For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 148

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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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Side Story Episode 1

Spring had arrived.
Hibei, a rural village in the Betuzhenia Empire, flowed peacefully as always—or so it seemed.
“This won’t do!”
“Knight Fontepon, I’m telling you it’s an emergency.”
“Grand Mage Raina Hart said no one was to be let through! How did you even know she was here?”
“Surprising, isn’t it? But there’s nothing surprising about it. When someone spends all day cooped up in their room, where else would they go but the Imperial Palace or here?”
A commotion stirred in the corridors of the Lord’s Castle.
Maverick Marquis led the way forward, pursued by Raina Hart’s two knights, Fontepon and Shukal. Despite their protests, Maverick pushed open the study door.
“Marquis, Grand Mage Raina Hart is currently—!”
“Just as I thought. She’s sleeping.”
Maverick, his chestnut hair neatly swept back, grasped the study doorframe and smirked.
His heterochromatic eyes fixed on the woman sprawled across the sofa inside—the Grand Mage Raina Hart, her pale violet hair scattered like flower petals.
Fontepon and Shukal called out warnings as he moved to enter the study.
“…She said not to wake her.”
“She absolutely forbade anyone from waking her.”
Their concern wasn’t for her sleep being disturbed. It was for Maverick Marquis, who dared attempt to wake her.
“She reflexively casts magic on anyone who tries to wake her.”
Who was it that said heroes cannot know solitude?

“I’m sick of social obligations.”

Last year, when it became known that Raina Hart had kept Tunchar suspended in the sky for fourteen years to protect it, and had stopped Simona Asperada’s plan to destroy the world, everything changed.
From that day forward, Raina was hounded by people bearing grandiose titles and praise. They lauded her as a hero, sought her out, and wanted to be near her.
Not a single day had Raina experienced solitude.
It was exhausting.

I’ll just take a week’s rest.

Raina Hart left a note for her lover and returned to Hibeiro.
Since that was yesterday, her rest was in full swing. Her desire not to be disturbed by anyone was so strong that she unconsciously cast magic on anyone who interrupted her rest.
Fontepon, already a Knight, had made a round trip to the Opposite Continent, and her disciple Quade had been caught in a Silence spell and spent half a day communicating through gestures and sign language.
Upon waking, Raina cleaned up the mess she’d made and ordered that no one approach her while she slept.
“The Marquis will suffer the same fate at the hands of Raina. Who could possibly block the magic of an 8-Circle Mage?”
“Let’s just wait until she wakes up.”
The Knights thought that would be enough to make Maverick Marquis give up. He was terrified of the Grand Mage, after all.
Maverick Marquis stroked his sharp jawline, pondered briefly, then curled his lips into a smile.
“There’s always a way.”
“Huh? Marquis…!”
He moved his long legs without hesitation and entered the Study. Even in sleep, Raina—whose memories from her past life had fully returned—reacted sensitively to the presence of an intruder.
As magical power unconsciously gathered in Raina’s hand resting on the armrest, the Knights grew anxious. But Maverick himself remained unperturbed and opened his mouth calmly.
“Raina.”
His voice held not a trace of concern.
“Where’s the Fourth Prince? I don’t see him around.”
She flinched.
At those words, Raina’s body, which had been perfectly still until now, stirred. In an instant, the magical power in her hand scattered, and her eyelids lifted as she sat up from the cushion she’d been resting on.
“Your Highness…?”
Propped up on her elbows, Raina turned her head to the side as if searching for someone. Her face, where cool tones blended with soft lines, was beautiful.
With a dazed expression, she blinked as she looked around the Study, then frowned when she confirmed the owner of the hand that had suddenly entered her field of vision.
“…What?”
“What? That’s how you greet someone after seeing their face? How hurtful.”
Why was Maverick, whom she’d seen ad nauseam at the Imperial Palace, in her sanctuary?
“Did you just say Fourth Prince?”
“You must be hearing things. I would never call His Majesty the Emperor the Fourth Prince.”
Maverick Marquis spoke with a shameless smile. Raina pressed her forehead back against the cushion.
She’d opened her eyes upon hearing the words “Fourth Prince” in her drowsy state, recalling Kevenriak’s childhood. But instead of her beloved Emperor, it was Deyel Maverick looking down at her and smiling.
“I’m not in a good mood.”
“I figured as much, so I brought a gift. It’s an expensive hair ornament from overseas. The Director of the Daisy Detective Agency asked me to give it to you. She hopes you’ll accept this and graciously overlook the last commission.”
You’re the Director.
But Raina didn’t have the energy to argue with Maverick’s act. Even speaking felt tedious. Some might ask why she bothered breathing at all if she felt this way, but if she could live without it, she desperately wished she could.
Taking advantage of the moment, Maverick quickly inserted the hair ornament into Raina’s hair. The transparent flowers, supposedly made of crystal, were so exquisitely crafted it was hard to believe. The lavish yet subdued elegance suited Raina’s aura perfectly.
It was a bribe prepared to overlook the mistake from the last commission, but when something suited her this well, pleasant feelings naturally arose.
“Be sure to show His Majesty. Tell him the Director of the Daisy Detective Agency has such excellent taste.”
“Why did you come? All the way to Hibeiro?”
Regardless, Raina hoped Maverick would finish his business and leave quickly.
“Listen, Raina. I’m the Director of the Special Investigation Bureau, right? I misspoke once during a meeting, and now the bureaucrats have designated me as their errand boy.”
“Maverick, please just state your business.”
“His Majesty the Emperor disappeared last night.”
“What?”
Raina let out a startled cry and sat up fully. Maverick shrugged his shoulders.
“I naturally assumed you’d come to Hibeiro chasing after your missing lover, but it seems you don’t know either. Where on earth has he gone? You have no idea?”
“…I don’t.”
Kevenriak’s disappearance from the Imperial Palace—it was unthinkable. Raina shook her head, her expression utterly bewildered. Maverick spoke with barely concealed interest in his voice.
“In any case, it’s an emergency.”

