The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 185

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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 55
When Rozelin fell silent, Irbon elaborated further.
“Unlike us, who were caught up in power that flowed in from elsewhere, there are beings that were actually born in the Abyss to maintain and govern the order of the world.”
“You mean demons?”
“Yes, you seem to know already.”
“So the existence of demons is the reason you decided to seclude yourself?”
“Precisely. More accurately, if something vast—like a demon—that maintains the world’s order suddenly interferes, someone as sensitive as me can’t help but feel it, no matter how much I’d prefer not to. The simple fact that something has intruded.”
He shrugged lightly and continued.
“I secluded myself because I didn’t want to become entangled with something so dangerous.”
“So demons are ultimately the cause of all this chaos in the world?”
“That’s right.”
At his calm but definitive answer, Rozelin’s brow furrowed.
In a world where Selena existed, Garren Wilbred would never have stirred up such complicated affairs. And the only demon that had appeared recently was the one Garren had only just told her about.
‘So then…’
The culprit was that woman who had pretended not to know Garren, wasn’t it?
The source of discord between Selena and Garren Wilbred.
‘And to think how much heartache that caused me.’
Even now, the thought of it made her words catch in her throat.
Rozelin ventured cautiously, “Is it possible that this creature from the Abyss is named Amon?”
“Ah, well… beings from the Abyss don’t usually have widely known names.”
“Is that so?”
Irbon nodded at her question.
“Yes. As for beings born from the Abyss, there’s Vashin, whom we call a demon; Saleios, who is thought to be relatively favorable toward humans; Agaress, who oversees calamities; and finally Baal, whose existence has become the standard by which we define demons themselves, spread throughout the mortal realm.”
“Only four are known?”
“As far as my knowledge extends, yes, that appears to be the case.”
Given that he claimed to have read every text on Divine Power and Theology, the probability that the wider world genuinely knew no more was very high.
“You don’t know the name Amon?”
“No. It’s not in any book I’ve seen, or at least I have no memory of it.”
At Irbon’s words, Rozelin rubbed her chin and slowly nodded.
‘So Amon is an unknown demon, then?’
It was rather impressive that something had managed to do this so often without being caught.
‘Unless… everyone involved failed and died?’
If they’d all perished without anyone left to record history, that would at least explain things.
“There are, however, a few names that have been passed down through oral tradition and sacred texts.”
“A few? Who?”
“A human named Salom, who was said to be the master of demons. And the first High Priest and hero to leave the world’s first record of the Abyss, demons, and the four demons including Vashin—Ivan Michael.”
With a grave expression and arms crossed, Rozelin thought to herself.
That she understood absolutely nothing.
‘Come to think of it… I’ve never been good with history.’
She’d never had much talent for listening to and memorizing stories about things that happened long ago.
She could remember things if the cause and effect were clear, but history classes weren’t usually taught that way.
Rozelin was the type who asked a lot of “whys.”
If there was a story starting with “Country A and Country B went to war, and since B lost, they ended up as a colony!”
she would ask.
“Why?” again and again.
Why did they lose? Why did they go to war?
When someone answered her questions, new ones would arise. And so her teachers grew exhausted, and Rozelin grew tired of it all.
Besides, history books didn’t write out long, elaborate stories in full detail. They wrote summaries, making them easy to understand and remember without forgetting.
And Rozelin would forget such abbreviated, disjointed narratives almost immediately after hearing them.
That was why she preferred books. Reading this book and that book, combining information from multiple sources in her mind—that suited her nature.
Which was why she found Irbon’s words difficult to comprehend.
“This is complicated…”
“It’s not easy. So where did you learn the name Amon?”
“It seems like that demon is the reason you decided to seclude yourself.”
Rozelin said this while gazing out the window.
“How did you come to know that name?”
“How did I…”
Garren Wilbred was actually Vashin, and Vashin had told her.
She couldn’t say that, so Rozelin’s expression twisted in frustration.

