The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 102

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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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Episode 102
Rozelin stared blankly at him, as if wondering what on earth he was talking about, and Arma gave a slight smile.
“My lady.”
Arma lowered his head and spoke tenderly, his voice soft.
A chill ran down Rozelin’s spine, and she grimaced, taking two quick steps backward.
Arma then pressed his lips firmly together and lightly rubbed his face with his palm.
“……I apologize.”
Arma murmured quietly, burying his face in his hand.
“……I’ll just go fetch some firewood.”
“No, there’s plenty of firewood here…….”
Before Rozelin could finish, Arma spun around and quickly slipped out beyond the Barrier.
As the man walked away in long strides, his earlobes were flushed a deep red.
“……Why is he going to chop firewood when we have more than enough?”
“You seem to have rather poor instincts. You’re at that age—have you never been in a romance?”
Garren Wilbred’s words, spoken with a grin that irritated her further, made Rozelin’s lips curl slightly.
She narrowed her brows in annoyance.
“I’m in a romance right now, thank you very much.”
“This wouldn’t be your first one, surely.”
“I’m not as loose as some people. I only date those I’m comfortable with.”
“Which explains why your instincts have gone to the netherworld.”
“Good heavens, Rozelin. Is this your first romance? I’ve been in three already, and I’m only twelve…….”
Rozelin’s face contorted with displeasure.
‘A twelve-year-old talking about romance…….’
Three times, no less.
Rozelin slowly turned over the twenty-seven years she had lived and the time she had spent here.
For her, this six-month contract romance was her first proper one.
“Isn’t he perhaps too fond of you?”
“I don’t dislike you. If I did, you wouldn’t still be alive, now would you?”
“What an impertinent thing to say!”
Garren glanced downward, took in the sight of Batar standing before Rozelin, then looked back up at her with a smile.
A chill brushed down her spine, and she pressed her lips firmly shut.
“I do treasure you in my own way, that much is true.”
“I devoutly pray your romantic ventures fail.”
…….
The moment she brought up the Marquess, Garren’s mouth snapped shut.
“I hope she succeeds in her divorce and flees with a new husband of her choosing.”
Rozelin laughed softly, probing at his weakness.
“Well, if that were to happen…….”
Garren Wilbred leisurely opened his mouth, his hand thrust into his pocket.
All at once, an uncanny wind swirled around him, and his coat billowed.
“That new husband she found might just meet with an accident. A fatal one.”
Garren Wilbred’s eyes were not smiling.
In that heavily weighted voice, Rozelin effortlessly recognized this as the reverse scale of a man who seemed otherwise impeccable.
“……Love is truly frightening.”
Rozelin murmured absently.
At her words, Garren paused, then brushed his mouth once and shrugged.
“I couldn’t agree more.”
“It would have been nice if he’d treated her well from the start. If I’m not mistaken, the Marquess has been fond of you for quite some time.”
Rozelin watched the priests busily preparing, then thought to sit lightly on a rock.
Or rather, she tried to.
If only Garren hadn’t laid out his coat on the rock first.
“……Pick it up, would you?”
“I can’t have a distinguished lady sitting anywhere. I’ve no wish to die at the hands of your family.”
“I find that kindness without recompense from you is more frightening. Stop it.”
Garren Wilbred shrugged.
Seeing that he had no intention whatsoever of picking it up, she clicked her tongue and sat down carelessly.
The long coat dragged down and was trampled on the ground, but that was hardly Rozelin’s concern.
“It’s the same old story—someone you assumed would always be by your side vanishes, and only then do you realize it was never inevitable, and that it mattered more to you than you’d thought.”
Rozelin lifted her knees and rested her chin on them, nodding slowly.
“I don’t really understand what love is.”
Rozelin watched Arma approaching with an armful of firewood, muttering under her breath.
“I can’t even tell if this feeling is directed toward the dead, or toward him.”
Garren Wilbred glanced down at her.
Rozelin’s gaze was fixed on Arma’s movements.
She was watching even the moment when he handed the firewood to another priest in passing.
“Parallel worlds or not, the source is the same in the end. Does the world being different change the person you loved?”
“It does. This Arma has no memory of running away with me. Can you call that the same person?”
Rozelin turned to look at Garren Wilbred.
Arma, having handed off the firewood to the priest, began walking quickly toward Rozelin in a straight line.
“Garren, Arma and Father dreamed of things that happened in the parallel world where I lived.”
“……What do you mean?”
“Exactly as I said. Arma dreamed of what happened after we died, and Father dreamed of when I was briefly…… ah.”
Rozelin remembered then that she had become a child.
“Before that, I briefly traveled to the past of my original world. So I possessed my past body.”
“…….”
“Are these side effects from the Demon you contracted with? Or some consequence of that?”
“No, he doesn’t possess that sort of ability…….”
Garren Wilbred trailed off, then suddenly narrowed his eyes, studying her intently.
Rozelin was about to speak, making no effort to hide her displeasure at his gaze.
“Rozelin.”
Arma had returned.
“Yes, Arma.”
“Would you care for a walk after we eat?”
Arma spoke carefully, taking hold of Rozelin’s hand.
“I’d like that.”
She glanced back at Garren, who had drifted away, then squeezed Arma’s hand firmly and nodded softly.
* * *
“Hey, you guys! Listen, listen. Friends have come to visit.”
“Not villains?”
“Kehe, maybe they are villains!”
Three children hidden in the darkness burst into laughter like the ringing of bells.
Young voices came from the darkness without showing themselves, and between their words, gleaming white teeth flashed.
“And there’s lots of strange things mixed in!”
The voice was practically trembling with excitement.
“Strange things?”
“Yep, there’s a lying bat, and darkness, and mimicry, and a really pretty older sister too!”
“Really? Then we should bring our sister with us! We can raise her to be pretty, right?”
The children spoke with delighted voices, bouncing in place.
Thump-thump-thump.
What began as soft, child-like bouncing gradually grew heavier—thud-thud-thud—and soon the ground itself began to shake as if an earthquake were coming.
“Oops, we bounced too much.”
“Shh, don’t let them get scared and run away.”
The children pressed their small, pale fingers to their lips and whispered softly.
“Is this hide-and-seek?!”
“Or maybe it’s tag!”
“Tag!”
“So who’s it?”
“Of course us, right~?”
“Yeah, let’s do that!”
“But wait, I also want to play hide-and-seek.”
“Then should we do both?”
The children huddled together, chattering away.
All the voices sounded like one person, yet also like dozens speaking at once.
Or perhaps like three or four children.
“How do you play tag and hide-and-seek at the same time?”
“We’re catching our sister!”
“And if our sister wants to find us, she has to look for us!”
“That sounds fun, so fun!”
“No, without our sister it won’t be fun, so we hide first and our sisters find us!”
“What, how are we supposed to do this?”
The children grumbled in discontent.
After chattering and clamoring for a while, the children reached a rough consensus. In the darkness, a pair of crimson eyes flickered open.
The children’s eyes gleamed red as they laughed with innocent delight.
“Anyway, if we win, the pretty sister is ours.”
“Oh, what if we ask her to be our mother? Her eyes are exactly the same color as ours!”
“Good, good!”
“She’s so pretty, she’s bound to be kind.”
“Then let’s play starting tomorrow!”
“But there’s that annoying Barrier.”
“It’s fine, we’ve got our usual way.”
“Good, good!”
Gradually, the surroundings fell silent.
There was no one in the darkness.

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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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