For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 2
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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 2
The Emperor of the Betuzhenia Empire had three wives and six children.
The Empress and the First Empress Consort were women backed by powerful houses, but the Second Empress Consort, a former dancer, was not.
The child of that Second Empress Consort—the Fourth Prince, Kevenriak Heteroven.
The Second Empress Consort, possessing nothing of value, bequeathed to Kevenriak only raven-black hair and striking features before she passed away young.
“The Fourth Prince’s treatment? Leave it to the Empress.”
The Emperor was indifferent to the child, and the Empress and First Empress Consort despised him.
Before he had even turned two, the boy was assigned to the oldest, most sunless palace within the Imperial Palace.
Even his allowance was meager, leaving him poorly fed and clothed.
Since the imperial family paid him no mind, he became the perfect target for the servants to vent their frustrations upon.
A prince who could be beaten and tormented without consequence. Could there be a better outlet for their stress?
For the growing Kevenriak, neglect and abuse became his daily existence.
Years passed, and he turned eight. Nothing changed.
‘What am I?’
Around that time, Kevenriak began wandering the grounds near the Separate Palace, searching for his own identity.
The Imperial Palace was vast and filled with people, yet none offered him answers.
Whenever their eyes met his, they would hastily retreat, and if he dared speak to them, they would cry out in alarm and flee.
To them, he was both present and absent—visible yet to be ignored.
‘Ah, I understand now.’
Gazing into a cracked mirror he found by chance in a refuse heap, I defined myself.
Unlike the well-dressed inhabitants of the palace, my appearance was filthy and unkempt.
Beneath tangled raven-black hair, my sunken blue eyes blinked as if in grim recognition.
‘I’m a monster.’
An old picture book lay scattered across the floor of the Separate Palace. The monster weeping within its pages bore my own visage.
Filthy and hideous—a creature no one would deign to associate with.
The only people who would speak to me at all were the two servants attached to my Separate Palace.
Even if they offered me nothing but moldy, stale bread and cold soup.
Even when my hair became matted and a foul stench began to emanate from me, and they placed me in a tub brimming with icy water to wash me clean.
Kevenriak was grateful to those two people.
They were the only ones who cared for a monster like myself.
‘I will spare your lives.’
Monsters grew to kill people, so surely one day I would slaughter everyone in the Imperial Palace.
I didn’t know why I thought this way, but I believed I had been born for precisely that purpose.
Then came that fateful day.
As always, I hid in the branches of a tree to observe the palace grounds, away from prying eyes.
“Marquis Hart, have you given thought to the proposal I extended previously? Surely it would benefit us both—mph?!”
“My apologies, but I’m occupied.”
The woman waved her hand, and the man’s incessant voice ceased.
There were many mages within the Imperial Palace, so I recognized that the woman had cast magic.
“Speaking of marriage. Does he truly wish to propose to an eighteen-year-old? What manner of person is he?”
The woman, who had blocked her pursuer’s footsteps with magic as well, passed beneath the tree where I was concealed, muttering to herself.
With each step, her pale violet hair swayed and danced in the air.
‘…Like a flower.’
I could not tear my gaze away.
I held my breath as carefully as possible so as not to be discovered.
I hoped she would not flee upon seeing me.
Thus did the child discover Raina Hart.
‘I wish to see her again.’
The young prince remained true to his desire.
From the next day onward, Kevenriak observed Raina from a distance, concealed in the shadows.
“Time crawls by like a damn snail….”
The next day as well.
“Damn it. Did the author trap me here?”
And the day after that too.
“…Ah. The world truly is beautiful.”
And today, yet another day later.
“….”
Kevenriak Heteroven broke into a cold sweat within the undergrowth.
His silver eyes pierced through the bushes where I hid, my footsteps having ceased.
‘I can’t be discovered….’
Who would welcome a monster spying on them?
“Lady Hart? Is something over there?”
“…No.”
The Attendant standing beside her spoke up at that moment.
Raina Hart turned her head, then moved forward as if nothing were amiss.
“I thought a cat might be living there.”
Kevenriak Heteroven exhaled a small sigh of relief as her footsteps faded into the distance.
***
‘I can’t pretend I don’t know at this point.’
I walked through the Garden, shaking my head slightly.
I’d noticed it starting yesterday, but once I became aware of it, I wondered how I’d missed it for so long. The sensation of being watched was prickling my cheeks.
‘Ignoring it can only last so long.’
Everywhere she goes, she hides and stares with such intensity that it becomes awkward to pretend not to notice.
Does she think she’s some sort of wild cat?
“Lady Raina Hart, as you know, it would be best not to venture in that direction.”
The Attendant sent by the Emperor whispered to Raina.
The direction he referred to was where Raina had paused her steps moments ago, her gaze lingering briefly.
