For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 47
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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 47
Raina Hart floated in the center of the room.
More precisely, she was suspended within a transparent sphere of her own making—one that blocked out all sound.
Merely covering her ears hadn’t been enough; she’d resorted to magic itself.
Yet even so, her disciple’s voice continued to torment her.
“….”
Black hair swaying in the breeze, blue eyes fixed upon her, the elegant curve of his eyelids.
And beneath them, those luscious crimson lips moved as Kevenriak Heteroven spoke.
“I admire you.”
The phantom image of her disciple surfaced once more, and Raina Hart squeezed her eyes shut.
But in the darkness, the afterimage only grew sharper.
It was counterproductive.
“…Are you asking me to forgive that?”
That wretched boy.
In an instant, her disciple had shed his boyish form and donned the guise of a man, confessing to her.
Those blue eyes, which had always gleamed with innocent warmth, were now brimming with desire.
…This was troublesome. Truly troublesome.
“…I must be losing my mind.”
Yes, she had lost it.
Not the disciple—she had lost her mind.
No matter how fleeting the thought that crossed her consciousness.
“Why does my heart race?”
Raina Hart covered her flushed face with both hands.
***
“I’m not feeling well, so I’ll be resting for a while.”
“No.”
Raina Hart crumpled the letter she’d been writing and tossed it aside.
She moved her pen across a fresh sheet of paper.
“Your Majesty’s confession is most humbling, but…”
“…This won’t do either.”
Crinkle.
“I do have a conscience. When I was twenty-one, you were merely eleven.”
Crinkle.
“Though I do hold affection for you, Your Majesty…”
Crinkle.
Raina Hart repeated the cycle of writing and crumpling letters.
By the time the pile of discarded papers beneath her desk had grown enough to cover the floor,
a single satisfactory letter finally lay upon her desk.
“I forgot to water the flowers, so I’ll be away in Hibei for about a day.”
It was a decent excuse to buy herself time.
She incinerated the pile of papers with magic and folded the letter into the shape of a bird, placing it on the windowsill.
The letter transformed into a small bird and flew away.
Now all she had to do was depart for Hibei before Kevenriak Heteroven received the letter and came looking for her.
“I need time to think.”
So this wasn’t running away. I wasn’t abandoning Keri either.
I’d already drawn all the magical circles needed for the barrier. I’d be back tomorrow.
Raina Hart consoled herself with these thoughts.
Right now, I couldn’t bear to face my disciple’s expression.
“Still, I should activate the barrier before I go.”
The magic circle that would serve as both the starting point and endpoint of the barrier was drawn in my room at the Imperial Palace.
Just as I was about to step toward the magic circle.
Knock, knock.
Someone rapped on the door.
“Kin?”
When I opened the door, it was Kin.
The disciples had all rushed over without exception, insisting they witness the first disciple’s imperial debut together.
Naturally, Kin was among them.
She was currently staying in the quarters prepared for her at the Imperial Palace.
“What’s wrong?”
Kin’s complexion had turned deathly pale.
Had something happened to her here at the Imperial Palace?
I grasped Kin’s trembling shoulders and asked.
“Tell me.”
“M-Master…”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Thud.
The sharp sound of a blade piercing flesh echoed out.
***
“…Cough.”
Blood surged back into my mouth.
With trembling hands, I pulled the dagger embedded in my chest free.
Then I swiftly cast a spell.
‘Heal.’
It was Raina Hart’s magic—capable of healing even fatal wounds in an instant—yet for some reason, her mana dissipated like smoke the moment it touched the wound.
‘Magic… nullification.’
A spell that negated magic shimmered at the wound’s edge.
Not a simple dagger.
Dark magic.
I pressed both hands against the wound in desperation, but it was futile.
My upper body was drenched in blood in an instant.
“K… Kin…”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Kin apologized repeatedly to her master.
She sat with her back against the wall, weeping.
Terrified at having stabbed her master, she had stumbled backward a few steps before hitting the wall, trapping herself with nowhere left to retreat.
‘Why would Kin—’
There had to be a reason Kin stabbed me with that blade.
Perhaps she was being manipulated.
Kin could never do something like this of her own volition.
“Who… is it.”
I tried to ask who was behind this, but my body refused to obey. Blood surged up from within, filling my mouth and blocking my airway. My vision flickered like a dying lamp.
Is this the end?
I reached out a trembling hand toward Kin’s wavering silhouette.
“Master… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
[Master.]
It was an auditory hallucination. And a visual one.
