The Baddest Villainess Is Back - Chapter 94
Yet feeling slighted, Zerti twitched his lips and nodded.
“I should have just locked you up… Then, you wouldn’t have been in danger. Shackles are crude and hurt, so I could have instead utilized an Abyss that makes it impossible to leave the room…”
Roxelyn, who hadn’t heard Zerti talking to himself, turned to him with a puzzled look.
“What did you say?”
Zerti looked up at Roxelyn with a gloomy expression and then shook his head slowly.
“No, it’s nothing.”
“But Father, what brings you here?”
“I came out because of the epidemic spreading through the empire and the arson happening in several villages, and it made me worry…”
Roxelyn slightly widened her eyes and then smiled faintly.
“Thank you for worrying.”
“It’s not just worry! You’ve been away for so long, and as my daughter, causing trouble for the family would be bothersome…”
Zerti rambled on until he met Roxelyn’s indifferent gaze and paused.
“…I was worried something might have happened to you.”
After a long silence, Zerti covered his mouth with his hand and whispered softly.
“Yes, I understand.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
Now Roxelyn knew that Zerti cared for and cherished her deeply.
“…”
Zerti’s face flushed red.
“Father, you’re actually really shy, aren’t you?”
“Who’s shy…”
“Could you hug me a little more?”
Roxelyn asked, looking at her father who had stepped back a bit.
At her words, Zerti stiffened momentarily and then looked at her with wide eyes.
“What did you say?”
“Hugging isn’t bad, just a little longer, please.”
Roxelyn requested again.
Startled, Zerti shook off his hesitation, approached with arms wide open, and embraced her.
‘…As if I’m some young lady or young master.’
Roxelyn chuckled inwardly but leaned into her father’s embrace anyway.
The firm hold was comforting, and Roxelyn smiled slightly.
“It’s nice, Father’s embrace.”
“Is it?”
“Being held by someone feels quite good.”
Roxelyn murmured softly.
“I didn’t know because I don’t remember ever being held like this.”
She had lived pretending to be fine on her own, never leaning on anyone.
“I was lonely.”
She whispered softly.
“I didn’t know it either, but… I was very lonely, Father.”
The arms holding Roxelyn tightened further in response.
“I guess I needed this.”
Not words of self-reassurance, nor the prickly defenses encased around her, but simply someone’s warmth.
Roxelyn realized something anew as she attempted to leave his embrace—if the arms around her hadn’t tightened.
‘…It kinda hurts.’
She winced, about to speak up, however—
“…I’ll hug you every day.”
Zerti spoke with a firm voice.
“You…”
Zerti hesitated, his lips quivering.
He was born a monster, believed to have killed his mother at birth.
Growing up, he had inadvertently killed servants unable to control his Abyss, and at one point, was even confined in a small room made of soulstones.
As he matured, he walked into the dungeon, adorned with chains and shackles, growing up under the disdainful gaze of his father and the whispers of those around him.
“I didn’t know you were lonely.”
“…”
“I grew up the same way, so I thought you’d be okay. You are your mother’s child… I believed you would be strong. I trusted in your strength.”
Roxelyn felt awkward as he confessed, his words flowing out as if in confession.
‘This isn’t what I wanted.’
Wondering how to break the now serious atmosphere, Zerti’s voice reached her again.
“But then I realized, I was lonely too.”
“…”
“I was lonely too.”
Recalling the snippets of Zerti’s past she knew, Roxelyn extracted herself from his embrace and awkwardly hugged him back, patting his back.
Zerti’s eyes widened.
“Thank you for not giving up on me and raising me. Without you, I surely would’ve died long ago.”
She had heard she was frail and had been confined to a bed, forbidden from leaving.
Zerti’s arms trembled at Roxelyn’s words.
Tears began to fall from the eyes of the man filled with gloom.
“Because no one in the world needed me…”
Roxelyn felt her shoulder getting damp. She licked her lips then quietly shut her mouth, unaccustomed to this kind of consolation.
“I thought you didn’t need me either. But…”
“…”
“You needed me. Just like I once needed someone… You needed me too.”
Even if the whole world dismissed him as useless, Roxelyn never looked down on her father.
As a child, she was the only one who always looked straight at him, desiring nothing but his affection.
Zerti, overwhelmed by fear, pretended not to notice.
“…I’m sorry.”
“…”
“I’m so sorry, my child.”
Roxelyn stopped patting his back, frozen by the unfamiliar feeling.
She hadn’t expected to ever hear an apology in her lifetime.
“It’s okay. I never resented you.”
It was a lie.
Roxelyn had once resented him and only managed to let go of it as an adult when she began to understand him.
“…Blame me if you must. It’s better to blame me.”
Zerti muttered, seemingly choked up.
“This father of yours… loves you more than anyone else in the world.”
Moved by his sincerity, Roxelyn’s eyes widened slightly.
After a brief silence, she smiled.
“FIRE!!”
But then, a scream-like shout resounded.
Instinctively turning her head, the window outside was already steeped in red.