For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 22

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

Chapter 22

When Raina Hart set the Imperial Palace as her destination.
There was one thing she needed to confirm above all else.

‘The Grimoire of Magic sleeping in the Secret Vault of the Imperial Household.’

The Imperial Library, accessible only to the Imperial Family.
In the original story, ten-year-old Kevenriak Heteroven followed the voice of the Grimoire of Magic calling to him and ventured there.
And upon encountering the Grimoire of Magic.
Kevenriak Heteroven made a contract with it, pledging his soul in exchange for receiving its power for the rest of his life.

***

The Secret Vault of the Imperial Library, its barrier dispelled and door opened by Raina Hart.

“Who are you?”

I gazed into the Secret Vault.
A single thick, expensive-looking tome tilted at a forty-five-degree angle, one edge resting against the ground, spoke to me.

‘It was already awake.’

I had prepared for this by finding a sealing spell.

“Are you perhaps a dragon?”
“No.”

A quarter, though.

“A human, then?”

At my response, the closed book flipped its pages open with a rustling sound.
The crimson ribbon bookmark of the suspended tome fluttered like a tongue.

[You shall regret ever seeking out the noble Zikhard!]

The thick pages of the Grimoire of Magic began to turn.

“Sorry, but you need to go back to sleep.”

Raina Hart’s hand, wrapped in a sealing incantation, lunged forward in an instant.
It touched the sturdy book cover of the Grimoire of Magic, finished with leather binding.

Crack!
Sparks flew across the book’s cover.

“Kyaaaah!”

The Grimoire of Magic, which had been selecting the most agonizing spell to inflict upon the human before it, shrieked.

“…?”
[Human, what was that strange thing you just—!]

The unsealed Grimoire of Magic thrashed about wildly.

“Why didn’t it work?”

I questioned my own magic for the first time—a spell that had failed.
There was no way a Grand Mage’s magic wouldn’t work.
It must have been a matter of poor aim.

‘Why is that human looking at me like that?’

The Grimoire of Magic sensed Raina Hart’s ominous gaze upon it.

[Fire—.]

It hastily attempted some offensive spell, but Raina Hart’s binding magic was faster.
Dozens of ethereal ropes rose from the ground into the air.
With a snap, they closed the open Grimoire of Magic and wound tightly around it, drawing it before Raina Hart.

“Y-you human!”
“If you close the book, you can’t use magic, right?”
“H-how did you—?! W-wait just a moment!”

Light shimmered around Raina Hart’s hand as she prepared to cast a sealing spell.
Her hand extended toward the center of the grimoire’s sturdy cover.

“Sleep.”

Crack!
“Kyaaaah!”
“…Did my aim slip a little? Let me try again.”

Crackle!
“Kyaaaagh!”
“…I need to be more precise.”

Crackle-crackle!
“Kyaaaaaaagh!”
….

The Secret Vault filled with the grimoire’s screams and the sound of Raina Hart’s magic.

“M-Mistress!”

Finally, the grimoire called out to Raina Hart desperately, its appearance now tattered and worn. Soot marks dotted its book cover.
At the word “mistress,” Raina Hart’s hand paused for a moment.

“Why would I be your mistress?”
“P-Please make a contract with me! I’ll serve you well! I’m excellent at magic! I know so much! There’s only one of me in this entire world! Oh, that’s right—humans go crazy for limited editions, don’t they? I’m far more unique than any limited edition!”

How noisy.
Sealing magic gathered once more around Raina Hart’s hand.
Feeling the chill radiating from her, the grimoire hastily inserted its red bookmark.

“I’ll be quiet, I promise.”
“…You want to make a contract with me?”
“Yes.”

Though it was disappointing that this generation’s contractor was predetermined to be a black-haired boy, this choice wasn’t entirely unfavorable either.
That terrifying magical power, that cold-blooded nature that wouldn’t even spare a pitiful book—these were hardly disqualifying traits.
In fact, they seemed sufficient qualities to become my master.
The only strange thing was that information about this being simply wouldn’t surface in my memory.
However, it was strange that information about that being didn’t come to mind for me.

■■ ■■■ ■■■
■■ ■ ■ ■ ■■■
….
….

That was why I’d asked if she was a dragon in the first place.
In my thousand years of existence, among all the beings I’d encountered, only dragons had information I couldn’t access.
In his thousand years of existence, among all the beings he had encountered, the dragon was the only one whose information he could not access.

“Through the trust we’ll build together going forward… and through love just beginning to bloom? What’s the point of knowing everything when we’ve just met? You simply have to trust and move forward.”
….
“….”

It seems like everyone at the Imperial Palace, whether it’s books or the Emperor, is just making up nonsense.

“Gasp.”
“Hup.”

The Grimoire of Magic, Zikhard, cried out urgently.
“Grimoire of Magic, Zikhard cried out urgently.”

“Information?”
“Information?”

Kevenriak was about to re-seal it to prevent contracting, but this talking book possessed cheat-tier abilities even in the original story.
The reason the original Kevenriak could repeatedly put the protagonists in dire straits was largely thanks to this Grimoire of Magic’s contributions.
This talking book right before my eyes possessed fraudulent-tier abilities even in the original work.
“What is it?”

“What is it?”
“That’s right.”

The Grimoire of Magic deliberately paused for a moment.
It was to buy time to access information about a certain individual.
Raina Hart.
Information about that being showed nothing but her name.

‘But information about others is visible.’

