Translator: Nox

The Baddest Villainess Is Back

Chapter 32

If you travel roughly a hundred and twenty kilometers further from the northern part of the Empire, you will find the Salt Desert.

Crossing the Salt Desert leads to a forest that resembles a vast jungle, and from that point onward lies the territory of Kaluta.

In other words, the Salt Desert served as both their border and a tacit neutral zone.

Beyond the forest stood a massive mountain range.

The geography of Kaluta was truly peculiar.

To the north was the sea, to the south the desert, and in the center, high-altitude regions and plateaus stretched wide across the mountain peaks.

Furthermore, with the vast jungle sprawling near the Salt Desert, one would never starve to death as long as they knew how to hunt.

Currently, ‘Kaluta’ existed somewhere on the slopes of that great mountain range, but that specific location was not necessarily the entirety of the nation.

Strictly speaking, they did not take the form of a conventional state.

Perhaps due to their nomadic nature, the Kaluta periodically moved their settlements.

One day they might settle on a snow-covered plateau well over 6,000 meters above sea level, and on another, they might suddenly be found in the middle of a forest.

That elusive nature, combined with the rugged terrain, served as another shield for Kaluta.

This was why the Emperor remained silent even after seeing the Kaluta raid the borderlands day after day.

If they were to mobilize, the Emperor’s direct military unit, ‘Labyth,’ would inevitably have to move as well, and then they would be forced to fight until one side was dead.

In Roselyn’s previous life, that was exactly what had happened.

To be precise, ‘Kaluta’ referred to the strongest tribe that had unified the Barbarians, the ‘Kaluta tribe,’ and now the entire nation was named ‘Kaluta’ after them.

Consequently, the various tribes within the nation of Kaluta still lived separately.

Even if one tribe was struck, there were countless others scattered in all directions, making them incredibly difficult to deal with.

“You have worked hard to come such a long way.”

At any rate, Roselyn, who arrived at the mountainside at noon, saw a boy who had come out to meet them.

He wore unique attire: stark white trousers and an open tunic that left his upper body almost entirely exposed.

On both wrists, he wore thick gold bracelets.

“I am the Vice Chief of Kaluta, Bayan.”

The muscular, bronze-skinned boy who identified himself as the next successor possessed vivid green eyes and silver hair.

‘Bayan…?’

Roselyn’s eyes widened slightly.

If he was the hyung Batar had described, he would be around seventeen years old now.

However, his height and build were larger than those of a well-trained knight, and while his gaze was arrogant, it was not rude.

“Ah! Enough with the formalities and lead the way already. I’m exhausted to death. I want to wash up and get some rest right now.”

Unlike a certain someone.

The 2nd Prince, who had been the most vocal with complaints throughout the two-week journey, continued to bluster even after arriving in a foreign land as part of a diplomatic mission.

Bayan glanced at the 2nd Prince for a moment, then looked at Arma standing beside Roselyn, and finally at Roselyn herself before returning his gaze to Arma.

“Are you the one leading this delegation?”

Arma nodded slightly.

“I am the 3rd Prince, Arma Dianitas.”

Roselyn watched Arma speak with a fairly indifferent air, his arms crossed, and nodded inwardly with satisfaction.

It was the result of special training for someone who was notoriously bad at acting.

‘With this, at least one of them should be satisfied.’

Roselyn thought happily.

“It will be a short stay, but I look forward to your cooperation.”

Arma lightly grasped the hand Bayan extended.

“…….”

Bayan’s eyes twitched for a moment.

Despite deliberately applying heavy pressure to his grip to seize the upper hand, Arma’s expression didn’t change once.

He hadn’t intended to break any bones and had controlled his strength to some degree, but an ordinary person would have at least cried out.

It was a level of pain that should have, at the very least, made his complexion pale…

‘He is strong.’

It was at the moment Bayan was about to release his hand.

Grip—.

Bayan’s eyes widened slightly at the hand that clamped down fiercely as if in retaliation.

‘…What kind of strength is this?’

Surprised that those who were not of the Kaluta tribe could possess such strength, Bayan burst into a hearty laugh.

Then, he cleanly let go of the hand as if nothing had happened.

Roselyn’s eyes rounded at the sound of Bayan’s laughter.

“Indeed, you are fit to be the leader of a pack. My apologies.”

“……It was nothing.”

Arma glanced at Roselyn and remained silent.

“The 3rd Prince seems to be a man of few words.”

Bayan generously overlooked Arma’s behavior, which could have been considered somewhat rude.

‘…I didn’t expect him to be this favorable.’

Given that the Dianitas Empire and Kaluta had engaged in numerous skirmishes, their feelings toward each other were not particularly good. Kaluta, in particular, was even more blatant about it.

‘There are only two cases where the Kaluta tribe welcomes a stranger upon their first meeting…’

One is when they owe a debt of gratitude to the other person, as Roselyn had utilized.

The other is when they acknowledge the other person’s strength.

Perhaps because of his position, Bayan used a rather mature manner of speaking despite being a young boy.

He soon approached Roselyn with a bright smile.

Arma’s brow twitched.

“May I ask who the lady standing there is?”

“I am Roselyn Bellion. I have come to assist with the negotiations for this delegation.”

“You must be quite wise to have been selected among so many to come here.”

Bayan extended his hand as if to shake hers.

Since it would be impolite to refuse, Roselyn took his hand without much thought.

“I know that by the Empire’s etiquette, this may be a rude thing to say upon a first meeting, but…”

He opened his mouth while staring intently into Roselyn’s red eyes with his green ones.

“You have very beautiful eyes. Do you, by chance, have a lover?”

Bayan, who had shaken her hand once, then kissed the back of her hand as a knight of the Empire would to a lady and asked.

Roselyn’s expression darkened in real-time.

‘The Kaluta’s way of greeting is truly unpredictable.’

She had heard a long list of personal history, including boasts about his hyung, from Batar, but it seemed the brother was the type to start an investigation from the very beginning.

“I don’t have a lover, but I do have a fiancé.”

Roselyn said with a light smile.

“More importantly, I have a gift for you.”

Roselyn quickly changed the subject.

She remembered hearing it once.

The Kaluta return a grudge fivefold, a favor tenfold, and affection a hundredfold.

“A gift?”

Arma, who had approached at some point, stood beside Roselyn. He silently took hold of Roselyn’s other hand.

“Yes.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the knights swung open the firmly closed carriage door.

“Hyung-nim!!”

“Batar…?”

Bayan’s green eyes widened at that voice.

Bayan, who had been holding Roselyn’s hand, let go and caught the boy who leaped from the carriage and lunged into his arms.

“Hyung-nim, hyung-nim—!”

“Bar! You little rascal…!”

“Huaaaaang!! Hyung-nim!”

Batar had maintained a quite resolute face throughout the journey.

He had tried to escort Roselyn and even offered advice on the rugged terrain.

The child who had seemed so composed only burst into a fit of sobbing once he was held in his hyung’s arms.