The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 90

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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 90
Because the payout rate had reached historic highs, speculation about the winners circulated endlessly.
Originally, there had been only three winners in this horse race.
Anyone who came of age could participate in the horse racing, but each person could only place a single bet on one horse, so caution was inevitable.
No one wanted to lose money, after all.
And in the end, that caution meant no one had expected Bathin to win.
Only three people—the jockey who rode with Bathin and his family—had placed bets on him.
Normally, they would have split the entire prize pool between themselves, but this time the number of first-place winners had swelled to ten.
And even with ten winners, the average payout per person came to a staggering five hundred and twenty million Orlan.
As it was a national celebration, the sums changing hands were substantial, but this race itself had been exceptional.
In any case, the High Priest had likely pocketed a considerable sum.
Because the odds were high that at least five of those ten winners were actually the High Priest in disguise, placing bets under false identities.
‘Still, coming down to the Duke’s Territory this quickly was unexpected.’
I’d originally planned to send someone later, since I hadn’t intended to descend this far so soon.
“Rozelin, you’ve sweated a lot. Your eyes aren’t swollen anymore either. You must have pushed yourself too hard.”
“Yes.”
“Take your medicine and sleep a bit longer.”
At Cherti’s words, Rozelin’s brow furrowed.
“I’ve been taking medicine and sleeping for four straight days since I arrived. And you want me to sleep again? I’m not even tired anymore.”
“You fell asleep after the medicine.”
Rozelin’s brow furrowed again.
“If sleep is coming, it means your body hasn’t fully recovered yet.”
“Father.”
……
“Dad.”
“What is it.”
Rozelin smiled slightly.
“Anyone will sleep if you prescribe medicine with sedatives in it.”
……
Cherti Bellion, caught in an uncomfortable truth, quietly averted his gaze.
“Anyway, I don’t want to sleep anymore. Just have the High Priest brought here so we can talk.”
……
Cherti Bellion gazed at Rozelin for a long moment, then let out a small sigh and nodded.
“Visitation is limited to thirty minutes.”
Cherti Bellion pulled out his pocket watch with obvious reluctance, checking the time before speaking as if he were bestowing some great favor.
“What?”
“Usually, visiting hours for patients are set by the guardian or attending physician.”
What on earth could they talk about in thirty minutes.
Rozelin’s brow furrowed.
“One hour.”
“…Thirty-five minutes.”
“One hour.”
“For…”
“Father.”
At his daughter’s curt interruption, Cherti Bellion’s brow creased.
“If you keep being so narrow-minded about this, I won’t call you Dad anymore either.”
Faced with Rozelin’s absurdly cute threat, Cherti Bellion fell silent for a moment, at a loss for words.
He let out a hollow laugh.
“…Rozelin, do I really look like the kind of person who would back down over something like that?”
……
“Exactly one hour. On the condition that you promise not to leave this bed or step out of this room.”
He’d given in.
Rozelin straightened herself and leaned back against the headboard, then nodded.
“I will.”
“Wait here.”
Not long after Cherti left, the door opened and the High Priest, with his kindly face and dressed in pure white robes, slowly walked into the room.
Click—the door closed.
At the same moment, the High Priest’s eyes gleamed brightly as he rushed over, dropped to his knees at Rozelin’s feet, and broke into a wide grin.
“My lady~! What can this humble servant assist you with?”
Rozelin looked down at the High Priest with a lukewarm expression.
The dark circles that had seemed ready to descend past her eyes all the way to her cheekbones had vanished—in their place was the plump glow of someone thoroughly well-rested.
Even the fabric of her clothing looked subtly different, which meant she’d clearly added more new garments to her wardrobe in the interim.
Rozelin reflected that the High Priest possessed an impressively diverse collection of white priestly robes in varied materials, and opened her mouth to speak.
“I didn’t expect you to come all this way.”
“Ah, but wherever my master may be, this servant must rush to her side! How could I possibly keep you waiting when you honor this place with your presence?”
The High Priest snapped his fingers.
A small, translucent circle materialized in the empty air before cascading Gold Ingots across the bed where she sat.
“Here—double what you lent me!”
“There was no need to add interest.”
Rozelin regarded the mountain of Gold Ingots piled atop the comforter with a dry expression.
“Ah, but this was information you yourself provided—how could I accept anything less than full recompense? It was only just.”
The High Priest spoke in a rush, his grin stretching too wide to contain, his lips splitting with unconcealed delight.
