The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 25

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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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Chapter 25
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“……Daughter, do you really have to go?”
Cherti Bellion asked the question while watching Rozerin across from him, tilting her teacup with perfect composure.
“Yes, it’s already been announced.”
Rozerin answered for more than the tenth time, adding explanation once again to her reply.
Several days had passed since the Imperial Palace banquet ended.
On the final day of the Imperial Palace banquet, it had been announced that she would depart for Kaluta as a diplomat.
Now there was no taking back that she was an emissary to Kaluta.
“Truly?”
“Yes.”
Of course, from the eleventh question onward, she had stopped bothering with sincerity.
Later, whether he asked or not, she merely nodded without conviction.
In any case, four days remained until departure.
Before leaving for Kaluta, Rozerin had one task left.
Attending the auction that would open today.
A true Dark Auction—selling everything from precious gems to rare beastfolk and even people.
It was Makluksa who organized this auction.
Yet the core of Makluksa rarely revealed itself.
The auction house operated in the same cell-like structure as Makluksa itself; while one might uncover the backers, it was impossible to learn the true patron or Makluksa’s “King.”
Of course, Rozerin was not attending the auction to discover the King.
She would not actually bid either.
She planned to attend the Pre-viewing before the auction began, using the VIP Ticket that Garun had procured for her.
A chance to see the merchandise before it went to auction.
Since she would gain the right to purchase first from the back, she had no choice but to pay whatever price they quoted.
Typically the sum was set at five to ten times the starting auction price.
‘Money isn’t a problem—Garun gave me a blank check.’
Rozerin was no apostle of justice, so she harbored no grand mission to eliminate such black auctions.
From the beginning, there was only one thing Rozerin sought.
Seeing Rozerin’s unflappable expression, Cherti let out a short sigh.
Since that day when she had vanished into the library without a word from the Imperial Palace, Cherti had been reluctant to leave her side for long.
Rozerin recalled the haggard expression on Cherti Bellion’s disheveled face—how desperately he must have searched for her that day.
The moment he saw her, he had pulled her into an embrace, murmuring that he thought she was gone. Her father had seemed quite anxious indeed.
To such a degree that after that day, he had moved his quarters from the basement to the room beside hers.
And that was not all.
He visited in the morning asking about breakfast, at noon about lunch, and in the evening about dinner.
Rozerin had snapped at him to just work here if he was going to keep it up, and her father had answered “Understood,” then set up a small office space in one corner of her room the very next day.
And the result of all that was this situation—his constant questioning about whether she was really leaving.
Rozerin pressed her palm to her forehead and sighed.
“Rozerin, at least take this with you.”
At Cherti’s voice, Rozerin pulled herself from her reverie.
He withdrew something from his waist and held it out to her.
“……A Short Sword?”
It was a short sword, sheathed in a leather scabbard.
Rozerin’s eyes widened slightly.
The moment she drew the blade partially from its sheath, Cherti’s shoulders tensed.
Unlike the typical silvery blade of an ordinary sword, the Short Sword he had given her bore a subtle violet gleam—a blade both crude and intricate in its craftsmanship at once.
‘……This is.’
Rozerin recognized the Short Sword.
The one that should have become Lady Carmel’s.
“I made this Short Sword.”
“……You made it, Father?”
Rozerin asked back, somewhat surprised.
It was the one Lady Carmel had always carried with such pride.
She had known her father had given it to her, but it had never occurred to her that he had forged it himself.
At her question, he averted his gaze slightly, his expression tinged with both pride and awkwardness, and continued speaking.
“Yes, I refined it by pouring my Abyss into the molten metal of Special Mineral.”
Cherti said.
‘So this is an Abyss Weapon.’
A dangerous weapon his father had developed—one that allowed the organization “Makluksa” to step into the world beyond.
It was a secret that her father had lost to Lady Carmel, and afterward, Makluksa managed to poach the Abyss Weapon craftsmen from the Bellion Duchy.
These were the decisive reasons why the Bellion Duchy had suffered such a grave collapse.
Rozerin held the remarkably light Short Sword in her hand and drew it gently downward from above.
It was light, felt good in her grip, and somehow made movement easier.
As if it had been crafted for her hand from the beginning.
“It’s easy to hold, isn’t it? Short Swords usually come sized for men, so they’re always a bit too thick and large for me to grip comfortably.”
She offered the brief impression aloud.
Simultaneously, a subtle silence settled over them.
Wondering if she’d misspoken, she turned the words over in her mind and looked at Cherti.
“Of course it feels that way—I made it with the intention of giving it to you.”
……
At his words, Rozerin’s eyes widened slightly.
“Just so you know, I didn’t pick it up off the street or think of it on a whim or consider it some cheap trinket.”
His voice, hastily added, carried an edge of urgency to it.
‘He made it… for me?’
It was something she truly had not expected to hear.
She opened her lips as if to speak, then pressed them firmly shut again.
“It’s nothing strange, and… anyway, I happened to discover this Special Mineral recently, and…”
Cherti’s voice, murmured softly, gradually faded.
“Though I suppose it might not suit a young woman after all.”
When Rozerin said nothing, Cherti, who had been watching her carefully, ventured to add something more.
“If you don’t care for it much, you can just return it or throw it away. I’ve never been very good at giving gifts like this, you see…”
He fumbled through his explanation and slowly grimaced.
“It seems I’ve only ever given you flowers, so I thought I’d try giving you something different… though I suppose I overstepped.”
It wasn’t as though you wouldn’t have a guard knight with you anyway.
Watching Cherti, who had begun to mutter something like an excuse while digging at the ground again, Rozerin laughed softly.
“No, I prefer this to flowers.”
Rozerin slowly raised the blade, holding it up to the sunlight streaming through the window as she spoke.
In the light, the blade was clean and flawless, finished with perfect precision.
“Being protected isn’t really my preference. Thank you.”
At Rozerin’s words, Cherti’s eyes widened slightly.
He smiled softly.
“I see. Still, it matters more that you never have to use it.”
“When did you start making this?”
Rozerin asked.
‘Was it from when I refused the flowers before?’
Cherti glanced at Rozerin and opened his mouth.
“About three and a half years ago.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I discovered the Special Mineral about five years back, but it was difficult to work with, so I had some trouble refining it.”
Cherti explained.
Yet Rozerin barely heard him properly.
‘Three and a half years…?’
“Of course, it wasn’t because I was inadequate or foolish—the mineral itself was extremely hard and finicky.”
His added words sounded distant somehow.
‘Then that Short Sword too…’
That Short Sword that Lady Carmel had carried in the original world as well…
Rozerin felt her fingertips turn cold.
‘No, it might not have been mine in that world at all.’
She thought.
‘Perhaps he’d always intended to give it to Lady Carmel instead.’
Rozerin slowly lowered the blade she had been holding, and thought.
Looking closely, she noticed a shallow groove carved into the blade’s surface.
Rose
The letters, written in cursive script, appeared to be in Cherti’s own hand.
Thud.
In that instant, her heart plummeted.

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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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