The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 111

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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 111
“You went out and set up a business that made you a fortune.”
“……What?”
“The Crown Prince, who’d been handling an enormous amount of work on behalf of the previous emperor, suddenly abandoned all of it, and the Imperial Capital’s functions ground to a halt…….”
Albus and Edward’s eyes widened.
“And then the 15th Emperor, who seemed like he’d return any day now, struck it rich in business and has been living quite comfortably, strutting about…….”
A gulp echoed through the room as someone swallowed hard.
“In the end, the 14th Emperor even rebelled against his father and went himself to retrieve the Crown Prince, only to be refused.”
“……And then?”
“And then…….”
Arma dragged out his words, stealing a glance at Rozelin. Seeing her eyes widen as though hearing this story for the first time, he smiled faintly.
He gently took her hand, and only then did she give a small start, her shoulders trembling.
“So there are things even you don’t know.”
“……I’m human too, you know.”
She answered, averting her gaze.
“I thought you handled everything on your own and knew everything.”
“Stop mid-sentence like that! What happened?!”
“Are you curious?”
“What? If someone leaves off mid-sentence, obviously……!”
Arma smiled broadly.
“Then I can take it you’ll do what Rozelin says?”
“What? What kind of nonsense is that…….”
It was the moment Edward cried out with wide eyes.
“Fine.”
“……Brother!”
Edward shouted at his brother, who’d already surrendered to curiosity.
As Arma watched the boy in silence, Edward let out a low groan, then suddenly jerked his head up.
“What is it! Tell me already!”
The curious boy had been defeated.
* * *
Whirrrrr——!
A pale yellow light flowing from the Orb seeped slowly into the shadow-like figure, barely breathing, nearly a mummy.
Not a single breath could be heard in the room.
Rozelin too watched in tense focus as the yellow light seeped into her body.
As more and more light absorbed into the withered frame, the Yellow Stone began to shrink bit by bit.
When the Orb had diminished to half its original size, there came a soft thud as something dropped to the floor.
Rozelin turned her head to see tears streaming down Albus’s cheeks.
“……Brother?”
Albus, the boy who had imprisoned his soul in a Ceramic Doll for so long, slowly reached out and gently touched the cheek of the boy lying asleep like death.
The body, which had been charred and ruined by burns, now bore not a single scar, as though nothing had ever happened.
The skin, which had been hard as cooled lava, now felt soft again with the natural texture of boyish flesh.
It was nothing short of a miracle.
The rot that had hung in the air vanished, replaced by the faint scent of living skin.
“…….”
Albus looked toward Rozelin as though asking permission. When she nodded, the boy slowly closed his eyes.
Then a brilliant white light poured forth from the old Ceramic Doll, unraveling as it fell to the floor.
Crash——!
Part of the ancient Ceramic Doll shattered with a sharp sound.
“……Brother?”
With a small call, the body of Albus lying on the bed stirred.
His eyelids trembled once, then slowly opened.
A pair of blue eyes, quite like Arma’s, came into view.
“……Brother?”
The boy’s lips worked soundlessly, and when his voice didn’t come easily, he touched his throat several times before slowly nodding.
Rozelin slipped the half-remaining Orb back into the Bracelet.
It looked rather shabby now, hardly worthy of the name bracelet.
The Red Stone of the Chilyo Stone had already disappeared, and the Orange Stone had been consumed when the Third Prince was summoned instead of the Emperor.
The Green Stone had been carefully ground and scattered across various parts of the duchy lands, and the Indigo Stone had been given to Garren Wilbred.
All that remained now were the Yellow Stone, which had shrunk to half its size, the Purple Stone, and the Blue Stone.
“……Brother.”
“Ah, I…….”
“Brother!! Are you coming to? Thank goodness…….”
Edward rushed to Albus and embraced him.
Rozelin, lost in thought and ignoring the melodrama entirely, lowered her gaze to her bracelet, studying it intently before lifting her eyes again.
She stiffened abruptly.
It was because her eyes met directly with Arma’s — he was watching her, his mouth curved upward in a smile.
Thump. Her heart seemed to drop at the sound, and Rozelin hesitated for a moment.
“……Why?”
“Simply because I like it.”
“……All of a sudden?”
Rozelin’s brow furrowed slightly.
“I’m glad your brother is safe. How’s your body? Any problems?”
“……I’m fine.”
“You don’t need to force yourself to speak. ……I’m truly grateful. Really, so grateful.”
Rozelin scratched her cheek, watching Arma make no move to pull his face back from hers.
‘Was there really anything to like here?’
All she’d done was threaten him — bringing the injured man, saying she’d treat him, this and that.
“……This infatuation is frightening.”
“If that’s what you wish, brother, I’m content.”
“Is this infatuation?”
“……I’ll stop now, brother.”
