The Baddest Villainess Is Back
Chapter 78
“Yes.”
Was it not obvious?
One could not always have only good things and happy moments.
If life’s ups and downs were likened to light and shadow, then naturally, if there were good days, there were bound to be bad days as well.
“However, Lady Bellion, some lives… are branded as someone’s shadow from the very moment of birth.”
Roselyn fell silent at the Captain of the Royal Guard’s words.
“Some people are compelled to live forever as someone’s shadow, their very birth treated as a sin. They spend their entire lives being pointed at, treated like trash that cannot even be burned.”
It is quite ridiculous, isn’t it?
Though he added that it was ridiculous, there was no hint of laughter in his voice.
Roselyn walked slowly, and after a long silence, she finally spoke.
“Even so, you shouldn’t bully others just because you lost to your own greed and selfishness. I’m sure those people had their own circumstances, and perhaps there were misunderstandings.”
As Roselyn continued, the Captain’s pace slowed, and his expression began to crumple, eventually turning into a deep scowl.
“…So, for starters, try loving people. I think the reason you view the world so darkly is simply because you lack love, blah blah blah.”
“……Pardon?”
“—Is what I would say if I wanted to sound self-righteous and offer a textbook answer, right? But to be honest and include my personal feelings….”
Roselyn stopped walking and spun around with a smile.
“That’s the fault of the ones who gave birth to you.”
“…….”
“I think the ones who couldn’t keep their pants on are the ones to blame.”
“……Do you even know what I am talking about?”
“I thought you were giving me a riddle, was I wrong?”
Roselyn shrugged, withdrew her hand from his escort, and strolled through the vast Imperial Palace gardens.
The Captain, who had been frozen for a moment, followed behind her.
“There aren't many cases where being born itself is a crime.”
Roselyn slowed to a stop.
“The most common one in the noble world would be an illegitimate child of uncertain origin.”
“……They say a beast that is too clever is disposed of quickly.”
“Why? For fear it might realize its own situation and run away?”
At Roselyn’s bright smile, which held thorns like a rose, the Captain returned the smile with a subtle look on his face.
“……Because it realizes it is a hunting dog destined to be used and discarded. It becomes quite troublesome once a hunting dog learns to fear death.”
At his words, Roselyn stood silently behind a thicket of rose briers and looked at the middle-aged man.
“Must a person born as a shadow live as a shadow for their entire life?”
“No.”
Roselyn shrugged and spoke.
“Must a life branded as junk from birth live as junk forever?”
“Not that either.”
Roselyn shook her head likewise.
“Being born can’t be called a crime.”
She said it, but even for Roselyn, these were words she could only say calmly now.
“However, in my short time living… if I may be so bold, the moment you decide to use your given misfortune as an excuse to harm others, that becomes a sin.”
“Then are you saying a life lived as a sinner should just be endured, since it was merely misfortune that arrived through bad luck?”
Roselyn shrugged.
“I wonder. I used to think that was the case for a long time, too.”
Roselyn slowly turned her head and murmured softly.
“I also thought being born was a crime, but after dying and coming back to life, I found there are more people who like me than I thought.”
Roselyn knew well enough what it was like to live as an illegitimate child.
However, in Roselyn’s case, it would be more accurate to say she had lived in a delusion of her own making because she was scared.
Roselyn did not know how it felt to live as someone’s shadow.
She only knew the feeling of living alone, forgotten by everyone.
“I lived only looking forward because I was so busy surviving, and I ended up regretting so many things I missed.”
Perhaps Roselyn was now slowly looking back at the path she had walked.
Stopping the habit of only looking ahead, she looked left and right, and retraced the steps she had taken.
And she had even returned to the past she regretted.
There, Roselyn made a firm decision.
Roselyn would die.
“So, I’m finding the right places for things I wished had been there one by one, and it feels quite a bit better than I expected.”
The Captain only looked puzzled at Roselyn’s cryptic words and did not comment further.
“There are some things you’ll never know unless you speak up. Why don't you put aside your revenge for a moment and try having a conversation?”
She would return to her original world and personally put everything back in its place, one by one.
“May I ask why you refused the position of Queen?”
