The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 137

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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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Part 2, Episode 7
‘There’s no point in getting help here anyway since there’s no Garrett, so I’d better slip past the guards and make my escape.’
Once I left the village and walked to the next one, I could hire a carriage to take me to the Imperial Capital from there.
In the meantime, kneeling on the soft blanket lifted my spirits a little.
As I was busily working out a plan, a dark shadow fell across my head.
“What is it.”
When I looked up, I saw the Knight from the Binark Cult Temple.
“The, the High Priest is l, looking for you…….”
“Wait, the High Priest has no feet?”
“I, I’m sorry……?”
…….
The Knight, pallid and stammering with that idiotic response, prompted Rozelin to simply stand up from where she sat.
Too stupid to bother with.
“I’m going, so get out of the way.”
Of course, the temple’s followers didn’t leave.
Rozelin headed to the temple to meet the High Priest—though the Knight, keeping his distance, followed all the way until she properly entered the temple.
* * *
“Why.”
Rozelin wasn’t in a good mood today. And since she wasn’t, she’d decided to pick a fight with the High Priest, who’d apparently summoned her looking for confrontation.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Why you called me here. Explain it in a way I can understand. And fair warning—I’m not in a great mood right now.”
…….
The High Priest, from whom I’d stolen cookies before, looked at Rozelin and made a subtle expression.
“I called you to make you a proposal.”
“What kind of proposal?”
“I heard that the other day you were asking around about getting a carriage to the Imperial Capital…….”
“Mm.”
Rozelin didn’t deny it. She’d apparently poked around in enough places back then that it would’ve been strange if no one knew about it.
‘Why do I always end up tangled with such strange people?’
She nodded at his thoughtfulness in even preparing a drink for her, then opened her mouth.
“Go ahead.”
“I can send you to the Imperial Capital.”
“Just like that?”
“If you’ll accept just two conditions, I can get you to the Imperial Capital and arrange suitable funds and a decent house for you.”
It was a surprisingly generous offer from someone who usually only picked fights with her.
Rozelin nodded with a subtle expression. As if to say, go ahead and tell me.
“First, you join the Binark Cult. We’re thinking about expanding into the Imperial Capital as well, you see.”
“Join the Binark Cult?”
She’d had her suspicions, but she never expected him to actually ask her outright.
“That’s right. Your strength is no ordinary thing. If you join the temple, you’d certainly be helpful. Of course, we’re prepared to provide ample compensation and rewards.”
“How much?”
“What?”
“How much money are we talking? Let me hear the amount and then I’ll think about it.”
As Rozelin spoke, the High Priest gave the child an uneasy look.
Every time they spoke, he thought the same thing—she didn’t seem like a seven-year-old at all.
Her small stature, gaunt cheeks, and thin limbs certainly bore the marks of a beggar child who’d gone hungry and lacked proper care.
‘How in the world does she generate that much power from a frame like that?’
The likelihood that she possessed the Abyss was genuinely high.
Being an ignorant beggar child, she probably just thought she was naturally strong.
“That would depend on the tasks I ask of you occasionally, but I promise you won’t be disappointed with the amount.”
“Hmm…… I don’t like being too constrained.”
“I’ll only ask favors when necessary. But in exchange, the condition is that you stop harassing the temple’s High Priest and followers.”
Rozelin’s brow furrowed as if she felt wronged.
“Most of the fights were started by them first. And you don’t think the problem is that when a small, young girl like me taps them, they go flying?”
“I don’t.”
“Then there’s no help for it.”
Rozelin was just as quick to comply as she was to argue—really, if they were to examine who was at fault, the odds were high that Rozelin would lose that argument.
She took a sip of the Orange Juice with a soft slurp and nodded.
“Fine, I think I can do that.”
Rozelin said.
‘If it doesn’t work out, I can always slip away once we reach the Imperial Capital.’
She entertained the thought with perfect equanimity. After all, a promise made without a written contract wasn’t worth honoring anyway.
“So what’s the second proposal?”
Contrary to her expectations, Rozelin asked with artless innocence.
“The second is simple — how about selling us that Bracelet you’re wearing?”
As if.
“No.”
There was no reasoning with her.
Rozelin finished off the last of her Orange Juice, then hopped down from her chair with a light tap.
“There’s a sacred aura emanating from it.”
