The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 140

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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 10
“……Ah, oh, oh, our granddaughter seems to have tremendous strength. Ah, hahaha…….”
The Wilbred Marquis concealed his flustered expression and wrapped his arms around the child.
Rozelin quietly set down the knife and picked up the fork.
Her face had turned completely red from embarrassment.
“I’m terribly sorry…….”
“Oh no, there’s nothing to apologize for! We can simply have the Chef bring a fresh plate.”
The Marquis gestured lightly, and the Chef who stood behind cleared away the dishware and withdrew. Before long, he returned with a new meal.
“Here, let me cut it for you.”
He willingly pulled the plate toward himself and cut the meat into bite-sized pieces, then slid them in front of Rozelin.
“There’s nothing wrong with having strength. Don’t let it discourage you. You might very well be the owner of a truly remarkable Abyss.”
Rozelin nodded vaguely at his words.
It was hardly proper to say, and she’d rather not dwell on it—yet she found herself wondering how a man with the rank of Marquis could be so utterly guileless.
‘……Why is he such a pushover?’
Rozelin’s brow knitted slightly.
‘In a way, that could be called an Abyss too.’
She stared at the bent knife for a moment, then pierced a perfectly cut piece of steak with her fork and brought it to her lips.
‘So it begins—with Strength Control in everyday life…….’
Back in the vagrant’s warren, she’d needed to throw a punch now and then, but there would be no such need here.
She had never practiced Strength Control in her entire life.
Most often, giving her full strength hadn’t been enough.
With this strange new feeling settling over her, she flexed and unflexed her fists—only to notice Garren Wilbred’s subtle gaze fixed upon her.
Rozelin’s lips moved soundlessly.
‘Don’t look at me.’
The moment those words escaped her, he shrugged and turned his attention back to his meal.
“From today onward, I shall handle the Territory’s affairs. You need not trouble yourself, Father.”
“Hmm? Even so…… wouldn’t it be better if your father taught you step by step?”
“No.”
He spoke with unmistakable finality.
“Unfortunately, Father, you possess nothing save a talent for ambitious schemes and an excess of compassion.”
“…….”
The Marquis’s eyes widened in shock at Garren Wilbred’s blunt words; his face soon began to crumple, and tears welled up in his eyes.
Wait.
‘……Tears?’
Rozelin hesitated just as he sprang from his seat with a wailing expression.
“You’re being too harsh! Haven’t I asked you to speak more kindly? I could teach you something!”
The Marquis fled the dining hall with an ungainly waddle, like the tragic heroine of a melodrama.
“……What?”
As the elderly man rushed out with trembling tears streaming down his face, Rozelin could only blink helplessly.
‘……What on earth did I just witness?’
Rozelin shook her head while chewing thoughtfully on her steak.
“Wasn’t that a bit harsh, Garren? The Marquis is crying.”
“Father.”
“……Yes.”
“Now you’re calling me Father, Rose.”
Garren Wilbred smiled broadly while scratching at his neck.
Though Rozelin glared at him fiercely, he continued his meal with unhurried ease.
“……Damn it.”
“Hmm? What was that?”
“……Damn you, Father.”
“An odd modifier seems to have attached itself to that address. Why do you call me that?”
“Was there any need for you to phrase it like that?”
Garren Wilbred sighed quietly and clicked his tongue.
“You’ve seen the state of the Territory, haven’t you, Rose?”
Rozelin could not bring herself to argue and merely nodded.
By her assessment, it was in ruins.
“My father lacks all aptitude for management—truly, he does. For your information, the Marquis household’s finances currently consist of nothing but mountains of debt. He’s been quite thorough in his diversification during my absence.”
What?
Rozelin paused mid-chew.
‘Should I be looking for a different residence?’
Garren Wilbred noticed something in Rozelin’s expression and added that she shouldn’t entertain such pointless thoughts.
“In any case, would you please understand my feelings about having to redo this entire mess from scratch?”
“Well… I do understand.”
“And if I refuse gently, she’ll just keep insisting, so it’s better to be firm about it.”
“Wow, I’m not used to that face saying those things, damn father.”
Garren Wilbred laughed quietly at Rozelin’s words.
“Taxes are hemorrhaging, the ledgers are a complete disaster, there are no jobs so crime runs rampant, the streets are crawling with orphans, the manor itself is falling apart, and now heretics are making themselves at home as if they own the place. I’m not exactly thrilled about the situation.”
“Come on, hang in there, damn father. Even if it all falls apart, I’ll get by and watch it burn.”
Garren let out a light laugh at Rozelin’s teasing.
“Why don’t you help, then.”
At those words—hitting like a thunderbolt from a clear sky—Rozelin froze.
Garren slipped out of the Dining Hall with an amused expression.
* * *
“……Didn’t you say there was something urgent to take care of before managing the Territory?”
“There was.”
As soon as he answered, a chittering sound drifted in from somewhere.
Rozelin rubbed her forehead lightly.
“You said it was very important and that I had to go with you.”
“Indeed I did.”
She stared out at the unfamiliar landscape beyond the Inn’s window and asked again, only to receive another odd answer.
“Fine. Damn father.”
Garren Wilbred refused to answer unless she addressed him properly as “father”—so when Rozelin finally called him “damn father,” the man simply nodded calmly, and she glared at him fiercely and spun around.
“But maybe you could explain to me why this whole thing resulted in us coming to the Hyde Count Territory.”
It had happened early that morning. Garren Wilbred had rushed her with some urgent business, and half-asleep, Rozelin had been bundled into a carriage and woke up somewhere unfamiliar.
The Wilbred Marquis Territory was in the west. But what she saw when she opened her eyes this morning was a warm southern domain.
So from the moment she woke, she’d seriously considered the possibility that she’d actually been kidnapped.
Rozelin’s brow furrowed.
“What are we even doing here?”
“We came to meet my future wife.”
Rozelin, not even half Garren Wilbred’s height, looked up at him calmly as he spoke.
“Why?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m asking why you’re doing such a thing.”
Just because a memory disappears doesn’t mean the space left behind won’t show.
She couldn’t understand why someone who was going to leave anyway would insist on uprooting someone who was living a perfectly good life.
If it was purely selfishness, she wanted to call it monstrously inhuman.
The reason?
He murmured something soft, then with a casual expression, shrugged his shoulders.
“I can’t just hand her over to some other man.”
He’s being absurd.
Truly absurd.
“You and I are both going to leave anyway. So why are you disturbing someone who’s living well like this…”
At Rozelin’s reproachful words, spoken in a young, trembling voice, he tilted his head with a puzzled expression.
“When I disappear, the memory will disappear with me anyway.”
“That doesn’t mean the space will just be left empty.”
“Are you telling me to watch her fall in love with another man?”
“It doesn’t matter—you’re leaving anyway.”
At her cold words, Garren Wilbred’s eyes narrowed sharply.
He stood with his arms folded, silent, looking down at her as if he’d heard something thoroughly disagreeable.
“Someone who’s leaving has no right to mortgage another person’s life like that.”
“I’m sorry, but I made a promise with her.”
Garren Wilbred spoke curtly, then frowned as if eager to end the conversation.
“Then think of your… no, think of damn father as just a friend she can see.”
“My, my. I understand my daughter wants to have her father all to herself, but don’t be too difficult about it.”
……
She laughed silently at his smooth tone.
Garren Wilbred was an extremely irritating person, even after growing younger.

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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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