For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 78

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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 78

That afternoon.
Person received a report from his subordinate that Vivian Asperada had entered the Emperor’s Palace and immediately went to find her.
Person’s hand trembled as he turned the doorknob.
Raina Hart greeted him from inside the room.

“It’s been a while, Sir Person.”
“…Miss Raina Hart.”

Her appearance had changed from what he remembered.
Person knelt before her and swallowed the forgiveness he could never ask for.

“How could I have failed to recognize you, Miss Raina Hart….”

Two years of regret, the self-reproach of not recognizing her even when she stood before him, his own helplessness at being able only to watch as Kevenriak descended into madness.
The words of those bygone days spilled from Person’s lips.

“How have you been all this time…? I heard that Vivian Asperada awakened this summer….”
“That’s right. When I opened my eyes, two years had vanished.”
“Ah.”

Person lamented. At her following words, he despaired.

“So you borrowed the body of the young lady….”

When Vivian Asperada awakens, Raina Hart will disappear.
A resentment he didn’t know how to voice swelled within him.
If this was the work of God, was it not unbearably cruel?

Shortly after.
Person, having composed his emotions, asked Raina Hart a question.

“Young lady, will you exchange written words again tonight?”

Though he now knew she was Raina Hart, Person still addressed her as the young lady.
It was to circumvent the constraints of his oath and speak with her.

“No.”

Person hadn’t exchanged written correspondence yesterday because he’d sensed something amiss about Vivian Asperada and had been wary of her.
So from today onward, there was no one to stop Raina’s actions.
Yet Raina shook her head firmly.

“It’s impossible.”
“Why…?”

When Person asked for an explanation, bewildered, Raina shook the bracelet adorning her wrist.
It was a bracelet equipped with location-tracking functionality.

“His Majesty the Emperor told me not to leave my room.”
“A-are you confined, then?”
“I suppose you could say that.”

Raina shrugged her shoulders with remarkable composure.

“How did this happen…?”
“I must have made His Majesty anxious.”

Just moments before.
When the Emperor asked if I would leave without a word and I couldn’t bring myself to answer, he fastened this bracelet around my wrist.

“With this on, His Majesty can track my location in real time, apparently.”
“Is it impossible to remove the bracelet?”
“Yes.”
“…”

Person stared at the bracelet Raina wore, then opened his mouth with a determined expression.

“I will… try to speak with him.”

Though speaking to the Emperor in his current state would likely fall on deaf ears.
Still, I wanted to be of help to Lady Raina however I could.
But Raina stopped him from doing so.

“Don’t bother. Would His Majesty listen if you pleaded with him? It’s not much of a trade, but he did leave me with something entertaining.”
“Something entertaining, you say?”

I picked up the call bell placed on the adjacent table.
It was what the Emperor used to summon his attendants.

“Why would you…?”

While Person looked puzzled, I pressed the bell.
Then, about a minute later.
Magical light gathered in my room, and a strikingly handsome man materialized through teleportation.
The Emperor asked the noble lady who had summoned him.

“What is it? Do you need to go somewhere?”
“I just wanted to try calling you. Checking if it works properly. And it does.”
“….”

Despite my audacious remark about simply calling him on a whim, Kevenriak turned his head without comment.
Then he noticed Person and asked him with sharp blue eyes.

“Why is Person here?”
“Y-Your Majesty.”

The Knight bowed his waist, flustered by the Emperor’s wariness.
In fact, from the moment the Emperor was summoned by the call bell, he had been confused trying to follow what was happening.
I helped Person, whose mind was in turmoil.

“Sir Person came to express his gratitude for what happened earlier.”
“Y-Yes. I wished to convey my thanks to you, my lady…”

Kevenriak looked displeased but disappeared again through teleportation.
Looking blankly at the empty space, I spoke to Person.

“See, Person? I’ve got myself a cat call bell.”
“…To call it a cat seems…”

Isn’t he far too powerful for that?
Even compared to a jaguar, the Emperor seemed to exceed such a description.
Whether Person thought that or not.
I gazed at where Kevenriak had vanished with honey-sweet eyes, then boasted to Person with a beaming smile about my student.

“He said if I need to go anywhere, I should call him. Isn’t that adorable?”

I had momentarily forgotten. How dearly Raina Hart cherished the Fourth Prince.

“….”

Seeing him unchanged from two years ago, Person swallowed the emotion rising in his throat.
He felt as though he finally understood what he needed to do.

‘Dark Mage.’

He had believed that standing by the Emperor’s side in place of the departed Raina was the only reason he had to live.
Since the Emperor had become consumed by vengeance, he thought he must not follow the same path.
For if he began to chase vengeance, he had no confidence he would not lose himself as well.
But now it was different. Before him stood someone who could give him orders to serve as his guiding light.

