For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 53

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

Chapter 53

Fourteen years ago.
I had once shared such an observation with Person in Hibei.

“Person, don’t the Fourth Prince’s eyes remind you of a cat’s?”
“Pardon?”
“They shine as if they hold the entire universe within them.”

The Fourth Prince’s blue eyes that I had once lavished such praise upon were gone now.
A hollow gaze—or perhaps one that descended into an unfathomable abyss—fell upon him.

“…Person.”

Kevenriak’s lips moved as he lifted his head.

“Where is my teacher?”
“….”

The words he uttered slowly inquired after his teacher’s whereabouts.
Person found himself unable to answer.

“I thought she would be in her room, but I cannot find her anywhere. Perhaps she went to Hibeiro. She mentioned forgetting to water the flowers….”

Ah.
A sound of realization escaped the Emperor’s lips.
Kevenriak discovered the emptiness within his embrace and let out a hollow laugh.

“I killed her.”
“….”

Person remained silent still.
What was His Majesty saying?
The matter concerning Raina Hart was not His Majesty’s responsibility. It was another who had made her what she became.
He had told the self-reproaching Emperor this countless times.
Yet his voice speaking the truth had long ceased to reach the Emperor.
Kevenriak slowly rose to his feet.

“Your Majesty, where are you going?”

Person asked.

“To my master.”

From the Emperor’s lips came a measured voice, layering past upon present as he gazed forward.
A melancholic sigh escaped Person’s mouth, though it came too late.
The Emperor had already vanished through spatial displacement.

***

‘Ah.’

A smile played across Raina Hart’s lips as she dug along the City Walls.
The earth beneath the brick. The stone she’d struck within it shimmered like heat haze for a moment before settling back into place.
It meant the barrier she’d constructed two years ago as a countermeasure against dark magic was still functioning.
The invisible barrier that spread from the City Walls as its foundation enveloped all of Jenia in a spherical dome.

‘It’s working well. I was worried since I couldn’t verify it.’

It was a somewhat primitive method, but there was no other way to confirm the barrier’s activation.
Vivian hadn’t been blessed with magical power, after all.
Well, calling her an ordinary person was a bit of a stretch.

‘What kind of stamina is this….’

Just a little digging and I’m already dizzy.
As I rose from my crouching position, the world spun before my eyes.
Tiernan Fargan, who had approached swiftly, caught my wavering shoulders.

“Be careful, Vivian.”
“Thanks.”
“…And please tell me the way into Jenia isn’t through a mouse hole.”

Tiernan Fargan’s words sounded like a jest, but they were sincere.

A moment earlier.
The two of them stood before Jenia’s broad, sprawling City Walls.
Vivian, who had mentioned needing to meet someone at the Imperial Palace, had asked me to stop the horses far from the Checkpoint.
Vivian glanced around, then picked up a sharp-pointed stone and began digging beneath the City Walls.
The sight of Vivian crouching down and excavating the earth.
It was precisely the kind of misunderstanding Tiernan Fargan would make.

“No, wait.”

I waved my hand dismissively.
A dog hole? Even if we could slip into Jenia that way—

‘We couldn’t reach the Imperial Palace.’

If we climbed the mountain visible to the side, we’d find a Villa connected to the Imperial Palace by an emergency passage.
A corridor known only to the Emperor.
Since I couldn’t reveal it to Tiernan Fargan, I’d decided to part ways with him here.

“Thank you, Knox. This is your payment.”

I withdrew a gemstone from my pocket and handed it to Tiernan Fargan.
By now, he’d likely become the owner of the diamond mine beneath Lindraham Mine, so this would seem meager to him.

“Will you be alright alone? You said you needed to go to Jenia.”

The wealthy Tiernan Fargan readily accepted the gemstone I offered and asked his question.
He’s grown so resourceful. I gazed at him with pride.
Then I realized his gaze still lingered on the hole I’d dug—no, the hole I’d excavated to verify the barrier.

“Knox, I won’t go inside there, so don’t worry.”
“Truly.”
“I mean it. You don’t need to concern yourself anymore. The request is complete, isn’t it?”
“….”

Tiernan Fargan gazed at me in silence.
For a moment, I wondered if I’d been too cold to him while inhabiting Vivian’s body.
I opened my mouth again and continued speaking.

“…The commission is complete, but we’re friends, aren’t we? If we meet again later, please say hello to me. My eyesight isn’t very good, so I might not recognize you even if I see you.”
“Is your eyesight really that poor?”
“Yes. So if you introduce yourself as well, that would be perfect.”

