The Baddest Villainess Is Back
Chapter 9
“Yes.”
The Head Chamberlain replied in a flat, monotone voice.
“Bullshit! That makes no sense! Anyone can see I’m the victim here! Do you have any idea how many times I was hit by this woman? Why am I the one under house arrest and not her?! This is an insult to the Imperial Family! It’s an attempted assassination of royalty!”
“It is the command of His Majesty the Emperor.”
The Head Chamberlain replied calmly, without so much as blinking an eye.
Grit. The 2nd Prince gnashed his teeth and grabbed the Head Chamberlain by the collar.
“Stop talking nonsense and ask him again! Tell him this is absurd!”
“……2nd Prince.”
When the Head Chamberlain called him in a low voice, the 2nd Prince, Yuldian, flinched and released his grip on the collar.
“I will convey your words to His Majesty. However, as these are the orders currently handed down, please return to your palace for now.”
“……Dammit.”
“His Majesty is a fair and just man. If you have been wronged, the matter will surely be resolved soon.”
“……Fair and just, my foot! Everyone knows he only cares about my older brother and that half-breed bastard!”
He muttered fiercely, glared at Roselyn, then spun around and vanished quickly.
“I shall escort you.”
“I-I’ll go with you, Young Lady!”
“No, go see a physician. It would be embarrassing for my supposed fiancé to be in such a state.”
Roselyn spoke with a coldness that bordered on heartless and turned away.
“Lead the way.”
“Yes, Young Lady.”
Roselyn turned her back on Arma and followed the Head Chamberlain away.
*
*
*
The place they arrived at was a grand and lavish office.
The room, washed entirely in gold, looked like a treasure vault filled with all sorts of rare curiosities.
On one side of the office sat a collection of precious gems; on another, rare stuffed animals were on display.
And sitting on a sofa in the center of the office was the presence that commanded all attention.
His hair, which must have once been a brilliant gold, was now a faded shade closer to brown, and his eyes were a blue that neared the color of the sky.
Despite being nearly fifty years old, he didn't look particularly aged, save for the wrinkles on his face.
With his disheveled hair and a casual outfit that held almost no sense of formality—if the clothes he wore weren't so expensive, one might have mistaken him for a back-alley loafer rather than an arrogant and noble Emperor.
However, he was a man whose true intentions were hard to grasp because he was always smiling.
In a sense, even more so than Gerran.
Looking at the man who was the master of the Empire, Roselyn offered a polite greeting.
“I greet the brilliant and noble Sun.”
“Oh, isn't that a rather embarrassing greeting to hear from a woman who just caused quite a delightful scene in the palace where the brilliant and noble Sun resides?”
It was a sophisticated way of telling her to cut the crap after causing trouble, and Roselyn responded with a silent, bright smile.
As Roselyn kept smiling with an 'and what about it?' attitude, the Emperor looked at her with an inscrutable expression, rubbing his chin, and then tilted his head.
His voice was somewhat insincere and light.
“Well, have a seat for now.”
At the Emperor's short command, Roselyn sat down on the sofa opposite him without a word of complaint.
“The atmosphere surrounding the Bellion Young Lady has changed quite a bit. Or is it just my imagination?”
The Emperor gave Roselyn a quick look from head to toe and offered his commentary as he tilted his teacup.
“I've been through a lot of things in many ways.”
“Ah, I heard. Quite unfortunate news.”
The Emperor spoke with an expression that didn't look unfortunate at all.
“So.”
Setting down his teacup, the Emperor looked up at Roselyn.
“I'm curious what a Young Lady who was once cautious to a fault—safety first, above all else—was thinking when she pulled a stunt like this.”
What is a spineless, indecisive, and timid brat like you thinking?
Roselyn naturally translated the Emperor’s 'elegant socialite noble-speak.'
“I wish to break my engagement with the 3rd Prince.”
Roselyn spoke with total composure as she picked up the teacup the Head Chamberlain had brought.
For a moment, the Emperor failed to process her words. He let out a bewildered chuckle and asked back.
“……What did you say?”
“I wish to break my engagement with the 3rd Prince, Your Majesty.”
Roselyn repeated herself, slowly and clearly.
Then, the Emperor spoke with a benevolent, smiling face.
“I heard the Young Lady suffered a terrible accident. It seems you've injured your head. How about I send a royal physician to give you a checkup?”
