The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 80

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

Episode 80
“…… Who did you say?”
The Emperor seemed to think he had misheard, and furrowed his brow slightly as he asked again.
“The Captain of the Imperial Guard.”
When Rozelin repeated herself firmly, the Emperor’s expression hardened in a rare show of emotion.
“…… So you’re telling me the Imperial Guard’s captain is now the King of Makluk?”
“Yes.”
“You’re certain of this?”
“Yes.”
After all, she had just come from speaking with him.
Rozelin swallowed the rest. Admitting that would be the same as confessing to treason.
“…… You’re telling me my own Guard Captain is now the King of Makluk?”
“Yes.”
“Princess, I am not speaking in jest. You will take responsibility for these words, will you not?”
“Yes. Which is why I’m asking you to infuse the stone with the Abyss.”
Rozelin held out the Orange Stone as she spoke.
The Emperor’s brow creased.
“If I pour the Abyss into this stone, how exactly will it summon him?”
“Well……”
She didn’t know. Rozelin had only heard about this technique, never witnessed it firsthand.
“…… He will be summoned.”
“…… You want me to use something you don’t even understand?”
“There is no danger in it, so please do not worry.”
As if worry were not a natural response to that assurance.
After a moment of consideration, the Emperor’s expression shifted into something more mischievous, and he smiled.
“Very well. But understand, Princess — I’m helping you only because this boy will soon be my son-in-law.”
“……”
“I trust you won’t forget that.”
“No, that won’t be necessary——!”
As the Emperor playfully tried to draw her into the matter, Rozelin hastily pulled the stone back, only to bite her lip as she watched his Abyss seep into it.
“I hope you will come through this unharmed, Princess.”
“…… Yes.”
Rozelin’s expression was distinctly unenthusiastic as she lowered her gaze.
“But I have one question. Why is the Guard Captain the King of Makluk?”
At the Emperor’s question, Rozelin came to a halt.
“I would recommend you discover that for yourself.”
“You do enjoy walking a fine line, don’t you?”
“If I’ve offended you, I apologize. I will gratefully receive the gift you’ve given me. And now, as it grows late, I should take my leave.”
Rozelin smiled at his words, offered a formal bow of thanks, then turned toward the door — but paused just before it.
“Your Majesty, what if a murderer’s child were born? Would this child be guilty, or innocent?”
“…… Are you truly proposing we debate Guilt by Association now?”
Rozelin let out a low laugh.
“Then…… what of a king’s children, born against his will? Would they too be guilty?”
As the Emperor fell silent, Rozelin bowed once more and slipped from the Reception Room.
* * *
“So what do we do about this, Rozelin?”
Back in the present moment, Rozelin met Arma’s crystalline, innocent voice with pressed lips, her own expression perfectly serene.
‘Don’t provoke him.’
That was her thought.
It was the natural instinct of a human being. The skull-masked man who had attacked her lay sprawled on the floor, subdued by Arma in what felt like mere seconds. It had happened in a blink — the moment Reaper lunged to kill her, Arma had drawn his sword and stepped between them.
For a moment, watching him shield her just as he had commanded her to flee from the assassin before, she’d felt a flicker of trauma threatening to surface.
But it passed almost as quickly as it came.
Because Arma was strong, and he had overpowered his opponent in an instant. There had been no time for old wounds to reopen.
“…… You’re toying with a person.”
The anxiety that had nagged at her vanished, replaced instead by a faint irritation.
“…… Pardon?”
“No. It’s likely he’s been brainwashed, so we should probably start by preventing him from taking his own life……”
Crack!
Before she could finish, a sickening sound pierced the air, and the stench of blood spread through the space.
Both of them immediately looked down. Arma, still pinning Reaper, suddenly widened his eyes and flipped him over urgently.
“……A child?”
He muttered quietly, his face twisting as he forced open the mouth of the bleeding boy before him.
“……This won’t be easy unless a healer arrives immediately.”
The boy still clung to life, but his condition was already precarious.
