For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 31

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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 31

“Twenty percent? No. Ten percent.”
“Gasp. Then how are we supposed to eat?”

The shaggy-haired Director leaned back against the sofa’s armrest, feigning surprise.
He was maintaining his position through acting rather than genuine emotion.

‘I can see right through him—spinning his wheels trying to find a sucker.’

Twenty percent of three top-grade magic stones.
It would’ve been one thing if he’d actually contributed to finding them.
But he wanted to sit idle and live off the profits for three generations.
Even thieves had standards—this was beyond shameless.

“Don’t know what you’re dealing with? Seven percent.”
“Ten percent is more than enough to live on.”
“Five percent.”

The Director trembled as he cautiously called out a number.

“…Nine.”
“I’ll find another detective agency.”
“Wait!”

The Director grabbed Raina Hart as she rose from the sofa.
His right hand spread open toward her in supplication.

“Let’s settle on five percent commission, esteemed customer.”
“A customer who boosts your annual revenue by seven years’ worth isn’t exactly a bandit.”
“…How do you know our agency’s sales figures so precisely?”

There was no denying it—the estimate matched roughly with the anticipated auction price of the magic stones.
When had Raina Hart become so sharp with numbers?
She used to be that precious fool, no—that generous client who cared only about magic.
Over four years, she’d become a different person entirely.

“It seems you’ve done some studying on finances in Hibei?”

It was thanks to Zikhard providing me with information about mana stone prices and the Daisy Detective Agency beforehand.
But there was no way the Director could know about the Grimoire of Magic in my subspace pocket.
I gestured for him to just revise the contract.

“Are you disappointed you couldn’t squeeze out more?”
“Not at all.”

The embarrassed Director cleared his throat and revised the contract.
After signing the revised contract, I spoke to the Director.

“And there’s one more request I’d like to make.”
“Yes? Please tell me.”

I pulled out a vial of potion from my pocket.
It was the antidote to poison—the one the Emperor said he’d send a trustworthy messenger to deliver.
I had the Director of Daisy in mind for that ‘trustworthy messenger’.
But seeing him in person today, I wondered if my choice of words was a bit hasty.
Still, among the available options, he was the most trustworthy. He wasn’t the type to break a contract.

“Deliver this to the Emperor. And prepare a separate contract for this as well.”
“To His Majesty the Emperor? I see. You cannot enter the Imperial Palace, can you, Miss Raina Hart?”

The Director nodded as if he understood the reason.
The Empress had issued a banishment order just the other day, yet he already knew about it.

‘Information certainly travels fast here.’

I looked at the Director.

“I’m grateful for your trust in giving me this request, but how could someone as lowly as myself enter the Imperial Palace?”

Thump-thump.
The Director brought his clasped hands to his face, saying that just meeting His Majesty the Emperor made him tremble.
I ignored the Director, who seemed to need attention, and offered a solution.

“You can go through Marquis Maverick.”
“….”

My casual remark hung in the air, and silence descended for a moment.
Behind hands that had stopped trembling, a bright smile played across my lips.
Beneath the Director’s shaggy brown hair, heterochromatic eyes gleamed with sharp intensity.
The Director of the Daisy Detective Agency.
Maverick the Marquis spoke to me.

“Isn’t he expensive?”

Expensive or not, he’d cost about as much as a magic stone commission fee.
I waved my hand dismissively, telling him to handle it as he saw fit.

***

“Armor oil? We have it. Please wait a moment and I’ll bring it for you.”

Fourteen years old this year.
Tiernan Fargan, the youngest of the wandering mercenary group, brightened at the clerk’s words.
He was fortunate to find a shop nearby.

‘I hesitated because of how the place looked, but I’m glad I came in.’

Otherwise, he would have had to go all the way to the central Merchant District.
His mercenary group didn’t accommodate personal circumstances, so they would have departed before he returned.
Relieved, Tiernan Fargan waited for the clerk while gazing at the empty counter.
Robes were displayed on the wall behind the counter.
Long ones that reached the ankles, with large hoods attached.

“….”

Whenever Tiernan Fargan saw robes like those, he thought of someone.
Someone who had worn a robe and hidden their identity.

“Survive.”

That woman who had bought him from the Slave Trader and freed him on a whim.
Four years had already passed.

‘I’ve clung to life desperately to find you, the one who knows my true identity.’

The Imperial Prince of the fallen Tunterra Empire, Tiernan Fargan.
Having abandoned his original status and name, what remained were his knowledge and his skill with the blade.
To survive, Tiernan chose the sword.
He begged a mercenary group he encountered on the road to take him in, swearing he would do anything.

