The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 117

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 117
Rozelin looked Galio over slowly from head to foot, then smiled and asked him a question.
“So, Captain of the Guard. What is it you want from me? If it sounds interesting enough, I might even be willing to dance to your tune.”
“I would simply prefer that you stop interfering with my work. If you would, lending me your hand would be even better.”
“And what do I get out of it?”
“What is it you desire?”
Rozelin tapped her cheek with one finger.
“Hmm, now that’s a question.”
After a long moment of contemplation, she opened her mouth, her smile still easy and unhurried.
“Your death.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I’d like it if you dropped dead, Captain of the Guard.”
……
The words were crude as raw meat, impossibly cruel—a stark contrast to her carefree laugh.
Galio faltered for a moment, thinking he’d misheard her.
“What in the world are you talking about?”
“It’s not sudden. I simply wish you were dead.”
“You’re insane.”
Having reached his conclusion, Galio drew his sword slowly from its sheath and spoke.
“There’s no point in discussing anything further. Now die.”
Rozelin laughed.
“So what exactly were you hoping for? You ruined other families and destroyed their fortunes—used my aunt in her vegetative state to create an illegitimate child, all to satisfy your own petty desires.”
Rozelin rose slowly, drew out her fan, and struck the man’s cheek—a head taller than her own—with it sharply, laughing wickedly.
“Tell me, how different do you think you are from those nobles right now?”
His cheek flushed crimson with rage, trembling.
“You stupid wench—!”
“Captain, would you like me to tell you something entertaining?”
Rozelin smiled with a slight laugh, her lips curling into a blossom-bright grin.
“All the ventures you’ve invested in will collapse within a week.”
“What are you—”
“Haven’t you ever wondered?”
Rozelin opened and closed the fan in her hand several times, then laughed.
“How I could possibly know everything you were planning to do.”
……
“How I was already there wherever you intended to go, and why I knew about every single thing your hands had touched.”
Rozelin tapped the blade that hung perilously close to her throat with her fan.
The Captain of the Guard lowered his sword slowly.
It was strange, after all.
No matter how sharp one’s mind, every single moment when she noticed things that hadn’t been revealed, when she obstructed his plans at every turn—
All of it lay in territory that defied ordinary understanding.
“But then again, I did tell you the truth once. You simply didn’t believe me.”
Rozelin murmured softly, studying Galio intently before laughing and tapping his cheek once more with her fan.
“So where should I begin to make this entertaining?”
Rozelin stood before him, smiling brightly.
“You see, you’ve been playing right into my palm this whole time.”
“What—”
“I have a terrible temper, you understand. I’ve never been able to tolerate being wronged.”
Rozelin spoke with unhurried ease.
If she took one blow to the cheek, she needed to return ten, and even then her mood wouldn’t settle until she’d poured high-proof spirits over their head besides.
“Of course, I was always exceptionally skilled at Incitement as well.”
She narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Information Trading was another talent of mine. I’d sell one family’s secrets to another, and when that wasn’t enough, I’d silence both their mouths—sold one wretched family’s information to their rivals and let them take revenge in my stead.”
She crossed her legs and let her foot dangle.
“Anyone I decided needed to die, I hired people to kill them.”
As Rozelin’s words continued, Galio’s expression grew complicated.
At least in his memory, none of the things Rozelin described had ever happened.
He’d never heard rumors of her working with any mercenary guild, and Marlux had never received any such contract.
“Do you know who was the first person I killed after leaving the Estate?”
“……?”
“My stepmother. Lady Carmel.”
With each smooth word she spoke, Galio’s expression grew increasingly twisted.
He wondered if she’d eaten something that disagreed with her.
“I killed my mother with the money I made from Information Trading, used it to hire assassins, and she thrived doing it.”
“…What exactly are you talking about? Are you trying to write a novel or something?”
“Look—even when I spell it out this plainly for you, there’s no point explaining anything to someone with a mind so dull.”
She shook her head slowly with an exaggerated expression, a faint smile playing at her lips.
“All right, in honor of your seasoned stupidity, let me explain it a bit more simply.”
Galio watched her release an exaggerated sigh, his brow creasing.
Displeased.
Displeased, yet something about his mood felt strange. As if he were forgetting something crucial.
He could end this woman’s pointless chatter by slitting her throat, yet for some reason that familiar satisfaction never came.
“Did you enjoy your visit to the Estate where the Children of the Immortals dwell?”
At Rozelin’s words, Galio froze. It was the very event that had brought him here in the first place.
“You saw a certain Future in your dream and invested in a business venture, earning yourself a fortune. Isn’t that right?”
“…How did you know that?”
“And not long after, you dreamed again. This time, the Mine owned by the business you’d invested in yielded something remarkable—a Yellow Knight?”
“….”
Galio could not bring himself to answer Rozelin with any semblance of calm, a single thread of anxiety running down his spine.
As if to confirm his dread, a bead of cold sweat traced down his cheek.
“How does it feel, Captain of the Guard?”
She interlaced her fingers, leaned forward with her upper body, and opened her mouth with a knowing smile.
“Don’t you want to know what comes tomorrow, the day after, and beyond?”
Rozelin spoke at a leisurely pace, smiling as if she meant to tell him for free.
“Tomorrow, well, there won’t be anything special. Just ominous rumors trickling in here and there.”
Rozelin spoke slowly, as if sifting through memory.
“Whispers that the business you invested in was hollow—an empty shell. You’ll grow anxious and send people to investigate.”
She tapped the bench twice, then laughed.
“And the next day, you’ll receive word. They took everything and fled.”
“…What—”
“Though the small mercy is that your remaining subordinates might be able to salvage the mining rights?”
She tilted her head gently.
“But what’s this—the Yellow Knight is deposited there, true enough….”
Rozelin smiled beautifully, admiring the way Galio’s face cycled through red and blue before draining to a deathly white.
“What you saw—the visible quantity you witnessed—that’s all there is…? And even that, the swindlers already extracted and hauled away.”
“…That’s impossible.”
“I hear you poured every last coin you’d accumulated into that venture….”
Rozelin rubbed her chin with a sympathetic expression.
“A lifetime of savings and business capital turning to worthless scraps—that’ll be coming soon enough.”
“Stop spouting this nonsense!!”
He roared, striding forward in long, aggressive steps, and seized her collar roughly, dragging her toward him.
All composure and dignity had already vanished from his face.
He looked hardly different from a beast far more vicious than a yaksha.
“…What the hell are you!!”
“What am I?”
Rozelin’s eyes widened as if she’d heard the most absurd question imaginable.
“What else would I be?”
She parted her lips with a soft smile and a serene expression.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————