The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 62

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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 62
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The welcoming banquet for Kaluta was held outdoors, taking into account the Kalutan preference for avoiding stuffiness.
The food was primarily finger food that could be eaten by hand, maintaining elegance while allowing for hearty enjoyment, and the drinks were mostly cocktails based on whiskey or vodka rather than wine, along with traditional spirits.
It was clear from these details scattered throughout that the Emperor was showing considerable courtesy toward Kaluta.
To begin with, holding an Imperial Capital banquet outdoors was not a common occurrence.
Kaluta didn’t seem entirely displeased with this welcome, judging by the expressions on their face.
“……A banquet like something barbarians would hold—I wonder what on earth His Majesty is thinking.”
“There seems to be a smell.”
“Everyone, mind your tongues. Does anyone understand what it means that His Majesty has prepared things this way?”
“Hmm……. Even so, this isn’t a salon invitation or an afternoon tea, and not the Greenhouse either—a banquet in the Back Garden like this…….”
The noblewoman snapped open her fan as she spoke.
The others bobbed their heads in agreement.
“When you visit another country, you ought to show proper courtesy to it.”
“And more than anything, why is the person in charge of this banquet that stammering young lady?”
“Exactly, it really doesn’t match our standards…….”
Those who had been murmuring softly paused at the sound of a sigh from behind them.
“I agree. I don’t want to be part of low-level conversation myself, you know. So…….”
They slowly turned their stiffening bodies.
“You’re in the way. Move aside.”
They froze at the sight of Rozelin speaking in a quiet murmur.
She was dressed elaborately in ornaments and a dress that were difficult to even obtain, yet it wasn’t excessive.
It was only natural.
Somehow word had spread that Rozelin would be attending the banquet, and Pluyer had dropped everything and descended upon her residence starting the night before.
As a result, Rozelin, harassed since morning, was in a decidedly dark mood.
Pluyer Boutique.
Ever since Rozelin had worn a dress Pluyer created and made a brilliant debut, the boutique had become even more famous with the flood of orders that followed.
Thanks to this, its owner Pluyer had been frantically busy lately.
She was drowning in the overflow of work and had cut into her sleeping time, but her mouth stretched wide with joy, reaching toward the heavens.
She had earned in a single year what she might have touched in a lifetime.
Her already busy boutique was packed solid with reservations extending three years into the future.
Even with several additional assistants hired.
Furthermore, a supplier Pluyer had cut ties with on Rozelin’s advice was arrested not long after for illegal drug trafficking.
Even the other suppliers, though without problems themselves, saw rumors spread until they all had to close their doors.
Alarmed by this, Pluyer now revered Rozelin as something more than a benefactor—nearly a deity.
She would say she’d drop whatever she was doing and rush over even if contacted at three in the morning.
In any case, in that spirit, the Empire’s finest designer had announced she would take on the role of Rozelin’s personal stylist.
And today she had indeed attended the banquet alongside her.
In any case, it was for this reason that Rozelin was the most eye-catching presence in this hall.
‘……I never would have guessed that Pluyer was actually Pluer the Baron.’
Rozelin sighed at the fact she’d learned only this morning, glancing at the women before her, then turning to look at Pluer Baron standing beside her.
‘Pluyer is supposedly a pen name she uses when cross-dressing and working as a designer.’
If Pluyer was an exquisitely beautiful woman whose glamour knew no bounds, Pluer Baron, by contrast, appeared as a quite refined man with long hair tied up in a single knot.
Rozelin turned her head and smiled, regarding the pale, sickly-looking young ladies and gentlemen.
“Are your ear canals blocked? I’m telling you to move aside.”
“Wh-what canals?”
“Ear canals. Before you criticize others, wouldn’t it be good to reflect on whether you’re doing anything deserving of criticism yourself?”
“Young Lady of Bellion, if I may. I’ve heard that when fat builds up in the ear canal, one doesn’t hear sounds very well.”
Pluer Baron beside her spoke with a hint of laughter in his voice.
It was a quite neutral tone, different from the sharp soprano falsetto he usually produced.
“……What, what did you just say? Baron Pluer! Didn’t you learn that gentlemen shouldn’t interrupt the conversations of ladies?”
“Oh, was that how it was~? But who might you be……?”
“……!”
Given Pluyer’s profession, there was hardly anyone in high society she didn’t know.
Rozelin felt her tongue slip inwardly at the sheer audacity of pretending not to recognize someone she clearly knew.
“Young Lady of the Counts, if I may. The Pluer Barony is, after all, a poor household tottering on the edge of collapse. It would be natural if their education were lacking.”
