For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 55

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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 55

“Your Majesty.”

The Emperor arrived at the Imperial Palace through instantaneous teleportation.
Person, who had been walking down the corridor, happened upon him and hurried over.
A brief excursion. The Emperor had not returned alone.

“Who is that…?”

Person could not hide his bewilderment at the sight of the woman clinging to the Emperor’s side and asked the question.
A woman with dirt-caked brown hair. She wore a long robe, but the glimpses of her clothing beneath were those of nobility.
Her complete stillness filled him with foreboding. Surely she wasn’t dead.
The Emperor glanced at Raina Hart and spoke.

“Playing dead, you little rat.”

My heart lurched.
It was not because I had been caught feigning unconsciousness before Kevenriak.
I was shocked by my disciple’s crude language.
I knew he was mad, but I never expected such vulgar words to spill from the lips of my cherished student.
I knew he was crazy, but I never expected to hear such vulgar language come out of the mouth of my cherished disciple.

“Oh, our Keri…”

But Raina Hart was soon engulfed by an even greater shock.

“…!”

Had Person not rushed forward to catch my arm and steady me, I would have collapsed to the floor entirely.
I gazed down at the floor where I had nearly fallen, my eyes vacant with shock.
The disciple who once laid out handkerchiefs to keep my seat clean was nowhere to be found.
The disciple who used to lay down a handkerchief because the seat was dirty is nowhere to be found.

“Are you alright?”

Person spoke to the woman he was supporting.
She turned her head toward him, and upon meeting her face, Person couldn’t help but marvel.

“….”

The woman the Emperor had brought from somewhere possessed truly stunning beauty.
A graceful beauty with delicate, refined features.
Even covered in dirt and grime, her loveliness could not be concealed.
If such a woman existed among the nobility, rumors would have spread long ago.
I had never heard of any noblewoman like this in the Betuzhenia Empire.

‘Who is she?’

Meanwhile, Raina Hart’s scattered thoughts began to coalesce as she met Person’s gaze.
From the moment she heard his voice calling out for Kevenriak, she had decided to reveal her identity.
Even if Person didn’t believe she was Raina Hart, unlike the Emperor, he wouldn’t try to kill Vivian.

‘Person is the commander of the Imperial First Knights. With that level of skill, he should be able to read my lips.’

Raina Hart moved her lips silently toward Person.
She was careful not to let Kevenriak hear.

‘It’s me, Person.’
“….”
‘It’s me. Raina Hart.’
“…?”
‘R, A, I, N, A, H, A, R, T.’
“…???”

It didn’t work.
Person couldn’t read her lips at all.
A shadow fell across Vivian’s—Raina Hart’s—head. It was Kevenriak’s hand, standing to her right.
His jaw clenched. The Emperor’s large hand came to rest atop Vivian’s round head.

“…?”

In that instant, the realization that my disciple had grasped my head brought my thoughts to a halt.
Though it was Vivian’s body, the mind inside was still mine.

“Master.”

Our Keri, who had smiled so beautifully and offered his own legs as a pillow for his master.

‘Us, Keri, gone….’

Tears welled up in Vivian’s eyes once more as memories of those distant days flooded back.
Person fumbled nervously with a handkerchief at the sight of the beautiful woman’s tears, but Kevenriak paid no mind whatsoever.
Kevenriak released Vivian’s head and walked forward.
Without thinking, Raina Hart, whose gaze had been following his movements, suddenly came to her senses and spoke.

“Y-Your Majesty. Why did you bring me here?”

It was fine that she had met Kevenriak and come to the Imperial Palace, but she had no idea why he had brought her along.
Kevenriak stopped abruptly and glanced at Raina Hart. His blue eyes had grown dull and heavy.
The Emperor spoke to Raina Hart.

“Stay here.”
“Pardon?”

That was all.
The Emperor, resuming his steps, vanished in an instant.

“….”

Raina Hart stared blankly at the corridor where the Emperor had disappeared.
Person observed her silence and pondered.

‘Is she frightened? The Emperor brought her to the Imperial Palace, after all.’

Person’s primary duty was to guard the Emperor.
But the Emperor was so formidably strong that he needed no protection, and he had a tendency to remain secluded.
As a result, his only real task had long become cleaning up the messes the Emperor created.
This situation was unusual compared to other times.
It was the first time the Emperor had brought a living woman to the Imperial Palace.
Moreover, hearing her question just now, it seemed she didn’t even know why she had come to the Imperial Palace.

“May I ask your name?”

Person asked her with a tone tinged with sympathy.
Raina Hart, who had envied her disciple’s effortless spatial teleportation, turned her head at Person’s question.

“…Vivian Asperada.”
“The Duke’s daughter?”

The House of Duke Asperada.
I had heard that their daughter, who had been asleep for years, had awakened.

“Why would the Duke’s daughter be here….”

Person could not fathom the reason.
And because he could not understand, he was afraid. What did the Emperor intend to do by bringing the Duke’s daughter here—

“More importantly, Person.”
“…?”

