For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 73

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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 73

Person asked if I was Raina’s ghost upon seeing me.
My heart raced for a moment, but I quickly composed myself upon reading his expression.
Person’s demeanor toward Raina was unmistakably guarded.
Not the attitude one shows toward a cherished person.
The gaze one casts upon a potential adversary.

“A ghost?”

Raina feigned ignorance and asked.

“What do you mean by that?”

How much had Person discerned that he would speak to me this way?
I wished to know, but constraints prevented me from asking directly.
I could only observe how Person would proceed.

“Do you truly not understand what question I’m asking, Your Highness?”

Anger—or perhaps trembling—colored Person’s voice.

“I asked whether you were performing as the ghost of Raina Hart, Your Highness.”

He held up a single sheet of paper for Raina to see.
A blank page with the Imperial Household’s seal faintly imprinted at the top center.
It was the same type of paper Kevenriak had boasted about using for written correspondence with my Master.
Such paper was easy to obtain from the Imperial Palace, but the problem was that Person had noticed something.

“Yesterday, you asked me for writing implements as a favor, Your Highness.”

So I sent a set of writing instruments used by the Imperial Household to Vivian’s chambers.
From that very evening, the Emperor claimed to have exchanged written correspondence with my Master’s ghost.

“The timing is far too convenient to be mere coincidence. I cannot help but suspect your true identity, Your Highness.”
“….”
“How did you learn her handwriting? Did you deliberately approach His Majesty?”

Person watched the silent noblewoman with growing concern.
He hoped she wasn’t an enemy.
He hoped she was someone who could restore the Emperor to his former self. It was the first glimmer of such hope in two years.

“An explanation, or even an excuse—anything would suffice. I wish to hear your thoughts, my lady.”

But before that, he bore a responsibility.
The duty to protect the Emperor’s safety.
It was his role to suspect and remain vigilant against anything that might threaten the Emperor.
Suspicion had to take precedence over his desire to trust the noblewoman. Person’s words became an interrogation directed at her.
Raina, who had been silent, finally spoke.

“Person.”

From the moment I requested writing materials, I had calculated to some extent.
The written exchange I shared with Kevenriak might well reach Person’s ears.
On that familiar paper, Person would interrogate me, and when that time came, I would be unable to speak a word due to the constraints of my oath.
This was the friction I desired.

“Do you know of the oaths mages impose to prevent information leaks?”
“…?”

Person couldn’t understand why the noblewoman would broach such a subject.
Yet it was a topic that troubled him. The oaths of mages. Wasn’t such an oath placed upon him as well? The one I made with Raina.
Raina continued.

“I’m bound by such an oath as well.”

At those words, Person’s eyes narrowed.
He recalled the sentence from the written exchange asking whether an oath had been placed on the Asperada noblewoman.
It was written in Raina’s perfect handwriting.
Could it truly have been written by the Asperada noblewoman? It was strange that when asked if she was a ghost, she neither confirmed nor denied it, instead bringing up the matter of an oath.

‘So she cannot speak to His Majesty because she is bound by an oath.’

Person hesitated to speak. Raina opened her mouth.

“If you need help at the Imperial Palace, they told me to find Knight Person. I’m hoping you’ll spend a few days pondering the answer to my question.”
“…?”
“Even after you’ve thought it over, if you still believe I’m His Majesty’s enemy, you’re welcome to capture me and bring me before him.”
“What question requires such a lengthy preamble?”

Raina Hart placed her hand on the bewildered knight’s shoulder and whispered in his ear.

“Person, will you recognize who I am?”
“Well, you’re Vivian Asperada….”
“I’m not asking for an answer right now. Just think about it for four days.”

Part of me wondered why I was doing this, yet strangely, I found myself wanting to.
Perhaps it was because the lady’s hand rested upon my shoulder.
Person, whose lips remained firmly set, nodded in acknowledgment.

“I will consider it for that long. But my lady, please stop playing the ghost of Raina Hart. Impersonating her in the Imperial Palace is… a matter of life and death.”
“Thank you for worrying about me.”

Raina Hart gave the knight’s shoulder an encouraging pat before departing.
But not before she imparted a brief lesson in magical knowledge.
It was something those untrained in magic rarely understood.

“For your information, a binding oath remains in effect as long as the soul of the one who cast it hasn’t perished.”

I hoped the Emperor’s knight would grasp my meaning.

***

After sharing dinner together, Raina Hart and Kevenriak Heteroven made their way to the Emperor’s Private Training Ground.

“Your Majesty, can I be honest with you?”

This was my fourth day living in the Imperial Palace, my third day as a disciple.
Surely by now I could afford to be more candid with Kevenriak Heteroven.

“Go ahead.”

Kevenriak Heteroven nodded as he observed the lady standing before him, wooden sword held in ready stance.

“I always wanted to become a mage rather than a swordmaster.”

A profession that didn’t require such physical exertion.
Sweat trickled down Raina Hart’s back as she stood in her training attire.
Kevenriak Heteroven laughed at her words as if she’d said something absurd.