“Ah~ indeed, just attending a banquet once makes a family’s pillars sway, doesn’t it?”
“What’s that—such families exist?”
“I suppose that’s why it fits today’s banquet so perfectly.”
At the sight of simultaneously mocking both Kaluta and the Baron, Rozelin’s brow furrowed.
What nonsense.
‘Even if you combined all the wealth of every family here, it wouldn’t match Pluyer’s personal fortune.’
Rozelin couldn’t bring herself to say a word to the court lady, and instead clicked her tongue inwardly at the arrows she’d aimed at the easier target, Pluer, the Baron.
“Do you not realize that today’s banquet is one that His Majesty personally oversees and directs in every detail?”
“Of course we do……!”
“The Kalutas are a people who naturally harmonize with nature and with their own members, adapting and coexisting as one. That is why His Majesty chose to hold this banquet in the gardens rather than within the Imperial Capital, where there are ceilings.”
Everyone fell silent as Rozelin began her explanation in an even tone.
The Kalutas gathered among themselves and the nobles who had been muttering complaints—all of them grew quiet.
Though she felt all eyes turn toward her, she opened her mouth only to address the foolish young ladies and gentlemen.
“When one travels to a foreign land, one follows that land’s laws, but respecting the customs of those who come from afar is also one of the ways of proper hospitality.”
……
“And we have decided to call this ‘courtesy.’ It is not a matter of lower standing.”
Those who had been speaking heatedly just moments before fell silent.
Arma entered the Banquet Hall at that precise moment and stopped short, startled by the sudden quiet, before catching sight of Rozelin at the center of it all.
Rozelin swept her gaze across the Banquet Hall with eyes laden with contempt, then continued.
“If anyone here fails to understand His Majesty’s will stated so clearly, then it is you who lack the refinement for this occasion, and I would ask that you leave this Banquet Hall.”
Rozelin spoke.
“You seem not to know how extraordinary the Kalutas’ five senses are. Did you truly believe that crude remark would not be heard?”
Despite the weight of all eyes upon her from every direction, Rozelin stood unflinching, her back and shoulders perfectly straight; Arma slowly raised a hand to gently rub away the smile creeping across her face.
‘I want her.’
The more Arma came to know Rozelin, the more she coveted her.
She wondered why she hadn’t seen it sooner.
“You ought to know that your guests’ restraint in not tearing your heads from your shoulders is itself an act of courtesy toward you.”
Rozelin’s choice of words was rather harsh.
Yet Yuldian, who had actually witnessed an arm being torn from a body before his eyes, trembled visibly.
Naryan, who had wrapped an arm around Yuldian’s waist and held him close at his side, swept the Banquet Hall once more with his gaze before guiding him toward their mother and father.
‘Was that too much?’
Rozelin frowned as she looked out at the hushed Banquet Hall.
At that, the young ladies and gentlemen who had just heaped insult upon insult hurriedly stepped aside to clear her path.
‘Never mind.’
As Rozelin turned her gaze toward the musicians, they started in alarm and resumed their playing.
“Wow, that was impressive, Miss Bellion!”
Rozelin walked toward where the Kalutas had gathered, hearing the admiration in Pluer the Baron’s voice.
Seeing Rozelin approach, Kan spread both arms wide to her.
“Rozelin! I heard there was some trouble—are you well? As your friend, I was quite worried.”
“Yes. Did you have any difficulty getting here?”
“Since it’s been so long since I’ve been out, the outside world was quite fascinating, though the journey wasn’t as bad as I’d feared.”
She added a word of relief and nodded.
“It seems my husband also enjoyed this long-overdue outing.”
At Kan’s words, Rozelin turned her head to look at her husband, Hatan, who was serving as Kan’s proxy.
Hatan looked at Rozelin and spoke.
“I heard you were not well—are you recovered?”
“Yes, fortunately I recovered quickly.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I’ve been receiving regular updates. Thank you for inviting us.”
To the outside world, Kan was known as Hatan.
Rozelin offered a slight smile and bowed her head in acknowledgment.
“His Majesty, the Emperor, and His Highness, the First Prince, are entering!!”
The disorderly atmosphere quickly settled with the Emperor’s entrance.
Rozelin bowed respectfully among the Kalutas, who stood with perfect posture.
“Found her.”
While everyone’s heads were bowed, one gaze swept over her with naked covetousness and murmured softly.
Kan, with her keen hearing, detected the malice threaded through the voice and her brows shot upward sharply.
Kan approached Rozelin.
“Rozelin.”
“Yes.”
“I have a bad feeling about this. You should be careful wherever you go.”
“I will.”
Rozelin nodded.

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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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