The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 175

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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 45
“I suppose… this won’t work, will it?”
With a soft tilt of the head, I found myself recognizing that familiar face even now.
Though he ought to be a bit more guarded than this.
……
What could possibly happen in the Imperial Capital?
The moment the thought crossed my mind, I remembered being kidnapped in the Imperial Capital, but after deliberating, I rose from my seat anyway.
……I’ll go.
“Really?”
“Yes. And speak comfortably with me.”
“……Hmm. Is that all right?”
He was already doing it—why ask?
Besides, he adapted quickly.
“Well……”
I gave a slight nod, and he laughed, a soft sound, before speaking.
“Then you speak comfortably too.”
“Fine.”
Of course, I adapted fast as well.
“This way.”
He reached out naturally and took my hand, leading me deeper into the Garden. We soon arrived at a deserted fortress—one that appeared no longer in use.
‘So there’s a place like this in the Imperial Capital.’
As we ventured into the secluded corners, I’d genuinely wondered if I should be running away instead.
‘He doesn’t seem like a bad person.’
There was just something—a good feeling about this, I suppose.
The hand holding mine was soft, not forceful, and its naturalness made it all the more so.
“Can I call you Rose?”
“You know my name?”
“You’re famous.”
True enough—the epithet that Marquis Wilbred adopted an orphan had spread fairly widely.
Since I couldn’t argue, I nodded.
He circled the fortress and slipped through a small opening in one of the walls.
“Can you fit through?”
“……Yeah, I think so.”
“Good.”
I crouched down and entered, taking in the interior of the fortress. Though it had fallen into disrepair, the bright moon afforded me sufficient vision.
“Rose, this way.”
He gave my hand a light tug and smiled faintly. The moment I saw that expression, my eyes widened involuntarily.
‘……Arma?’
For a moment, the overlapping face made me stop in my tracks on the stairs.
“Rose……?”
The boy climbing turned around and thrust his face close to mine.
For an instant, I froze in surprise.
“Ah, yeah. What’s wrong?”
“You looked dazed. I could carry you if it’s hard.”
I let out an awkward laugh at his light-hearted tone and shook my head.
‘Arma wouldn’t have this kind of personality.’
He’s more measured, more formal.
Though he had his moments of subtle indirection, he was fundamentally someone quiet and courteous.
“Tell me if it gets hard. I can carry you.”
“You know my name but won’t tell me yours?”
“Mine? My name……”
He glanced down at me with an odd expression, then shrugged and opened his mouth.
“Al.”
“Al?”
“Yeah, just call me Al.”
“So how much farther do we have to go up?”
Not that it was difficult, but the spiraling stairs seemed to stretch quite far.
‘This looks more like a tower than a fortress.’
A tower of gray brick.
The arched staircase winding upward showed no sign of ending.
At my words, he gave a slight shrug.
“We’re here. This is it.”
When we reached the top, a long corridor stretched before us, and at its end stood what looked like an iron door, sitting alone and oddly.
He pushed the door open and stepped inside.
“A room……?”
“Originally, yes.”
The structure sitting solitary before us was a vast chamber.
If the entire upper portion had been torn away to expose the sky itself, then yes—it could still be called a room.
‘Does the door even matter?’
With the ceiling completely open like this.
From below, I hadn’t even realized the top was missing; from here above, it was stranger that I hadn’t known.
Traces of someone’s habitation lingered still. A bed remained, a desk, bookshelves—everything preserved, dust-laden though it was.
“Come here.”
He ran his hand across the bed’s surface, and every trace of dust vanished entirely, as though erased from existence.
‘The Abyss……?’
His hand showed not a speck of dirt.
As I stared at him with an odd expression, he gestured to me again.
“Rozelin?”
“Oh, right.”
I moved closer and sat down, at which he let out a soft laugh and slowly shook his head—that wasn’t what he meant.
“Lie down.”
“……What?”
“Just lie down for a moment.”
“We’ve only known each other for less than an hour, and already things have progressed to that point—I have to say, I didn’t expect……”
As I fumbled about, saying whatever came to mind, the boy looked down at me with a peculiar expression, then curled one corner of his mouth into a slight smile.
“Oh……. What, that’s what you thought I meant?”
With a mischievous look, he leaned his face slightly closer.
“No, I was joking.”
When I declined firmly, he withdrew without protest.
“Lie down and look at the sky.”
“The sky?”
I gazed at him uncertainly, then nodded and slowly reclined on one side of the wide bed. He settled himself beside me at a respectful distance, dropping onto the mattress.
The strangeness of it made me shift about awkwardly until he gazed upward and tilted his head.
“Look.”
“……At what.”
Following his gaze, I turned my head and fell completely still.
Above the pitch-black night sky, a river of stars sprawled in all its glory.
“……Oh.”
The beautiful cascade of starlight pouring down as if into my very hands seemed to steal my breath. And now I realized it had been quite some time since I’d truly looked up at the sky.
“I told you you’d like it.”
“……I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“This place sits apart, isolated in a remote corner unlike anywhere else. That’s why everything around us is dark.”
At his soft voice beside me, I blinked and nodded slowly.
It was truly beautiful.
The most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
“It’s lovely.”
“Isn’t it? I think so too. Beautiful.”
I was nodding in agreement, about to turn my head toward him to offer my thanks, when——
“……Ah.”
Our gazes met head-on. I didn’t know how long he’d been watching me.
Though the bed was spacious, the proximity was close enough that our breaths mingled.
“……Yes. Right.”
I turned my head away stiffly back to the sky.
‘……What is this?’
It had been an extraordinarily long time since I’d felt anything like this toward another person, and I was thoroughly unsettled by it.
My heart pounded so violently that my expression twisted of its own accord.
‘……What’s gotten into me?’
Had this ever happened before?
Rummaging through my memories, I found little to compare. Especially not this feeling toward someone I’d barely met.
It wasn’t in my nature—I’d always been someone with a strong guard up.
While I was furrowing my brow, the boy’s hand crept toward mine, fingers brushing gently against my palm. My body stiffened slightly.
“I wanted to show you.”
“This place……?”
“Yes.”
But why has he been speaking to me as though we already know each other?
I gave him a sidelong glance with an ambiguous expression, then fixed my gaze forward once more.
“What is this place, anyway? Why has it been abandoned like this?”
“……Long ago.”
Long ago?
“My mother was imprisoned here.”
He’s throwing this at me all at once?
“…….”
What was I supposed to say?
I couldn’t very well ask if she’d been a criminal, nor could I ask what crime she’d committed to be locked away in this place.
“……I see.”
I managed to produce some response, then struggled to keep my wavering gaze fixed firmly on the sky above.
Surely if our eyes met, I’d feel obligated to say something, but honestly, I had no idea what that something would be.
“I’ve never seen it myself, but I’ve heard the stories.”
“……Yes, right.”
His mother had been imprisoned here, and yet the boy had only heard about it?
“I came here once in anger to vent my frustration, but the sky I saw when I looked up was rather beautiful, so I’ve returned from time to time.”
“That’s……unfortunate.”
My eyes darted about before I finally managed an answer.
The boy’s shoulders trembled as laughter broke through.
“I’ve always thought so—you’re truly terrible at comforting people.”
“……Wait, when have you actually seen me before?”
“I have.”
There was something in his voice that suggested he was asking if I truly thought he’d bring a stranger to this place. I scowled.
“I don’t have any memory of seeing you.”
At my words, the boy turned to look at me, and a knowing smile played across his face.
“You have. You’ve simply forgotten.”

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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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