The Baddest Villainess Is Back
Chapter 61
Chapter 61
“……Are you saying you’ve already solved the missing persons cases?”
The Emperor asked with startled eyes as he looked at Roselyn, who had come to find him in less than two weeks.
“Yes.”
He had expected it to take at least several months.
It was only natural.
Since the Emperor himself could not leave everything in their hands, he had mobilized Labyth.
If the opponent was a criminal possessing an Abyss, it would also provide a justification to deploy them.
“……And you’re saying the arson cases and the missing persons cases are linked.”
“Yes.”
“……And that you also have a solution for the plague currently circulating.”
“Yes.”
Roselyn answered the Emperor’s questions steadily. She continued speaking.
“Marquis Gerran interrogated the culprits personally, and subsequently discovered the missing people at the locations he visited.”
Roselyn recounted the facts calmly.
“All those who went missing were used for experiments, and most of them are dead.”
“Experiments……?”
“Yes.”
Roselyn pushed the documents she had brought forward in front of the Emperor.
“It was an experiment to create living Abyss weapons.”
“……An experiment to create Abyss weapons?”
“An Abyss often awakens in extreme situations. Anyone would likely awaken when faced with the crisis of being burned alive.”
The Emperor frowned slightly.
“So you mean they tried to make the Abyss bloom by creating extreme conditions?”
“To put it bluntly, yes.”
The Emperor clicked his tongue.
With an expression mixed with absurdity and annoyance, he opened his mouth.
“Ridiculous. If you lock someone up and burn them to death, the Abyss dies too. It’s not like the Abyss is some grand, all-powerful thing…….”
“However, in very rare cases, those with a strong Abyss do survive.”
When Roselyn cut in to add her explanation, the Emperor’s frown deepened.
“While a confrontation between Abysses can be decided by compatibility, it also varies depending on the strength of the Abyss’s ability.”
“That is true.”
The Emperor nodded at Roselyn’s logical point.
“Just as it is natural for water to beat fire, a person with a fire Abyss more powerful than a water Abyss can overcome the water…….”
“You know it well. Then you must also know how atrocious those odds are.”
“Yes.”
“So, Princess, are you saying the culprit committed such acts…… for the sake of those atrocious odds of awakening?”
The Emperor understood the situation well.
“Yes.”
“You’re saying the reason they committed such a heinous act, killing thousands, was just for that?”
“Because one powerful soldier is more efficient than a hundred mediocre ones.”
Roselyn nodded again as she answered.
‘In fact, in my world, one such child survived in Randarin.’
The sole survivor.
And that sole survivor would go missing shortly after.
Later, he would reappear as one of the Reapers loyal to Makruksa.
It was the story of the boy Gerran had found in Randarin and was now protecting at the mansion after hearing Roselyn’s words.
If Roselyn hadn’t stopped the rampage in Randarin, that child would have become the sole survivor of the ashen city and a Reaper for Makruksa.
In Roselyn’s world, the boy was born with a powerful Abyss of Wind.
That wind had protected the boy within the flames.
The reason they hadn’t been able to find him until the very end, despite the massive suppression of Makruksa, was thanks to the two boys the King kept by his side—indoctrinated to sacrifice their lives for the King.
The boy with the Abyss of Wind from Randarin was one of them.
Therefore, the person who eventually killed such a King and took over Makruksa was a formidable individual in many ways.
‘Anyway, with this, I’ve mostly cut off the King of Makruksa’s limbs.’
I eliminated the fortuitous opportunity the ‘King’ of Makruksa would have gained and destroyed Makruksa’s means of making money.
By promoting an alliance with Kaluta as a powerful ally of the Imperial Family, I removed the risk of war.
The more their preparations are delayed, the less likely they are to surface easily.
“Even if they do such things, there might be nothing to gain. Why on earth would they commit such madness?”
“What if there were an Abyss that could provide a vague prophecy? A prophecy that invariably becomes reality.”
“A prophecy?”
The Emperor expressed his doubt at Roselyn’s words.
“What if that prophecy said something like a storm of revolution would be born from the hellish fires of a demon?”
She added quickly.
Since a revolution always meant a change in the occupant of the throne, the only thing they would have created was the hellish fire.
“If we assume the prophecy does not miss its mark, a storm will be born from the fire. It’s just that one cannot know what kind of fire it will be.”
“……So they started the fire themselves?”
