For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 37

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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 37

‘I wish you hadn’t wounded yourself just to save others.’

Kevenriak fell silent.
Selfish words threatened to spill from his lips.
Raina Hart’s palm had been cut in an instant.

“Master!”

Unlike Kevenriak, whose face had gone pale, Raina Hart answered with composure.

“Ah, this is the antidote to the venom. I mentioned it earlier, didn’t I? My secret.”

Dragon’s blood.
Something only she possessed.

It was frustrating.
If only dragon’s blood flowed through his veins instead—then it would be he who bore the wound.
Just a wound?
If my master needed it, I would gladly offer an entire arm.
Of course, not if it were for the Empress Consort.

“….”

Raina Hart watched her disciple’s shadowed face with concern.
The death of the Empress or Empress Consort.
To be honest, it was the death of the Heteroven Royal Family—something that stirred not even sympathy in Raina Hart’s heart.

‘But Keri might care.’

He might be grieving the death of those he could call mother.

“Keri, are you sad?”

Kevenriak’s fingers trembled as they carefully touched Raina Hart’s healed hand.
A melancholic voice emerged from his lips.

“…Yes.”

It seemed she even regarded child abusers—people she could chew up and spit out without satisfaction—as family.

“…”

After deliberating, I turned to Kevenriak with a question.

“Should I save all the Imperial Family members?”

I had no concrete plan to actively rescue the entire Imperial Family.
Perhaps the Emperor, or maybe one other Imperial Prince to succeed to the throne.
If that many survived, my disciple wouldn’t have to wear a blood-stained crown upon his head.
But.

“If Keri wishes it, I’ll make sure no one dies.”

If my disciple desired it, I was willing to make it happen.
Kevenriak answered quietly.

“I’m sad because someone precious to me was hurt.”
“Someone precious? …You care for the Imperial Family that much?”
“It’s you, Master.”

Kevenriak gazed at me as I lifted my eyes toward him.

“You’re the person precious to me.”

A subtle glimpse of his true feelings.

“As long as you’re not hurt, that’s all that matters to me.”

He knew that to me, this would sound only like the touching words of a devoted disciple.
But his deliberation had ended long ago—two years past.

“Keri.”

Like mist seeping into fine rain, perhaps if he continued to express his heart this way, one day a different emotion might take root in his master’s eyes when she looked at him.
Waiting for that day, Kevenriak always remained by his master’s side.

“Is your master… someone precious to you, Keri?”

Though perhaps not yet, not today.
My disciple’s words moved me deeply, and I found myself overwhelmed with emotion.
Kevenriak, noting my reaction aligned perfectly with his expectations as always, smiled and nodded.

“Yes.”
“Master!”

Zikhard interjected between the two of us.
The Grimoire of Magic had been gazing down at the Imperial Palace through the window this whole time.

“Do you know that person? My information lists them as ‘Raina Hart’s Knight.'”

At those words, both Raina and Kevenriak turned their gaze toward the window.
A familiar face I hadn’t seen in ages stood there.

“Person?”

The former vice-commander of the Imperial Third Knights Order who had stayed in Hibei for four years twelve years ago—my first sword instructor.
Now he wore the white uniform that symbolized the Imperial First Knights, engaging enemies in combat.

“The Imperial First Knights…”
“A vice-commander, then.”

Zikhard continued with the information after hearing my murmur.
He hadn’t become commander yet, it seemed.
The changes in Person over these eight years were remarkable.

“Why is Person your master’s knight?”

I had no answer to give, for I myself didn’t know the reason.

***

“I never knew such a passage existed beneath the city walls.”
“It is an evacuation route known only to the Imperial Family. His Majesty the Emperor and the High Priest fled through here.”
“The High Priest?”
“He had come to meet His Majesty on official business and was caught up in the attack alongside him.”

Underground Evacuation Passage.
Raina Hart and Kevenriak Heteroven followed Person, who led the way.
Since I couldn’t carelessly reveal the talking book, I had placed Zikhard in my spatial pouch.

‘This is unbelievable.’

Person felt bewildered.

‘Raina Hart and the Fourth Prince are behind me.’

Just minutes ago.
Person had been returning with an object he’d found by the Emperor’s command.
At that moment, struggling alone amid the enemy’s soldiers.

“Person, how have you been?”

An unexpected figure appeared through teleportation and came to my aid.
Raina Hart.
Eight years ago. When Person doubted all his own possibilities.
The one who told me I would become the commander of the Imperial First Knights.
Had anyone ever instilled such certainty about my uncertain future?
Person had persevered all this time, relying on those words alone.
Hoping that one day would come when I could repay Raina Hart’s faith in me.
And beside her appeared a remarkably handsome man.

“It’s been a long time.”

Person’s eyes doubted themselves for a moment.
Though I could easily guess who stood beside the Archmage, he seemed like a different person entirely.

“The Fourth Prince…?”

Part of it was because his mature visage possessed such remarkable beauty.
But it was because he bore an exact resemblance to the Second Empress Consort in life.

‘Such a striking resemblance between mother and son, yet they never shared a time together.’

