The Baddest Villainess Is Back
Chapter 66
“Nope.”
Roselyn answered shortly.
“……It’s not?”
“Yes. If that was all I thought, I would have run away from home already.”
Cherti’s shoulders flinched again.
He looked at Roselyn with an expression of profound shock.
“……I do not know what love is.”
“Huh? Father, you did everything there is to do with Mother to give birth to me, and now you’re making adolescent remarks about not knowing what love is…… mmph.”
Cherti, looking flustered, used his large hand to muffle Roselyn’s mouth as she spoke with effortless fluency.
“Where on earth did you learn such strange words…….”
“Booksh…….”
Muffled by his hand, Roselyn let out a mumbling sound.
Realizing belatedly that he was covering Roselyn’s mouth, Cherti pulled his hand away quickly, his face turning pale.
“Just what kind of books…….”
He paced backward, muttering under his breath.
“Father, is it possible that your idea of love is purely platonic, excluding the physical aspect and—”
“Stop.”
Cherti reflexively reached out but stopped his hand in midair, speaking firmly.
Roselyn watched the large hand hovering in the air, not daring to touch her, and then she grabbed one of his fingers.
“Father, it’s okay.”
Roselyn beamed. Cherti froze at the sight of that bright smile.
“As long as Father controls your ability properly, I won’t die.”
Cherti’s eyes widened at Roselyn’s blunt words.
It was just as he was about to pull his hand from Roselyn’s grasp.
“If you don’t want to kill your only daughter, then control it. Because I’m going to cling to you every time I see you. You love me, right?”
Cherti nodded awkwardly and opened his mouth.
“……Do…… do…… do not speak such wicked nonsense\!”
……He opened his mouth only to make a mess of it.
It seemed his social skills were even worse when he was younger.
Roselyn let out an overt sigh.
“And Father, you’re much more gloomy than I remember. It’s embarrassing to go out with you like this, so I’d appreciate it if you’d groom yourself a bit.”
“……What?”
“Well then, I’m going to sleep, so please hold my hand until I drift off.”
The child lay down on the bed, closed her eyes, and took the hand of the awkwardly standing Cherti.
Before long, the large hand completely enveloped the small one.
\* \* \*
‘……As I thought, this is my original world.’
Over the past three days, Roselyn had looked into past events one by one, including newspapers, and let out a sigh.
“Hey, did a peddler come by here today by any chance?”
“Ah, yes. How did you know, My Lady?”
“Just because. If you bought anything from that peddler, go get a refund quickly. It’s all a scam.”
“Pardon?”
“By the way, on my birthday a week ago, did I get scolded for visiting Father’s room in the basement?”
“……Ah, that wasn’t because the Young Lord dislikes you, My Lady……”
“I know Father doesn’t hate me. So I did go, then?”
“Ye—yes……. Do you perhaps remember…….”
“No, it just came to me. It’s best not to go outside tomorrow; there’s going to be massive hail.”
“Will Grandfather, who went to the Duchy, return tomorrow?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right\! But according to the Temple’s forecast, heavy rain is expected tomorrow, so I’m worried. He needs to arrive safely before the meeting.”
“Ah, he probably won’t make it in time. The valley waters will rise, and he won’t be able to cross.”
Whenever she had the chance, she caught passing maids to gauge the timing based on her memories.
Roselyn had spent a lot of time thinking after being moved to the parallel world by Gerran.
Even if it was a parallel world, minor details differed, though the major strokes remained the same.
A birthday present wasn't necessarily a doll, and it might rain on a certain birthday in this world while it didn't in another.
A shop that existed in Roselyn’s world might not exist in that one.
Nevertheless, the grand narrative was similar.
If a war was supposed to happen, it happened; if a country was destined to lose, that country lost unless someone intervened.
As a result, Roselyn deduced that this world was the past of her original world.
‘……What exactly is going on?’
Roselyn sat on the edge of the bed, swinging her feet with her short arms crossed awkwardly.
“Rose, your Abyss is an ability that can only be awakened by dying.”
“……What?”
“It’s complicated to explain in detail, but you can think of it as a sort of Resurrection Abyss. After death, you can return to the past and live once more in another person’s body.”
Sansar had called her Abyss the ‘Resurrection Abyss.’
An Abyss that could only be awakened through death.
‘Then does that mean I really died?’
Roselyn fell silent.
However, there were parts that still didn’t make sense.
‘Sansar said my Abyss is one where I can return to the past after death and live again by possessing someone else’s body.’
That was where the problem arose.
If she had died, then according to Sansar, Roselyn should have possessed someone else’s body.
But she had entered her own body, just as Geron Wilbrid had moved her to the parallel world.
‘……Did the me of this world already die?’
Roselyn frowned.
“After you die, you will become an existence stronger than any Kaluta.”
“……What am I supposed to do after dying?”
“I like all the worldlines, but I love the one where I met you the most.”
Sansar had said she would become stronger than any Kaluta after her death.
Yet in reality, she was still sickly and couldn't take a single step out from under the covers without permission.
What could she possibly do with a body that ran a fever after just twenty minutes of walking?
Roselyn was overflowing with the will to act, but her father and others wouldn't allow it.
In other words, it was highly likely that Roselyn hadn't died yet.
‘Is it one of my Abyss abilities after all?’
Roselyn had already died and come back to life once.
However, instead of possessing another person’s body as per the conditions, a coercive force—likely caused by Gerran’s Abyss—had placed her into her own dead body in the parallel world.
Regardless, since the condition of death had been met, she thought it was possible that a part of her Abyss had bloomed.
‘An Abyss isn’t a simple thing, after all.’
Just because one possessed a Fire Abyss didn't mean they could only start fires.
They could warm a person’s body temperature or find other applications.
It became possible to theorize that Roselyn’s Abyss had activated and taken over her body in another parallel world.
‘I don’t know the exact cause, but…….’
Around the age of five, Roselyn had fallen into the water while walking in the garden.
She remembered hearing from the maids that she had hovered between life and death for nearly a month without properly regaining consciousness.
Based on the timing, it seemed she was currently in that one-month period where she had been drifting between life and death after falling into the water.
‘The maids always told me all sorts of stories out of consideration for my illness.’
That the peddler was a scammer, that the Duke returning from the Duchy to the capital mansion couldn't arrive on time because the valley waters rose, and that her father’s Abyss had gone berserk when he attended the meeting in the Duke’s stead—she had heard it all back then.
“My Lady, the time is up…… are you really going?”
“Yes.”
“Will your body be alright?”
“It’s fine.”
She had a slight fever, but she had lived with this much her whole life.
“My Lady, I’m thinking of using some of the money I’ve saved to invest in a business this time…… which one do you think would be better?”
Suddenly, a business?
Roselyn narrowed her eyes at the maid who was tidying her clothes.
‘Why are you asking me that?’
Roselyn clicked her tongue.
“I’m not a businesswoman, so why ask me?”
“Oh, come on. There are rumors that My Lady is much more accurate than famous fortune tellers. Please?”
It was quite unpleasant to see a full-grown adult acting cute and twisting her body in front of a child.
Roselyn looked at her with dark, hollow eyes and then glanced at the two papers she held out.
They were business prospectuses.
Not all businesses could receive noble patronage.
What happened to the numerous businesses that couldn't get support from the nobility?
It was simple.
They sought small investments from commoners or the wealthy.
If the business succeeded, dividends were paid; if it failed, well…… as with anything, it was bankruptcy.
However, since they lacked noble backing, businesses that relied on such small-scale investments failed more often than not.
Roselyn’s eyes widened slightly as she peered intently at the papers.
‘So this business was seeking investment around this time.’