The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 126
“Why are you like this, Miss? I thought I was politely requesting a conversation.”
“This… is polite? You need to relearn the, meaning of the word.”
Roxelyn spoke haltingly between her restricted breaths.
Even with her breath cut off, she didn’t stop her tongue.
“Oh, you… really are a pain. Don’t make me angry. I don’t want to cause a bloody mess.”
Roxelyn hesitated.
“You don’t want your eyes gouged out or an ear cut off, do you?”
At his added words, her expression grew fiercer.
“Do you think I’ll yield to that?”
Count Baldur hesitated at Roxelyn’s ferocious gaze.
‘…This isn’t the face of a frail noble lady.’
It was the face of a seasoned beast who had been through countless battles.
The man loosened his grip and rubbed his chin, then sat back down in the chair opposite her.
“You’re an interesting lady. I might want to kill you myself once this is all over.”
“You couldn’t win fairly, so you resorted to deceit to claim the title of Count. That’s exactly what a loser would say.”
“…Stop provoking me, Miss. You might actually get hurt.”
The man reached out and pressed a blunt nail against Roxelyn’s eyelid.
The sensation of pressure on her eyeball made tears flow down her cheeks.
“Oh dear, I’ve made you cry.”
The man wiped her tears roughly with his fingers and sat back in the chair he had pulled in front of her.
“Why?”
“…Why what?”
The man’s words, just as he was about to speak, were cut off by Roxelyn.
“Did the King of Makruxa order you to make me his Queen?”
Roxelyn’s words made the man pause.
The annoyance and frustration that had been on Count Baldur’s face disappeared in an instant.
The only emotions visible in his now cold eyes were anger and wariness.
“…What are you.”
Count Baldur, who had been treating Roxelyn with a light, casual demeanor, suddenly had a hardened expression.
“Who are you really?”
“What does it matter to you what I am? You’re going to die anyway.”
“…No, how much do you know?”
“Well, how much do you think I know?”
Roxelyn asked enigmatically, holding her head high.
“Miss, do I look like I’m joking right now?”
“No, not at all.”
Roxelyn smiled seductively.
“I just know that no matter what you do, you can’t beat me.”
Aximus Baldur.
At first glance, he seemed like a carefree hedonist similar to Gerun, but inside, he was filled with twisted anger towards the world.
In short, at almost forty, he had never outgrown his teenage rebellion.
“…Anyway. Yes. The King wants to make you his Queen. Don’t you want to live without being looked down upon, Miss?”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“A life where no one looks down on you. Becoming a noble existence with everyone at your feet. It’s not a common offer. The Queen’s position has been vacant for a long time.”
Roxelyn silently stared at Count Baldur.
“If you think trampling on others is the way to avoid being looked down upon even at your age…”
Roxelyn smirked and looked at him with pity.
“Then, how pitiful. You’ve just wasted your life.”
“…What?”
“If you have to rely on others to define your worth, what could be more pathetic?”
Roxelyn’s voice was laced with laughter as she spoke, making Count Baldur glare at her.
“Well, I understand.”
“What do you understand, you insignificant—”
“He probably offered me the Queen’s position because he thought I was in the same situation as you all. Of course, I did feel lonely too.”
Roxelyn licked her lips and smiled lazily.
Even with her arms bound and tied to a chair, she looked confident and relaxed, making the man wonder for a moment if he was dreaming.
“But I never begged others to value me like you did.”
“Hey, Miss…! Stop joking around….”
“What do I understand? Hmm, maybe the reason you’re so twisted?”
Roxelyn continued speaking.
“You were born an illegitimate child of the previous Count Baldur in a brothel, calling a bandit your father and growing up being beaten.”
“….”
“Then one day, after nearly being beaten to death by that bandit, you awakened your Abyss and sealed the brothel with earth and set it on fire.”
Count Baldur’s face turned stiff and pale as Roxelyn recounted his past as if she had seen it herself.
“Hey, do you have an Abyss—”
“While you were terrified of your own capabilities, the King of Makruxa found you and told you that you were the illegitimate child of a noble. You went to the Count’s house only to be denied and turned away at the door… right?”
The man did not respond to Roxelyn’s arrogant question.
She laughed as she looked at the silent man.
“Then, with the single-minded intention of revenge, you worked hard with the King to grow Makruxa.”
Roxelyn smiled brightly.
“But what can you do…”
“…What did you just say?”
Sweat began to drip down her pale cheeks.
“That plan is all going to fall apart.”
With a snap, the ropes that had been charred by fire fell to the floor, burning brightly.