“Ah, Person.”

Just then, Raina Hart spoke.

“Two years ago, at the time of the previous Emperor’s assassination—the Fourth Prince’s death—were Duke Asperada or the Duchess Asperada in Jenia?”

At those words, Person’s eyes sharpened.
She had come from Asperada Duke’s Castle. Could she have discovered something?

“I have no knowledge of whether the Duke and Duchess visited, but there should be entry records at the Checkpoint. I will investigate.”
“Thank you. And please deliver this as well.”

Raina Hart withdrew a letter from her bosom and handed it to him.

“Who should I deliver this to?”
“The cat.”

Person nodded in understanding.

“….”

After he left the room, alone once more, Raina Hart pressed the call bell again.

“Why.”

Called twice in succession, his displeasure was written plainly across his face.
Yet Kevenriak teleported without fail each time Raina pressed the summon bell.

“Your Majesty, your mana reserves are quite substantial.”

Raina opened her mouth, finding his obedience rather endearing.
Here she was, someone who couldn’t even form a Mana Heart, praising a seventh-circle mage’s mana capacity.
The Emperor’s lips twisted in bewilderment at the audacity of this noble lady who dared touch a mage’s pride.

“How honored I am, to receive such praise from a noble lady.”

At the Emperor’s sardonic tone, Raina’s eyes crinkled with laughter.
Perhaps it was because Person had learned her true identity.
The situation was no different than before, yet somehow it felt subtly changed from what it had been.

“Shall we train again today?”

Raina asked Kevenriak.

“Do you wish to? It seems the noble lady has developed an interest in swordplay.”
“That’s not it. I wanted to become a mage, I told you.”
“You suit the sword far better than magic, noble lady.”

Kevenriak assessed Raina’s aptitude and answered accordingly.
Unlike that first day when she collapsed after drawing her blade, Vivian’s skill was improving by leaps and bounds.
It was as though the exceptional swordsmanship talent that had been locked away was awakening, triggered by some catalyst.
Though she remained shackled by a body cursed, as it were.
If freed from the constraints of stamina and strength, she could aspire to the realm of Sword Master—a pinnacle reached only once or twice per century.

“You have no talent for magic whatsoever.”

Yet when it came to magic, the situation was entirely different.
Unable to form even a Mana Heart—what manner of mage could she possibly be?
The Emperor’s assessment was nothing if not objective.

“That’s… not true.”

To a former eighth-circle mage, such words were a crack in her pride.

‘If I were to show him how to dismantle the bracelet here—.’

It was also the reason Raina Hart had willingly worn the bracelet and confined herself to the room.
The bracelet could be unlocked either by infusing the caster’s mana or by precisely pressing the connection points of the spell formula.
The latter method required simultaneously piercing two specific locations among the densely written spell formulas without even a hair’s breadth of error—a deactivation method that only those with considerable knowledge of magical formulas could attempt.
If I could manage that, wouldn’t Kevenriak acknowledge me?
But.

‘He might even place a barrier on the room. I should abandon that idea.’

Raina Hart reluctantly decided to conceal her true abilities for now.

***

The Zenia Immigration Management Office.
It was where Person had come immediately upon Raina Hart’s orders.

“Yes, we have a record of Duke Asperada’s visit.”

The Knight who had checked the entry log from two years ago spoke up.
Raina Hart’s words had been correct.

“Is there no record of the Duchess?”
“I don’t see one. Ah, but the Duchess Asperada has had no entry records for the past two years.”
“Why is that?”
“When His Majesty the current Emperor ascended to the throne, the Duchess fell gravely ill, and her health has not recovered since. I’ve heard from my sister that she hasn’t left the Duke’s territory since then.”

At those words, Person fell into thought.
Was it mere coincidence that the Duchess’s illness aligned with the Emperor’s ascension?

‘I should report this to Raina Hart…?’
“Why won’t you let me in! Are you discriminating against me because I’m from the countryside?!”

A loud commotion reached Person’s ears.
A voice loud enough to pierce through the window.
Who on earth was making such a ruckus with such a booming voice?

‘That voice sounds familiar….’

The Zenia Immigration Management Office was situated directly beside the Checkpoint.
From the window of the second-floor room where he stood, the Checkpoint was clearly visible below.
Person hesitated for a moment upon recognizing the familiar faces of men visible beyond the window.

“What beggars are trying to enter Jenia?”

A Knight from the Checkpoint who had approached beside Person muttered under his breath.
But those men were….

“Do you know who we are?”
“We are the Knights of Countess Raina Hart!”

They were Shukal and Fontepon, Person’s former subordinates.

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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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