For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 58

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

Chapter 58

“You’re applying for a maid position at the Imperial Palace?”
“The salary is quite generous.”
“Don’t you know why people avoid it despite the high pay? That salary is the price of your life. No one knows when they’ll die.”
“But servants and attendants of lower status don’t die. Except for last year’s New Year’s banquet, it’s never happened even once—”

The middle-aged woman lightly struck the younger woman’s back.

“Come to your senses. His Majesty the Emperor is a Seventh Circle mage. If you happen to displease him, what will you do? Your life would vanish beneath his magic like swatting a fly.”

Seventh Circle.
Tiernan Fargan thought he had no excuse as cowardly as that word to justify himself.
Since earlier, conflicting thoughts had warred within him—whether to go to the Imperial Palace to retrieve Vivian or not.
The two opinions clashed evenly, until finally one prevailed.

‘Don’t act rashly.’

The Emperor was Seventh Circle, so the likelihood of reaching the Imperial Palace and extracting Vivian safely was slim.
Yet unable to fully accept this winning argument, Tiernan remained rooted in place, cycling through the same torment.

‘If I had my way, I’d go to the Imperial Palace.’

I wanted to go and retrieve Vivian from that dangerous place, whatever became of my own life.
But I was the leader of the Rebel Forces, was I not?

To abandon everything and go merely to save someone I cared for—
I carried far too much weight upon my shoulders.

‘Yet I cannot send subordinates in my stead.’

The people gathered under me had sworn their loyalty with a single resolve: to reclaim their homeland.
I could not cast their lives into the Imperial Palace for reasons unrelated to that cause, for my own sake alone.

‘When I discovered the diamond mine two years ago, I thought the heavens themselves were aiding Tunterra’s restoration.’

Tiernan Fargan recalled that spring from two years ago.
It was when he worked as a mercenary, taking on a commission from a noble of the Betuzhenia Empire.
The Rebel Forces at that time suffered from financial hardship, so Tiernan Fargan and his comrades earned money through external operations.

“Quite the compensation.”

What the noble offered was the mining rights and ownership of the Lindraham Mine.
It was a mine that had steadily produced gold until over a decade ago, but now…

“…Isn’t this an exhausted mine?”

I knew it had once belonged to the Emperor.
So the noble possessed this troublesome mine.
And it was clear the noble intended to dump this headache onto me.

“I would have preferred proper compensation.”
“I’ve already given it to you. More than generous for mere mercenaries. Anyway, take it or leave it empty-handed. Do as you please.”

There was no way around his audacity.
I took possession of the Lindraham Mine, my chest burning with bitterness.
Out of spite, I descended into the barren mine with my subordinates, pickaxes in hand.
Then the ground collapsed, and I plummeted.

…

At the bottom of the fall lay a glittering cavern.
Walls, ceiling, floor—all embedded with raw diamonds in every direction.

“Your Majesty! Are you unharmed!”
“I’m fine…! We are now…!!”

With the diamond mine in hand, the Rebel Forces escaped their financial crisis.
At precisely that moment, calamity befell the Heteroven Royal Family.
Emperor Cheinols Heteroven died, and the Imperial Prince who succeeded him also perished.
The Fourth Prince was designated as the next Emperor.

“The Fourth Prince hails from a remote region, so he’ll likely be weaker at reading the political situation than the other princes. He might actually be easier for us Rebel Forces to contend with.”

I hesitated to confirm it, but Raina Hart being his master troubled me—and even that witch had died the day after the Emperor’s coronation.
With the witch dead, the time had finally come.

The Rebel Forces predicted victory each day. Soon they would break the flags of the Betuzhenia Imperial Palace and plant the banner of the Tunterra Empire in their place.
But the Emperor was far too powerful.

“The Emperor has awakened to the 7th Circle, they say.”

The 6th Circle and 7th Circle were beings of entirely different dimensions.
Moreover, the people of the Tunterra Empire carried the trauma of Raina Hart destroying their empire in a single night.
Could they, unprepared as they were, truly defeat the Emperor?

“…Let us build our strength a little longer.”

And so the rebellion was delayed.
From the 7th Circle mage who had even given the Rebel Forces pause, how could I retrieve Vivian…?

“This is truly troublesome.”

Two figures—a man and a woman—positioned themselves behind Tiernan Fargan and conversed.
From what I could hear of their deliberation, they appeared to be mages.

“If I could just obtain a single pinch of fairy wing dust, I’d have all the materials. But I can’t seem to gather it anywhere.”
“If you find it difficult, why not entrust it to the Detective Agency?”
“The Detective Agency is even worse at finding things than I am. Fairies only reveal themselves to the naked eye.”
“Who said to go to an ordinary Detective Agency? You should go to the Mage-Exclusive Information Broker. They’re the ones who solve problems even mages can’t handle—surely they can find one measly fairy?”

