The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 199

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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 69
“……A-are you crying?”
Sebirus stumbled over his words — a rare occurrence.
It was the first time such a thing had ever happened.
A child who never relied on anyone, who always found his own way forward.
A child who had always built walls around his desire for revenge…….
“……Give my mother back to me.”
“…….”
Now Sebirus felt his mind freeze, his body go rigid.
“Even if it’s just once a month, let me see her.”
“…….”
“Don’t lock her away.”
Arma spoke like a child throwing a tantrum, his words tumbling out in broken fragments.
“Apologize. Say you’re sorry.”
“……What? Ah, yes. That’s right, I’m……sorry…….”
Sebirus blinked.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose, unsettled by the strangeness of it all.
Sebirus realized he was far too vulnerable to his youngest’s tears.
‘……It’s not like the others haven’t cried before.’
But he had never seen the youngest cry. And that shock had left him utterly speechless.
“…….”
“Will you? Will you give Mother back?”
“……Yes. Once the situation settles down…….”
“Okay.”
Arma, who had grabbed him by the collar from atop the ship’s railing, nodded.
“……I’ll ask her first, and think on it favorably.”
“Apologize to me too. I’m here.”
“You’re right.”
He answered with a rough hand, patting the boy’s head lightly.
“Don’t lock Mother up.”
“……That’s something I’ll need to consider more carefully.”
At the note of gravity in his voice — that it was no simple matter — Arma released his grip and rose to his feet in one smooth motion.
Click, crack.
Rolling his neck side to side as if nothing had happened, he broke into a bright smile.
“You’ve made a promise, Father.”
“……You.”
His eyes weren’t even red from crying.
Sebirus felt bewildered — had what he’d just witnessed been a dream? — and let out a hollow laugh as he awkwardly got to his feet.
‘Cunning little bastard.’
He looked down at the boy’s cheerfully smiling face and clicked his tongue.
He had been momentarily fooled by those tears, but his youngest was a master of deception unlike any other.
“Um…….”
At the sound of a voice, he turned to see Rozelin standing there, wearing the same expressionless face as always.
Her hands were clasped behind her back.
“……Oh.”
No, wait……. Arma’s face went deathly pale in an instant.
“I have much to say, but let me start with the most urgent matter…….”
Rozelin brought her hands from behind her back to the front.
What she held was a sword in a worn scabbard. Then, slowly, she closed her eyes.
Holding the blade lightly in one hand as if it weighed nothing, she drew the scabbard away.
“Ungh…….”
In that same instant, a brilliant, blinding white light flooded the room.
Arma clamped his eyes shut. Sebirus could not open his.
The problem was…….
“R-Rose, I can’t see!”
“Right, neither can I.”
As time passed, the light showed no sign of fading.
“I’m sorry, but if that light is coming from the sword, would you mind putting it back in the scabbard?”
Sebirus spoke from behind his shielded eyes.
Unable to see where the others were, exchanging words while staring into empty space — it would have been a comical sight to any observer.
But no one could laugh. There was nothing to see.
“I’d like to, but the sheath ran away.”
“……What?”
“It bounced out of the Warehouse earlier too, and I had trouble catching it. Now it’s done it again.”
“Wait, Rozelin. Are you saying the sheath is……moving?”
“Yeah, it had legs.”
At Rozelin’s words, Arma’s whole body shuddered. He’d imagined a sheath with legs, but in that same instant, the image had twisted into something with centipede legs instead.
‘It must just have two feet.’
Arma shook his head and headed toward the direction of Rozelin’s voice.
“Rozelin, could you lower the sword? I’ll try to keep the light from escaping…….”
Thump.
That’s when something made contact with his sternum.
Sharp. Pointed.
“……Hey, Rozelin?”
“Yeah?”
“……Did you lower the sword?”
“I was just about to, but something poked through it.”
“No, it hasn’t pierced me yet.”
With his eyes shut tight, Arma waved his hands frantically.
He carefully lowered his hand to the blade and placed his palm against it, then used his ability to wrap the sword in shadow.
As the blade became engulfed in pure darkness, the light gradually began to fade.
Both Arma and Rozelin, who had been squeezing their eyes shut, slowly opened them.
“……Hah.”
Arma exhaled sharply, blinking several times as his vision slowly returned to normal.
“Rozelin, are you alright?”
“Yeah.”
Rozelin answered while looking up at Arma with peculiar interest.
Click-click, scratch-scratch.
Click-click, scratch-scratch.
Soon she turned her head toward the sound coming from nearby, her brow tightening.
Arma followed her gaze and froze.
“……It’s the sheath.”
“Yeah, it’s got legs.”
Rozelin caught the sheath scuttling rapidly up the wall and thrust it forward in front of Arma.
Arma’s face drained of color, and he clamped his mouth shut.
“Isn’t it fascinating?”
“F-fascinating, yes.”
He rolled his eyes as far as they would go, looking away, and answered hastily.
“Lady Wilbred, was that light coming from the sword just now?”
Rozelin looked at the Emperor and nodded.
The moment she slid the sword back into the sheath, the legs smoothly vanished as if they’d never existed. Only then did Arma withdraw his ability.
The Emperor’s eyes widened slightly as he witnessed his son’s power at work.
He crossed his arms and furrowed his brow.
“Rozelin, may I have a closer look at that sword?”
Arma turned the sword he’d received from Rozelin this way and that.
“……How on earth am I supposed to use a sword that shines like this?”
Arma murmured quietly and drew the sword slightly from its sheath.
He was concerned the sheath might run away again and the light might burst forth, so he had no intention of drawing it all the way.
But when Arma drew it, no light appeared.
‘Hm?’
With a puzzled expression, he drew it out a little more, but even as he completely unsheathed the blade, no light emerged—and the sheath didn’t sprout legs either.
It was worn down enough that one could understand why the Emperor had called it a rusted sword.
“It’s not shining…….”
Sebirus, who had been staring at it intently, looked at Rozelin, then alternated his gaze between Arma and the sword before falling silent.
He reached out and took the sword back from Arma.
“I apologize for bringing this up so hastily, but it’s grown late. Return home today, and come again three days hence.”
At the Emperor’s sudden pronouncement, Rozelin hesitated.
“So suddenly?”
“There’s something I need to examine.”
“But…….”
“I’ll keep my promise, so don’t worry.”
At the Emperor’s words, Rozelin’s brow creased. If she left now, she honestly couldn’t be certain when she’d be able to return next.
The Emperor’s eyes flicked to the Gold Medallion hanging at Rozelin’s waist.
“I’ll give you that medallion instead. Come back anytime within three days and show it to me, and you can enter.”
“……I see.”
Rozelin hesitated for a moment at the Emperor’s proposal, then nodded.
“Understood.”
She was genuinely exhausted, and there was the small matter of having slipped out without telling Garren Wilbred—something that gnawed at her conscience. She acquiesced readily enough. It would be better for both of them to arrange a formal visit later and retrieve the item then.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
At Rozelin’s bow, the Emperor nodded.
Arma glanced sideways at the Emperor, then turned and followed Rozelin out.
The uninvited night visitors vanished as quietly as they had come.
Once the surroundings fell silent, the Emperor flicked a finger.
A man in black dropped from the ceiling with a soft thud, then knelt on one knee before him in submission.
“I’m going to the Forbidden Library for a moment. Don’t follow.”
With that curt command, he slid open a bookcase in the room and disappeared into the darkness beyond.

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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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