveled at the Fourth Prince’s skill in parrying her strikes. This was fun. Her lips curled upward with growing delight.」

Raina Hart was still moving according to her memories within the Grimoire of Magic.
Unlike what the translucent window had described, Raina Hart’s feelings as she clashed blades with Kevenriak were far from pleasant.
Hollow eyes. The thirteen-year-old Kevenriak was bound by contract with the Grimoire of Magic, the condition being the surrender of his soul.

“Don’t you want revenge? Contract with me, and I’ll dye the Imperial Palace in blood and screams.”

So that the monster within him could devour the Imperial Palace. Hiding his true strength, enduring the insult of being called a foolish prince.

“Ugh. I’ve lost, Your Highness.”
“….”

Their first meeting ended with Kin’s escape.

The scene shifted again.
Kin, having grown interested in the Fourth Prince who hid his strength, visited the Separate Palace several more times. Each visit, the Prince attacked her thinking her a spy—enough reason to stop coming.

‘Every time I come, it looks like an abandoned haunted mansion.’

The Separate Palace was cool, damp, and unsettling in appearance.
The Fourth Prince was always there—without visitors or even servants, merely hollow-eyed and alone.

“Why do you save people, Ando Hwa?”
“It’s written all over their faces. They’re asking for help.”

It weighed on me endlessly.
Kin visited the Fourth Prince’s Separate Palace nearly every day.

“Good day to you, Fourth Prince.”
“…You’re here again.”

About two weeks had passed.
From then on, Kevenriak showed no particular reaction to Kin’s visits. He had come to realize that this brazen apprentice Knight was no spy, and possessed considerable skill.

‘That Knight doesn’t know I’m a monster.’

Otherwise, she would never seek me out like this.
This red-haired Knight of my age came once a day when the mood struck, shirked her duties beside me as much as she pleased, and then left. A peculiar Knight indeed.

“Your Highness, may I confess something? I’ve grown close to a cat at the Imperial Palace.”
“There is no cat in the Imperial Palace.”
“Really? Isn’t it possible you’re mistaken, Your Highness? I’ve definitely grown close to one. It’s incredibly adorable.”
“I am correct.”

The apprentice Knight was wrong. Kevenriak had a keen eye for observing the Imperial Palace, and in the dozen-odd years he had watched it, there was no cat.

“Then it must be a cat that recently entered the Imperial Palace. That’s why you don’t know about it, Your Highness.”
“Recently?”
“Yes. Haven’t you seen it? It’s a black cat with blue eyes.”
…

Kin glanced at Kevenriak, whose pride seemed slightly wounded. Seeing that he had no idea the cat was actually her, I could no longer contain myself and burst into laughter, clutching my sides. Kevenriak regarded me with a puzzled expression, but I didn’t care. It was delightful.

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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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