Fortunately, the carriage that had been moving at a leisurely pace arrived at the Temple just in time.
“Hm……?”
“……Yes?”
“Anyway, I’ve brought you here, so go on inside.”
“Huh? Aren’t you coming with me?”
Irbon squeezed himself out from between the massive wolf’s grip with difficulty, paused awkwardly wedged between the door, the carriage, and the wolf, and glanced back over his shoulder to ask.
“I only came out because I had separate business.”
“But you said we’d go together……!”
“Right, I said I’d bring you, so we’d go together.”
Rozelin gave Irbon a light shove with her foot, sending him tumbling outside.
“Well then, farewell.”
“No, you’re really leaving like this?”
The door clicked shut.
From outside came a voice protesting that this was no way to abandon someone, but Rozelin simply ignored it.
Once Irbon was gone, the wolf gradually crept away from Rozelin and settled onto the floor at a comfortable distance, as if it hadn’t been pressed against her at all moments before.
The carriage departed.
Soon enough, Rozelin’s carriage came to a halt at the Bellion Duke Estate.
Having seen the coat of arms of the Wilbred Marquessate emblazoned on the carriage, the sentries let Rozelin pass without even bothering to check the interior.
‘So she’s planning to bring Lady Carmel in again.’
With a sigh, she rose from her seat as the coachman opened the door for her.
The wolf leapt down first and sidled up beside her, offering its back.
“You want me to ride?”
“Woof!”
The wolf had grown so large it could easily carry Rozelin on its back.
The soldiers, having watched the wolf scamper about at its heels since it was small, occasionally started at the sight of it, but they harbored no fear.
“You’ll have to wait here in the Garden, Wolf.”
“Whine…….”
“No. Rozelin has a severe allergy.”
The wolf, barred from entering the Mansion due to fur allergies, drooped its tail with a dejected expression, yet still lowered its body as much as possible so Rozelin could dismount.
Rozelin slid down from the wolf’s back and gently stroked and scratched behind its ears.
Seeing its tail wag, she smiled and waved her hand slowly, and the creature licked the back of her hand once and rubbed its cheek against her.
Confirming that the wolf wasn’t following, Rozelin entered the Mansion with the butler who had come to greet her.
* * *
“……Hm?”
The moment she stepped into the Mansion—a place that had grown not just familiar but intimate—she came face to face with her grandfather.
He had just emerged from the Study Room, holding papers in his hands, and his eyes bore the deep shadows of fatigue.
“What brings you here now, without so much as a word? Reckless as always.”
“When have I ever announced my visits before?”
“Never.”
“Then why ask, Grandfather Duke?”
At my words, his eyebrows twitched once or twice.
“That wretched Grandfather Duke! A grandfather is a grandfather, and a duke is a duke—what in blazes is a Grandfather Duke supposed to be!”
Ahem!
He cleared his throat in obvious displeasure and raised his voice, which drew a low sigh from me.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“……Ugh.”
His expression crumpled slightly.
Looking at his face—wrinkled like crumpled paper—I let out a quiet laugh.
“Is ‘Grandfather’ better, then?”
“What? Who said it was better! You’re always like this—give you a little leeway and you come creeping back in. What’s wrong with you?”
Grandfather started to say something more, but when his gaze met mine—cold and unmoved—he suddenly fell silent.
“Yes.”
“…….”
“Go ahead and continue, Your Grace.”
“……That, that’s not mocking an elder. You understand, don’t you?”
Grandfather, who’d given as good as he got with me more than once or twice, seemed to have swallowed whatever bitter remark was on the tip of his tongue and closed his mouth.
‘People really do need to be hit where it hurts.’
The only way to show someone how unpleasant their words were was to return them in kind.
As far as I was concerned, I possessed a remarkable talent for precisely that.
For one, I didn’t indulge in emotion, and with a blank, guileless expression, I could parry his words with “Oh, then you too……,” cutting off his speech again and again.
Perhaps that was why. Father now seemed to shrug off Grandfather’s blunt remarks without much damage.
I had explained to him once that my words must have been so shocking he’d built up a resistance to them.
Though I hadn’t said anything particularly harsh, if I recall. He was being unfair.

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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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