“How could you become a mage without a Mana Heart?”
“That’s why I’m asking—couldn’t effort overcome it?”
“It couldn’t.”
“What if the effort were enough to transcend physical limitations?”
“At this rate, it seems nowhere near sufficient.”

Kevenriak spoke while observing the wooden sword gradually lowering toward the ground.

“That’s quite the predicament.”

It’s already so exhausting as it is.
Raina Hart replied.
It had been roughly twenty minutes since the Emperor commanded me to hold nothing but this wooden sword.
The downward strikes were grueling enough on their own, but maintaining this position proved equally merciless. He’d said the crucial thing was keeping the blade’s tip from wavering.
…It was trembling quite shamelessly.
If the purpose was to obscure the number of attacks from an opponent, I seemed to have developed an excellent method.

“I don’t think I’ll ever excel at swordplay, Your Majesty. What if I bring dishonor to your reputation?”

Kevenriak scoffed.
Then he grasped the center of the wooden sword Raina Hart held with a single hand.

“You have talent, Vivian Asperada. You simply lack strength.”
“Is that so?”

Raina Hart brightened at the unexpected praise.
Kevenriak met her gaze and spoke.

“That’s why what matters is knowing the vital points with precision.”

Kevenriak pointed the wooden sword Raina held at various parts of his own body.
Between the brows, the heart, the solar plexus…
As if instructing me to strike him in these places someday, he was showing me where to aim.
Whether from exhaustion or the Emperor’s teachings, I couldn’t say, but unease gnawed at me. Raina opened her mouth.

“Your Majesty, forgive me, but my hands have gone numb.”

The excuse of inhabiting Vivian’s body served well enough.
Wasn’t it remarkable enough that I hadn’t lost consciousness?
Kevenriak regarded her.

“I don’t care for shortcuts.”

I’d been caught.

“Still, we can’t have you collapsing. Let’s rest a moment.”

A reprieve. Raina sank to the floor as if her legs had given way beneath her.
She gazed up blankly at Kevenriak’s profile as he inspected the wooden sword.
Would he be waiting for our silent exchange today as well?

“Your Majesty, do you know a woman with periwinkle hair?”
“…”

The Emperor’s eyes snapped toward her in an instant.
An ominous blue light, different from before. Raina smiled inwardly.
The predicament of being unable to speak her name aloud, forced to speak in riddles, was rather amusing.

“She appeared in my dream, Your Majesty. She asked me to tell you that she won’t be able to visit for some time.”

It was absurd, yet the Emperor was so obsessed with his Master that even such nonsense would reach him.
Kevenriak dropped to one knee directly before Raina, facing her.

“Why? Why?”
“I don’t know either. She simply said that and departed.”
“Why did she appear only in the Princess’s dream? Why didn’t she come to mine?”

The Emperor whimpered like a beast abandoned by its master. His expression remained unchanged, yet his hands—which had clasped Raina’s without her noticing—spoke volumes.

“Who is that person?”
“My Master.”
“Then it must have been difficult for Your Majesty to see their face. Perhaps I, being a stranger, would cause you no such pain? There would be nothing to grieve over.”
“….”

Kevenriak fell silent, his gaze distant, before suddenly snapping his fingers.
Magic.
What materialized on the floor were familiar paper and pen.

“Why this?”
“Since Master won’t be coming today, the lady will engage in written conversation with me.”
“….”

Written conversation—that’s what he called it.
I awkwardly grasped the pen with my left hand.

“What are you doing? You’re right-handed.”
“Ah… how did you know?”
“I can tell from how you hold a sword.”

His perceptiveness made my vision darken.
As I hesitated, His Majesty himself gently transferred the pen to my right hand.
This was almost unbearably humbling.

“Write first.”
“…Yes.”

I moved the pen reluctantly at the Emperor’s suggestion.
I’d asked Person for four days to think, yet my lifeline was cut short in just one day.
None of my predictions have come to pass.
Damn this novel. Damn this author.

A moment later.

“The lady is….”

Kevenriak gazed intently at the paper in his hands.

“Your handwriting is quite dynamic. I can’t make out a single character.”
“…Your Majesty, you needn’t be so sarcastic about it.”

Raina Hart answered the Emperor with a pouty expression.
That’s precisely why I didn’t mention it—my hands were so numb I couldn’t even grip a sword.
The fortunate part was that the numbness made my trembling hands shake the pen mercilessly.
The Emperor regarded me with a serious expression and asked.

“My lady, shall I find you a calligraphy instructor?”
“No.”

To be misunderstood by my own student as having poor handwriting.
Raina Hart shook her head with a bitter smile.

***

Late into the night.
Person was recalling his conversation with Vivian Asperada at the First Knights Order Quarters.

“The constraints of an oath remain in effect as long as the soul of the one who cast the spell does not perish.”

A meaningful statement.
Vivian Asperada had taken no particular action since that incident.
She had dined with the Emperor in the evening as usual, trained in swordplay, and then retired to bed, or so she claimed.

“Commander, I have a report.”

A subordinate who had returned from patrol spoke to Person, who was lost in thought.

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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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