The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 115

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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 115
“Rozelin, are you asleep?”
At the sudden sound of his voice, she startled and opened her eyes wide.
“Arma……?”
“Ah, yes. If you’re not sleeping, would it be all right if I came in?”
Rozelin recalled Arma, who had been at her side while she explained things to her father moments ago, and nodded slowly.
“Of course.”
The door handle turned with a soft click.
Watching Arma enter the room with tense shoulders, Rozelin smiled faintly.
“Is it a good night?”
“……It’s a good night because I see you, Rozelin.”
He smiled and approached carefully, then abruptly dropped to one knee before her.
“……Arma?”
At the sudden turn of events, her brow furrowed, and Arma smiled sheepishly.
“Rozelin.”
“Yes.”
“The truth is, I’d follow you even if it meant making a pact with a Demon…….”
He gently took her hand and pressed a light kiss to the back of it.
“You’d be angry with me, wouldn’t you?”
“……No?”
Why would she be angry? What reason could there possibly be?
Whatever choice a grown adult made, they alone bore the responsibility for it.
“……Is, is that so?”
Arma’s face flushed crimson as he bowed his head and answered haltingly.
Rozelin nodded once.
“Yes. I’ll just…… think you’re being foolish…….”
As she spoke, Rozelin glanced at Arma, then trailed off mid-sentence.
His face was scarlet with embarrassment, the feeling palpable in the air.
Even his earlobes and the nape of his neck had turned crimson, and Rozelin found herself momentarily at a loss for words.
“……Well, if that’s what you say, then I suppose I’d be a little happy.”
After a long moment of consideration, Rozelin added carefully.
Arma, who had been trying to lighten the mood with a casual remark, widened his eyes.
And the moment he saw Rozelin’s trembling gaze, he froze.
It was all he could do to suppress the shameless urge to dig at his own ears, his lips quivering.
“But I’d prefer you didn’t.”
“……Why?”
“Because it’s something I need to resolve myself.”
It wasn’t something that could be resolved by taking someone with her.
Rozelin had loose ends she needed to tie up, and until she did, she wouldn’t find peace anywhere.
“……You said you’d return, so I’ll keep the engagement as it stands.”
“That’s good.”
“No matter what you say……, yes?”
“Yes, do that.”
At Arma’s foolish question, Rozelin added once more.
“……Why?”
“Isn’t that what you want to do?”
“……Yes, it is.”
“Why do you care for me, Arma?”
Rozelin asked him.
When she thought about it, Rozelin and Arma didn’t have that many points of connection.
In that other world, perhaps it was different, but in this world, they’d had almost no connection at all.
They’d spent time together in small ways, she’d unexpectedly glimpsed a dream Arma had, they’d unexpectedly gone to Kaluta together and arrived here, but…….
Yes, there hadn’t been much time to feel tenderness in this place.
“……What do you mean by that……?”
“I’m asking because I wondered if you’d ever considered that your care and affection for me came because of that dream.”
What if this feeling wasn’t from Arma in this world, but influenced by the other Arma’s memories?
In the dead world, Arma carried deep regret.
Just as Rozelin had understood love after Arma’s death, learned the weight of life, and harbored much regret, so too did that world’s Arma regret.
‘Had he loved me?’
Rozelin had loved him.
‘Did he love me, then?’
Perhaps. She couldn’t be certain, but likely he had.
‘And this man?’
Does Rozelin love this man?
Does this man love Rozelin?
In truth, there was no answer to these questions.
Rather, only her answer was missing. Arma had said he loved her.
But Rozelin couldn’t be certain whether this feeling belonged to Arma alone, or whether it was merely the residue of emotion left behind in that other world.
“Rozelin.”
“Yes.”
“Even when I’m sitting idle, I think of you. When I’m enjoying a meal, I wish I were eating it with you. When something troubles me, I want to see your face. When something brings me joy, I want to share it with you.”
At this quiet recitation of love, Rozelin found herself at a loss for words.
“Must love always take some grand and extraordinary form?”
At Arma’s question, Rozelin shook her head.
She knew well enough that love wasn’t confined to the passionate, novelistic kind alone.
Both Garren Wilbred and she were fools who had come late to understand the worth of another person.
“I do care for you. Regardless of where this feeling began, that truth won’t change.”
Arma smiled.
“Rozelin.”
“……Yes.”
“Would you allow me to introduce myself properly once more?”
At his sudden words, a look of bewilderment crossed Rozelin’s face.
Arma straightened from his kneeling position and took two steps back, then broke into a gentle smile.
“My name is Arma Jin Dianithas.”
At his words, Rozelin’s eyes widened considerably.
And with good reason.
“Third Prince of the Dianithas Empire, and…….”
Only those among the imperial family who possessed a Middle Name…….
“The Crown Prince.”
……could be the Emperor or the one destined to become Emperor in the next generation.
“……You’re truly going to become Emperor?”
“Didn’t I tell you before that I would become Emperor?”
“……I never thought you meant it.”
Now that the Emperor had granted him the Middle Name ‘Jin’, he would remain Crown Prince until his dying breath unless something extraordinary occurred.
When he’d first spoken of becoming Emperor, she’d half-heartedly hoped he would abandon the idea.
Being Crown Prince wasn’t something one could simply choose to become, and currently the First Imperial Prince was being pushed forward as the stronger candidate.
‘……What exactly has he done?’
Rozelin studied him with a puzzled expression, then pressed her lips shut.
“So, Rozelin.”
He lifted her hand and brought it to his lips, bowing deeply at the waist, his lips moving slowly against her skin.
“Will you become the Crown Princess?”
“…….”
“And when you return safely, will you become Empress?”
Arma withdrew a ring from his pocket and carefully slipped it onto the fourth finger of Rozelin’s left hand as he spoke.
At first glance it resembled black jade, but upon closer inspection, it was a diamond.
A black diamond.
The meaning of a diamond is eternal love.
It was a jewel of overreaching significance, yet it was also the gem many used when pledging forever.
‘I’ve never seen a black diamond before.’
Rozelin gazed intently at the diamond.
Something deep within it seemed to quiver and shift.
Rozelin was about to open her eyes wider and bring the ring closer for a better look when——
“……I will wait for you until you return.”
Arma continued speaking calmly, and Rozelin turned her gaze from the ring to look at him instead.
A youthful face, a man not yet fully shed of boyishness.
“You will come back, won’t you?”
“Yes.”
Though she couldn’t set a date for her return, Rozelin spoke with firm resolve.
The desire to return was genuine.
“I will become an Emperor worthy of keeping you beside me. When you return, there will be no escape for you.”
Arma gripped Rozelin’s hand tightly as he spoke.
“Please keep wearing the ring I gave you. It will connect us.”
Rozelin smiled quietly at his words.
Since only her spirit would depart, she couldn’t take the ring with her—but the care he’d shown in giving it to her mattered all the same.
“I will.”
After her answer, Rozelin fell silent for a moment.
After a long pause, she carefully opened her mouth.
“Me too.”
Rozelin spoke slowly.
“I’ll set things right before I go.”
So that I never look back with lingering regret, so that I can stand firm in this world and truly live.
“Yes, I’ll wait. Though it may be forward of me… would it be all right if I kissed you?”

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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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