The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 48

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 48
* * *
“Fire—!!”
At that terror-stricken scream, Rozelin’s head snapped up.
She shoved Cherti’s shoulder back and rushed to the window.
Beyond the glass, enormous flames already writhed from the heart of the village.
Boom—! Boom—!
Explosions echoed from all corners of the town, as if flammable materials were detonating everywhere.
“Your Grace, the Young Duke!”
The door burst open as a knight from the Duke’s House stormed in.
“Arson attack! You must leave the village immediately!”
Cherti quickly pulled Rozelin to her feet.
“Rozelin, let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Negligee or not, what did it matter when death was at the door?
“Wait!”
Cherti urgently stripped off his jacket and draped it over Rozelin’s shoulders.
“The world is crawling with thieves, you know. Never show your bare skin so carelessly.”
‘…As if I haven’t already.’
Rozelin thought dryly as he dragged her toward the exit.
She had already worn Kaluta’s traditional dress back in Kaluta, after all.
“This could all be some heinous deed committed just to catch a glimpse of your skin.”
As if calamity were a blessing.
…Or so she thought, but Rozelin realized the phrase bordered on something worse than unfilial and fell silent.
“Rozelin! Are you all right?”
“Yes, Arma.”
“…Arma?”
At Cherti’s words, Rozelin let out a low gasp and opened her mouth.
“That’s right. Father.”
“Yes, Rozelin.”
“I’ve decided to formally court the Third Prince. For six months only.”
Cherti, who had been hastily packing and checking his people before leaving the inn, froze mid-step.
“…Daughter, why would you say such a thing while fleeing an arsonist?”
And at a time when flames were rising right before their eyes, no less.
“It felt like something I needed to say before I died.”
“No, at a time like this it’ll actually make me feel like I’m about to die—never mind, child.”
Cherti spoke in exasperation, then glanced at Arma, who stood frozen in shock.
“For now, our goal is to get everyone out of the village.”
Cherti blocked Arma’s path and ushered Rozelin and the others out first.
After pushing everyone out one by one, Cherti was the last to leave—and he slammed the door shut in Arma’s face.
……
Left suddenly alone in the inn, Arma stood frozen.
The moment he opened the door himself and stepped outside, the group was already departing.
“…I’m losing my mind.”
For the first time, Arma felt the smile at the corner of his mouth waver.
He quickly opened the door and rushed out, taking command of the group’s evacuation.
Rozelin too was directing the others, watching the busy figures as she sat in the carriage.
After staring out the carriage window at the unfolding chaos for some time, Rozelin’s brow furrowed.
Just before the carriage could depart, Rozelin tilted her head with an odd expression.
“Aaaahhhhh!!”
Screams erupted from all directions.
Grrrumblllle—
The earth at the village’s edge began to rumble and heave.
“Something’s wrong…”
Taking advantage of the chaos, Rozelin quietly slipped down from the carriage.
Truth be told, she had never intended to flee.
“…Where is he?”
The man who should have been at the front, commanding the situation, was nowhere to be seen.
Hidden behind a tree, she waited until the carriage had gone.
“Move out!”
Clatter, clatter!
The carriage lurched into motion.
Rozelin watched it vanish down the road, then exhaled slowly.
‘I wasn’t planning to run anyway.’
Once the carriage disappeared from sight, she rubbed the back of her neck and stepped out from behind the tree.
People were evacuating; the sounds grew fainter with each passing moment, and the inn where she’d been staying fell silent.
She lowered her gaze to the bracelet wrapped around her wrist—a Seven-Star Stone.
The Seven-Star Stone.
A stone possessing seven different colors, each with its own distinct power.
After learning about Sansar’s true nature, she’d spent time in Kaluta inquiring into various matters concerning him.
Kan had answered her questions earnestly, and Rozelin had been quite curious about Sansar, after all.
Somewhere in their conversation, she’d heard about the bracelet Sansar had once shown her—seven beads of different colors woven together.
The Seven-Star Stone was a protective bracelet.
The people of Kaluta possessed such formidable strength and resilience that they yielded to no natural disaster; it was said this stone was the source of that power.
‘And among the seven stones, the red one is said to ward off the Fire Demon.’
Rozelin stepped back into the empty inn and climbed the stairs, her thoughts turning inward.
Doors hung open throughout the corridors, testament to how sudden the evacuation had been.
She found a handful of doors that remained firmly closed and opened them one by one. All empty.
Near her own room, she discovered one door still shut tight.
She hesitated for a moment, then turned the handle.
“Well. What are you doing here instead of fleeing?”
“That’s what I was going to ask you.”
Rozelin closed the door behind her, her tone clipped.
She swept her eyes across the barren room. It was so stark and lifeless it made her wonder if anyone had ever actually stayed here.
And there he stood in the center of that desolate space, gazing down through the window, dressed in his usual suffocatingly formal attire.
“I didn’t know you had a death wish by fire.”
“Not particularly. I simply thought that dying here would be… acceptable.”
“Why? Did it get boring once you let me go?”
At Rozelin’s question, Garren Wilbride turned slowly to face her.
His violet eyes gleamed faintly in the darkness, fixed upon her.
“I don’t know.”
“Or perhaps the Duchess has finally convinced you she dislikes you?”
……
He laughed, low and quiet.
And in that laugh, Rozelin knew her guess had struck true.
“She has every reason to. You know how loudly your discord echoed through society? At this point, any change of heart would only terrify her. What if you’ve simply decided to destroy her?”
“So I thought I’d simply… disappear.”
“That’s a rather shallow kind of love.”
At Rozelin’s indifferent words, Garren Wilbride’s neat brows twitched slightly.
“Even if you died, the Duchess would find someone new soon enough and fall in love again.”
……
“She’ll probably forget a wretch like you in no time at all. She’ll spend the fortune you sacrificed for her, gallivanting with her new lover, living blissfully and loved without a care in the world.”
Rozelin spoke with perfect detachment.
Garren’s mouth twisted into a mirthless smile, and he turned away.
“Are you mocking me right now?”
“I’m speaking the truth.”
……
“I’m joking, actually. I’m glad you felt mocked. Seems my humor isn’t completely dead after all.”
“It is dead.”
Garren said it flatly.
At his bluntness, Rozelin faltered, and he added one more thing.
“Dead enough that I considered killing you.”
“Killing me won’t make the Duchess like you any better.”
Rozelin let out a cold laugh.
“I’d wager half your fortune that the Duchess favors me over you.”
“Why are you wagering my fortune?”
“Just because.”
Rozelin shrugged.
‘I’m exhausted.’
She rubbed her eyes slightly against the haze clouding her vision. Her body was clearly in poor condition.
“Garren.”
“What is it?”
At Rozelin’s call, Garren turned to look at her.
“The human heart is a fickle thing. Out of sight, and it’s forgotten in a heartbeat. But seen constantly? Then it’s never forgotten at all.”
Rozelin spoke unhurriedly, her lips moving with deliberate care as she regarded him.
“By tomorrow, word of your presence in this village—and news of the flames that swept through it—will have reached the Capital.”
A smile curved the corners of Rozelin’s mouth. Garren looked at her with puzzlement written across his face.
Rozelin continued, finishing her thought.
“I despise you truly, completely—enough that your death would please me.”
……
“And yet the Duchess may think otherwise.”
As she spoke, Rozelin removed a single red bead from her bracelet.
When she pulled the bead free, it slipped through the translucent cord and fell into her palm.
“That is……”
Garren’s eyes widened slightly as he recognized her bracelet.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————