The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 176

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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 46
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recall meeting a boy since arriving in this world. Which meant this one before my eyes was the only one.
“I haven’t.”
“The form you remember is simply different from my appearance now.”
……It wasn’t as though he’d become a master of Shapeshifting Magic.
“What do you think?”
“What do I think of what?”
“Whether you like it.”
Whether I like it?
I turned his question over in my mind for a moment, gazed up at the sky, then nodded slowly.
“It’s nice.”
“Good, then I’ll leave it as is instead of tearing it down.”
He lifted himself up from where he’d been lying, his voice soft and murmured.
“Feel free to come by whenever you want.”
“Here?”
“Yeah.”
“But this is the Imperial Capital.”
“It is.”
“Hold on—don’t you have any sense of how the world works?”
At my serious question, he paused for a moment, then burst into laughter with a strange expression, letting out a soft chuckle.
“You really do have a talent for saying the most unexpected things.”
“That’s an insult.”
“It’s a compliment.”
He replied from where he sat perched on the edge of the bed.
“Want to go somewhere else?”
“Where?”
“Anywhere. What do you say?”
Well, if there was another place like this……
I nodded slightly, and he pulled my hand toward him with a grin spreading across his face.
“Let’s go, Rozelin.”
With that strange smile, he gathered me into his arms and simply leaped out the window.
……What?
“……!”
Crazy bastard. A curse slipped out of me, rarely as it did.
* * *
“Hey there. Having a good night?”
“……Are you perhaps some sort of nocturnal creature, or a vampire or something?”
“Oh, there’s that old-soul tone again.”
The boy who’d come through the window perched himself on the sill, giggling softly.
Rozelin narrowed her eyes and stared at Arma.
The way he always appeared once night fell left her feeling oddly unsettled.
He could show up during the day if he wanted to—so why did he always appear precisely when she was about to get into her pajamas and go to sleep?
“Why do you only ever show up right before bed?”
“Beats me. Why do you think?”
He gazed at her intently, that evasive smile playing at his lips.
“You seem to be running around busy with this and that lately.”
“……Are you stalking me?”
“I’m simply very interested in you.”
“The world has collectively agreed to call that stalking.”
“……Well, I’m not doing it.”
Rozelin narrowed her eyes as she watched him maintain his denial so stubbornly.
Whether he admitted it or not, that was what the world thought—what was he even saying?
“If you’re going to show up, at least come by during the time I have the wolf.”
“A wolf?”
“I have one I’m raising.”
Rozelin added an explanation as to how she’d come to keep it, then shrugged and continued speaking.
“Though these days the creature’s grown so large that we can’t sleep together anymore—we have to sleep separately now.”
“I’m not particularly fond of animals like wolves.”
“It’s cute.”
“That wolf probably wouldn’t want to be called cute in the first place.”
A low voice echoed softly through the room.
Rozelin narrowed her eyes and clicked her tongue.
“You look rather discontented.”
“Not really. It’s just that you seem so busy lately—that’s what bothers me.”
“I have things to do.”
She was searching for the High Priest. The problem was that he proved frustratingly difficult to trace through ordinary channels.
“What sort of things?”
“I’m looking for someone.”
“Someone?”
Rozelin gave a light nod but offered nothing more.
There was little wisdom in laying out her thoughts to someone whose identity and intentions remained so thoroughly opaque.
“Would you like me to help you look?”
“You? How?”
“One way or another.”
He answered lightly, a slight smile playing at the corners of his mouth as he looked at her.
His eyes remained gentle, devoid of malice—nothing but straightforward kindness. Rozelin found it almost unsettling how comfortable she felt around him, given that she rarely felt at ease with anyone.
In recent memory, there had been almost no one.
‘The way he leapt from the tower and landed safely—he’s no ordinary person, that much is clear.’
She’d asked Garren Wilbred about it, but he claimed ignorance.
That was understandable enough, given that Selena had clamped her mouth shut and treated Garren Wilbred like a piece of furniture ever since.
‘I should have dropped her on her head and taken the scolding when she threw her arms around him.’
Men who were too polite and too considerate never seemed to make good choices.
Unless they belonged to everyone.
“Rose, is there anything you wish for?”
“Wish for? Out of nowhere, at a time like this?”
“……Did you need some reason? You don’t usually put much stock in such things.”
Rozelin blinked once, then tilted her head with a puzzled expression.
“No, it’s not that. Someone just came to mind.”
“Who?”
“Um… my betrothed?”
“……Your betrothed? Do you have a betrothed?”
He asked the question half a beat too slowly.
Rozelin herself seemed to realize her slip the moment the words left her lips. She hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“Well, I do. You know, one of those childhood promises—marry me when you grow up, that sort of thing. Something like that.”
After all, she had been betrothed to Arma Dianitas as a child, so the statement wasn’t entirely false.
Rozelin watched him.
“Why him?”
“He wanted to share a kiss in the garden, with the right atmosphere and all.”
“……I see.”
His expression grew subtle, and for a moment, something hardened in his face.
“I just remembered that he’d once imagined a scene like that, so it came back to me suddenly.”
Rozelin replied slowly.
Truthfully, this man didn’t make her uncomfortable.
Conversation flowed easily between them, understanding came naturally, and he neither made noise nor behaved rudely.
He maintained an impassive expression and spoke in an unwavering tone most of the time, yet occasionally let slip a laugh, or his brow would furrow with displeasure—small gestures that laid his feelings bare in a way Rozelin found almost fascinating.
And yet.
Rozelin glanced at him sidelong.
The way he held himself upright, how he met her eyes each time they spoke or let them crease at the corners—it reminded her of someone.
How he sometimes scraped his cheek with his index finger when embarrassed or at a loss for words.
The way he’d occasionally pause to read her mood.
The slight flush creeping into his ears when she held his hand.
And yes, the somewhat measured, deliberate tone he took when speaking only added to it.
All of it—every gesture, every word—reminded her of Arma Dianitas, and lately she had missed him.
But she couldn’t tear Arma away from this world’s version of herself, so it was an impossible wish.
“Why do you keep looking at me?”
He hopped lightly from the windowsill and strode toward the bed where Rozelin sat.
“Have you fallen for me?”
Rozelin’s brow furrowed at his words, spoken as his face drew close to hers.
“Don’t overstep.”
“Why? Because you have a betrothed?”
“Yes.”
“……”
Arma faltered at Rozelin’s resolute answer.
It was Rozelin who felt wounded by the surprise flickering across his face.
“What’s with that expression?”
“Just…… I thought you wouldn’t care about things like that.”
“I’m human too. I have my preferences.”
Arma studied her for a long moment, then slowly tilted his head and gave a light nod.
“My apologies, then.”
He answered curtly and let the matter drop.
Unusually, he didn’t press the issue with his typical teasing or follow it with more questions.
“The way you speak suggests you don’t dislike him?”
“……It’s not something that can be neatly divided into likes and dislikes.”
She shrugged lightly as she added her thought.
“We happened into a situation where we couldn’t meet, and he said he’d wait. In that case, it would be discourteous for me to do nothing until we’ve both resolved matters on our end.”
Rozelin lowered her gaze slowly.
“At the very least, it’s only right that I don’t act carelessly until we’ve both finished what we need to finish.”
“……You don’t like him?”
“I do.”
Rozelin spoke in her usual flat tone, her voice as measured as always.
The question was whether the scope of that affection overlapped between what he imagined and what she felt.

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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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