The Baddest Villainess Is Back
Chapter 8
“Ah, Hyung-nim……”
Yuldian Dianitas.
A man who was typically weak against the strong and cruel to the weak, he was the member of the Imperial Family whom Roselyn despised the most.
“What’s this? You don’t look happy to see me? You little mutt?”
“Ahaha…… O-Of course not. I’m glad to see you……”
At Yuldian’s sneering voice and Arma’s thoroughly cowed response, Roselyn paused mid-bow.
“Wow, look at this pair of lovers of the century! A pathetic younger brother who couldn’t kill a single ant and a gloomy, stuttering Young Lady!”
“Hyung-nim, please don’t be like that……”
“Oh? You’re talking back to your Hyung-nim just because you’re in front of a woman now? Huh?”
Watching Arma simply grin even as Yuldian smacked his head repeatedly, Roselyn straightened her back from her half-bow.
When the 2nd Prince saw Roselyn’s face as she stood tall, his eyes widened slightly.
“Ho…… well, look at this. You’ve become quite easy on the eyes since I last saw you, Young Lady.”
He reached out and grabbed Roselyn’s chin, turning her head from side to side to inspect her.
“Please do not be disrespectful to the Young Lady, Hyung-nim!”
Arma hurriedly clung to the 2nd Prince’s hand that was holding Roselyn’s chin.
“Damn it, get lost, would you? You piece of trash.”
The 2nd Prince roughly shook off Arma’s hand and kicked him squarely in the stomach.
“What kind of dog-like behavior is this toward your Hyung-nim? Have you no sense of propriety? Do you want to be disciplined again? Huh? Do you want to be trembling and begging for your life once more?!”
“B-But…… the Young Lady is my fiancée……”
“Fiancée or not, if I say I’m doing something, I’m doing it!”
Thud, thud, thud. Several dull sounds followed. The 3rd Prince clung to Yuldian’s leg, gesturing frantically to Roselyn with his eyes. He was telling her to leave quickly.
‘……This foolish man.’
Roselyn let out a sigh.
“Let go of me this instant.”
“I-I don’t want to.”
Footprints were being stamped onto his snow-white uniform. As if he felt no pain, Arma continuously shook his head from side to side.
“Damn it, you’re really annoying for a loser!”
“Lady Roselyn is n-not yours, Hyung-nim! She is mine! She is my person!”
Yuldian’s eyes widened slightly at the sudden outburst.
“……Fine, let’s see you die today.”
Arma glared at the 2nd Prince, his blue eyes burning with intensity.
‘He was always someone with eyes like that.’
A person who never backed down in the face of injustice.
A person who would share his own food to ensure others didn’t go hungry.
That side of him had been frustrating, yet at one time, she had envied it.
‘I suppose his personality is no different even in a parallel world.’
Thinking this, Roselyn stepped between the 2nd Prince and Arma and smiled.
The 2nd Prince faltered.
“What are you? Are you trying to protect your fiancé too? Just because your face got a bit prettier……”
“Your Imperial Highness.”
“What?”
Ignoring the 2nd Prince’s response, Roselyn helped the sprawled Arma to his feet and continued speaking.
“I don’t think you need to arrange a meeting with His Majesty the Emperor for me anymore.”
“……Pardon? Did I do something wrong again……”
“No, I just thought of a way to see him much faster.”
Roselyn smiled brightly.
While Arma watched with a dazed, surprised expression, Roselyn turned that same smiling face toward the 2nd Prince.
In the next instant,
Slap!
With a sharp sound that echoed through the hallway, the 2nd Prince’s head snapped to the side.
Silence fell over the corridor.
Yuldian Dianitas could not comprehend the current situation.
The sudden sharp sound.
His shifted field of vision and his stinging cheek.
‘What just happened to me?’
Is it true that one’s thoughts paralyze when something too absurd happens?
Perhaps because something that could never happen had just occurred, the world went quiet.
Without even noticing the faint, weak ringing in his ears, he blinked very slowly.
He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
Shocked faces could be seen all around, but Roselyn alone remained composed.
Arma, also seemingly panicked, gripped Roselyn’s sleeve with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.
“You, what did you just……”
When the 2nd Prince finally managed to turn his head and open his mouth,
Slap!
This time, his head snapped to the other side.
Slap!
Only after being struck once more while in a state of bewilderment did Yuldian turn beet-red with rage and speak.
“You’re really……!”
“For a crazy bastard, you certainly talk a lot, Your Highness the 2nd Prince. Ah, it’s been a while. I’m glad to see you looking so healthy.”