“I like the fire in your eyes.”

The mercenary captain, seeing the determination burning in the boy’s gaze, took him in.
He witnessed work beneath his station and dangerous tasks, completed them, and endured.

“Your Highness, the Imperial Prince.”

Then, recently, Tiernan encountered someone who recognized his face.
A high-ranking noble from the fallen Tunterra.
The noble wept upon learning that a surviving member of the imperial family still lived.
After that, he introduced Tiernan to the forces he had gathered.
Survivors of Tunterra seeking to reclaim the lands stolen by the Betuzhenia Empire.

“We need a leader.”

The sole Imperial Prince who did not perish with Tunchar, the capital of the Tunterra Empire.
They begged him to become their leader.
But.

‘Raina Hart exists in the Betuzhenia Empire.’

With that witch still alive, could they truly reclaim the old lands of Tunterra?

“Run, Your Highness!”

The pale violet hair scattering within the distant, wavering inferno.
The sight burned into Tiernan’s mind on the day Raina Hart set fire to the Tunterra Imperial Palace—the image of her fleeing form.
Not a single day had passed without remembering that silhouette.
He alone had survived the hellish sea of flames created by the witch.
Tiernan bit his lower lip.

‘For Tunterra to be reclaimed, that witch must disappear.’

Inside the quiet General Store.
The Clerk who had asked me to wait a moment still hadn’t returned, apparently unable to locate the oil.

“….”

Then I became aware of another presence in the shop when I heard the rustle of fabric brushing against something.
I turned reflexively. Before the display case stood a black-haired boy of noble bearing, beautiful in that delicate way that seemed almost ethereal.

‘Is he even alive?’

That was my thought.
The boy was so utterly motionless.
He sat quietly atop an oak barrel, his gaze never wavering from the glass marble he held in his hand.

“Hey there.”

I found myself speaking to the boy without quite meaning to.
Though I was certain I’d never seen his face before, something about him felt strangely familiar.
Those sapphire eyes that had been fixed on the marble turned toward me.
Eyes like precious gems.

“….”

In that moment when our gazes met briefly.

Click.
The sound of a door handle turning echoed through the shop.
Kevenriak, his ears perking up alertly, turned his head.
Following Kevenriak’s movement, my head turned as well.

***

“A customer came by?”
“Yes, sir.”
“A customer for the shop? Not for the Detective Agency? For the General Store?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Huh.”

The Director, who had come out to the General Store to see Raina Hart off, gaped in astonishment at the Clerk’s words, his mouth falling open beneath his unkempt hair.
Just moments before.

“My apologies for the wait, customer. The oil was in the storage room. It’s a bit old—would that be acceptable? There should be no issues with using it.”

The sound of the door handle turning was the Clerk emerging from the storage room.
The moment Kevenriak caught sight of the Clerk’s floral-patterned apron, he shifted his gaze to the glass beads.

“That’s fine. How much?”
“Just half the marked price, please.”

If I delayed any longer, the Mercenary Group would depart.
Tiernan Fargan hastily paid and left the shop.
Without even managing a conversation with Kevenriak.

“How come no customers come in? Should I make the storefront look even stranger?”

The Director muttered in disbelief.
Raina Hart took her disciple’s hand and put distance between herself and the Director.

“Keri, did you wait long?”

As if Kevenriak had only been worrying over the glass beads the entire time, he turned to Raina Hart with a composed expression and asked.

“No. Are you finished with your business?”
“Yes, I am.”

Raina Hart whispered to her disciple.

“We’re wealthy now.”

Kevenriak’s eyes crinkled with a faint smile.
He had no interest in becoming wealthy, but seeing his master in such good spirits was enough for him.

“What were you doing in the shop?”

Kevenriak answered Raina’s question with nothing but a smile, buying himself time.
He kept his gaze fixed on the glass marble she had given him.
Ready to smash through the door the moment any hint of red appeared.
But if he answered that way, it would only trouble his master.

“I saw a guest.”

Kevenriak recounted the scene he could recall.
It was a silver-haired boy who appeared older than himself.
Sturdy build, a sword hanging at his waist.
And then….

‘I don’t remember much beyond that.’

Kevenriak paid little attention to anyone other than Raina.
Tiernan Fargan’s appearance had already faded into nothing more than a blurry silhouette in his mind.

“You saw a guest?”
“Yes.”

The disciple nodded.

“That’s right. The Imperial Prince helped us when I stepped away.”

The sharp-eared clerk chimed in.
At those words, Raina’s expression hardened with gravity.

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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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