The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 72

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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 72
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“Rozelin!”
Arma strode toward her the moment she entered the Imperial Capital, his long legs eating up the distance.
The young man in his crisp white uniform had an unguarded, boyish face, and he broke into a bright smile at the sight of her.
“I heard you’d awakened, but the Duke’s Residence wouldn’t receive visitors, so I haven’t had the chance to see you until now.”
“That’s all right. I haven’t set foot outside my room either.”
Rozelin answered his concern matter-of-factly.
Arma glanced at her full cheeks and figure, which looked far better than the worst state he’d imagined, and opened his mouth.
“You look healthier than I expected. I heard you’d lost considerable weight during your illness.”
At his words, Rozelin looked down at herself and nodded.
“Well, when you’re confined to bed for an entire week without stepping foot outside, surrounded by your family’s vigilance, with three meals a day plus two additional snack times, it’s impossible not to gain weight no matter how hard you try.”
“Ah…”
Hearing the resignation in her voice, Arma’s lips twitched, and finding nothing to say, he merely nodded with a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
“In any case, welcome. Mother has been waiting for you to recover quickly.”
“Yes, I know.”
“I hear you’re staying in the Imperial Capital for about a day. Would you join me for a meal?”
Rozelin watched as Arma gently reached for her hand, then slowly nodded.
“I’d like that.”
“Thank you. If there’s any food you prefer, I’ll let the head cook know.”
“…Anything except meat, I think.”
She had no desire to eat meat after feeling it scrape against her ribs and watching blood seep out.
Arma nodded without comment.
“Do you like seafood?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll have them prepare a seafood-based meal.”
As they walked, Rozelin looked down at Arma’s hand, which held hers so carefully, and gently squeezed back, putting pressure into her grip.
Arma’s shoulders trembled slightly at her touch, but he continued walking forward in silence.
‘…From a distance, he looks so small, but up close…’
He was a large man. Her small hand was more than half hidden in his.
“Arma, can I ask you something?”
“Of course. Go ahead.”
“I was dating someone.”
“…What?”
Arma’s eyes widened.
‘Dating someone? When on earth…? No, surely not… Does he mean someone from Kaluta…? But you were with me the whole time. When could that possibly have been…? Before the engagement…?’
Even as Arma recognized the impossibility of it, his mind went blank at her incomprehensible words.
Unable to hide his confusion, Arma’s mouth fell open as he glanced sideways, then slowly nodded as he took in Rozelin’s calm expression.
“…Yes.”
“We lived on the run together. He gave up everything he had to follow me.”
“…What?”
“But then, just before he was captured by attackers, he blocked them and told me to go on ahead—that he’d follow—and then he died.”
“…What?”
“But recently I found out he was alive. He’d been pretending to be dead and abandoned me.”
“…”
“If that person were you, Arma, why do you think he did it? I’ve been curious about that.”
At Rozelin’s question, Arma’s face hardened.
“…What kind of twisted—no, what kind of despicable person would do such a thing? What garbage lacks even basic decency? How could he possibly do that to you? What kind of bastard is he!”
‘It was you.’
Rozelin tilted her head as she watched Arma, who was unusually overcome with indignation, thrashing about.
“…Honestly. How can there exist a man not worth living as a human being?”
“Mm…”
“Hiding his true nature from the person he was dating…”
After hearing her full explanation, Arma paused mid-sentence and dragged out his words.
“Pretending to be a lover while never truly loving…”
Arma’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Acting so tenderly as if he’d give his liver and gallbladder…”
“…”
“And then pretending to be dead and abandoning you…?”
Even as Arma spoke, he felt a strange sense of recognition wash over him.
Actually, it sounded familiar from somewhere.
But it wasn’t something he’d heard before.
‘……How does Rozelin know about my plans?’
Arma realized that much of what Rozelin had described aligned quite closely with his own intentions.
Of course, they hadn’t lived in hiding, nor had they been pursued.
So naturally, there couldn’t have been a death like that.
Still, Arma had been considering faking his death to cast off the obligations he carried.
“You didn’t appear when he was in pain either.”
“No.”
For a moment, Arma tried to think as the man Rozelin described.
If Arma had been in the same situation as that man, he probably wouldn’t have appeared either, choosing to hide completely.
After all, abandonment meant there was no heart behind it.
If he hadn’t wanted to abandon her, he would have at least said something.
Suddenly, Arma recalled a dream he’d been having frequently of late.
“I thought it would be fine.”
“But it wasn’t.”
“It wasn’t fine at all, Rozelin.”
At that point, Arma’s movement froze, and he slowly looked at Rozelin.
“But Rozelin, may I ask why you’re suddenly asking such a thing? Was it something that actually happened?…”
“No, just…….”
Rozelin, who had been walking leisurely down the corridor, stopped beside Arma and shrugged.
“I had a dream like that and was curious why that person did what he did.”
“……A dream?”
“Yes. It’s just simple curiosity.”
Rozelin resumed walking as she answered.
She hadn’t really expected a proper answer.
The person she would ask was no longer in this world.
“If my pointless words were disagreeable, I apologize.”
“No, no! It wasn’t disagreeable. It’s just……that it was only a dream. So…… ”
Arma grasped Rozelin’s hand as he spoke.
“So don’t worry about it. I would never do such a thing.”
At Arma’s words, Rozelin glanced at him, then drew a smile on her lips as dry as a pen stroke.
“I will.”
There wasn’t a shred of sincerity in that brushed-off reply.
It was something Arma could feel. Startled, he drew in a sharp breath.
“We’ve arrived. Will the Third Prince come in as well?”
“……No, I have someone I wish to show Rozelin, so I’ll be visiting elsewhere for a moment.”
“Then do go.”
Rozelin nodded.
The soldier standing guard before the Reception Room knocked on the door in her stead and announced Rozelin’s arrival.
“Rozelin.”
At Arma’s words, she turned her head slightly to look at him.
“You won’t believe me, but I…… ”
He drew in a breath.
“I had the same dream too.”
At Arma’s words, Rozelin blinked slowly and laughed.
“I know.”
She entered the Reception Room.
“……I beg your pardon?”
The moment Arma asked back, a beat too late, the door to the Reception Room closed with a bang.
“Uh…… Shall I, shall I open it again, Your Highness?”
“……No, never mind.”
Hesitating, Arma simply turned and walked away from the Reception Room.
* * *
“You won’t believe me, but I…… I had the same dream too.”
“I know.”
……What was that?
She didn’t know.
Rozelin entered the Reception Room and exchanged proper greetings with the Emperor and Kaluta, thinking to herself.
‘……What on earth was that just now.’
More than anything, it was her own mouth that seemed to be the real problem—she’d spoken with such startled certainty about things she had no knowledge of.
‘……Am I taking after Father, spouting words I don’t even mean?’
Rozelin found herself blaming her father for her own peculiar nature.
‘……No. Wait. What I saw then—was it not Arma from that other world, but a dream Arma was having? Then the dream he had at that time…….’
How could Arma possibly have connected with himself from another world?
Rozelin rubbed her forehead in frustration.
‘And I still don’t know why I went back to the past of my original world in the first place.’
Rozelin let out a short sigh, then lowered her gaze to examine her own wrist.

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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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