“You…… do you realize this is an insult to the Imperial Family—no, it’s attempted assassination of royalty?!”
Roselyn shrugged her shoulders.
“I wonder. I was simply trying to save my fiancé because he was being subjected to unjust violence.”
“I am a member of the Imperial Family!!”
“Yes. And the 3rd Prince is also a member of the Imperial Family.”
“Ha! Don’t make me laugh. How could a low-born thing who doesn’t even know his own mother be royalty?! Aha!”
He laughed despicably.
“Come to think of it, there were rumors that you were a low-born thing as well. You two really are a perfect match!”
“Yes, I suppose so. I also think it’s a great relief that I didn’t end up with someone like you, Your Highness.”
“You……!”
Attendants and maids who heard the commotion began to gather.
Regardless, Roselyn let out a smirk.
The Emperor wouldn’t be able to kill her anyway.
Roselyn possessed the ability, knowledge, and information to solve the problems that were currently giving the Emperor a headache. And in the face of that deal, there was a high probability the Emperor would gloss over Roselyn’s bold behavior with a suitable excuse.
Since this was a move made after her own calculations, there was almost no chance of harm coming to her.
……Probably.
‘Though it is close to a gamble.’
She could only hope that the events of this world and her parallel world were similar.
For now, Roselyn spoke with confidence.
“Why did you have to touch my fiancé? It makes me so upset.”
Roselyn gave a subtle smile as she slowly stroked Arma’s slightly swollen cheek.
Arma’s eyes flew wide open.
“What’s wrong with an older brother disciplining his younger brother?! Don’t interfere in other people’s family business! Just because you’re the fiancée of the Imperial Family……”
Slap!
Yuldian’s head snapped back again.
“Oh. My. Goodness. My hand slipped……”
Gasp!
Gasps erupted from all around at her voice, which sounded as if she were reading from a dry textbook.
“I have a bad habit of my hand acting out first whenever I hear bullshit…… My apologies.”
Roselyn murmured softly as if she felt regretful.
“I try to fix it, but my hand seems to have a mind of its own when there’s a stupid dog that won’t listen to reason.”
“……I’ll kill you.”
Yuldian, his eyes glazed over, muttered under his breath before lunging forward and raising his large hand high.
Roselyn smirked as she watched his large hand.
She had no intention of dodging.
She had to take at least one hit so the Emperor would have a plausible reason when he tried to package the situation later.
Watching the hand trace an arc through the air, Roselyn lowered her gaze and braced herself for the impact.
SLAP!
A rather violent sound echoed.
However, there was no pain.
Roselyn looked up. In front of her, instead of the 2nd Prince, was a broad back.
Roselyn’s eyes widened slightly.
The owner of that back was someone quite familiar.
“……Your Highness?”
“A-Are you hurt anywhere, Lady Roselyn……?”
The one who had taken the hit instead of Roselyn was Arma.
And the owner of that broad back was, of course, Arma as well.
‘……Was he always this big?’
She hadn’t noticed because he usually walked around hunched over.
He was quite tall, and his shoulders were quite broad.
As far as she knew, he was a complete novice who didn’t even know how to use a sword properly. At least, that was the case in her world.
But Arma’s back was covered in quite dense muscle.
‘……Then again, even when we were living as fugitives together, he never seemed to tire easily.’
“Young Lady?”
At the low call, Roselyn snapped out of it and nodded.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Roselyn frowned as she saw a trickle of blood running down the corner of Arma’s mouth.
“Why on earth did you jump in?”
She said, pressing her handkerchief against the corner of his mouth.
Arma’s eyes widened, and then his lips curved into a smile.
“How could I let the Young Lady get hurt?”
“What a load of shit……!”
“Jealousy is the root of all evil, Your Highness the 2nd Prince.”
Roselyn handed the handkerchief to Arma and spoke in a low voice.
“It seems to trigger mental instability and increase aggression along with high blood pressure, so please be careful.”
“You……!”
It was then.
The familiar Head Chamberlain appeared after pushing through the crowd and clearing everyone out.
“Lady Bellion.”
“Yes.”
“His Majesty summons you.”
At the Head Chamberlain’s words, Roselyn nodded slowly.
“And, Your Highness the 2nd Prince.”
“What.”
“A message from His Majesty the Emperor. Your Highness the 2nd Prince is ordered not to leave the castle until further notice.”
The 2nd Prince’s eyes widened at the Head Chamberlain’s words.
“Wait, I’m the one being placed under house arrest and not this bastard?!”
He shouted, pointing at Arma with a face of pure disbelief.