Roselyn gazed at the Emperor just as steadily and smiled broadly.
“In exchange, I will solve two problems that have been giving Your Majesty a headache.”
“……Two problems giving me a headache?”
The Emperor asked back with an expression that suggested the idea wasn't even worth laughing at.
Roselyn nodded without blinking an eye.
“Yes. I will handle the negotiations with ‘Kaluta,’ which shares our northern border, and resolve the disappearances that have been occurring across the country recently.”
At Roselyn’s indifferent remark, the Emperor’s uninterested eyes narrowed.
Roselyn waited for his answer, her nerves taut. In truth, it was a half-gamble.
'But if my predictions are correct, the major events will flow almost identically.'
And the 'Kaluta negotiations' and these disappearances were events that, if handled correctly, would change the history of the Empire.
The Emperor’s eyebrow twitched once, and he let out an inscrutable laugh while looking at Roselyn.
Both the negotiations with Kaluta and the disappearances that were gradually expanding in scope were indeed the very things he was currently agonizing over.
Very few people knew about these matters.
To prevent unnecessary anxiety from spreading, information was kept strictly within his inner circle.
'……And yet, a sickly Duke's daughter who can't even leave her room knows about this.'
Her pale appearance certainly didn't look healthy, but her eyes were sharp.
'This girl is timid and weak……?'
Looking at her eyes alone, she looked like someone who had killed before.
She was unwavering and certain of herself. It wasn't conceit or arrogance.
To call it nonsense was impossible; she had pinpointed exactly what the Emperor considered his biggest headaches right now.
“How strange. The Roselyn Bellion I know isn't this sort of Young Lady.”
“I’ve even tried to die, so what is there left to fear, Your Majesty? Death is the thing humans fear most.”
Furthermore, since Roselyn had endured a week of brutal torture, there was nothing left in this world that could frighten her.
The Emperor’s impression was somewhat lighter than in her memories.
That is to say, his face was enchantingly handsome, but his voice was light.
He seemed somewhat casual, looking almost like a noble young master who had grown up sheltered—to the point where he lacked dignity. One couldn't glimpse even a hint of vigilance on his perpetually smiling face.
He even sat with his arms crossed, tapping his foot.
Judging by his smiling face alone, it seemed he viewed this entire situation lightly.
However, Roselyn knew the Emperor’s true nature.
This man was never one to be underestimated. That was why she did not show even a sliver of vulnerability.
He was a cruel man who could slit someone’s throat while wearing a smile.
He didn't care if someone committed a blasphemous act of insulting the Imperial Family, nor did he care what his children did.
The Emperor simply sat back and watched as a bystander.
That was why, at one time, everyone referred to him as the 'Clown Emperor'—a man with no dignity and no backbone.
'But in about a year, he carries out a massive purge.'
One day at dawn, the Emperor suddenly sent investigators to every noble across the land.
The Ducal House was no exception.
When those who usually ignored the Emperor went to protest his outrageous behavior, he was still smiling.
He nodded, saying he understood with a smiling face, and with a flick of his finger, he beckoned the first person who complained to come closer…….
With the same jovial, somewhat silly smile as always, he cut their throat in a single stroke.
It was the first noble the Emperor killed for the crime of insulting the Imperial Family.
Dozens of crimes committed by that noble were revealed afterward.
The Three Months of Purge.
In the event that would later be recounted as such, one-third of the nobility died, and another third lost more than half of their wealth.
The Bellion Ducal House could not escape the aftermath either.
Having scrutinized everyone from the branch families to the direct line, the Emperor selected those he deemed trash—those unworthy of living—and pruned them all away.
No one could resist. The Emperor was just that powerful.
And in that process, the Duke’s second son—Roselyn’s second uncle—died.
Partly because he was a famous scoundrel, and partly because a shocking secret was exposed that even the Duke could never shield him from.
However, Roselyn was simply passed over, perhaps because she was the 3rd Prince’s fiancée.
Regardless, this Emperor was a madman.
'He called it an "education," reciting the parents' crimes one by one in front of their heirs before killing them.'
And then he immediately had the heirs succeed to the titles.
Right there, in front of their dead parents.
“Hahaha!”
While Roselyn was deep in thought, the Emperor burst into loud laughter.
