The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 156

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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 26
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“Hello, Rozelin.”
……
Rozelin glanced at me, then pressed her lips firmly shut.
In the end, what I’d asked for was simple enough—finding a single abandoned daughter after years of searching was far more difficult—so my conditions were accepted.
Though there was one caveat: if Rozelin refused after meeting me a few times, the last two conditions would be off the table.
‘Well, this is enough.’
I studied Rozelin for a long moment, then rested my chin in my hand.
Between us on the Table lay an array of appetizing Refreshments, and a pot of warm Black Tea sat nearby.
And before Rozelin sat a row of Pills.
Pallid skin.
Eyes shadowed and withdrawn.
Lips sealed shut, as though she’d never let anyone in.
Looking at myself objectively like this, the feeling was strange.
‘Have I really kept people at such a distance?’
It made me think I owed Arma genuine thanks for coming to see me so consistently all this time.
For more than a decade, he’d tracked me down and returned without giving up, even to someone this cold.
Whatever his heart had been built upon, I couldn’t dare call all that time anything but devotion.
“Won’t you take the Pills?”
……
“Keep that up and you’ll never make a single friend in your life.”
I spoke slowly, chin still propped in my palm.
The far younger Rozelin glared at me with eyes sharp as daggers.
Those were the days when I’d chosen to bare fangs at people rather than draw near to them.
I’d turned away because I didn’t want to be hurt, avoided speaking with anyone.
Everyone who approached felt like an enemy, and everyone who smiled looked happy—so surely no one could understand someone like me.
I was the most wretched thing in the world.
Yes, I was convinced I was the most wretched thing in the world.
I was so consumed with my own struggles that I had no time for anyone else, and by never trying to look at them, there was no other way it could have been.
“And then you’ll be abandoned even by the person you love, and end up dying alone and cold at the bottom of some dark prison with no one at all.”
With each word I spoke, I watched Rozelin grip the hem of her clothes tighter.
I looked at her with cold eyes.
I pitied myself.
But looking at it objectively now, I was nothing but an unbearably annoying little thing.
Because I’d never been loved, I thought I didn’t know how to love.
Though I’ll admit honestly—Father’s love was clumsy and broken and a complete mess.
“First, take the Pills before you catch a cold and get sick all night.”
……
“If you get ill, Father will come to you as you wish, but he’ll be terribly upset.”
“……No.”
After a long silence, a small voice finally came.
“Unlike you, Father would be grateful if I died because he hates me.”
“Unlike me?”
“You and the Marquis are on good terms.”
“Me and that man? I’m the type who’d be delighted if he got splattered with filth while walking, rolled around on the ground, fell into a manure pit, and died rotting away.”
……
The young me with wide eyes looked at her as if asking why I’d say something so terrible.
I shrugged and laughed.
“Why? Don’t you believe me?”
“……Why do you keep coming back?”
“Because I said I wanted to be your friend.”
“……Do you even know me?”
“Rozelin Bellion. Eight years old. Is there anything else I need to know?”
At my words, Rozelin’s expression darkened.
The way she narrowed her pretty brow oddly reminded me of her father.
“Take the Pills first.”
“……It tastes bad.”
“Swallow it and eat some Candy afterward.”
“I’m not a baby.”
Young me spoke with a stubborn, defiant expression, then set my jaw and swallowed the pill down.
“……It tastes bitter.”
I quickly slipped a candy between my younger self’s parted lips.
“W-what are you……”
“So what if you’re a child? You are a child. Growing up never made anything better, trust me.”
I said this while crunching on a cookie. It was fragrant and delicious, certainly.
“……I won’t be your friend.”
“Do as you like. I’ll just go around saying you’re my friend anyway.”
I gave a light shrug and replied with indifference.
Young me looked at me with exasperation, but I pretended not to notice.
What did I care?
To be honest, I found it tedious—having to coax and cajole someone while they questioned my every move.
If Father weren’t involved, I would have skipped this whole tiresome affair. But Father finds his happiness in mine, so there’s no helping it.
I shook my head slowly and exhaled.
“Rozelin, do you want to get closer to your father?”
“………”
I studied the girl, her mouth clamped shut, her expression unreadable, and tilted my head before speaking.
“Then you need to be honest. Keeping your mouth sealed like that won’t make him understand anything. You’ll just become two people who don’t speak.”
“……What are you talking about?”
“Go tell him you’re sad because he doesn’t take care of you, that you want to run away. One word and he won’t know what to do with himself.”
The child stared at me intently, then turned away as if I’d said something utterly ridiculous.
“That’s a lie.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Father hates me. That’s why whenever I try to get close………”
“Don’t judge without trying. Go and tell him. I’m giving you advice.”
At my words, Rozelin’s brow furrowed.
“You think you’re the most pitiful person in the world, but you’re not. You’re actually fortunate.”
“Fortunate? What do you—”
“You’re so fragile, yet nobody abandons you. Everyone looks after your medicine. And you have a father who comes when you’re sick—so why do you think you’re unhappy?”
I asked with genuine sincerity.
In truth, it was what I’d wanted to ask my younger self. Why I’d thought that way back then.
“Anyway, I’m not really Father’s daughter……”
“That’s just what you believe.”
“When I approach him, he looks at me like he sees something horrible and tells me to stay away!”
Young me clenched her teeth and shouted. Ignoring her outburst, I held a butter cookie in my hand and glanced at the child before opening my mouth.
“Have you asked him?”
“Asked what?”
“If you’re really not his daughter? Go ask him. Tell him you think you’re the most unhappy person in the world.”
Honestly, had she just spoken up, the relationship might never have twisted into what it became—and my frustration went beyond mere pity.
“……I hate you.”
“How convenient. We’re of one mind, friend.”
“Who said we’re friends? You’re not my friend!”
Rozelin shouted at me with fury. Her face had gone deathly pale, her breathing quickening as she gripped her chest.
The maidservant nearby stood frozen, uncertain what to do.
‘Should I push a little harder?’
Sometimes extreme measures were necessary.
There was no real need to be friends.
“Rozelin.”
“Go home!”
“If you keep making that melancholy face, telling yourself you’re the most wretched person alive, staying silent and swallowing everything—do you really think someone will understand?”
Young me’s eyes widened as if struck by truth itself, and she clenched her fists tight.
So I laughed.
I was more skilled than anyone in the world at smiling when clawing open another’s heart.
“No. Nobody will understand.”
“……!”
“You’ll spend your whole life believing you’re unhappy, losing everything you held in your hands, and only when you’re alone will you realize how precious it was.”
I knew because I had lived it.
You were me—so I knew exactly what was running through your mind.
“Or just give up, Rozelin.”
At my words, young Rozelin lifted her head.
“You have everything, so why do you need love too? When you keep rejecting everyone who comes near you by insisting you’re unhappy, who in this world would ever love you?”
“…… You. Ah, gasp, sob…… Cough, cough.”
The child, clutching at her mouth as if struck by hyperventilation, began coughing harshly.
Tears spilled down the girl’s cheeks in torrents, and finally the Maidservant, unable to bear it any longer, rushed out of the room.
Patter-patter-patter—.
The sound of someone running echoed from outside. I opened my mouth at just the right moment.
“Besides, as you say it yourself, your father will never love something like you his whole life either.”
“No…… I hate this…….”
The young me shook her head, murmuring the words.
“Rozelin—!”
Crash—!
At the same moment the door flew open, and my disheveled father burst into the room, gathering his child into his arms without hesitation.

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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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