The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 215
* * *
“Hmm, so that’s how it is. I understand.”
“I haven’t even explained much, so how are you already grasping it naturally?”
“So, you’re saying that since I’m your future father, I should play well with my future grandkids, right?”
No, that’s not it.
Roxelyn looked at him with an incredulous expression, and Gerun responded with an utterly shameless look.
It seemed he had arrived less than an hour and a half after they were shown to their room.
“It’s close, but who’s the future father here?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
He looked at Roxelyn with a gaze that implied she should remember what he had said before.
Feeling a bit irked, Roxelyn looked at him with a reluctant expression.
“Why did you have to come out alive…?”
“Your thoughts are slipping out, you know.”
“I said it out loud on purpose.”
“……”
At Roxelyn’s blunt remark, Gerun Wilfred looked at her.
Roxelyn met his disapproving gaze indifferently and shrugged.
“But is there any point in playing along with this game?”
“This is just a game, after all.”
Roxelyn pointed out one fact.
“It seems the Abyss has limitations.”
She glanced at Gerun, who quickly grasped the situation, and then nodded.
“We win if we succeed in three rounds of this game.”
“And if we lose?”
“…Well, you saw for yourself.”
Roxelyn pointed outside the door with her finger.
Recalling the screams coming from the many empty rooms lining the hallway, Arma’s expression darkened slightly.
“Surely not…”
“We’ve already cleared the first game, so that’s a victory for us,” Roxelyn answered Arma.
Although this looked like an innocent hideaway for children, it was still a game. Roxelyn herself had taken part in it before.
“For this make-believe family game, you just have to play along and treat them well.”
This was simply a way for these weary children to seek out affection in whatever way they could find it.
So, as long as they didn’t show disdain or rejection, quietly accepting, hugging, and patting them was enough.
Since the children had once eagerly lapped up even Roxelyn’s aloof and dry affection, Gerun or Arma should do just fine.
Roxelyn rubbed her tired eyelids slowly.
Despite resting for quite a while, she still felt fatigued.
“Roxelyn, if you’re tired, please rest. I’ll take care of the children.”
Gerun Wilfred’s hand touched her forehead.
“You have a fever. Just as the Third Prince suggested, it would be best for you to rest. Nothing will go right if your health fails.”
“…But…”
“The Third Prince and I can handle the children.”
There was still much to do.
As Roxelyn mentally went over her tasks one by one, she blinked slowly, feeling a tightness in her chest.
“I’ve thought this for a while, but you’re awfully hard on yourself.”
Her pride must have been so strong that Gerun Wilfred hadn’t realized she was physically weak until the moment of her death.
There had been rumors, but she had never shown it outwardly, so he had forgotten.
“Didn’t I tell you, Gerun? I’m quite frail. I wasn’t born with a healthy body. I lived my life hearing that I could die any day. I’ve lived longer than expected, haven’t I?”
As fragments of long-ago memories surfaced, Gerun squinted his eyes slightly.
“Roxelyn, Marquis Wilfred is right. You need rest.”
“……”
“Please trust us. I won’t go anywhere or cause any trouble.”
The man with bright blue eyes, as if they held the sky, spoke with firm resolve.
Roxelyn gave a faint smile.
“Don’t worry, Roxelyn. I’ll protect you. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Roxelyn, go ahead. If you go first, I will surely follow.”
In her mind, she glimpsed the broad back of a man, a bit larger than now, flickering behind her closed eyelids.
Roxelyn slowly nodded and lay down on the bed.
Soon, the sound of her breathing stretched out softly.
