The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 173

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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 43
Coo-coo-coo!
Objects suddenly began to levitate around him.
Anyone could see it was the Abyss.
‘Was he an Abyss user?’
No, before that…
‘Why is this man such an idiot?’
Didn’t he know the Abyss was forbidden in the Imperial Palace?
This was a banquet the King himself had thrown to showcase his youngest son.
‘It seems desire amplifies greed, but leaves the brain untouched.’
Rozelin laughed widely.
Murmurs swelled from every corner of the room. It was only natural—there had never been anyone mad enough to use the Abyss in the Imperial Palace before.
And I was seeing it for the first time too.
“Oh dear. This won’t do.”
I was deliberating whether to crack him on the head and knock him out, or else dodge and fall like a tragic heroine.
Someone stepped forward from behind and tapped the shoulder of a man who seemed to be some minor nobleman named Dirun.
“How dare you touch me—!”
Dirun the minor nobleman’s eyes widened as he spun around, shouting—then froze.
“Shh.”
She was a beautiful woman.
Red hair, crimson eyes, dressed in a lavish gown.
“Be quiet and get yourself out of here. I don’t need you crawling after me just because I showed you kindness.”
“I…”
“You’re the one I’ve set my sights on.”
She looked down at Rozelin, her eyes narrowing with a subtle grace.
‘Who is she?’
I’d never seen her before.
“My, did you arrive first, then?”
“Ah, there seemed to be some commotion inside, so I…”
The man who appeared next, greeting the woman as though they knew each other, was a familiar face.
He appeared to be from a marquis family, certainly.
‘The Nix Family.’
Dirun, or whoever he was, couldn’t even open his mouth. He stood trembling—clearly prey standing before a predator.
Rozelin narrowed her eyes and simply took Selena’s hand.
‘They’ll handle it themselves.’
There seemed no point in getting tangled up in this mess.
“Selena, let’s go.”
“Huh? Oh, yes.”
Rozelin turned to lead Selena toward Garren Wilbred, but stopped short. Garren Wilbred was staring at the red-haired woman with pupils narrowed to slits.
As she and Selena approached, he reacted to them a beat too late.
“How cold of you to leave like that. And… it’s been a while, darling, hasn’t it?”
The red-haired woman appeared at Garren Wilbred’s side, as though drawn by Rozelin’s wake, and suddenly wound her arms around his neck.
Selena’s eyes widened sharply, and Garren grimaced in displeasure—then caught sight of Selena and froze.
“…”
Ah, now I wanted to go home.
The murmuring around the room swelled.
Selena’s eyes were wide open, and Garren’s face could not have expressed more shock.
And there in the middle of it all, I…
…simply watched while crunching cookies.
And it seemed I wasn’t the only one.
I felt the sidelong glances of those holding Wine glasses, frozen in place.
“…That’s not it, Selena.”
“…”
“Oh my, after all this time apart, and you see another woman? I knew you were cold-hearted, but this is too much…”
Oh… what if Selena cries?
I was wondering if I should comfort her when Selena turned her head—and her face wasn’t sad at all. It was utterly cold.
Even the harshest winter wind would be warmer than that.
I’d forgotten, for a long time now, how much more frightening an expressionless face could be.
“Rose, are you… alright?”
A young Rozelin who’d drawn near was suddenly speaking to me.
I watched the three of them and their heated triangle with a subtle tilt of my head.
“I’m fine with it.”
The one who clearly wasn’t fine was Garren Wilbred.
“……Marquis Wilbred, surely you weren’t meeting some other woman behind her back?”
“My goodness…… I never would have guessed it.”
“Playing the gentleman all this time, and yet—really, how shameless…….”
“Poor Miss Hyde, what a pity.”
“To begin with, moving into a man’s house without even being married—that was never sound judgment, if you ask me. See? This is exactly what happens.”
From every corner came the whispered voices, and I tilted my head again.
‘High Society does love its gossip…….’
The two of them had gotten along well for years.
The sudden appearance of Garren Wilbred’s mistress would undoubtedly become the hottest scandal in High Society for some time to come.
Garren Wilbred looked genuinely flustered.
I’d never seen him display his emotions so openly either.
He was a man skilled at concealing his feelings, one who never revealed his true heart easily.
“Selena, I need to speak with you for a moment.”
“This doesn’t seem like the right time for conversation.”
Certainly not in this state.
At her cold addition, Garren Wilbred finally seemed to remember the red-haired woman clinging to him, and his expression darkened.
“Get out.”
“Oh? Are you upset? How vulgar. Though I do like that side of you…….”
Garren Wilbred’s gaze upon the smiling woman was savage.
His eyes held a sharpness that seemed ready to kill on the spot, yet the woman merely laughed without concern.
“Didn’t you hear me? I said get out.”
“Hmm…… What’s wrong? Why are you so angry?”
The red-haired woman tilted her head and gazed up at Garren Wilbred with an odd expression.
Then she turned her stern face toward Selena once more before looking back at Garren Wilbred.
“Don’t tell me you’re actually in love with that plain, boring-looking woman?”
The moment the words left her mouth, Garren Wilbred’s hand snapped out and seized her wrist.
Crunch.
As he tightened his grip, the woman’s wrist began to pale from the cut-off circulation.
“Do I need to shed blood here?”
“Well, I don’t mind. It’s your loss, not mine, after all.”
“I see. Is that so.”
He muttered softly, and his face grew heavy and dark as a dangerous current seemed to flow around him.
Despite being inside the Banquet Hall, a sharp wind grazed my cheek, and I hurried toward Garren, grabbing the leg of his trousers.
This insane man.
“Father.”
As I tugged at his clothes, Garren Wilbred rolled only his eyes toward me.
It was only because he kept his head down that I didn’t think people would spread the rumor that I was a demon.
I read the fury churning in those vertically split pupils and frowned silently.
It was painfully obvious the red-haired woman was enjoying this situation.
‘Don’t play games, you damned fool.’
I opened my mouth.
“Isn’t this woman…… the stalker who tried to kidnap me last time……?”
“……Huh?”
At my sudden remark, the red-haired woman tilted her head with a strange sound.
At the same moment, Garren Wilbred’s pupils wavered slightly before returning to normal.
Seeing his pupils steady again, I continued.
“Why…… were you trying to kidnap me…… while claiming to be my mother…….”
I was about to cry, but recalling the facial muscles incapable of crying, I lowered my gaze slightly instead.
I wanted to cry and overturn public opinion with my tears, but sadly, no tears would come no matter what.
Even though my body had become younger, the dry, brittle emotions and the dry eyes remained.
I let my voice out slowly and deliberately.
“……You held a knife to me and demanded I help you be with my father……!”
Covering my mouth like a tragic heroine and crying out, I heard sharp intakes of breath from all around.
“Oh my……!”
“Good heavens…….”
In High Society, whoever controls the narrative first wins.

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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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