The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 143

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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 13
“Selena, would you close your eyes for a moment?”
“Duke…”
Garren Wilbred approached and covered Selena’s eyes with one large hand.
“Promise me you won’t open them until I say it’s all right?”
“…Yes, of course.”
At Garren Wilbred’s request, Selena squeezed her eyes shut.
“Good girl.”
After offering that brief praise, Garren Wilbred slowly turned his head toward Rozelin.
“Rose, would you take her outside for me?”
Rozelin frowned as she caught sight of his pupils—half-dilated behind his smiling face—and nodded her head in agreement.
‘That’s backwards, isn’t it?’
Usually you’d ask the adult to look after the child.
“Listen here, what are you?”
“You crazy parasites! Do you know who we are?!”
“Now, gentlemen.”
Garren Wilbred’s voice remained as soft as always, but Rozelin, eyes wide open, could see it.
The eyes of a demon already wrapped in killing intent.
The pupils were split vertically, fully dilated, as though he were restraining the urge to tear his victims to shreds while they still drew breath.
Ah.
‘Walked right into it.’
Rozelin swiftly assessed the situation.
‘Time to go.’
She gently took Selena’s hand—much larger than her own—and pulled.
“This might take a while, so I apologize, but perhaps we should wait in the Square nearby.”
“Yes.”
Understanding perfectly that he meant for them to stay as far away as possible, Rozelin spoke once they’d stepped outside.
“You can open your eyes now, Miss Hyde.”
“Ah… yes.”
As her tightly closed eyes opened, water-blue pupils came into view.
‘She’s genuinely honest.’
To be honest, Rozelin thought she would have cracked an eye open and peeked if told not to look.
‘For a man who wears that mask every day, someone this innocent might actually be better.’
A person who showed no contradiction between front and back, who spoke plainly and straightforwardly, who believed everything she was told at face value.
Which meant she would have charged in recklessly, time and again—and equally, once she’d made up her mind, she wouldn’t have looked back.
All while never seeing his true nature throughout their time together, never knowing how craftier he was than her imagination allowed.
“Please, sit here.”
Rozelin pointed to a bench in the Square.
Selena nodded and sat, her gaze drifting anxiously back toward the Alley.
“Um, so… about your father…”
“He’ll be fine. He’s the type who’d crawl back alive even from hell.”
She left unsaid, out of conscience, that it was the other side who should be worried.
“Huh…?”
Rozelin smiled faintly.
Watching the countess’s daughter tilt her head in confusion, Rozelin suddenly hopped onto the bench beside her.
“And that thing I said earlier was a lie.”
Having seen Garren’s pupils fully blown open, Rozelin had swiftly grasped the reality of the situation and tucked her tail between her legs.
There was no point in picking a fight with someone like that.
“I only said it to give that damned father of mine trouble. The truth is, he’s such a simpleton he’s never met a woman in his life.”
Rozelin stated it matter-of-factly—the kind of thing that would make Garren Wilbred slap the back of his own neck in exasperation.
“But as for a daughter…”
“She’s not a biological daughter. I’m an adoptive one, and my name hasn’t even been registered in the family records yet. Until just recently, I was an orphan.”
Rozelin explained calmly.
When she turned her head, Countess Selena was staring down at her with wide eyes, her surprise written plainly across her face.
Rozelin, unaccustomed to eyes filled with pity and sympathy, looked away and gently swung her feet in the air, dangling above the ground.
“Anyway, I was just trying to give that damned father of mine a hard time.”
Rozelin shrugged lightly.
“He picked me up while I was wandering outside.”
As she added a bit more detail, Selena nodded, looking flustered.
Her face made clear exactly what she was thinking.
“Good day, little miss. And lovely lady.”
Rozelin’s brow furrowed as she turned toward the voice.
Men in black priestly robes—members of the Binakite Sect. She glanced at them and her expression darkened.
‘What now?’
She clicked her tongue inwardly.
‘These fools keep entangling themselves with me for some reason.’
Without fail, every time she passed, they singled her out.
Rozelin looked up at him with a puzzled expression, shrugged, and was about to open her mouth when—
A slender arm suddenly stretched forward, stepping protectively in front of her.
“Is there something we can help you with?”
It was Selena, the count’s daughter.
“Ah, we sensed a sacred aura emanating from the child and wished to speak with her, if you don’t mind.”
“A sacred aura?”
“Yes, it appears she has the qualities of a Priestess. We thought she might be worthy of the Binakite’s blessing—”
The soft, sympathetic gaze that had been there moments before had vanished entirely, replaced by eyes hardened to steel. The shift was striking.
“I think it would be best to have that conversation once the child’s father arrives.”
“Faithful one, we merely wish to speak briefly and make an initial assessment.”
“Yes, I understand.”
She nodded lightly.
Rozelin was about to interject and chase them off when Selena’s lips moved again, as if her words weren’t finished.
“However, this child is young. Any matter of importance requires parental consent.”
“But—”
“I’m afraid the child’s father will be here shortly. Perhaps you could speak with him instead.”
“…We’re rather pressed for time and don’t have that much to spare—”
“Then I’m afraid today won’t work.”
It was Rozelin who was startled by the firmness in her voice.
She’d actually been planning to cause a minor scene herself.
The Binakite Sect seemed to care quite a bit about their surroundings, after all.
She’d assumed they wouldn’t risk a disturbance in a crowded square.
“…What a shame. It seemed like such a wonderful opportunity to gain a new Priestess.”
“Wonderful how?”
Rozelin laughed lightly as she spoke.
“As a Priestess, she would receive the Binakite’s blessing and live her entire life in perfect health, free from illness.”
Rozelin picked up a stone from the ground with an indifferent expression and gripped it hard in her palm.
Crack. Crunch.
The stone shattered audibly, crumbling into dust that spilled through her fingers.
“I fail to see the appeal.”
Rozelin smiled pleasantly.
“If I get any healthier than this, I’d snap trees just blowing on them.”
They faltered, caught off guard.
“…And she would never hunger, never need to skip a meal—”
the Priest continued.
“My bastard father has plenty of money. Good business sense too. And if you want to use quality labor, you pay them—that’s basic economics. Are you really standing here calling that a blessing? Your brain must be soaked in oil if you think it’s that simple.”
“…She would gain wealth and renown. And immortality—”
“I already told you my bastard father has plenty of money.”
The young Rozelin cut him off sharply.
“I don’t want renown. I’ve had more than enough of it, and from what I’ve seen, it’s nothing but a nuisance.”
The Priest’s face began to flush with shame as he listened to the arrogant words spilling from this small child’s mouth.
“Immortality?”
Rozelin laughed dryly, her eyes utterly devoid of warmth.
“Fine. Bring me someone who’s bought immortality. I’ll pierce their head and heart with my blade—”
She lifted her gaze slowly.
She was only a child looking up from below, yet her eyes were so dry and cold it was unsettling.
“And if they still survive that, then maybe I’ll consider it. That’s what immortality means, isn’t it?”
Never dying, no matter what.

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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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