***

The moment Raina heard the news of his disappearance, she teleported to the Imperial Palace. She immediately retrieved the Grimoire of Magic and ordered it to pull up information on Kevenriak, but—
“I can’t locate him?”
“Are you sure you’re doing this properly? Try again.”
“Ugh. This is already the fifth time! Are you doubting my abilities, Master?! Is this body really such a shoddy grimoire—?!”
The indignant Zikhard couldn’t utter a sound under Raina’s silence spell.
The Grimoire of Magic thrashed about wildly, fluttering its pages. Caught in that gust, Raina sighed.
If Zikhard’s search yielded nothing, it meant Kevenriak was not in the Imperial Palace.
‘Where could he have gone?’
Raina thought of places Kevenriak might visit and teleported to them in sequence. The villa outside Jenia, the Grand Temple, and Tunchar.
The place where I first opened my eyes in this world had transformed—where once lay a great pit now stood Tunchar, the resplendent capital of the Tunterra Empire, restored to its glory from fifteen years ago.
An unusually large crowd had gathered in Tunchar’s central plaza, watching a statue being installed.
“Is it really right to erect a statue of an enemy mage in Tunchar?”
“Betuzhenia and we signed a peace treaty, so they’re no longer an enemy nation. Stop your grumbling. It’s true that Raina Hart saved our lives from the Dragon.”
“What are you talking about? Even if Jo grumbles, would that Grand Mage care? My sister, who’s a mage, said that no one can touch Betuzhenia now. Raina Hart goes without saying, and even the Emperor is a top-tier mage.”
“Did you know those two are planning to marry? The Grand Mage has completely captivated the Emperor!”
The man spoke of the rumor he’d heard at a tavern a few days ago with amusement, laughing heartily—unaware that the very Raina Hart he was discussing stood right behind him.
“….”
“For rumors about Kevenriak to have spread even to other empires, he must have been quite obvious about it.”
The Grimoire of Magic chuckled quietly from within Raina’s robes.
“What about Keri?”
“Can’t locate him. He’s not in Tunchar either.”
Raina moved to another location—Vivian’s Mansion. Since Pialtis Asperada had been stripped of his noble status, Vivian would soon become the Duke of House Asperada.
“Grand Mage!”
“Oh, Miss! Be careful not to trip while running! Please watch yourself—!”
Vivian spotted Raina standing in the garden and rushed out of the mansion. Her maid Maya followed anxiously behind her.
“You should have sent word—I would have come to greet you! What brings you here?”
Vivian’s cheeks flushed from exertion. Yet she wasn’t breathless, nor did she suffer from a headache. Now, “healthy” suited her far better than “frail.”
Her hazel eyes sparkled brilliantly as she gazed at Raina.
‘Like a puppy….’
Without thinking, Raina reached out and stroked Vivian’s hair.
A fleeting thought crossed her mind about whether such an action was appropriate toward the future mistress of House Asperada, but Vivian simply beamed with joy, her tail wagging as she looked at Raina. To her question about the purpose of the visit, Raina answered.
“His Majesty has disappeared.”
After hearing the full story, Vivian paused in thought before asking Raina Hart a question.
“Have you checked the trees near the Lord’s Castle?”
“The trees?”
“Yes, because he did the same thing last time.”
“Last time?”
She was referring to that night when they searched for a lodger in the Rebel Village, but Raina’s soul had been asleep in Vivian’s body then—there was no way she could know.
Vivian recalled the man who resembled a blue butterfly, standing with the moon at his back.
“In my opinion, Grand Mage, His Majesty is in Hibei right now.”
She could be certain of it. Because—
“That’s what the male lead does.”
“…What?”
Though Raina couldn’t make sense of it at all, she returned to Hibei just as Vivian had suggested.

***

“…How long have you been here?”
And Vivian had been right.
Near the Lord’s Castle, high in a massive tree. When Raina stepped onto the thick branch, the magical power camouflaged by the lush foliage scattered into the air.
A man revealed himself amid countless glimmers of magical light. Raina stared at him sitting at the end of the branch with an incredulous expression.
“….”
“You said you’d return in a week.”
At those words, the man lifted the head he had been bowing.
Beneath hair as black as pitch, blue eyes gazed up at Raina quietly.
“The bed is too wide, Raina.”

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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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