“It seems you’re not even trying to hide it anymore. The reason is simple. I’m not interested. Overturning the world, fighting for the rights of illegitimate children….”
The corners of Roselyn’s mouth curled into an alluring smile.
“Isn’t that all a bit too cliché?”
Roselyn would undo the past she regretted so much.
“More than anything, I’ve always been a selfish and greedy person… as long as you don’t interfere with my business, I don’t care what you do.”
She would change the past and hope for her future self to be happy.
In the end, Roselyn was a selfish human being. Even wishing for the happiness of others was ultimately for her own sake.
“But, our dear Knight has been quite an interference lately.”
Roselyn strode toward him, pulled a fan from her sleeve, and lightly rested it under the Captain’s chin.
“By the way, did you hear what happened to Lady Carmel?”
“……I wonder. I heard a rumor that she lost her limbs, had her tongue cut out, and was dumped somewhere.”
“……Is that so?”
Roselyn frowned at Carmel’s unexpected end.
Well, it was strange to expect her to be fine after she had tried to destroy an entire family and commit murder.
“Anyway, I can interfere with you as much as I want. So, do not harm those around me.”
“By those around you, you mean?”
“The Bellion Ducal House. And the 3rd Prince, who is my fiancé for now though we’re set to break it off, and Kaluta, whom I’ve decided to befriend, and even the 2nd Prince, who is her fiancé.”
As Roselyn continued, the space between the Captain’s brows grew narrower.
“Lady Bellion, you are indeed greedy.”
“I know.”
“……Yes, I’m glad you realize it.”
The Captain looked down at Roselyn with an expression that seemed to ask what kind of person she was, yet he played along reasonably well.
“Then, I believe I’ve delivered my opinion, so I’ll be going now.”
It was the moment Roselyn turned her body.
Shring—.
With a chilling sound, a sharp blade barely touched her neck.
“I am curious after all. How did you find out about me? And about Makruksa….”
“……Obsessive men aren't very popular.”
“Haha, believe it or not, I was quite popular in my younger days. It’s just that… I had to live as the shadow of the sun for my entire life.”
Roselyn’s eyes widened at the Captain’s words.
“……You, don't tell me.”
“Young lady, some lives remain as shadows, their very existence forgotten forever. When they die, they become humans who never even existed, remembered by no one.”
Listening to his low, murmuring voice, Roselyn gently rolled the Seven Luminaries Stone Bracelet on her wrist.
This was because she intended to use it if things truly became dangerous.
‘Why did I think there would only be illegitimate children in noble families?’
Come to think of it, the place with the most secrets was the Imperial Family. Considering that the Imperial Family must have hidden more than one or two illegitimate children until now, his existence wasn't strange either.
“If you kill me here, it will cause quite a problem.”
“I wonder. In my opinion, leaving you free would be far more dangerous.”
At the man’s words, Roselyn took a slow breath.
“My very first memory is of my Imperial Father ordering me to be thrown into a training camp, as if disposing of a bothersome object.”
“…….”
“My mother, who I was told was doing well, was murdered one day to keep her silent, and my half-brothers, who were sent to training, missions, or battlefields, died one by one.”
Roselyn remained silent as the explanation continued leisurely.
Unfortunately, she was hidden by the tall rose vines, so it seemed she wouldn't be visible from the outside.
“All for the sake of a single sun.”
“It is only natural for the subjects of the Empire to protect the King of the nation.”
“After surviving a lifetime on battlefields I was thrown into to die, all for the sake of half-siblings whose faces I didn't even know, my Imperial Father died, and my younger brother became the Great Emperor, receiving love and giving love. With the exact same face as my Imperial Father.”
Roselyn remained silent at the seething voice of the aging man, drenched in long years of resentment and hatred.
While she understood his anger, Roselyn could not empathize with it at all.
“You should have just run away.”
After a moment of thought, Roselyn spoke with narrowed eyes.
“……What did you say?”
“I was wondering if things wouldn't have been resolved if you had just run away. I don't know why you wasted nearly half a century with those abilities.”
Slightly moving away from the sword, Roselyn rubbed her neck where the blade had touched and spoke indifferently.
“I’m sorry if you were looking for sympathy, but usually, that’s just called a waste of time.”
At Roselyn’s words, the man’s face hardened.