The Baddest Villainess Is Back
Chapter 37
“What do you think, Hatan?”
“Is my thought not your own, my lady?”
“I know that. I’m asking for the Chieftain’s opinion.”
Late at night.
A woman seated at a large table inside a grand tent, Khan, looked at her first husband and Chieftain as she asked.
“It did not seem as though she was lying.”
“Indeed.”
Resting her chin on her hand, Khan placed a long pipe in her mouth. Hatan naturally lit the pipe for her.
“Unlike those Imperial bastards, she was bold and spoke well.”
“The second boy has done nothing but talk about that girl all day. It seems the eldest took a liking to her as well.”
At Hatan’s amused words, Khan let out a light chuckle and ruffled the hair of the man who was twice her size.
“Bold, yes, but she was in a dangerous state.”
Hatan did not deny Khan’s observation.
Certainly, the woman named Roselyn Bellion had been daring today.
One couldn't be certain her words were entirely correct, but they weren't exactly wrong either.
“Furthermore, she kept her head held high before me in that condition.”
Khan couldn't help but recall how startled she was to hear the girl had collapsed shortly after leaving the tent.
It was altitude sickness, a common affliction for outsiders visiting Kaluta.
If it was altitude sickness, she must have been feeling unwell since last night or this morning, yet she had stood her ground and argued back with a clear voice without a single change in her complexion. Her mental fortitude was commendable.
“It’s a miracle she’s even alive with a body like that,” Khan said, recalling the report she had received from the Kaluta physician.
Even a Kaluta child would be more robust than her.
“It comes down to the matter of whether to open the borders or not,” Khan murmured softly.
“Fly the ‘Cheondong Birds.’”
Hatan’s eyes widened slightly.
The Cheondong Bird, named for its ability to fly a thousand li in a single night, was a bird that lived exclusively in the jungles of Kaluta.
And these birds were only mobilized when there was a truly urgent summons.
“Tell everyone to gather here within three days. It has been a long time since we held a tribal council.”
Khan had summoned a tribal council for the first time for the sake of an emissary from a foreign land.
“Yes, my Khan.”
Hatan suppressed his surprise, pressed a light kiss to her cheek, and turned to leave the tent.
Khan laughed low at her husband’s endearing behavior.
“I’ll show you some affection tonight for the first time in a while, so come back once you’re finished.”
“Yes.”
Answering obediently, Hatan stepped out of the tent, reflecting on the events of the afternoon.
“Do you wish to die now? You dare threaten me by bringing up my children?”
Having easily grasped the implications of Roselyn’s words, Khan was furious and made no effort to hide her wrath.
Roselyn grabbed Arma’s wrist as he moved to draw his sword. Arma flinched, his shoulders trembling slightly, before he lowered his gaze.
“……Roselyn.”
“It is alright, Your Highness.”
At Roselyn’s restraint, Arma removed his hand from the hilt of his sword. Only then did Roselyn release his wrist.
Arma stared at his tingling wrist for a moment before looking back at Roselyn.
‘My head hurts.’
Despite the thought, Roselyn maintained a calm expression and did not avoid Khan’s gaze.
Khan’s fury was something even the Kaluta people feared.
Her murderous glare was fierce, and the sheer pressure and threat she exerted were too heavy for an ordinary person to endure.
“It was not a threat, but a statement of fact.”
“What?”
“The Empire and other nations will continue to advance scientifically. They will constantly develop weapons, and one day, weapons that far surpass human strength will be born.”
“That sort of thing is……!”
“I am aware that Kaluta is strong. There are few who can defeat the Kaluta in hand-to-hand combat.”
Roselyn cut Khan off and continued her point.
“But keeping your doors closed is not a permanent solution.”
“…….”
“Does history not prove this countless times?”
Khan glared at Roselyn but remained silent.
“The ‘Ul Empire,’ which once ruled the vast Ulgrang Plains, also practiced isolationism. However, in the war hundreds of years ago, the Ul Empire was defeated, and the Ulgrang Plains were torn apart and seized.”
“…….”
“And now, they are a small nation barely clinging to existence at the edge of the plains, relying on alliances with other countries.”
Roselyn smiled faintly at Khan.
“Many looked at the Ul Empire and pointed fingers at their arrogance……”
At Roselyn’s trailing words, the corner of Khan’s lip twitched.