The Second Empress Consort died the moment the Fourth Prince was born.
Though they called it a difficult childbirth, those who knew the circumstances at the time regarded it not as an accident, but as an incident.
One could even guess who the culprit was.
Only, no one dared speak of it.

‘Those who bore the name Heteroven had killed her.’

The Emperor’s interest in his loveless dalliance faded quickly, and he never sought her out. The Empress grew jealous and stirred up trouble, while the First Empress Consort sided with her.
The Second Empress Consort had no allies within the Imperial Palace. The visiting nobles and working servants treated her as though she were invisible.
It was not any single person who killed her—it was the Imperial Palace itself, ruled by the Heteroven Royal Family.

“You may exit through here.”

At the end of the evacuation passage was an exit leading outside.
A villa stood in a remote location beyond Jenia, hidden among natural growth.

“Vice-Commander Person, you have returned.”
“Where is His Majesty?”
“He is inside. Who are these you have brought with you?”
“The Fourth Prince and Countess Raina Hart.”
“…!”

The Knight in white uniform’s demeanor changed instantly.
The villa doors opened readily before Raina and Kevenriak.
Upon opening the first-floor door, I saw the Emperor lying in bed.
Two men sat in chairs beside the bed, and members of the Imperial First Knights were positioned throughout the room.
At the sound of our entrance, the Emperor turned his head toward the door, and our eyes met.

“…Raina Hart.”

His complexion looked far from well.
I lowered my head respectfully.

“Greatest sun of the Betuzhenia Empire—”
“Countess Hart! Do you have any right to be here!”

At that moment, one of the men seated in a chair rose with an indignant voice.
The Second Prince—who had lost his brother, knew not whether his mother lived or died, and blamed Raina for his father’s critical condition.

“If you hadn’t abandoned your loyalty while rotting away in that backwater village, things wouldn’t have come to this!”
‘…What loyalty?’

Where did I ever show such loyalty?
I was pondering when I had ever displayed such devotion before the Second Prince when—

Shing.
The Second Prince drew the sword from the Knight standing beside him and lunged at me.

“The Imperial Palace has come to this—!!”

Thwack!

A tremendous impact echoed through the chamber.

“…”

I remained with my head bowed.
In my field of vision, the Second Prince tumbled across the floor like a stone, rolling several times.
The sword that had slipped from his grasp flew through the air and lodged itself between the Emperor’s legs as he sat upon the bed.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

Everyone in the chamber rushed forward at once to check on the Emperor’s condition.

“…”

No one bothered to check on this Prince.
His cheek, now unconscious, was swollen red as though struck hard by someone’s fist.
I turned to address the silhouette of my disciple, who had stepped forward before me.

“Keri?”

Kevenriak brushed off his hands with an unpleasant expression.
At my call, he turned with a smile as though nothing had happened and answered his master.

“Yes?”

The Fourth Prince remains unchanged, it seems.
Person only then realized he was in the presence of two people.

***

“Was today truly the last day you spoke of for me?”

The Emperor asked Raina Hart, who sat in a chair beside his bed.
The room, now empty of all others, held only the Emperor and Raina Hart.

“No, Your Majesty.”
“No? It seems I have quite a bit of life left in me, then.”

Raina Hart diagnosed the Emperor’s condition.
Several of his organs had suffered trauma and were no longer functioning properly.
Left as it was, the Emperor would soon perish.

‘I cannot let him die just yet.’

His condition was critical, but extending his life was possible.
By using magic to create artificial organs to replace their function—though no other mage besides Raina Hart possessed such capability.

‘In a sense, I’ve kept my promise to preserve the Emperor’s life.’

Raina Hart channeled her magical power into the Emperor’s body.
It was to distinguish which organs needed to be saved and which removed.

“You’ve suffered internal injuries without external wounds. Were you attacked by a mage?”
“….”

The Emperor did not answer.
He had entrusted himself to the Imperial Palace mage sent by the First Empress Consort, only to be attacked.
To speak of it would be to expose the Imperial Palace mage’s paper-thin loyalty directly to Raina Hart, the Archmage.
There was no greater shame than this.

“My son is dead.”

Raina Hart responded to the Emperor’s words with formal courtesy.

“The Crown Prince, Your Highness.”
“Another son raised an army to kill me.”
“The Third Prince, Your Highness.”
“And yet another son is so foolish he’d run the empire into ruin.”
“…Which Imperial Prince, Your Majesty?”

The Emperor sneered.
A famine of sons.
Yet even in that drought, a luscious fruit had ripened—one worthy of harvest.
The Emperor closed his eyes. The face of the Second Empress Consort, long departed from this world, seemed to shimmer before him.

“Of my remaining sons fit to inherit the throne, there is now—”

Cough.
Ah, a slip.
Raina Hart straightened her upper body and cast a healing spell toward the Emperor, who was coughing up blood.

“Your Majesty, you must refrain from speaking during treatment. There’s no telling where your mana might scatter.”
“…Ugh… Such words should have been said long ago…”
“Be silent.”

Suddenly playing the shameless father.
I nearly startled myself into erasing the Emperor’s vocal cords.

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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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