A sprawling Garden overgrown with neglect, and beyond it, a Separate Palace whose paint had peeled away so thoroughly it had become an eyesore.
“Why? It’s merely one of the countless Separate Palaces scattered throughout the Imperial Palace, is it not?”
“Well, that is…”
When Raina feigned ignorance and asked, the Attendant realized his mistake.
He had offered the warning because he noticed her studying the Fourth Prince’s Separate Palace so intently, but she appeared genuinely unaware.
He regretted bringing up the subject at all and stammered as he opened his mouth.
“It is that… the Empress dislikes it, you see…”
“Dislikes it?”
“Yes, that is correct. It has fallen out of the Empress’s favor, so no one dares approach it. Should one become entangled with it, she might… punish them…”
The Attendant lowered his voice as he watched Raina’s expression grow increasingly rigid.
Though she had softened somewhat in recent times, the young prodigy mage was originally someone he could never have dared address.
She was notorious for her mercilessness, with a chill wind that swept through the very air around her.
Some even whispered that dragon’s blood flowed through her veins, which was why she felt no emotion—though such rumors were generally dismissed as jest.
“Lady Hart…?”
And yet Raina Hart’s expression was darkening as she looked at him.
Fear made the Attendant’s voice tremble.
…
But contrary to his concerns, the Attendant held no place in Raina’s thoughts.
What she saw was a translucent window that had materialized the moment he began to speak.
Night was the hour of hyenas. The hyenas, beaten by the lions of day, had found an abandoned lion cub. They spat, kicked, and hurled it mercilessly. A helpless young beast that could not even cry out.
…
The small child knew not how to resist. For the child, it was simply life.
Yet familiarity could not erase pain. Nights spent sleepless in agony stretched endlessly.
It was clearly a description of Kevenriak’s past from the novel.
I frowned at the translucent window visible only to me.
‘What is the intention behind showing me this?’
The major events in 【Gardens of Betuzhenia】 were orchestrated by Kevenriak, the tyrant and main antagonist of the Betuzhenia Empire.
For the two protagonists, those events served as a gateway to achieving love and reclaiming the Tunterra Empire.
To accomplish that, Kevenriak first had to slaughter all his blood relatives and ascend to the throne of Emperor.
‘Even if I know the child is growing up miserably, there’s nothing I can do about it.’
The harsh circumstances he was experiencing now were indispensable for his eventual awakening as a tyrant.
So ignoring this was the right choice.
Just as I was about to turn my gaze away with clouded eyes—
The child’s life was darkness without a single ray of light.
A new translucent window materialized, as if urging me forward.
Frustration burst from my lips.
“What exactly do you expect me to do?”
“Oh, no! I misspoke!”
The Attendant, startled by my outburst, waved his hands frantically.
***
And two days later.
“….”
I stood before a fence overgrown with wild vegetation.
The familiar, grotesque Separate Palace was reflected in my deep silver eyes.
A profound sigh escaped from the depths of my chest.
I felt like a pawn in some incomprehensible game.
But there was no helping it.
“My lady, dinner is prepared.”
During her stay at the Imperial Palace, Raina Hart was served lavish meals at every sitting.
It was only natural—she was a war hero and a distinguished guest who held the Emperor’s singular favor.
That day, as I reached for a glistening slice of steak, something shifted.
Moldy bread.
“…?”
A translucent window hung suspended in the air, and my brow furrowed involuntarily at the sight of it.
I set down my fork, abandoning the steak, and picked up a spoon instead.
I tried to ignore the window that had entered my field of vision and continue eating.
The child had never tasted warm soup.
I paused.
I stared at the food I had been about to eat.
A rich stew, steaming gently, brimming with vegetables and meat.
“My lord? Have you already finished your meal?”
“Yes.”
“But you haven’t eaten anything….”
It was after that moment.
Every time I tried to eat something, Kevenriak Heteroven’s narrative would burst forth and obstruct my vision.
I attempted to ignore it and force food into my mouth several times, but my throat felt rough and scratchy—as if I were swallowing sand.
“Ah, really!”
In the end, I surrendered after two days.
“Whether you build an unfortunate narrative or not, you still need to feed the child properly. If she doesn’t eat during her growth years and ends up stunted, I’m holding you responsible.”
Whether it was an attempt to invoke guilt or not, I had no way to win against someone who fixated on eating.
I stormed away from the table and marched into the kitchen.
And that was how I arrived near the Separate Palace of the Fourth Prince.
“….”
Raina settled onto a blanket she had spread before the hedges where Kevenriak Heteroven was concealed, gazing down at the dense foliage.
From within the shrubs came the faint whisper of leaves brushing against one another.
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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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hope
I feel bad for him already, the mc denied trying to help him and only tried just because the system will bother her while eating, I hope at least there will be character development