The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 50

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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 50
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The conditions for using the Chilyo Stone’s red core are simple enough.
Throw the stone into a raging inferno, and the Chilyo Stone will consume every space containing heat in order to devour the Fire Demon.
Of course, the Chilyo Stone consumes only the Fire Demon itself—people and objects pass through untouched.
“You’re a curious one, I’ll grant you that. I didn’t take you for someone capable of such selflessness.”
Garen walked at a leisurely pace beside her, drawing the blade from the staff in his hand and sweeping aside embers that drifted toward them.
‘I can’t fathom what he’s thinking.’
Rozelin glanced sideways at Garen, her thoughts darkening.
‘All that talk of daughters and such earlier.’
She clicked her tongue in disgust.
What was the point of his talk of parenthood and kinship when the woman had parents perfectly alive and well?
“What strikes me as curious is you. I can’t begin to guess what goes through that head of yours.”
“Nothing in particular. Though I do spend considerable time pondering how to alleviate boredom.”
“Is that why you tracked me down so relentlessly, dragged me before the Emperor, forced me to my knees? Did you want to torture me to death?”
Rozelin’s accusatory tone made Garen pause, his eyes narrowing slightly.
He let out a low chuckle—a habit of his.
“That was a game, wasn’t it? A sort of tag between you and me.”
“…Damn it. If you’re going to talk nonsense, then leave.”
“Always so quick to take offense.”
When Rozelin’s brow furrowed in irritation, Garen Wilbrid shrugged.
“I’ll tell you now—there were quite a few factions after you.”
“…After me?”
Rozelin looked up, genuinely startled by this revelation.
Sweat trickled down her cheeks and the nape of her neck as she pressed forward toward the source of the immense Fire Demon.
After walking a bit further, she decided it was no use and stopped midway, withdrawing a blue stone from her bracelet and gripping it in her palm.
The blue stone governed water.
Simply holding it allowed her to breathe beneath the surface and shield herself from heat.
Around Rozelin, an imperceptibly thin, gossamer veil unfurled.
Unlike a one-time consumable, the stone’s power could be used until the energy within it diminished and faded entirely away.
“Indeed. The newly crowned Emperor wanted you, and the new King of Makluksa wanted you as well. And naturally, so did I.”
Rozelin’s expression grew darker still.
No wonder the pursuit had been so fierce.
‘They weren’t all chasing me for the same reason.’
She drew her brow together, weary.
“I thought it better to fall into your hands than anyone else’s. Playing with you has proven rather entertaining, after all. Have I made a mistake in choosing you?”
“…I don’t know.”
Rozelin’s answer was curt.
“I’m hardly a person of such consequence. I simply find it strange.”
“You were quite extraordinary, actually. Didn’t you alone throw an entire nation into chaos?”
Garen added that he had enjoyed watching her play tug-of-war among various nobles, dealing them each a blow.
“That’s because those who opposed me were fools.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
At Garen’s ready agreement, Rozelin shot him a look of disapproval and fell silent.
She continued forward toward the source where the Fire Demon had begun.
Toward the place where the largest flames raged. To Rozelin, it felt merely warm.
Strange that Garen seemed entirely unaffected by heat of this magnitude.
Sometimes Rozelin found it easier to think when backed into extreme circumstances.
“Have you given any thought to my proposal?”
“No thought needed. I’m refusing. I can’t fathom why I should replace a family that’s perfectly intact.”
“I thought sharing life and death would make us close enough. You’re a cold one.”
It’s disappointing.
There was no hint of disappointment in his tone—not even a trace.
When Rozelin didn’t respond, he continued in a leisurely voice tinged with faint amusement.
“Rozelin, the world has changed.”
He stopped walking suddenly as he spoke.
Despite gripping the blue stone from the Chilyo Stone, Rozelin gradually slowed her pace as heat seared her cheeks and limbs.
“…Yes, it has.”
“It seems to me you’ve changed as well. You weren’t this sort of person, or so I remember.”
“…”
“Have you decided where you’re headed?”
At Garen’s question, Rozelin resumed her slow, measured pace.
“I think I answered that before.”
“Still a no, then?”
…….
Rozelin remained silent, but Garen could read affirmation in that very silence.
“Someone told me something once.”
…….
“That everything in this world doesn’t truly belong to me. He was right. No matter how desperately I cling to it, in the end…….”