“Step aside.”
Rozelin separated the Yellow Stone from the Seven-Color Stone and placed it gently against the boy’s forehead.
Warm yellow light began to pour from the stone.
The blood that had been flowing freely from his mouth stopped, and his ashen complexion gradually returned to something resembling normal color.
Among the Seven-Color Stones, the yellow one was the stone of purification and healing.
“Rozelin, what is……this?”
“A god gave it to me. One who was playing.”
“……I beg your pardon?”
Arma asked dumbly at Rozelin’s sudden confession.
“……I see.”
“Do you believe me?”
“I don’t believe it, but if you say so, then that must be it.”
Rozelin burst into laughter at Arma’s words.
“If that’s the case, then why do you have the look of someone who’s just been swindled by a smooth-talking con artist?”
At the sight of Rozelin suddenly laughing, Arma’s eyes went blank and he blinked repeatedly.
“Arma? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Ah……I want to kiss you.”
“……Here?”
“No, no, no……! That is, my words came out wrong……you’re just so beautiful, Rozelin. So……I’m seeing you laugh for the first time……I, I’m, I’m sorry.”
Arma stumbled through his explanation, his head dropping low in haste.
Rozelin watched him quietly, then gave a small shrug.
“Would you like to try?”
At her words, Arma’s eyes widened.
“……No, I don’t want to do it like this. I’d prefer to set the mood first, then walk through the Garden or along a beach before……”
Arma, speaking reflexively in panic, buried his now-crimson face in his chest.
My apologies.
His quiet murmur carried the shame of someone who wanted to flee immediately.
“……How romantic you are. I never expected you to have such specific plans laid out.”
At Rozelin’s murmur, Arma pressed his palms against his face.
“I apologize.”
“Anyway, shall we tie him up? I need to go speak with father and grandfather for a moment.”
Arma nodded at Rozelin’s words.
“Please go. I’ll bind him in the Garden so your room doesn’t get soiled.”
“All right.”
Rozelin watched as Arma reached for the collar of the unconscious boy, hesitated, and instead draped him over his shoulder, then turned to leave.
“Since my scent isn’t on him, don’t steal anything, please.”
“……I won’t.”
“Thank you.”
Rozelin turned once more.
Arma watched her recede, then exhaled. The problem was that he didn’t dislike the way she acted so flustered.
‘……Why did I even say I wanted to kiss her, of all stupid things.’
Arma knocked his forehead against the wall with a soft groan. He couldn’t forgive himself for his own idiocy.
He’d started to jump out the window, caught himself, clicked his tongue, and bumped his forehead against the frame again.
And yet……
‘This is the first time I’ve seen Rozelin laugh like that.’
He was genuinely surprised.
That she could smile at all.
“……I’ve never thought about wanting to be found pretty by someone. This is awkward.”
Feigning goodness, weakness, naivety—those were never difficult. But Rozelin was not swayed by such things.
No matter how much he played the fool, how suddenly he stepped forward to use his abilities or acted impressive, her composed and indifferent expression scarcely changed.
She seemed to be here and yet not here at all.
Arma flexed his fingers.
He drew out black darkness like a rope from his fingertips and bound the unconscious boy tightly.
“Love……”
He had never loved anything before.
To Arma, all living things were without value. They were merely things to use, things that would fall away at a gesture.
He had learned that trustworthy people were rare in this world, and he had lived through the bitter experience of being deceived by those who wore different faces.
Yet despite this, Arma was someone who believed that people were necessary to live.
One could not survive alone.
The world contained things that were trivial and foolish, filled with malice, and yet sometimes kind, wise, and worthwhile—and because such things existed, so did he.
So Arma did not fall into foolish arrogance. He harbored an unlikely, romantic thought: that perhaps someday he would meet someone meant for him alone.
“……I think I’ve found them.”
Arma brushed his palm lightly across his cheek and murmured softly.
“Ah, I want to keep them.”
He whispered the words almost to himself.

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