Vivian’s vision was crystal clear and sharp.
So much so that she could count the wrinkles between Tiernan Fargan’s furrowed brows as his expression grew serious.
But when Tiernan Fargan met Vivian again, by then I might have already departed from this body.

“I’d appreciate it if you’d pretend to recognize me first.”

Raina Hart smiled softly.

“….”

Tiernan Fargan found his gaze captivated by her.
But Raina Hart ushered him away, practically pushing him to leave.

***

Not long after.

“….”

Raina Hart stood halfway up the mountainside, gripping a tree with one hand, her body bent forward as she gasped for breath.
The sky seemed yellow, and the earth rushed toward me as if to devour me whole.
A pounding sound echoed in my dulled ears, and my vision blurred.

‘Damn it.’

I wanted to collapse and lie down, but if I did, I’d never get up again.
This wasn’t human endurance.

‘The fragile Female Protagonist trope is so outdated….’

Raina Hart gritted her teeth at this anachronistic character setting.
If I couldn’t collapse, what was I supposed to do?

‘Keep walking.’

Raina Hart planted the long wooden stick she’d picked up along the way into the ground.
Thanks to the light rain that had fallen at dawn, the stick sank deep into the earth without requiring much force.
I pushed forward with unsteady steps.

‘Teleportation really is the best.’

When I met Keri, I’d have to tell him never to walk anywhere.
I recalled what Tiernan Fargan had told me.
Kevenriak Heteroven, who had become a supreme-tier mage.

‘Just how powerful has he become at 7th Circle?’

When I first heard from Tiernan Fargan about my disciple’s growth, I was delighted.
He had grown so much in two years.
Without me, you were walking your own path with dignity.
But as time passed, a thought kept gnawing at me.

‘What catalyst made you reach 7th Circle?’

The catalyst for awakening from 6th Circle to 7th Circle.
For Raina Hart, it had been my master’s death.

Was my death the catalyst for you as well?
My master, who had promised to stay with you at the Imperial Palace, had died.
Was that a significant enough event to awaken you to 7th Circle?

“Take responsibility… Raina Hart….”

I barely maintained my consciousness as I climbed the mountain.
I planted the wooden stick ahead and gripped both hands tightly around it, bending my arms with all my strength to pull myself forward.
At this point, it wasn’t I climbing the mountain—it was this wooden stick.
But I had to keep going. I had to reach my disciple.

“You promised you’d make Keri happy….”

Tears poured down uncontrollably.
My vision was a mess, but I didn’t have the strength to wipe my face.
I stumbled multiple times. I rolled on the ground, got up, crawled, and climbed.

Raina Hart climbed with grim determination, mentally rehearsing what she would say when she finally faced her disciple.
Countless words came to mind, but in the end, only one remained.

‘I’m sorry.’

For leaving you alone.
For not being by your side.
I could only apologize—there was nothing else I could say.

[Your Majesty, I will protect you. I may be a lowly Knight, but I’m strong enough.]

Perhaps it was the sensation of dancing between life and death.
A memory she didn’t even possess surfaced unbidden, then scattered like dust.
Raina Hart finally caught sight of the Villa ahead and murmured.

“…There it is.”

Soon, I’ll be able to reach the Imperial Palace.
Hope flickered across her battered face.
The entrance to the evacuation passage connected to the Imperial Palace could only be reached by passing the Villa along the path she had taken.

“….”

On the flattened ground, Raina Hart straightened her posture for a moment and caught her breath.
Her breathing was ragged, but the air flowing in was refreshing.
She looked around, recalling the past. Then a familiar cliff caught her eye.

“Do you dislike becoming Emperor?”
“…I do.”

I should have just told you then.
That we should leave the Betuzhenia Empire together.
That I had foreseen you being killed by the Rebel Forces after becoming Emperor.
I should have given you even such a cowardly reason.

The sun was obscured by passing clouds, and her vision darkened.
A faint shadow engulfed Raina Hart.
In the brightened vision that followed—.

“….”

I gazed at the man who materialized before me, wreathed in the luminescence of mana.
He was a beautiful man who resembled the depths of night itself.
His cool blue eyes turned toward me.
A frigid gaze and a rigid mouth.

“Master.”

I hadn’t expected the smile he reserved only for me.

“Why….”

Why had he grown so gaunt?
I’d told him that proper meals mattered, that picky eating was bad for his health.
Confronted with a figure so utterly transformed from my memories, my voice trembled.

“I am….”

I began to slowly reveal myself, wondering if he would recognize me.
There was hope that my disciple would know me.
But contrary to my wishes, what was leveled at my throat was not recognition.
It was the Emperor’s cold blade.

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