The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 54

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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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Episode 54
“That’s not what the Third Prince is thinking right now, Your Highness. Go back to sleep.”
Though her vision was gone, Rozelin had caught him off guard—her hand pressed firmly over his mouth. Arma’s eyes narrowed to slits as he looked at her.
“Why are you—mm.”
“Don’t play emperor. You can leave the empire if you want to. Don’t cling to every word you’ve spoken and live in regret. Just be free.”
Rozelin spoke with quiet steadiness.
Arma, his mouth still covered, watched her in silence.
His gaze shifted—growing for a moment, then shrinking—not submissive so much as heavy, sunk beneath the surface.
That troubled look reached toward Rozelin, but she couldn’t see it, blind as she was.
All she wanted was to remove the dangerous elements from this world.
Rozelin couldn’t live a life devoted to Arma. Because of that, she had grown too numb, and she already knew a different Arma than the one before her now.
“You don’t have to endure anything for me, Arma.”
Arma grasped her hand and pulled it away from his mouth.
Wordlessly, he met her unfocused crimson eyes.
“It seems like you don’t really see me sometimes, Rozelin. Or rather—it feels like you’re looking at me without actually seeing me.”
……
Rozelin fell silent. What she saw was the Arma she had loved.
‘Is he regretting things in that other world?’
If Rozelin didn’t go back, if she didn’t return to the past and change the future……
Would he live like that forever?
In truth, she felt no guilt.
‘It’s what he deserves.’
She had played with people from the very start.
But still, she hoped he would find happiness.
“You’re not denying it, Rozelin.”
Rozelin had never particularly cared for sacrifice.
Pain had been terrible, and death was not something she desired.
But if her life could be given a value, she had wanted to spend it for someone else at least once.
And that would be for herself, not for this man.
“Is it because I’m weak?”
He asked quietly.
Rozelin shook her head.
The person Rozelin knew, the person she had loved, was timid and fragile, yet never once retreated—no matter what.
Even if that had been nothing more than a fabricated mask……
What Rozelin loved was that mask. And now that it was shattered, what she loved no longer existed.
“Is it because I’m a pathetic prince who gets looked down on by everyone else?”
At Arma’s question, Rozelin shook her head again.
“……Then would it be different if I became stronger than anyone? If I trampled over others and stood above them, and seized the title of Crown Prince—would you finally see me properly then?”
At this, Rozelin’s brow furrowed. The conversation felt as though it wasn’t getting through at all.
“Whatever this feeling is, I don’t want to lose you, Rozelin. But why do you drive me mad, Rozelin?”
“If you’re just going to say what you want to say, why are you even talking to me? Go to your room and have a conversation with a doll instead.”
At Rozelin’s bitter, frustrated words, Arma’s mouth snapped shut.
After a moment of silence, Rozelin opened her lips again.
“Arma.”
“Yes, Rozelin.”
“You once asked me why I dissolved our engagement.”
……Yes.
“The ideal type I mentioned back then was actually a lie.”
Arma hesitated—wondering whether to confess that he’d already known.
In that moment, Rozelin’s lips parted.
“I actually liked you—gentle, kind to me, even though you’re timid and fragile.”
She spoke words she could not have said long ago, letting them roll off her tongue.
Because it was something she’d regretted so many times, the words came easily once she finally opened her mouth.
At her words, Arma’s eyes widened in shock.
“But in truth, Arma isn’t like that, is he?”
People begin to hope unless you tell them clearly that something is impossible.
As the young Rozelin had done.
As she had believed in others’ kindness without expecting anything in return, when she’d just left home.
“I may not know what your true nature is, but I’ve come to understand that Arma isn’t a weak person. You’re wearing some kind of mask, aren’t you?”
“Rozelin, that’s……!”
“I’m not arguing about it.”
She worked to keep emotion from her voice.
She had no wish to make things uncomfortable for him with unnecessary feelings, and wanted only to convey the facts as they were.
“I simply loved the mask, and came to know the figure behind it only dimly.”
At Rozelin’s words, Arma’s hands clenched into fists.
“I loved only the character on stage. Don’t you think it’s cruel to ask me to love the actor behind the curtain as well?”
Rozelin explained carefully, hoping desperately that Arma would understand.
“The dream you had was just a dream. It can never become the future.”
“…….”
“So there’s no need to be afraid. It will never become reality.”
She would ensure it never did.
“The truth is, those six months were the time I needed to forget your mask.”
At her candor, Arma’s expression shifted to shock. He was too stunned to speak.
“Why……”
Rozelin turned her head with a faint smile.
“……I cared for it very much.”
After a long silence, those few words emerged, and Arma’s expression hardened slightly.
And Rozelin said nothing more.
* * *
“Radiant and noble sun…….”
“Enough. Sit. It’s true that I am the sun, but I’ve heard that phrase twenty times over just today, and I’m sick of it. I’ve no enthusiasm left. Haven’t you anything fresher to greet me with? It’s tedious, tedious.”
The Emperor, still seated on the sofa, waved his hand dismissively with clear displeasure.
‘Something fresher?’
Rozelin’s brow furrowed, then she opened her mouth.
“Then…… I greet the extinguished sun.”
“……Your courage seems to have exceeded your wisdom.”
“Why do nobles always complain when you do exactly as they ask……”
Rozelin muttered quietly to herself.
Ian, the Emperor, her father — they were all the same. Do as they ask, and they find fault.
Rozelin grumbled about how difficult it was to please them, yet obediently sat across from the Emperor as he had instructed.
“I understand you summoned me.”
“I summoned you a week ago, at that.”
“…….”
The Emperor, who badgered her with complaints like a gangster, faced Rozelin’s impassive gaze as she spoke.
“I apologize for the delay.”
“No, I don’t need insincere apologies. Still, you’ve brought back quite impressive results. I’m pleased with them.”
The Emperor answered honestly at Rozelin’s flat tone.
“Yes, I’m aware.”
Rozelin spoke frankly.
The Emperor looked at her as if wondering what manner of creature she was, then nodded a beat too late.
However she had managed to handle that crude, shameless, utterly unreasonable Kalutin, she had clearly been of use.
“Has it eased your headaches somewhat, Your Majesty?”
And so the Emperor smiled at Rozelin with a snort.
“Very much.”
The Emperor laughed like some innocent youth, then rubbed his jaw.
“I’m glad to hear it.”
It had been no small feat, truly. In Rozelin’s previous world, it was an achievement the Emperor never obtained in his entire reign.
“There is one matter left. Once my body recovers more, I intend to address the missing persons case, and once that is settled, I ask that you fulfill your promise and dissolve my engagement.”
“……Hmm.”
The Emperor rubbed his jaw.
“What do you intend to do after the dissolution?”
“I plan to travel.”
She said.
Even Rozelin could not tell the Emperor she meant to seek refuge abroad, so she softened her words.
“About that…….”
The Emperor looked at Rozelin with a somewhat troubled smile.
When Rozelin faltered with unease, he continued.
“That’s become rather difficult.”
He whispered, rubbing his jaw with a leisurely air.

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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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