“You seem like a different person.”
“Thanks to your generosity, I’ve finally renovated the High Priest’s residence! I’ve made repairs throughout the Temple as well… and I’ve fully stocked all those supplies the priests kept begging for.”
Kneeling on the bed, he rubbed his cheek against the Gold Ingots he’d scattered, speaking in rapture.
“And I’ve bought a mountain of new stock from the boutique I’ve had my eye on for ages, and I’m in the midst of commissioning fresh garments as well.”
No man in the world was more perfectly suited to the word “materialistic” than this one.
Rozelin nodded with an expression of bewilderment at his joy.
“And I’m seriously considering whether to purchase a casual outfit from Flueur Boutique.”
“Good for you.”
The High Priest laughed aloud.
“It’s heavy. Put it away.”
“Ah, but I’d be content to be crushed to death by Gold Ingots….”
…….
“I shall attend to it at once, my lady.”
With an expression of such gentle compassion that he might forgive all the world’s sorrows, the High Priest smiled radiantly and flicked his fingers—stacking the Gold Ingots into a tower beside the bed.
‘So one can use the Defensive Abyss in that manner as well.’
As Rozelin watched with undisguised curiosity, the High Priest smiled and spoke.
“Wondering what that is? Five million Orlan if you’re curious!”
“Not particularly.”
Rozelin answered coldly.
The High Priest faltered, scratched the back of his head, then settled onto the bed beside her with a soft thump.
“Won’t you indulge my hopes and wonder about it?”
Rozelin glanced toward the window at his question, delivered with that radiant smile, before she spoke.
“Why did you come this far? It hardly seemed necessary.”
To Rozelin, who spoke with a coldness approaching cruelty, offering only what she deemed fit to say, the High Priest’s head drooped slightly.
The High Priest snapped his fingers.
“This is not an Abyss granted through Nerva’s favor—it is my own unique Abyss. Shield.”
“Yes, I’m aware.”
“……You’re aware?”
“Indeed. I know that your Abyss is the most powerful Defensive Abyss in existence.”
Rozelin spoke with measured calm.
“I also know that you create small barriers and then adjust the light refraction like a chameleon, rendering them invisible before using them as pocket spaces.”
At Rozelin’s unexpectedly detailed knowledge—far beyond mere estimation—the High Priest’s eyes widened slightly.
“And that the source of this Abyss is your own life force.”
At her words that followed, the High Priest’s expression stiffened.
Seeing this, Rozelin continued.
“Let me rephrase my question. Did you visit this area due to Monster extermination?”
At Rozelin’s question, the High Priest’s eyes narrowed, then his rigid expression gradually dissolved before his lips curved upward.
He spoke with an enigmatic smile.
“Might I inquire how my lady knows information that hasn’t even passed my lips?”
“You needn’t concern yourself with that. Our transaction was completed from the moment you accepted my assistance.”
Rozelin cut him off decisively, yet the High Priest simply gazed at her in silence.
After watching her for a long moment, his eyes widened slightly.
“……Ah, so you’re a Pilgrim.”
As though he’d discovered something, he pressed his palm against his eyes once firmly, then lowered his hand to regard Rozelin anew.
“A Pilgrim?”
“You crossed the Worldline using demonic power, didn’t you?”
Irbon, the High Priest, exhaled softly as though he had read something from Rozelin after all this time.
Demonic power?
Ah, you’re talking about the demon that made a contract with Geren Wilbred?
“I never thought I’d find traces of Bathin here.”
“Bathin……? What is that?”
At Rozelin’s question, the High Priest rose from where he’d been sitting on the bed and settled into a chair with a heavy sigh before speaking.
“A fallen demon.”
“……That’s odd phrasing. Demons are inherently fallen creatures. Why speak of him as if he fell?”
“Bathin is counted among the strongest of demons, but he’s infamous for being eccentric.”
Rozelin tilted her head slightly at the High Priest’s explanation. Noticing her puzzlement, he continued, fortunately, to elaborate.
“According to the records, Bathin is a demon renowned for his cruelty and brutality, yet oddly, he sometimes grants human requests without compensation, and he frequently hunts other demons as well.”
He extended his index finger, then traced a slow circle with it as he explained in an unhurried manner.
“But the most peculiar thing is Bathin’s ability.”
“His ability……?”
“Curious?”
“Yes.”
At Rozelin’s reply, the High Priest opened his mouth with a mischievous look.
“Five million Orlan if you want to know.”

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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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