An individual I had been accessing repeatedly ever since awakening in the Secret Vault two years ago.
Had things gone according to plan, she would have become my contractor—.

Kevenriak Heteroven
Age: 12
…
Occupation: Mage (4th Circle)
Specialties: Magic (A), Swordsmanship (A), Observation (A), Speed Reading (S), Baking (F)
…
Remarks: Disciple of Raina Hart, Fourth Prince of the Betuzhenia Empire

Raina Hart appeared in Kevenriak’s information.
What master wouldn’t treasure information about their disciple?
Especially that of a disciple who had just come into their own.
Zikhard pulled out the red bookmark he had hidden between the book’s spine and smiled wickedly.

“So, you’re saying he just awakened to the 4th Circle?”
“Who.”

One must state the subject clearly when speaking.
At Raina’s cold gaze, Zikhard flinched.

“Kevenriak…”

***

“For a lowborn woman to have earned the title of Archmage—how utterly presumptuous.”

A conversation between the Empress and the Imperial Concubine.
I wanted nothing more than to overturn their table and seize them by the collar.
But I had to honor my promise to Raina to remain composed.

‘Hold back. You made a promise to your teacher.’
‘They’re insulting my teacher.’
‘Even so, you must endure. You promised Raina Hart.’
‘Even as they make Raina Hart a laughingstock?’

Unbearable sorrow and rage accumulated near my heart, burning hot.
Even as I stood there, their mockery of Raina Hart continued unabated.
Everyone gathered here was insulting her.

“Raina Hart was an orphan, you say?”
‘Kevenriak.’
“That rustic-smelling thing called Raina Hart, you know.”
‘Swallow the Imperial Palace whole.’
“Did you see how she fawns over His Majesty the Emperor? They say she meets with him alone again today—I wonder what tricks she’ll pull this time—.”
‘You’re a monster, aren’t you.’

The moment I thought I could endure no longer—.

Clang!

A sharp pain erupted near my heart, and the sound of metal grinding harshly echoed through my mind.
And I understood.

‘I’ve grown stronger.’

Now I could protect my teacher.
Kevenriak chanted a spell toward the noisy ones who were shaming Raina Hart.

“Silence.”

***

Silence.

….

Kevenriak gazed down at his own hands.
Power surged through them.
The source of that power lay beside my heart—the Mana Heart. And above the three rings enveloping the Mana Heart, a newly formed mana ring had emerged.

‘I’m beginning to understand why my teacher said that from the Fourth Circle onward, one cannot advance through training alone.’

The power I felt was incomparably different in dimension from the transition between the Second and Third Circles.
Water arrows materialized in the air from Kevenriak’s incantation.

Pabawak!
A rapid, turbulent sound of water echoed from the arrows.
Entirely different from when I faced the Lizardman not long ago.
Not only had the size tripled, but the power and sharpness as well.

‘The Fourth Prince…!’

The Fourth Prince stood in the center of the room, gazing up at the water arrows he had created.
Empress Tratsha sat at the table, her movements sealed, watching the spectacle unfold.
Cold droplets from the water arrows scattered across her cheek.

‘What manner of humiliation is this!’

She had merely witnessed a subordinate’s transgression.
For that trivial matter, over twenty people had their mouths and movements sealed.
Including the knights waiting outside.
Silence—a Fourth Circle spell.
It meant Kevenriak was a mage of Fourth Circle or higher, not Second Circle.
Though he could not possibly be Fifth Circle. The Fourth Prince was not Raina Hart, after all.

‘Merely a single Fourth Circle mage!’

Merely was too light a word for a high-ranking mage.
At twelve years old, it was far too lofty a realm to have reached.
Skilled mages only gained new enlightenment and ascended to such heights around their thirties.
Yet the Empress could not accept it.

“Why would I, who love the Fourth Prince like a son, ever attempt to kill him!”
“Y-yes, Your Majesty the Empress speaks true. This is surely a frame-up…!”

Four years ago. The shameful struggle for survival before Raina Hart had been because she was an Eighth Circle mage of the highest order.
The pinnacle mortals could reach. Standing at that apex, a power no one could overcome.
Yet there existed a Fourth Circle mage within the Imperial Palace.

‘I, Empress Tratsha Heteroven…!’

Having to beg for my life from a mere Fourth Circle mage?
There was no humiliation greater than this.

‘I will not let this stand. I will not forgive this!’

And then.

“You—.”

As the spell’s duration expired, the Empress’s voice—the first to be sealed—spilled from her lips.
Kevenriak Heteroven’s gaze turned toward the Empress.

“Did you think wearing human skin would make you human? You are still a beast! A worthless creature writhing like a worm!”

Save for the Empress consumed by rage, those who looked upon Kevenriak Heteroven bore terror in their eyes.
It seemed the Fourth Prince would slaughter them all.

“Your Majesty, the Empress.”

Kevenriak Heteroven walked toward her slowly.

“Do not come near! You monster! Do not come!”

Her body remained sealed.
The Empress, consumed by fear and fury, screamed with a voice strained to breaking.
In Kevenriak Heteroven’s eyes reflected the faces of those gripped by terror.

‘Raina.’

Though all he had done was silence the mouths and actions of those who insulted Raina, those in the Imperial Palace remained unchanged. The only difference was that fear now mingled with the contempt in their eyes when they looked upon him.

‘I am still—.’

Kevenriak Heteroven confirmed it once more.

‘A monster.’
“No, you’re not.”

Kevenriak felt my hand stroking his head.

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