“Can’t do it. It’s a memento from a dead… friend.”
Rozelin had nearly blurted out “dead parents” by reflex, but caught herself at the last moment and spoke with unruffled composure.
“I promised to return it after I die.”
“…Then couldn’t you at least lend it to me for a few days so I can examine it?”
“No.”
Rozelin casually gathered up a Cookie and crunched it between her teeth as she spoke.
“Why not? I’d compensate you handsomely in coin.”
“No. My friend said if I let this out of my sight, she’ll curse me for life and hound me wherever I go. I’d rather not be cursed, so there.”
Having said whatever came to mind, Rozelin continued crunching her Cookie.
As the girl turned to leave, the Knight tensed visibly and stepped into her path.
“…What are you doing?”
“I was simply wondering if you could afford to listen when an adult speaks. While lack of manners is a trademark of street orphans, I’d appreciate it if you could at least consider how I feel, tolerating my displeasure as I stand before you.”
“Ah.”
Rozelin finished the Cookie in her hand and broke into a wide smile.
“So that means…”
She lifted the marble table she’d been sitting at with both hands in one easy motion, her face going expressionless before blooming into a radiant grin.
“You want to fight?”
Perfect.
“I’ve just gotten used to street-style tactics lately, after all.”
The Knights paled as they watched the child hoist a marble table as heavy as a grown man’s weight with casual ease, grinning all the while.
Rozelin, for her part, kept her gaze fixed solely on the High Priest.
“And let me correct one thing.”
Rozelin’s lips curved downward slowly.
“It’s me who’s tolerating displeasure here. You charlatan cultist.”
She hurled what she was holding.
Bang!
Crash!!
The marble table flew past the window and plummeted to the ground below.
There shouldn’t be anyone in this area at this hour, so it would probably be fine.
This time, Rozelin grabbed a Chair with a single hand.
“Lord Binark will not forgive you—!”
“…won’t he! But I don’t worship gods, so I don’t care.”
With an impassive face, Rozelin swung the ornate Chair about wildly.
“Agh, aaah! Agh! T-there! Agh!”
The High Priest attempted to use Divine Power, but when even that failed him, he began fleeing in all directions.
Naturally, Rozelin was faster.
“You know what? I hate religious fanatics more than anything in this world.”
“S-stop, I—! Agh! Someone grab this girl—!”
The Guards crept forward and swung their swords earnestly, scabbards and all.
They simply weren’t close enough for the blades to connect.
“I said seize her right now!!”
It was at that moment the High Priest cried out.
The light drained from the Guards’ eyes in an instant, and their bodies went limp like puppet strings suddenly cut.
Then, faces devoid of all emotion, they strode forward and seized Rozelin.
Even as Rozelin thrashed violently and something cracked in the Guard’s arm, they didn’t relent.
Seemingly feeling no pain, they held her back with their entire body, expressions unchanged.
“…You.”
“Stupid little brat! If only you’d obeyed obediently when I gave you the chance—!”
“My apologies. I misspoke.”
Suspended in the air with one arm seized by each Guard, Rozelin spoke heavily, her face cast in shadow.
“Well, there’s no point apologizing now…….”
“Come to think of it, what I hate most is hypnotists.”
“What……?”
Rozelin thrashed where she lay, driving her heels into the Guard’s belly with sharp, consecutive strikes.
In that moment of his stagger, she seized her chance.
Rozelin lunged toward the priest and swung a nearby vase down hard against the back of his skull with all her strength.
Crash—!
“Agh—!”
The high priest let out a strangled gasp, then his eyes rolled back and he collapsed. In the same instant, the swaying Guards crumpled to the floor.
“……Hell.”
Standing over the fallen priest and Guards, Rozelin regarded the scene with obvious dismay.
By any measure, the culprit wasn’t her invited guest—it was Rozelin.
That was the unmistakable impression left behind.
‘……I need to slip away tonight or tomorrow.’
She couldn’t remain in this territory any longer.
Rozelin glanced around cautiously, then scrubbed her hands and face clean against the curtain before slipping out and closing the door softly behind her—leaving the impression that she and the priest were still in conversation.
From there, she moved through the Binark Cult Temple in careful silence, avoiding notice until she’d slipped beyond its walls.
‘Tonight. It has to be tonight.’
She made straight for her quarters to gather her emergency funds and provisions.

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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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