The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 82

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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 82
While Arma’s face flushed crimson and Rozelin wore an expression of plain displeasure, the bickering continued back and forth several times over.
And after that chaos had settled into a lull, Devon opened his mouth to bring order.
“So, Rozelin. May I ask why you suddenly brought up Lilly?”
Rozelin looked at him and nodded.
“This boy is Lilly—or rather, your sister’s son.”
“……That’s impossible! He can’t be more than twenty years old, if that……!”
“He’s nineteen.”
“Wait, so—he’s only nineteen. How could he possibly be the child of our sister, who died more than twenty years ago!”
“She didn’t die.”
At Rozelin’s words, Ian went rigid.
He stared at Rozelin with a face drained of all color, his expression so pale it seemed terror itself had seized him.
“What…… what the hell are you talking about? What insane nonsense have you been spouting this whole time?! What are you—what exactly are you—how do you know all of these things……? What is it, I’m asking you, Rozelin Bellion!”
Rozelin gazed steadily at Ian before her eyes widened.
“Do I still look like your niece, Uncle?”
“……What?”
Ian’s face grew even paler, his lips turning a sickly blue.
Watching Ian stammer and back away, Rozelin’s smile grew brighter still.
“Ha, hahahaha!! My dear uncle really is something.”
Isis burst out laughing loudly.
“Rozelin, you shouldn’t toy with adults. Only the second oldest is fair game.”
“……Wait, that doesn’t make sense.”
“The idiot can’t tell a joke from the truth, so you’ll have to forgive him.”
At Cherti’s words, Rozelin blinked once.
‘But it’s the truth…….’
After all, she wasn’t really their niece Rozelin Bellion.
“Say something that makes sense! How could someone who’s been cooped up in a corner this whole time know all of this?!”
“I heard the Abyss awakened.”
“The Abyss, my ass! What kind of Abyss sees the past no one has told it about and predicts the future?!”
Rozelin looked intently at Ian, struck by the sharpness of his words.
“And how could she use such a powerful Abyss without any cost, without any aftereffects? Without even wearing a Control Device!”
Even at Ian’s outburst, Rozelin said nothing.
The boy who had been turning his head away as if unwilling to cooperate made eye contact with Rozelin, his eyes widening.
‘This boy’s Abyss is probably a lie detector.’
The ability to discern whether what someone says is true or false.
That’s why when she had been invited to Makloksa, not only the King but he too had sat there wearing a skull mask.
Makloksa had made two proposals to Rozelin.
One was to become the Queen of Makloksa.
The other was to become the wife of the next Duke.
She’d thought it was absurd nonsense at first, but then came the explanation.
That the one operating as Reaper was the last bloodline of the Bellion ducal house.
So the ‘King’ of Makloksa intended to drag the Bellion ducal house to its knees before making Reaper the next Duke.
Yes.
When she fell from that cliff, Lilly Bellion did not die.
She merely fell into unconsciousness, and the Captain of the Guard, seeing a child born to her, raised that child as an assassin to seize control of the ducal house.
This was one of the reasons Rozelin could not leave Makloksa alone.
Makloksa had crossed a line.
A line so far beyond what Rozelin could understand and accept.
The Captain of the Guard’s rage was justified, but he had committed a sin that could not be forgiven.
Currently the one most loyal to the King within Makloksa.
That was this young Reaper.
In Rozelin’s world, the true King had never been caught.
The only ones who knew the King were the boy who had served him as master his entire life and another boy who had been Brainwashed.
And a woman on the run, bearing a Bounty on her head.
Suddenly, Rozelin’s eyes opened wide.
‘That was it.’
She was beginning to understand one thing.
Why the Captain of the Guard had revealed his face to Rozelin and told her everything.
‘Because he was confident he could kill me anyway.’
And come to think of it, the Bounty issued in that manner had come only after…… she had encountered Makloksa.
At that time, Rozelin cooperated with no one and opened her heart to no one.
The Captain of the Guard exploited this weakness with practiced ease, intending to dispose of her cleanly—and he nearly succeeded, placing a bounty on her head and marching her to the scaffold.
Nearly. He would have, anyway.
If Garen hadn’t interfered.
Though by then, the Captain of the Guard was already gone.
“That’s right. The truth is, I don’t have an Abyss like that.”
Rozelin spoke, regarding the boy.
The boy’s eyes—bound to the wooden post—trembled faintly.
“I am Rozelin Bellion, but I’m not the Rozelin Bellion your second uncle knew.”
“Father, I’m telling you, something’s wrong with her!”
Ian cried out.
Rozelin thought it was time to tell the truth.
As long as her heart remained tied to that other world, she could never truly become the Rozelin Bellion of this one.
“Rozelin, what are you talking about? If this is a joke, stop it now.”
“Actually, my cousin does have an Abyss. It lets him distinguish between lies and truth. Isn’t that right?”
Rozelin looked at him, bound to the pillar.
The boy’s eyes flickered once.
“I’m actually a Rozelin Bellion from a different world. I’ve undergone Possession in this body.”
“…What?”
At Devon’s confused question, Rozelin wondered if her explanation had been too difficult for the old man to grasp, so she elaborated more carefully.
“So I came from a parallel world—not here, but from a different dimension.”
“…What?”
Nothing had changed.
With no choice, Rozelin had to explain methodically, from beginning to end.
“…So you’re saying you died in that other dimension and, through some kind of Abyss, entered the body of the Rozelin here?”
“Yes.”
Rozelin answered Devon’s question flatly.
She had thought many times that she ought to be honest about this.
The things here belonged to Rozelin Bellion, not to her.
Her own things had all died and crumbled to dust as punishment for the sin of looking away, of turning her back.
She, who should have crumbled alongside them, had survived and was living out days far more satisfying than she’d expected.
And so Rozelin had developed an attachment.
If only she hadn’t looked away. If only she’d paid a little more attention. If only she’d talked just a bit more….
Rozelin looked at the boy sprawled against the pillar.
His eyes trembled finely, as if he found the current situation hard to fathom.
To his eyes, everything she said would seem like the truth, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to believe any of it.
Rozelin understood that feeling, because she herself had found it impossible to believe until the moment she opened her eyes in this place.
“…So that woman survived and even bore a child? Where is she now?”
“She’s dead.”
Rozelin answered.
“I heard she died after giving birth.”
“Who told you that!”
Devon couldn’t contain his temper, stamping his foot as he shouted.
“The King of Makloksa.”
Rozelin smiled quietly and answered.
“…When did you even meet him?”
“Ah, there’s so much to tell, but…this boy is under Brainwashing. I think we need to break that first.”
Rozelin gestured to the boy bound to the wooden post.
The conditioning was set so that if he betrayed them, spoke of Makloksa, or was captured, he would take his own life.
And so he would offer absolute loyalty to Makloksa.
Thanks to the Yellow Stone, he seemed to retain some semblance of sanity now, but that effect wouldn’t last long.
The method to break the Brainwashing was simple.
In truth, Brainwashing was never an omnipotent Abyss.
Just as it couldn’t take hold if one was aware of it, it could be undone simply by becoming aware of it.
Rozelin approached the boy and crouched down in front of him.
“Reaper.”
The boy raised his trembling gaze.
“Say it after me.”
“What….”
“Makloksa is a gathering of losers and dregs.”
“……What?”
At Rozelin’s words, the boy’s eyes widened as if in shock.

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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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