For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 18

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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 18

“Are you alright, Raina Hart?”
“I’m fine.”

Raina Hart waved her hand dismissively at Person, signaling there was nothing to worry about.
A delicate bracelet trembled against her wrist.
It had been placed there at the checkpoint leading into Jenia.

***

Moments earlier.
Through Raina Hart’s teleportation, the party had arrived near the checkpoint.

“Ah, no! Raina Hart!?”

The knight’s eyes widened in astonishment.
What I had just received was nothing less than the identification of an Archmage.
An identification card issued by the Mage Association.
The identification of an 8-Circle mage shimmered with an ethereal radiance.
The rumor that dwarves had painstakingly hammered gold and diamonds together to craft it appeared to be true.

“I… Countess Hart. Your… hand, please.”

The nervous knight spoke to Raina Hart, his voice trembling.

‘My hand? Is he asking for a handshake?’

It happened occasionally.
People who recognized Raina Hart would ask if they might shake her hand, calling it the honor of a lifetime.

‘A handshake won’t wear away my hand, after all.’

Raina Hart readily extended her hand.
The knight brought his trembling hands forward to meet hers.
And then.

Click.
A thin metal bracelet encircled Raina Hart’s wrist.

“…?”
“All mages of the Third Circle and above capable of teleportation are required to wear one. Teleportation is prohibited within Jenia, you see.”

This knight was repaying kindness with business. How typical.
Raina Hart stared at the bracelet with bewilderment.
She let mana flow through her body as a test. The circulation posed no problems.

“It doesn’t seem to interfere with magic itself.”
“The bracelet only nullifies teleportation incantations. According to the Mage Association that crafted it, it interacts with the protective barrier enveloping Jenia. That’s why teleportation is impossible within the castle walls.”
“Since when?”
“It’s been a while now. Looking at your entry records, your last visit to Jenia was four years ago? The Empress implemented this policy a few months after that.”

The Empress. Something clicked for Raina Hart.
Four years ago, when the Empress had ordered the assassination of Kevenriak Heteroven.
When she had stormed into the Empress’s Palace and warned the Empress herself.

‘She must have been quite frightened when I appeared through teleportation back then.’

It seemed like a policy born from anxiety—never knowing when an Archmage might appear.
One could argue that a magnanimous Archmage might overlook such measures as karmic retribution, but.

‘How inconvenient.’

A distance that could be covered in a single teleportation now required physical exertion to traverse. It was genuinely bothersome.

“What happens if I break the bracelet?”
“You’ll be detected. The signal the bracelet sends to the barrier will be severed. Each bracelet has an identification number. Yours has just been registered with your identity information. Breaking it would make you a criminal suspect.”
“What if I teleport while wearing the bracelet?”
“That’s not easily possible…though you might manage it. In that case, your sudden displacement would be detected, and the Imperial Army standing by within Jenia would be notified immediately. And then.”

The knight pressed both his wrists together tightly.

“What are you doing?”
“You’d be apprehended by the Imperial Army.”

Click-clack, click-clack.
The knight mimicked the sound of shackles with his mouth.
It was an attitude that somehow irritated anyone watching.

“Just one more question. What if you didn’t wear the bracelet at the checkpoint and teleported from outside Jenia to inside?”
“That’s impossible. The barrier set around the castle walls was recently replaced by hiring mages from the Mage Association. Five-circle and six-circle mages established the barrier. Unlike four years ago, the barrier now catches and repels the magical energy of teleportation. Since teleporting from outside Jenia to inside has become impossible, illegal teleportation has been completely eradicated.”

I clicked my tongue.
A six-circle mage was executive-level at the Mage Association.
The cost to hire one wouldn’t have been trivial.
The frightened Empress must have spared no expense.

“However.”

Even then, the knight’s gaze—his wrist still pressed against mine—turned toward the space behind me.
A line of people standing in single file at a distance.
At the very front was Kevenriak, waiting for his turn right after mine.

“….”

Standing motionless, yet radiating an aura as if he might attack the knight at any moment.

“Please restrain yourself. Didn’t Raina Hart ask you to behave?”

Behind him, Person was earnestly trying to calm Kevenriak down.
The knight regarded Kevenriak’s glare with reluctance, then released my wrist.
He held my identification in his hand. Beneath it, he pulled out another identification that had been stacked underneath.

“So Count Hart is this boy’s guardian? Is he a mage as well?”

I brazenly lied to the knight examining Kevenriak’s identification.

“Ah, my cousin. He can’t use magic.”

***

Kevenriak passed through the checkpoint without incident.
I wouldn’t call it fortunate.
It was thanks to the forged identification the Emperor had provided.

A few days before Kevenriak exterminated the Lizardman Lair.
Waiting for Raina Hart upon her return to the Castle was the Imperial First Knights.
The knight commander, Dresherd, handed Kevenriak’s forged identification to Raina Hart.