Otherwise, how could my first disciple—who had confessed to admiring me—be smiling as I died?
‘Keri.’
There was still so much time left.
Kevenriak Heteroven had only just become Emperor, and the original story hadn’t even begun yet.
Yet why was my time so short?
I had only ever contemplated the ending of the novel—the protagonists’ final moments—but never my own.
I had sworn to remain by that child’s side until the very end.
My disciple, Kevenriak Heteroven, whom I had grown to love more than the protagonists themselves over these twelve years together.
“….”
Raina Hart’s trembling hand gently patted Kin’s head once.
“St….”
I smeared my own blood across Kin’s quivering lips as she began to cry, then staggered into the depths of the chamber.
Thank the heavens for the resilience of a Dragon Quarter’s body.
Even with a pierced heart, death would not come instantly.
Forcing strength into my wavering form, I pressed my palm against the floor. The magic circle that had absorbed my mana came to mind, and a single beam of light extended toward another circle.
The faint activation hum of the barrier reached my dulled ears.
“…Raina? …Why are you crying?”
“I will protect you.”
“Master?”
“Welcome home!”
“I will become a magnificent mage and provide for you, Master.”
“Master, you are my most precious person.”
“I….”
[Do not forgive.]
Raina Hart bit down hard on her lower lip.
But even that could not anchor my consciousness as it drifted away.
‘I’m sorry.’
A tear streamed down from one of my eyes.
And it was over.
Raina Hart’s body collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
***
Kevenriak Heteroven was anxious.
Anyone who confessed their feelings to someone they cherished and waited for an answer would feel some measure of unease, but Kevenriak’s anxiety stemmed from somewhere far deeper.
“I admire you.”
I had finally revealed the words I’d been suppressing for years to the person before me.
“Ah. Keri… No, Your Majesty. I… you…”
I could already anticipate what answer she would give.
All I could do was desperately pray that Raina Hart wouldn’t flee in shock at my confession.
When I first saw Raina Hart, I thought of her as a flower that had fallen from another world.
The Imperial Palace was an ordinary sight on any given day, yet she alone shone with such brilliant radiance.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from that glittering presence.
The flower was an extraordinarily kind person.
In my earliest memories, I had always been alone.
The Imperial Palace was vast and filled with people, yet they all treated me as though I were invisible.
If our eyes ever met, they would hastily retreat, and if I spoke to them, they would flee without hesitation.
So I believed I was a monster.
A monster that no one would associate with.
“Would you become my disciple?”
Raina Hart extended her hand to someone like me.
When Raina Hart spoke those words, I thought I was dreaming.
I could continue to be with this person.
I feared that if she discovered I was a monster, Raina Hart would abandon me, yet I could not relinquish our time together.
I cherished her gentle demeanor toward me far too much.
I wished she would not despise me.
Even in moments of happiness, anxiety persisted.
What if she discovered I was a monster?
What if taking me as a disciple was merely a passing whim?
“No, Keri.”
Raina Hart gave me certainty.
As time passed, the seductive voice calling me a monster grew faint.
Then a different anxiety emerged.
Occasional improper impulses toward Raina Hart.
Such as wanting to hold her hand, or wishing she would stroke my head.
Even indecent imaginings unbecoming of a disciple toward his master crossed my mind.
When I realized those feelings were affection, I could not confess them to Raina Hart.
My master was stronger than anyone, yet she despised change.
“I prefer places like Hibei—unchanging and constant. Change alters too many things.”
To confess directly to such a master?
To ask her to become mine. To tell her I wished to spend my entire life with her.
Raina Hart would surely abandon me and flee.
Believing this, I revealed my heart slowly, as though concealing it.
The thought that I might never see Raina Hart again was far too terrible to bear.
Yet I felt that I could not continue like this forever.
No matter how high one builds the levee, when the water it contains swells beyond control, it will eventually overflow.
“Is there something you wish to have?”
When I heard my master’s question.
The words were impulsive, yet they emerged naturally.
That I wished to possess her heart. That I had admired her all along.
And yet, I could not conceal my shameful weakness that I had never meant to reveal.
“Please don’t leave me alone in this palace, Raina.”
“….”
I shouldn’t have said those final words.
Recalling the past, Kevenriak Heteroven felt his face flush at his own clumsy confession.
He placed both hands across the bridge of his nose, which stood proud and straight.
I had grown fond of Raina’s castle in Hibei.
Even when we retreated to our separate chambers, I could feel her warmth.
This Imperial Palace was nothing but needlessly vast.
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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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