The Mage-Exclusive Information Broker….
Tiernan Fargan turned over the mages’ conversation in my mind, gazing at the flames that resembled Vivian.

***

Devour it, he said.
The mad Emperor’s words actually calmed Raina instead.

….

I could tell even without the translucent window appearing.
Why Kevenriak had made that sound.
I had glimpsed it countless times throughout the years we spent together.

“A monster.”

A pause.

“…is that what you are?”

Vivian’s question came forth unwavering and direct.
For the first time, a tremor of agitation flickered across Kevenriak’s blue eyes.
The Emperor fell silent. Raina Hart seized the opening to strike. She spoke to the Emperor, whose lips still hovered near her ear.

“So you’re deliberating now on how to devour me?”
“…”

Keep me close.

“But Your Majesty, if that is your reason, you will not be able to devour me.”

I will strive to fill the void of your despair.
Please, grant me this chance—perhaps my last.
Raina Hart was appealing to Kevenriak with her entire being.

“Because Your Majesty is not a monster.”
“…”

At Raina Hart’s words, Kevenriak withdrew backward.
The Emperor’s face that entered her vision had turned ashen.

“Your Majesty…!”

Raina Hart raised her half-prone upper body.
The Emperor lifted his hand to stop her. It meant: come no closer.

‘No.’
‘You are a monster.’
‘Kevenriak.’

Voices rushed frantically into Kevenriak’s mind.
You are a monster.
Don’t listen to that woman.

“…Ugh.”
“Your Majesty?!”

A splitting headache erupted through his skull.
Kevenriak clutched his head and bowed it low.
Raina reached out in alarm toward his dark hair, but the Emperor coldly brushed her hand away.

“Do not touch me without permission.”

Kevenriak’s threatening warning was directed at Raina.
Even as he spoke, there was no sign that his condition would improve.

‘This won’t do.’

I needed to be condemned. I needed to find a way to be wounded.
Only then could I continue drawing these agonized breaths.
Kevenriak could not yet allow himself to be killed.

“….”

The Emperor extended his hand.
Raina flinched slightly at his approaching hand but did not avert her gaze elsewhere.
Though Kevenriak’s hollow eyes were not looking at her.
The Emperor’s hand did not reach Raina. Instead, he seized the birdcage beside her and rose to his feet.

“I am a magnificent mage….”

The doll inside the cage began its prattling once more.

“Why would you…?”
“The princess is fortunate, it seems.”

Kevenriak left those words behind and vanished through instantaneous teleportation.
Left alone, Raina gazed at the space where the Emperor had departed.

***

Then I regained consciousness.
My heart ached watching Kevenriak drift toward nightmares.
Yet he had vanished without killing me, leaving me alone in the Separate Palace.

‘I can reach my room.’

I could locate the spatial pouch and verify whether Zikhard still remained within it.
I moved with urgency.
Two years had passed, but my own memories had not weathered such an expanse of time.
I quickly found my way to the chamber.

“….”

Through the slightly ajar door, I confirmed Kevenriak’s absence.
Dried bloodstains, long unwashed, clung to the floor.
Without hesitation, I entered and retrieved the spatial pouch from the desk drawer.

‘Will it recognize me as its user?’

Only the registered owner could extract items from within the spatial dimension.
On the chance it might work, I opened the entrance and reached my hand inside.
But nothing touched my palm.

‘As I suspected—it only recognizes the original body as its owner.’

This was what I had anticipated.
I whispered toward the pouch’s interior.

“Zikhard.”

But the pouch remained silent.
After calling several more times with no response, I clutched the pouch to my chest and collapsed onto the floor.
It was the same spot where I had fallen.

‘The bloodstains….’

Blood seeped into the floor, leaving behind an indelible mark.
I traced the stain with my fingertips.
When I met Zikhard, there was something I wanted to ask him.
What had become of my disciples?
Were they living well?

‘Kin is….’

Vivian’s body, exhausted from the grueling day, seemed to have reached its limit.
Thoughts gathered in my mind only to scatter again, over and over.
I could not hold onto my slipping consciousness and surrendered to sleep.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself suspended roughly a foot and a half above the ground.
More precisely, within a barrier that sealed off everything but the air itself.
Startled, I moved, and the barrier shattered, sending me tumbling to the floor.

“Ow….”

As I pushed myself up, a heavy garment slid down my shoulders.
It was the Emperor’s formal coat that had been draped over me.

“….”

I looked around at my surroundings.
I was outdoors with the Separate Palace visible in the distance.
So it was Kevenriak who had cast me out of the Separate Palace.

‘Keri….’

Truly, how heartless.
Really, how cold-hearted.

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