“History may not always be right, but I have never seen those who forget history survive for long.”
Having said her piece, Roselyn stood up with a composed and leisurely air.
“The table is broken and the atmosphere is unsettled, so I believe it would be best to set another date. What do you think?”
Khan remained silent at Roselyn’s question.
After a long silence, Roselyn saw Khan’s head move in a heavy nod. She smiled and gave a slight bow.
“At our next meeting, I hope for a smooth agreement reached with mutual respect—and a sturdy table.”
Roselyn spoke as she gave the collapsed table a light tap with the toe of her shoe.
Her arrogant gaze was intense enough to adequately hide her pale cheeks.
It was a somewhat disrespectful act, but if one were to be technical, the Kaluta side, who had smashed the table with a fist right in front of her, had less room to complain.
Arma naturally escorted her out of the tent.
“Ha!”
The only thing Khan could do, having been pushed back verbally for the first time in her life, was let out a hollow laugh.
“Water……”
Following the negotiations, Roselyn had been confined to bed, focusing on recovering from altitude sickness. At her faint murmur, Arma sprang up from his seat.
“I will get it for you, Roselyn.”
“Ah, thank you.”
She watched Arma dash out with a bewildered expression. Not long after he left, there was a knock on the door.
“Yes.”
The door cracked open, and several children’s heads popped through the gap one by one.
One of them was a familiar face.
“Oh my gosh, Batar-nim was right! He said grown-ups could be so sick they can’t even move……!”
“See? I told you I wasn't lying.”
It was Batar who answered triumphantly.
Whatever rumors he had spread, the children’s expressions were all close to ‘Oh my god, a person like this actually exists?!’
In other words, they looked as if they were seeing a rare animal or a legendary creature.
Batar, surrounded by them, was nodding with a very proud face.
She had no idea what he was so proud of, though.
“Can we come in-dayo!”
Batar asked, glancing at Roselyn.
“We won’t cause any trouble…… dayo.”
Roselyn didn't particularly like showing her weaknesses to anyone.
However, she couldn't bring herself to be so cold as to drive away young children.
Thus, Roselyn nodded with a hesitant expression.
“Oh, we got permission!”
“We’re coming in!”
“Hey, what did I tell you guys? I said greetings are a must! I told you there’s a polite way to greet people in foreign lands!”
“Ah, right.”
The four children, excluding Batar, lined up in a row and bowed deeply at the waist.
“Excuse us-dayo!”
It was a greeting that was terribly wrong.
“Wow, her skin is really white. She must be really, really sick……”
“Are you okay, pretty unnie?”
“Pretty noona! Marry me, I’ll make you healthy!”
One boy pulled a flower from a vase and pressed it into Roselyn’s hand as he proposed.
“Hey!”
Batar’s fist came down on the boy’s head with a thud.
“Ow!”
The boy who had proposed rolled around on the floor.
“Wow, her white hair is so pretty……”
“Does it hurt anywhere else? I’ll tell my mom and dad to bring something to make you healthy.”
“No, it’s alright.”
Roselyn let out a faint laugh as she looked at the children gathered around her.
“Get well soon, unnie.”
“Yeah, yeah, get healthy so you can marry Batar-hyung!”
The children said, grabbing Roselyn’s hands and arms.
“Gah! Stop saying weird things!”
Despite their bickering, the warmth of the small hands holding hers caused the tension in Roselyn’s eyes to soften.
Roselyn’s eyes began to flicker and slowly closed.
“Oh……? Noona is sleeping.”
“Shh, shhh! Mom said to treat weak outsiders more carefully than downy feathers.”
“Right, but I think we have to treat the pretty noona even more carefully than that.”
Amidst the whispering voices, Roselyn drifted back into sleep.
Arma, who returned shortly after, sent away the children who were shushing each other and sat on the edge of her bed.
“Why do you keep making me want to possess you, Roselyn?”
A thrill had run down his spine when he saw her refuse to back down even a single step before the leader of the barbarians.
At the same time, a cheap emotion akin to jealousy churned within him.
Because it was a side of her Arma did not know.
“When you act so desirable, it makes me not want to let you go,” Arma whispered softly.
He carefully pressed a kiss to the ends of the sleeping Roselyn’s hair.
In the darkness, his blue eyes slowly sank into shadow.
