This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/kayenano on 2025-06-26 16:38:52+00:00.

[<< First] | [< Previous] | [Next >] | [Patreon] | [Discord]

Synopsis:

Juliette Contzen is a lazy, good-for-nothing princess. Overshadowed by her siblings, she's left with little to do but nap, read … and occasionally cut the falling raindrops with her sword. Spotted one day by an astonished adventurer, he insists on grading Juliette's swordsmanship, then promptly has a mental breakdown at the result.

Soon after, Juliette is given the news that her kingdom is on the brink of bankruptcy. At threat of being married off, the lazy princess vows to do whatever it takes to maintain her current lifestyle, and taking matters into her own hands, escapes in the middle of the night in order to restore her kingdom's finances.

Tags: Comedy, Adventure, Action, Fantasy, Copious Ohohohohos.

Chapter 400: The End Of The World

The little girl made her declaration. And silence was my answer. 

It was the only appropriate response. 

Her every word might be steeped in malice. But for all a devil’s duplicity, they did not easily lie. And so against her offer and threat both rolled into one, it was all I could do to sit up in my seat as I realised the true extent of the foe before me.

“Did you just say … the end of the world?”

The girl smiled, her eyes narrowing in satisfaction. 

“I did. If you choose not to consider my charitable proposal, then all you hold dear and all you’ve still yet to hold will be lost. That is the precipice you stand upon, though you’ve yet to realise just how far the fall truly goes. That is a chasm deeper than any eyes can see.” 

I was speechless.

“You cannot be serious … do you truly mean to suggest that you’ve enough infernal powers to bring about the destruction of all things?”

The girl giggled, twisting side to side playfully.

“I suggest nothing. I am promising. Sweet as I am, even my own kind respects the notion of my personal space. With a click of my finger, I can bring more calamity than any number of witches huddled around a cauldron. I am, after all, the embodiment of all things wicked and foul.”

My hands covered my mouth. 

A gasp still escaped, barely suitable for conveying my horror. The sound was hollow and distant, just like any thoughts of triumph against such a foe.

After all–

There was no simply no possibility I could force my mouth to yawn wide enough.

I was appalled.

This … This was a problem I’d never had before!

For a princess to merely perform a small yawn was already the height of disrespect! It was akin to a knight disparaging another’s tousled hair as being anything less than naturally wavy! 

For me to offer a yawn which stretched the contours of my mouth was unprecedented–and yet to go ahead and threaten the entire world was something which deserved nothing less! 

Why, that was something so utterly melodramatic that despite whatever magic paralysed the nearby witches, I could practically see their eyeballs rolling!

“I see …” I nodded seriously. “I wasn’t expecting this. To threaten the world itself leaves me with a dilemma I never once thought possible.”

“There is no dilemma. You merely need to draw upon the light of your sword, and both my threats and my presence will cease to be.”

“So you claim. Yet I’m afraid such a response would be woefully insufficient. Your words demand a greater answer … unless, of course, you could maybe make your threat slightly more modest?”

“... Excuse me?”

“The effect would be the same. I’m still obligated to offer a reply. It’d just be less arduous for me. Even a lich summoning a goddess from the sky understood this. He only threatened to obliterate my kingdom. And although I didn’t agree with him, I at least acknowledged his restraint.”

The girl wrinkled her nose.

“I am not a lich, Your Highness. I do not need to beg, plead and grovel to simply borrow a fingernail’s worth of power. I possess that in droves. And I do not show restraint.”

“Well, I hardly see why the entire world needs to go. That’s simply excessive. By all means, destroy the Grand Duchess’s tower. But mine is innocent. If you only wish to prove a point, then there’s no benefit in burning more than the bare minimum. That’s why dragons are satisfied with a single barn.”

To my dismay, not a hint of understanding could be seen upon the girl’s expression. 

“Seeing the world turned to ashes is the bare minimum. After all, only destroying your kingdom would leave a scorched crater of flames and darkness. Such a sight would have every neighbour gossiping for centuries to come–and that is not enough. What I’ll do instead is destroy all memory of your kingdom as well as every witness who might mourn it. For that is within my power. Just as it is within yours to prevent it. And how glad you must be for the chance. For few princesses ever boast of defeating a devil.”

All I could do was groan.

Indeed … I had truly underestimated this foe. 

Here was someone with utterly no sense of scale. A truly dangerous adversary. 

Thus, I steeled myself as I rose from my seat. 

“Very well, then I shall need to call upon assistance. Coppelia?”

“Present~!”

My loyal handmaiden answered with an enthusiastic smile.

She raised an arm in readiness even while holding a slice of polenta cake. The actual cake itself was being shared amongst the hovering imps who’d decided to join the impromptu audience.

That was excellent. They could all assist.

“I require a yawn,” I said to them all. “The bigger, the better. You may begin now.”

I waited as a pause met my earnest request.

A moment later–

“Aaahhh~”

I smiled in satisfaction as a gallery of wide open mouths duly answered.

“There we are,” I said to a highly unimpressed child. “Although I lack the strength to appropriately answer your threat, know that the audience speaks on my behalf.”

Click.

With a snap of her finger, all the audience with the exception of Coppelia promptly vanished. 

“Your Highness. I’m being quite serious.”

“As am I. This is horrifying. That you haven’t slinked away in embarrassment at your own lack of originality is a feat worthy of your nefarious nature. My congratulations. I am truly at a loss.”

The girl’s nose wrinkled in indignation.

“Then allow me to sketch out your victory. Call upon your sword as you’ve done so often before and thoroughly vanquish me like the wicked being I am. This is something you should be willing to do even without the conversation.”

“What I’m willing to do is not be churlish. I fail to see why I should lift a finger when your own peers will doubtless stop you the moment you sought to destroy their favourite playground.”

A snort came in reply. 

“My peers may try, yes,” she said, her voice almost daring. “But they’ve no right to complain. I do only as instructed. I accepted an invitation from the witches to provide entertainment. That is a very wide remit.”

“Excuse me? You’re here because the witches asked you to provide entertainment?”

The girl shrugged.

“They asked somebody. I answered.”

I couldn’t even find the strength to look surprised, much less groan.

Accidentally summoning a devil to provide entertainment was exactly the sort of thing I expected witches to do. It was also one of the first things I’d ban. 

The list was going to be very long. 

“A selfless request to seek your own end, then. