Taming The Villainesses

Chapter 434: The One Who Halts (9)

They said this was the third time the wyvern that ruled over the city had been defeated.

The first was by a young man who displayed remarkable ingenuity.

The second was by a beautiful and powerful fairy who came and struck it down. And each time, after a few days had passed, the wyvern resurrected.

Hearing the story, Elga shook her head as if it were absurd.

“Resurrection after death? Where the hell does a creature like that exist? I don't buy it.”

At her words, the image of a monstrous beast flying over the city, burning everything in its path, surfaced in my mind.

Even if people brought it down with wisdom and strategy, if it kept resurrecting and rampaging again for some unknown reason, it would be nothing short of a calamity.

Mirna spoke.

“The curse of undeath... I've never heard of something like that before. But if it really exists, there must be a restriction. The greater the restriction, the more powerful the effect, so it must come with a heavy condition.”

A restriction.

Perhaps the guide couldn’t ignore those words either, for he chuckled lightly — a fluttering, unsettling laugh. I would never get used to the sight of a ghost laughing, but what he said was helpful.

━That’s right, young lady. Wyvern Siss is bound to this city. It cannot live outside of it. The same goes for us.

He said the spirits and the wyvern were bound to this city. That the city itself served as a massive cage and leash, trapping their bodies within.

However—

The resurrection of the wyvern and the existence of the spirits were not my primary concern. So I turned the topic back to the point.

“So, about the ones who defeated the wyvern — you said they headed toward that shattered sky. Do you know why?”

━I do not. All I know is that they all wanted to go there. And I merely guided them. Don’t you wish to go there as well?

That was true.

━Then why do you wish to go there?

“Well...”

I fell into brief thought. Why did I wish to go there? Because I believed that the answers I had so desperately sought awaited me beyond that place.

And if the Demon King Solomon was still alive, the chances were high he was lurking there.

If I thought of a monster like him sharpening his claws somewhere in this world, threatening the safety of my wives and the child yet to be born, I could not find peace.

If I didn't confirm and defeat that existence now, someday it would surely grab my ankle with terrible force. I didn’t want to be filled with regret when that day came.

***

It was a city twisted into an intricate maze.

But with a local guide, we managed to escape the endless loops of the labyrinthine streets and arrive at a staircase that led toward the sky.

━My guidance ends here. I hope you find what you seek.

After parting ways with the guide, we began climbing the stairs one step at a time.

Step, step.

The path upward was so high that when you looked down, everything below looked like mere dust or tiny dots.

“Sis, it’s so high. My legs are shaking!”

“Don’t look down, Narmee.”

Even for someone without a fear of heights, standing hundreds of meters above ground instilled terror. It seemed the noble ladies felt the same, carefully avoiding looking down as much as they could.

If anyone tripped here, not even their corpse would be found. Would I become one of the city's spirits too if I fell? No, that mustn’t happen. To come all this way and die by falling—how disgraceful that would be.

With that feeling, I firmly planted strength into each and every step. Fortunately, we encountered no unexpected variables — no fierce winds on the high elevation, no crumbling steps beneath our feet.

How long did we walk like that?

At last, we arrived at the mouth of the rift.

Is this what it felt like to stand before the mouth of a black hole? Standing before that swirling entrance where everything seemed to spin in a vortex made the hairs on my body stand on end.

Ssk.

I picked up a pebble lying nearby and tossed it into the rift. The fragment disappeared without a trace, as if swallowed into another dimension.

Anyone would have sensed it intuitively.

If we crossed this place, it truly felt like we would enter another world.

Even diving or bungee jumping required serious resolve; stepping into another world required an even greater courage. Because of that, we stood there at the entrance, glancing at each other.

“......”

“......”

No one spoke, but their faces were resolute. Amid that serious silence, the first to burst out laughing was — predictably — the ever-cheerful Narmee.

“We’re hilarious right now. It's just like, you know, 'We may have been born on different days, but we'll die together on the same day and time!' Like sworn brothers or something!”

A cheerful laugh during a tense moment injected an unexpected vitality. Maybe thanks to Narmee’s carefree smile, the stiffness on everyone’s faces eased a little.

Elga said,

“I’m not planning on dying with you lot, thanks. I’m going to live peacefully surrounded by my grandchildren, just like all the Leoneses before me.”

At her words, I imagined Elga surrounded by a bunch of tiny quarter-nymphs. Honestly, it was hard to picture an old grandma version of Elga.

I mean, I couldn’t even be sure what I’d be doing tomorrow, let alone imagine such a distant future. It felt almost like dreaming.

Besides, to me, Elga was like a goddess of youth — always vibrant, always fresh, forever standing there unchanged.

Elga continued,

“With all of us combined, we’ll probably have to have around thirty kids, so there’ll be about a hundred grandchildren. Just think about it. A hundred quarter-nymphs running around.”

A hundred quarter-nymphs — even if each one only said a single word, that would be a hundred words at once. It would be insanely noisy and chaotic.