Rozelin’s exposed arm, where fabric had fallen away, began to flush crimson with heat. It seemed the barrier holding back the warmth had reached its limit.
Garen’s eyes narrowed as he caught sight of it.
“What I turned away from never returns. Just as you…….”
Rozelin closed her eyes slowly, then opened them.
“Just as the Duchess—the one I longed for enough to cross into a Parallel World—will never be born again.”
Garen faltered.
“Rozelin. You.”
His lips moved soundlessly for a moment before he clicked his tongue sharply, low and disapproving.
“That’s enough. We’re stopping here. I’ll throw the stone. We’re leaving.”
Garen forcibly wrenched the stone from Rozelin’s hand and hurled it into the flames that now roared too fiercely to approach.
Crackle.
The moment the sphere fell into the fire, the flames rippled and twisted.
In that instant, the mounds of earth rising on all sides surged upward to blot out the very sky.
A sealed dome of compacted soil took shape, and beneath it a translucent, crimson veil coiled around the entire city.
The heat, trapped with nowhere to escape, choked the air itself.
Rozelin clapped her hand over her mouth in alarm.
“Fall back. Take my hand.”
“Don’t, Garen. I can still walk.”
Rozelin wiped her cheek with her sleeve and spoke through gritted teeth.
…….
Garen Wilbred’s eyes widened slightly.
He let out a soft laugh.
The sphere began to feed on the roaring heat with voracious hunger.
Watching the flames drawn into the stone, Rozelin slowly bowed her head.
‘They said the stone that swallowed the flames can be retrieved again.’
It wasn’t being released—the stone continues to hunger endlessly for fire until it’s consumed entirely, or so she’d heard.
Beads of sweat fell to the ground, leaving dark marks that evaporated in an instant.
“You never cease to astound and exasperate me, do you?”
“Listen, Garen.”
“What is it?”
“If I recall correctly, there was a survivor in this Village, wasn’t there? A child…….”
At Rozelin’s words, Garen slowly nodded.
“……Yes, I believe there was.”
“I should go look for them. And…….”
The heat began to subside gradually. The stone had devoured the flames entirely.
With the fire gone, breath came easier, but sight was stolen away—an absolute darkness descended upon the city, so complete one couldn’t see a hand’s breadth ahead.
The mounded earth formed an enforced sealed chamber where moonlight couldn’t penetrate, and the flames that had consumed the city had vanished, taking their light with them.
Dizzy—.
As Rozelin swayed from lack of oxygen, her head throbbing, she reached out toward Garen.
Crash—!
A tremendous sound erupted from somewhere.
When Rozelin turned her gaze toward the noise, she saw it: in the pitch-black darkness, floating ethereally in the void—a small, brilliant blue sky.
A blue moon, cloaked in absolute darkness, gazing downward with an unmoved expression.
“……Arma?”
As Rozelin murmured softly, two blue moons turned toward her.
Arma rushed forward with that same rigid expression and pulled Rozelin into his arms. At the same moment, his eyes widened and his lips parted.
“……Rozelin? Your body is far too hot…….”
“Ah, well, I suppose…….”
Rozelin opened her mouth, her vision wavering.
“It was rather warm…….”
Before her words could finish, Rozelin’s world faded to black.
‘Curse this wretched body…….’
That was Rozelin’s last thought before consciousness slipped away.
The moment she collapsed, Arma rushed forward and caught her urgently in his arms.
Then Garen let out a low laugh and tilted his head.
“Well…… so you’ve decided to drop the mask, have you?”
Garen ran his hand slowly across the jewel at the end of his cane, smiling.
“Third Prince.”
At those leisurely words, Arma’s jaw tightened imperceptibly.
‘……I thought my heart would stop.’
The moment he realized Rozelin had vanished, the world went white.
All thought of the performance he’d worn so naturally his entire life dissolved.
‘What on earth was I……’
What could she possibly……
He was bewildered by his own actions.
‘……When did it become like this.’
He stared numbly at Rozelin lying limp in his embrace, as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Silence.”
Arma’s irritation surged beyond restraint, and he spoke in a voice sharp as a blade, holding her tighter against him.
“……We’re leaving.”
Darkness honed itself like a spear, then shot outward in all directions at once, shattering the earthen dome in a single stroke.
And above that hell which had seemed eternal, soft moonlight began to pour down slowly.
Garen collected the crimson bead rolling across the ground and followed after Arma, who carried Rozelin in his arms.

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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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