“Why are you giving this to me?”
“His Majesty the Emperor has ordered that the Fourth Prince’s identity remain concealed and that you come quietly. You can use this at the checkpoints.”
“You want me to pass through checkpoints? Can’t I just teleport directly to the Imperial Palace?”

Dresherd glanced at Raina Hart’s displeased expression, then cleared his throat and spoke.

“However, Countess Hart, if you teleport with us, there would be no problem reaching the Imperial Palace—”
“I’ll find my own way.”
“Perhaps reconsider for a moment.”
“….”

They keep trying to freeload off someone else’s mana.
Well, if teleportation is what they desire.
My magic made roughly ten knights vanish in an instant.
Only the horses they’d ridden remained in the Castle’s Garden.
Person, who had been watching, asked in surprise.

“R-Raina Hart? Where did you send the First Knights?”
“Somewhere with a lovely view.”
“Where exactly is that…”
“The opposite side of the continent. It would be quite difficult to return on foot, wouldn’t it?”
“Y-yes, it would be.”

I wonder if she’s planning to send the horses to the opposite side of the continent as well.
With the horses, at least returning to the Imperial Palace would be somewhat easier.
Out of solidarity with his fellow Imperial Knights, Person nodded in agreement.
Raina Hart spoke.

“Perfect then. They can take their time sightseeing on the way back. Bring the horses to the Village.”
“To the Village?”
“They said the war took everything. Now that it’s over, we should return them.”

And so I obtained Kevenriak’s forged identification, along with the horses.

‘I made a mistake back then. Teleportation was forbidden within Jenia.’

Yet even so, Raina Hart inside the carriage remained unsatisfied.
Currently, the carriage traveled along Jenia’s central thoroughfare, which led directly to the Imperial Palace.
The streets on either side bustled with crowds of city dwellers.

‘Tsk. I should have sent the Imperial First Knights to Jenia. Let them bounce off the barrier. If they’d been caught using illegal teleportation in front of all these people, that white uniform would have taken quite a blow to their pride.’

Though with the Emperor backing them, they might have been released on the spot.
Still, merely having the Emperor’s personal knights become the subject of public gossip would have splattered at least a drop of filth upon the Emperor’s prestige.

‘But that’s nowhere near enough. Not after what our disciple endured.’

The abuse of young Kevenriak. That fact alone made the Heteroven Royal Family an unforgivable enemy to me.

“Little brother.”

I called out to Kevenriak, who sat across from me.

“Why are you being so stubborn?”
“…I’m not.”

He hadn’t spoken since earlier—hardly the behavior of someone who wasn’t upset.
I wondered if it was because the Imperial Palace was drawing near.
But there was something that pricked my conscience slightly.

“Little brother, want to watch your sister spend some money?”
“…?”
“Welcome.”
“I’d like to buy my little brother some clothes—from here to over there.”
“We shall serve you with utmost dedication!”
“I’d like to buy my little brother some writing supplies….”
“We offer complimentary delivery service….”
“I’d like to buy my little brother a sword….”
“Please, step into our VIP room….”
….

After passing through the checkpoint, while waiting for the three knights who had gone to rent a carriage.
I’d been drawn into the bustling shopping district nearby and taken Kevenriak on quite the shopping spree.
As a result, my spatial pocket was now filled with items for Kevenriak, Kin, and the orphanage children.

‘Kin didn’t look particularly pleased, even though she thanked me.’

Raina Hart, troubled by the thought, confessed her observation.

“That’s not true. I saw the corners of Kin’s lips turn down slightly. Is it because you called her your younger sister in casual speech just now?”
“….”

Kevenriak shook his head.
Reflected in his blue eyes was the bracelet on Raina Hart’s wrist.

‘I lack power.’

If I were one of the other imperial princes, could I have prevented that knight from placing the bracelet on Raina Hart?

“It is the Empress’s command, so there is nothing we can do about it.”

Words Person had spoken earlier when stopping me.
Even a mage of exceptional skill cannot protect Raina Hart without authority.
If only I were a prince who could step forward with confidence….

“I pay my respects to the fourth little sun of Heteroven.”

Kevenriak clenched his fists tightly.

‘If I go to the Imperial Palace….’

The voice had reached me last night as well.

[Ogre…ra….]
[…is…Imperial…Palace….]

If I go to the Imperial Palace, will I be able to hear this voice more clearly?
Strangely, whenever I heard this voice, the thought that I must go to the Imperial Palace grew stronger.
Along with the conviction that meeting the owner of this voice would make me stronger.

“By the way, Master.”
“Yes, Kin?”
“I don’t think I want to become your younger sister.”
“…Why is that?”

At my disciple’s sudden confession, I asked for the reason.
From my innocent disciple’s lips flowed a pure explanation of why she felt that way.

“I simply don’t like that form of address.”

Don’t like it.
A direct declaration from my disciple—she didn’t want to become my sister.
Faced with this boundary she was drawing, I averted my gaze toward the window to escape the shock.
By cruel coincidence, I caught sight of a happy young brother and sister walking down the street.

“I… I see.”

It seemed my disciple was entering her rebellious phase earlier than expected.

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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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