Translator: Nox

The Baddest Villainess Is Back

Chapter 28

Tuk. With a flick of the Red Mask’s finger, the masks they were wearing flew off.

Sure enough, what was revealed beneath were dark skin, green eyes, and silver hair.

The escort knight’s hair was navy blue.

“I’ll kill you. Do you have any idea who we are…!?”

“Who? No, that’s not it.”

The Red Mask chuckled in a low voice.

“You aren’t people; you’re livestock.”

As he clenched his fist, even their heads completely vanished.

“My, I’ve shown you something unsightly, Lady.”

“Not particularly.”

“Thanks to you, I’ve also acquired some good prey to sell for a high price. I’d like to express my gratitude, so please tell me what you want.”

At the Red Mask’s words, Roselyn nodded immediately.

“If you’re so sorry, give me this child and the ones you just caught for 500 million.”

“……Excuse me?”

At Roselyn’s brazen remark, the Red Mask paused for a moment and questioned back.

“……That’s quite a joke.”

“Do I look like I’m joking?”

Roselyn shrugged lightly.

“Of course, I’ll compensate you for catching them.”

She said, lightly waving a blank check.

It was a blank check stamped with the seal of the Wilbrid family.

The man’s eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing the blank check.

“Will 100 million do for the capture fee?”

The blue eyes behind the red mask stared directly at Roselyn.

“Interesting. Are you offering me a service fee right now?”

“Do you think you’re in a position to be receiving a service fee from me?”

“Why? Am I not your type, Lady?”

“And if you aren’t?”

He paused at Roselyn’s retort.

The man in the red mask remained silent for a long time with his arms crossed.

“What is your type, then?”

“My type?”

The Red Mask nodded at Roselyn’s question.

Before they knew it, no one else was around except for them and the two white-masked guides.

“Let’s see. A handsome, kind, sweet, polite, and neat man?”

The man’s brow furrowed behind the mask.

“……You’re all over the place. Just pick one.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

He muttered softly, waved his hand in the air, and finally spoke.

“1 billion. I’ll give you all three for 1 billion.”

Roselyn frowned.

‘Should I just let them die?’

1 billion was exactly the amount she had in mind.

‘I was planning to go shopping with the leftover money.’

Her father had given her over a dozen blank checks as pocket money, but she had no intention of using them.

In contrast, spending Marquis Gerren’s money was actually fun.

“Fine. In exchange, give me the set of jewelry made from the ‘Rose Diamond’ that’s scheduled for this auction as well.”

It was a gem with a starting bid of 500 million.

“……I never imagined the Empire’s Princess would be a swindler.”

Roselyn paused.

‘As expected of the Information Guild, who are said to even know the number of moles on the Emperor’s backside.’

Did they already have a handle on the identities of the attendees?

“My, coming from a swindler, that’s quite an honor.”

Roselyn smiled brightly, hiding her agitation. At that, the Red Mask crossed his arms and tilted his head.

“Hmm. Actually, I’ll give them all to you for free.”

Roselyn’s expression turned skeptical at the Red Mask’s sudden offer.

He took a step closer, leaning his masked face right up to Roselyn’s ear.

“If you would become my ‘Queen,’ that is.”

His low voice whispered secretly.

“Let’s just go with 1.5 billion.”

Roselyn replied with a look of disgust, as if it were a chore.

“…….”

Silence fell.

---

“Hello.”

Having boarded the carriage with her escort, she offered a greeting with a beaming smile.

At Roselyn’s words, the child’s fierce eyes narrowed further.

The boy, dressed in shabby clothes, had hollow cheeks as if he hadn’t eaten properly, but his gaze was murderous.

As if he would kill her the moment he saw an opening.

It was enough to make the escort insist on riding inside the carriage with them.

“…….”

The Kaluta boy glared at Roselyn with his mouth tightly shut.

“I am Roselyn Bellion. Well, you can just call me Roselyn. Unnie is fine too.”

The response to her relatively friendly greeting was cold indifference.

The boy abruptly turned his head away.

Despite wearing a control device, his savage and menacing aura did not diminish.

He didn’t seem scared in the slightest.

“…….”

“I’m going to Kaluta in a few days.”

The boy reacted for the first time at Roselyn’s words.

The child, whose shoulders flinched, slowly turned his head back and stared blankly at Roselyn.

“Do you think I’d fall for such a lie!?”

Even as he said that, the corners of his lips twitched busily, betraying a hint of anticipation.

Roselyn laughed lightly at his transparent emotions.

“You don’t want to go?”

“W-who said that!?”

The boy shouted, then continued with a slightly softened face.

“Is… is that true? If it’s about the price you paid for me, I can ask my fath—no, my father for it. If you just take me back, I will surely reward you along with a service fee.”

The silver-haired boy spoke while meeting Roselyn’s eyes, his neck stiff with pride.

Few knew this, but silver hair was considered a symbol of a ruler in Kaluta.

Silver hair was one of the traits that appeared in the strong members of the Kaluta tribe.

“I don’t need that.”

Roselyn replied nonchalantly.

From the beginning, what she wanted was a smooth improvement of relations with Kaluta and the securing of trade routes.

Kaluta and the Dianitas Empire had been clashing along the border for a very long time.

The battles weren’t particularly large, but they were constant, and minor damages continued to occur.

Kaluta was a nation founded by ancient wanderers.

Since their villages were inside fortresses made of cliffs covered in forests and mountains, infiltration was difficult, and war was even harder.

“You don’t need it……?”

“Yes.”

The boy’s expression turned strange at Roselyn’s answer.

“Why? It’s only because you don’t know, but I am a great……!”

“I’m scheduled to go to Kaluta as part of a diplomatic mission in a few days, and I only saved you because I don’t want any more trouble in the Empire.”

“……You’re going with the diplomatic mission?”

Roselyn nodded at his skeptical gaze.

“A frail woman who’s clearly weak like you?”

The brat, who was two heads shorter than her, said.

The boy, his face contorted into a fierce scowl, added as if demanding an explanation.

“Is the Empire so lacking in talent that they send a weak woman like you as an envoy?”

The boy spoke with a look of great indignation.

Roselyn paused for a moment.

‘……How long has it been since I heard someone call me weak?’

She thought, a bit dumbfounded by being called weak twice in such a short time.

‘Come to think of it, Kaluta was a place with an exceptionally high number of lechers.’

The Kaluta people were fond of the opposite sex.

The women liked handsome men, and the men liked pretty women.

And they considered all humans other than the Kaluta people to be fragile.

So, to be precise, rather than being lechers, Kaluta was a nation with a severe overprotectiveness toward ‘fragile foreigners.’

Not to mention how extreme the overprotectiveness toward a ‘fragile foreign woman’ would be.

Of course, that would have to be predicated on a feeling of goodwill.

‘The King of Kaluta is a man who knows his duty even if he has no goodwill.’

It was certain that if she brought him his son and the criminal who kidnapped him as gifts, he would grant her his favor.

“There’s only one thing I need you to do for me. I’d like it if you didn’t speak down to me and respected me.”

“……I do not use formal speech with those weaker than me.”

“Weren’t you saved by me?”

“That’s…… because those bastards of yours used cowardly tricks……!”

Roselyn burst into laughter as she watched the boy shout with a frustrated expression.

The boy’s eyes widened slightly at Roselyn’s laughter. In an instant, his cheeks flushed red.