It was hard to imagine... but I kind of wanted to see it.

“So let’s hurry up and finish this ridiculous business, go back, finish the wedding properly, wrap up everything we haven’t gotten around to, and get back to the good old fighting and bickering.”

It seemed Elga had already made up her mind. Bottling things up and agonizing over them didn’t suit her nature. Thanks to her resolve, strength returned to everyone’s expressions.

Ayra said,

“Getting here was fun. If I had just sat on the throne, I never would have experienced any of this. Though dealing with Elga’s temper, the twins’ grumbling, and Stella’s complaints wasn’t much fun.”

At that, Mirna wrinkled her brow.

“You act like you’re the only one who had it tough. Do you know how exhausting it was catering to your whims all the time? Especially back at Gargarta Fortress — the way you locked yourself up in your room and threw tantrums!”

“I’m allowed to throw tantrums. I’m the queen.”

“At this point, Queen Tarantella, I’m really curious—what exactly does ‘queen’ mean inside that head of yours?”

That’s true.

I, too, had always been curious about what Ayra thought a queen was supposed to be. But instead of answering, Ayra simply smiled.

“Fufu.”

Maybe she hadn’t given it much thought. I had always felt that Ayra had plenty of moments where she was thinking absolutely nothing.

It was then that Stella spoke.

“Alright, let’s stop chatting now. We should decide how we’re going to get inside.”

Narmee shot her hand into the air.

“Let’s go by age! Professor Stella can go in first and check if it’s safe or not!”

“Why is it that every time there’s a dangerous job, you guys always want to go by age? Teo, look at them! They're bullying me because I'm older!”

To be fair, age order wasn’t exactly favorable for Stella. Not that she really acted like an adult most of the time anyway. Which, frankly, was a good thing.

Thanks to Stella’s un-adultlike nature, she could blend in well with the much younger noble ladies. Watching them bicker with each other like this made me smile.

“You’ve all gotten really close. Like real friends.”

At my comment, Mirna — the most stern and composed among us — grimaced.

“Friends with these reckless women? Please. They’re all selfish and self-centered.”

“Good. I don’t want to be friends with you either, Mirna.”

Elga stuck out her tongue like a mischievous child. Their opinions still didn’t line up. But unlike before, a peaceful warmth spread in my heart.

They could fight, they could argue — it didn’t matter.

The mere fact that they were all here together was enough for me to feel that I had done my part. How much time and how many stories had passed between us to reach this point?

Countless stories.

Enough for my feelings toward them to change completely.

Girls I once thought were simply villains turned out to have so many fragile, delicate parts hidden inside.

Thinking back, it had been incredibly hard.

It had been so hard I thought I would die.

But I didn’t die.

That’s right.

I had survived.

And honestly, there had been a lot of fun times, too. Looking back now, it didn’t feel like it had been all bad.

━Grrrng...!

Yeah, Bael. I shouldn’t lie to you. Honestly, there were plenty of fun moments. I could even call it a delightful life.

━Hioong.

Right. It’ll be the same this time too. Someday, after all this ends, when we’re sitting in rocking chairs basking in the warm spring breeze, ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ we’ll remember this day.

‘That time, back then—’ we’ll say.

Thinking of that, I opened my mouth.

“Everyone, please put up with a little more of my selfishness. Once everything is over and we return home, I’ll return all the affection you’ve given me, double.”

There were so many things I wanted to say.

So many things I had to say.

But the tongue that had saved my life countless times suddenly betrayed me at this critical moment, sticking stubbornly.

It felt like a heavy lump of lead was tied to my tongue.

So my grand ambitions ended in awkwardness. Of course, Elga, as if she already knew everything, let out a deep sigh and said,

“You always overthink everything. Just be a man and say it. ‘Thank you!’ ‘I love you!’ That’s all anyone wants to hear.”

“For once, Lady Leones is absolutely right.”

Mirna and Elga’s opinions aligned for once. Then Ayra furrowed her brows and touched her chin, mumbling thoughtfully.

“Hmm, come to think of it, I don't think I’ve ever really heard Teo say ‘I love you.’ Of course, it’s impossible he doesn’t love the most beautiful queen like me.”

Come to think of it...

Maybe I really had been making things too complicated.

Because they were born into great houses, wore fine clothes, ate fine foods, and lived surrounded by beautiful things, I thought I had to offer them something equally grand.

But—

The hearts of noble ladies turned out to be surprisingly simple.

Because they were born holding everything in their hands, maybe they didn’t need grand gestures. Maybe it was the small, wildflower-like feelings that truly mattered.

There was still so much I didn’t know about them.

I wanted to spend more time together. To share more stories.

With that feeling—

I opened my lips.

“━━──.”

For an instant, the world fell silent as if time itself had stopped.

What had I just said?

Even I wasn’t sure.

But the hot knot in my chest seemed to loosen and melt away. The expressions of the ladies, hearing my words, turned shyly red.

And one by one, as if hiding their embarrassment, they began stepping into the rift.