In the midst of his deliberation, the Duke’s daughter’s sudden call reached his ears.
Person found himself questioning it.
How did the Duke’s daughter know his name?
And to call him so naturally, at that.

“….”

In that moment, Person found himself absurd.
He realized he had felt an aching longing at her call, unbidden.
For that person whom I could never meet again used to call me in that very way.
Once I understood that, my amusement at myself softened my suspicion toward the Duke’s daughter.
The Emperor must have told her my name.
Person gazed upon the Duke’s daughter.

“Speak, then.”

Hazel eyes where green and gold intertwined mysteriously turned toward Person.
Now, only the two of them remained in this corridor.
Raina Hart opened her mouth.

“I….”

***

But Raina Hart couldn’t tell Person that I was a Grand Mage.

‘Keri… to unilaterally impose a vow like that…’

Ten years ago. It was similar to the kind I had imposed on three members of the Third Knights when I forbade them from disclosing anything about Hibei.
Whether through writing, speech, or gesture.
A vow that would temporarily paralyze the body of anyone bound by it if they tried to speak information the oath-maker didn’t want revealed.
Apparently, my disciple had imposed it when she seized my head.
I hadn’t noticed because Vivian’s body lacked magical power as an ordinary person.

‘I made it so she can’t say anything about Raina Hart. In the end, I couldn’t even ask how Kin is doing. I want to know what happened to my other disciples too.’

I couldn’t fathom what my first disciple was thinking.
Why she brought Vivian to the Imperial Palace. Why she made it taboo to speak of Raina Hart.

‘I hope Tiernan Fargan made it back safely…’

At least it was fortunate that Kevenriak hadn’t harmed Tiernan Fargan.
Since he had no injuries, he must have returned to the Rebel Forces’ garrison. He was their leader, after all.

‘I’ll need to prevent the Rebel Forces from targeting Keri’s life too.’

I had no sense of how to proceed.
Raina Hart lay on the bed, gazing at the ceiling.
The room I was currently in was a moderately-sized chamber in the Emperor’s Palace that Person had guided me to.

“We don’t maintain anything outside the administrative buildings, so for now you’ll have to stay here. If you wish, I can have another palace cleaned, but it will take about two days given our shortage of servants and attendants.”
“It’s fine. I’ll just stay here.”

The Imperial Palace was understaffed with servants.
Could it be related to everyone’s reluctance to enter the Imperial Palace?

‘Keri must not walk the path of a tyrant any longer.’

But how could I…?
Vivian was weak in physical strength and lacked magical power.
All I had to rely on was my experience living in this world, Raina Hart’s knowledge, and the contents of the original work.

‘In the original story, Kevenriak became a tyrant because he made a contract with the Grimoire of Magic….’

The Grimoire of Magic?
Raina Hart sat up in bed.
That’s right. Besides my disciples, I had Zikhard.

‘I definitely put it in the spatial pocket that day.’

The Grimoire of Magic did have a habit of opening the pocket on its own and coming out.
But there was a high probability it was still inside.
The effect of the servitude potion persisted as long as the soul didn’t dissipate.

‘Since I can’t use magic due to the command, it might still be in the pocket where it feels safe.’

Zikhard’s reading ability would be immensely helpful in this situation.
There was still so much about reality that I didn’t know.

‘That day, I left the spatial pocket in my room.’

Raina Hart rose from the bed and walked to the window, opening the closed shutters.
In the distance, a Separate Palace bathed in sunlight came into view.

The place where I died.

***

Kevenriak sat on the floor of a dark room where not a single ray of light entered.
His room, surrounded by blackout curtains, contained no furniture like sofas or chairs. A monster had no need for anything but the floor to sit upon.
Though he had brought a concubine to the same building, Kevenriak needed time alone.

“Keri!”

Many had approached me while imitating my master.
Somehow they had mimicked even my master’s trivial habits, food preferences, and manner of speech.
Unable to overlook such things, Kevenriak had disposed of them before him.
This time should have been no different.

‘Why.’

My hesitation lingered long before the princess.
So I brought it along for now. But I could never forgive myself for mimicking my master’s mannerisms again. So I sealed my lips.

“….”

As Kevenriak’s thoughts deepened, a concentrated glow of mana appeared in the center of the room.

“…Welcome.”

The moment his habitual murmur ended, someone teleported into the room.
The Emperor’s lips remained firmly sealed, as if questioning when he had spoken those words.

“Emperor.”

A man with orange hair who had teleported into the Emperor’s chamber without even asking permission.
Ban, one of Raina Hart’s disciples, now nineteen years old, with the blood of a tiger beastkin flowing through her veins.
Her yellow eyes gleamed in the darkness, fixed upon the Emperor sitting on the floor.

Grrrowl.
Along with a low, wrathful growl of a beast, Ban’s voice flowed forth.

“Found it. The Traveling Troupe that the Old Woman was controlling.”

At those words, sparks ignited in Kevenriak’s eyes.

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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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