“You claim to like me, yet you haven’t done anything worthy of that claim.”
“I’m sorry for……holding you here all this time.”
“I like it. You’re beautiful and lovely — I genuinely like you.”
“……Oh for heaven’s sake! Hey! You two really need to watch the mood while you talk!”
Edward, who had been embracing his brother and speaking with tender determination, suddenly shouted in exasperation.
Arma glanced at them briefly, then opened his mouth.
“Your tone seems impolite to your parents.”
“Parents?! Our parents are both dead, remember?!”
“Then who was it that called them Mom and Dad first? Why raise your voice now?”
At Arma’s narrowed-eyed remark, Rozelin tapped his arm lightly.
Arma then stepped back behind Rozelin as if nothing had happened, his expression softening into a gentle smile.
“That shameless bastard.”
“In any case, since I’ve saved your life, I take it you’re accepting the conditions from before.”
“You can’t destroy the forest.”
At Edward’s brazen demand, Rozelin drew a document from her sleeve and held it out.
It was a paper she’d prepared beforehand, declaring that this forest belonged to the Bellion Duchy Estate.
“Then you’ll have to leave immediately.”
“What?!”
“I told you — this is our family’s property. If you can’t follow the rules, forced expulsion is the only option…….”
Rozelin tilted her head arrogantly, arms crossed.
“Of course, since you’ve been squatting here illegally all this time, you’ll have to pay rent accordingly…….”
“What? Illegal occupation? You think we wanted to be here?! We were here first!”
“Do you have proof?”
Rozelin asked with a smirk.
“……What?”
“I asked if you have proof.”
Rozelin fluttered the paper like bait, her chin thrust up arrogantly, laughing brightly.
“I’ll turn a blind eye to the mess you’ve made inside the house.”
“You, you……Do you know who we are?!”
“Death-reported former Crown Princes.”
“Death-reported…….”
Edward’s mouth fell open.
“……That’s true, though.”
The Emperor had changed no fewer than fifteen times since then, so it would be correct that they’d been death-reported long ago.
Yet he still couldn’t accept it.
Edward felt as though he’d only been here for a handful of years at most.
In this dim forest, there was no clear night and no clear day, and they slept scarcely at all.
Today felt like yesterday, yesterday like the day before, and the day before seemed little different from tomorrow.
He collapsed onto the bed beside Albus, rubbing his face roughly.
“…… I had no idea it had been so long.”
“Since you’re immortal, you seem a bit dulled to the passage of time.”
Albus spoke slowly, touching his neck several times as though his own body felt strange to him.
Rozelin studied him with narrowed eyes.
The Yellow Stone she possessed was a stone of Healing and Purification.
Using its power, she had mended Albus’s body, but it amounted only to restoring him to the state he’d been in just before death.
In other words, she could treat only the external wounds.
Yet looking at Albus’s frame, Rozelin could glimpse how brutal the treatment must have been in this Mansion during the reign of the 13th Emperor.
His forearms were nothing but skin stretched over bone, utterly devoid of muscle, and his cheeks were hollow.
Even accounting for the long period without food, the lingering scars bore witness to suffering that went far beyond mere starvation.
“I’ll build you a new house a little deeper into the forest.”
“There’s no need for that. This is enough for now.”
“If you stay here, you’ll only be haunted by the past. Why would you choose that?”
Edward and Albus faltered at Rozelin’s words.
“The past exists to be forgotten, not to be dwelt in. You two…….”
Rozelin thought of her younger self.
“You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“……!”
At words they’d never expected to hear, both boys’ eyes widened.
Edward’s eyes trembled visibly.
“You can’t call your own birth a sin. You had no choice in it. There’s no reason for you to carry even the faintest guilt, no reason to lock yourselves away in this place.”
“No…… I…….”
“You were simply born.”
Rozelin spoke with utter conviction.
At that very moment, the world around them began to shift.
The ornate Mansion gradually, imperceptibly, began to lose its luster—its brilliance fading like color draining from cloth.
Windows that had gleamed now creaked as though they always had, and the pristine flooring had become rotted wood, so fragile it seemed it would crumble underfoot.
‘Then again, perhaps the rotted floor was always like this.’
This was likely a fragment of Edward’s Abyss.
“Evil isn’t you. So there’s no reason to be trapped here.”
Rozelin spoke matter-of-factly.
“I’ve lived long enough to understand this: if you don’t speak your grievances aloud, no one will ever know them. Suffering in silence, enduring alone—nobody knows. Endurance isn’t strength. Do you know what true strength really is?”
“…… What is it.”
“Speaking up loudly and clearly when you need to.”
Rozelin said this.
Children had gathered near the doorway, and behind them stood Garren and the High Priest.
“So then, everyone repeat after me: My father or mother is a worthless bastard.”
Rozelin’s red lips curled upward in a bright smile as she spoke to the children.

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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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