“Yes.”
“By burning down an entire town?”
“Because the hellish fire of a demon wouldn’t be a small spark.”
At Roselyn’s calm words, the Emperor burst into laughter, his face shifting into an expression of utter disbelief.
Distaste could be seen beneath his fiercely crumpled features.
At the rare display of emotion from the Emperor, Roselyn finished her explanation.
After listening quietly to her long explanation, the Emperor spoke.
“So, the missing persons cases were to obtain test subjects for ‘Makruksa’ by kidnapping children who had just awakened their Abyss, and the arson cases were to obtain a superior weapon?”
“There are those reasons, and another is…… to collect comrades.”
“……Comrades?”
Roselyn nodded.
The reason Makruksa was founded.
The reason Makruksa plotted the overthrow of the state, revolution, and treason.
“Do you know what the conditions are to become part of Makruksa’s leadership, Your Majesty?”
Not much was known about Makruksa in this world yet.
They were scattered so widely and were so good at cutting off their tails that even though the Emperor had deployed Labyth, there wasn’t much information.
‘……If the reason the Princess could obtain this information really is her Abyss, then she is a talent that must never be let go.’
While the Emperor was thinking, Roselyn continued speaking.
“Originally, the Abyss often manifests in those who carry the blood of nobility.”
“…….”
“The names used to refer to Makruksa’s leadership are diverse.”
A smile played on Roselyn’s lips.
“The forgotten and abandoned. Those who are nobles but cannot be nobles. The shame of the family. Those who exist but must not exist. Those who must live their entire lives hidden in the shadows…….”
The Emperor faltered.
Once, that was why Roselyn herself could have received an offer.
“Those who had to grow up amidst all sorts of pointing fingers and contempt, simply because being born was a sin.”
When Roselyn said that much, the Emperor straightened his half-leaned body.
Roselyn met his gaze directly as she spoke.
“They are the illegitimate children of the nobility.”
No sooner had Roselyn finished speaking than the smile vanished from the Emperor’s face.
“……So there was an interference.”
“Yes, it’s a bit difficult to keep going, I suppose.”
Aximus spoke to the person sitting across from him while scratching his head as if it were a nuisance.
Yawn.
Only laziness could be felt from the way he opened his mouth wide and yawned.
‘That little lady is more impressive than I thought.’
Thought Aximus, his eyes rolling around.
Thanks to her, things were getting tangled in many ways, and the plan was falling apart here and there.
“Is it Princess Roselyn Bellion again?”
“Well……”
At the ‘King’s’ words, Aximus nodded obediently.
Sitting cross-legged in his chair and swinging his body back and forth, he rubbed his chin.
“It’s truly fascinating. That gloomy and timid Princess, who was nothing special, doing all this……”
He spoke in a light tone and chuckled.
“Maintain your dignity, Aximus.”
At the other’s words, he pouted his lips as if bored and shrugged his shoulders.
“As our King knows, the place where I was born and raised is the streets. This title of Count just doesn’t feel familiar at all.”
“A position carries weight.”
“Well, I jumped on board excitedly because you said you’d let me kill all those unlucky bastards, but this kind of thing is no fun.”
Count Aximus Baldur.
The man who had seized that position solely with hands stained in blood muttered discontentedly and shrugged.
“The plan is progressing well. It won’t be long now.”
“Doesn’t look like it, considering we’re being hindered at every turn by some pretty lady~?”
Ah, I’m not being sarcastic.
The man, who seemed like an idle playboy, added with a light chuckle.
He was glared at fiercely, but it had no effect on Aximus.
Tsk, the other clicked his tongue.
He was a chosen one, born with two Abysses—earth and fire—which was extremely rare, but his arrogant personality was the problem.
“That is simple. We just need to make her our Queen.”
“……Queen? All of a sudden? Would she come to this side when it’s obvious she’s trying to stop us?”
“Persuading her is your job. Conveniently, a banquet will be held soon.”
Though he said persuasion, it clearly meant to get her consent by any means necessary.
“Fine. This will be fun. I wanted to have a little chat with the lady myself.”
Aximus, who had wanted to meet Roselyn again anyway, smiled as he stroked his arm, which had been torn once and then reattached haphazardly.
And a few days later, Khan of Kaluta entered the Empire leading a diplomatic mission.
The banquet to welcome Kaluta was held the very next day.