The Baddest Villainess Is Back
Chapter 71
“If the negotiations fell through, don’t tell me the plague is still…”
“No, Kaluta brought that matter up first, so the negotiations regarding the plague are finished.”
Roselyn let out a long sigh of relief at Devon’s answer.
“That is a relief.”
“The King of Kaluta also has periodic tea times with the Emperor, so they must be discussing things verbally.”
Roselyn nodded.
She thought she understood Kaluta’s expression of will, insisting that Roselyn be involved, even if only as a formality.
‘They didn’t have to go this far…’
It was obvious they were trying to bolster her standing.
If Roselyn were to join the negotiations, it would eventually give her a justification for credit and a certain level of power for herself.
Especially since Kaluta had publicly declared Roselyn their friend.
“Did you catch the King of Makruksa?”
“No, the 3rd Prince has no intention of handing over the culprit who kidnapped you, so we haven’t even been able to interrogate him. For someone so young, he is incredibly stubborn… Tsk.”
At Devon’s explanation, Roselyn recalled the last time she saw Arma.
‘…He looked pale.’
Still, it was a bit unexpected. She had assumed that if anyone were to come to her rescue first, it would be Gerran Wilbrid, Khan, or her father.
“Roselyn.”
“Yes, Father.”
“May I ask why exactly you were with that man at that time?”
Roselyn faltered at Cherti Bellion’s question.
“I was simply kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped? Why on earth were you kidnapped?”
“Well, it seems that everything I’ve done so far was related to Makruksa, so I suppose I was in their way.”
Cherti came to a dead stop at Roselyn’s words.
“What? What do you mean by that?”
“The disappearances, the arson, and even this plague… it seems Makruksa was involved in all of them.”
In truth, she had moved knowing that.
The Emperor likely suspected that she possessed an Abyss ability, such as the power to foresee the future.
“Lady Carmel was driven out because she was an eyesore to me, and my second uncle was suddenly imprisoned, so they must have thought I had some sort of malicious intent.”
Too many things had overlapped for it to be called a coincidence.
From their perspective, the circumstances were suspicious enough.
‘Though in reality, I did it on purpose…’
Since they had no physical evidence, they must have kidnapped her for that reason.
‘I didn’t expect them to offer me the position of Queen there, though…’
Roselyn slowly raised her head.
“What did that bastard say to you?”
“Ah, he told me to become the Queen of Makruksa.”
“……What?”
“He told me to become the Queen of Makruksa.”
As soon as Roselyn’s calm words ended, a heavy silence descended.
*
*
*
Darkness, darkness, and more darkness.
Inside a space filled only with pitch-black darkness, the man, Aximus Baldur, was gradually going insane.
He could feel himself becoming skin and bones.
At first, he was used to it. He could be the only light in the darkness because he constantly used his Abyss to light the way.
But he wasn’t the only one in that darkness.
There were all sorts of things.
When he lit a flame, everything the darkness had swallowed up until then was there. Things like corpses that had rotted away until only bones remained.
And that fact evoked quite a bit of terror.
The man, Aximus Baldur, was fine at first because he was a being who possessed an Abyss of fire.
However, a person always reaches a limit eventually.
Time seemed to flow very slowly in the darkness. It felt like more than a year had passed, yet he was somehow still alive.
Yes.
Aximus Baldur was alive.
Though nothing existed, he had managed to survive. Within a darkness that felt eternal and a hell that felt unpardonable.
And today, after an unknown amount of time, he was dragged out from the darkness.
He squeezed his eyes shut at the pouring light.
Hum—
His ears rang dully. Aximus couldn’t open his eyes at all. Having been in the dark for a long time, he was not adjusted to the light, and it was only after a long while that he could barely open them.
His vision was blurry.
He blinked several times in discomfort, but his blurred vision did not return. As if the darkness had finally swallowed his sight, he blinked repeatedly and then trembled.
“You’re still alive in that state.”
A cold voice drifted down.
After blinking a few more times, he realized that it was not day, but a dark night. And despite it being night, the light was so blinding he couldn't stand it.
“Ha…”
Although he couldn't tell who the person in front of him was, Aximus knew one thing for certain. That the bastard before his eyes was the dog who had thrown him into that hell.
“I heard Roselyn opened her eyes yesterday.”
“……You.”
He was startled by his own heavily raspy voice and rubbed his face.
“Damn it, damn it!”
“Staying alive for nearly a month… you’re quite tenacious.”
Arma did not have his usual youthful, childlike face. His hair was swept back, revealing his forehead, and his blue eyes held arrogance and contempt rather than clarity.
Seeing this through his blurry vision, Aximus burst into a roar of laughter.
“Are you crazy? You!”
Arma crossed his legs as he looked down at the man steeped in madness. Unlike when he went in, he was now one-armed, having left one of his arms somewhere in the darkness.
“I wondered how you survived for a month without eating anything, but…”
As Arma let out a sneer, Aximus bared his fangs and laughed savagely. The middle-aged man knelt with a face like a cruel child and glared at Arma with murderous intent.
“Tell me about Makruksa.”
“Do you think I’d tell the likes of you?”
Aximus’s condition was severe. One arm was festering, having been cauterized only with fire without proper treatment, and his vision was dim, as if a white film had clouded his pupils from being trapped in the dark for so long.
He was so emaciated that his bones protruded, and the areas under his eyes and his cheeks were hollow. His breathing grew labored every time he shouted, and seeing his fingertips and lips turn blue, he appeared to have symptoms of hypothermia.
Frozen vapor escaped his mouth whenever he spoke. His entire body was no longer recognizable as human, covered in burn scars that looked as if his skin had melted and hardened in place.
It seemed to be the result of his desperate efforts not to lose his body heat to the bead he had unwittingly swallowed.
Whoosh, whoosh.
His body caught fire intermittently, but even that seemed to be at its limit.
“You look like you're about to die; wouldn't it be better to talk before you go?”
“Am I crazy? I’d rather die.”
Aximus laughed like a demon. He looked even more grotesque due to his melted skin, but Arma didn't even blink.
“Pitiful.”
“The pitiful one is you, hiding behind a mask. Living your life pretending to have no talent.”
“I’m just not interested in the throne. I’m not a blind fool like you.”
Arma spoke indifferently, looking down at Aximus.
“Do you have no intention of revealing the King’s identity either?”
“That goes without saying.”
“Then I have no choice but to kill you.”
The man gritted his teeth, his body shivering uncontrollably from the cold that sought him out. In truth, Aximus knew it too. His body had already reached its limit. He would die before long.
“Tell the young lady that I’m dying thanks to her.”
“……”
Arma’s eyes narrowed at the vicious words.
‘His mouth is tighter than I thought.’
Regardless, he didn’t want to show a man in this state to Roselyn.
‘It’s only right to give the authority for punishment to Roselyn…’
After a moment of thought, Arma dragged him toward the dungeon. It was to have this still-breathing lump of meat treated for now.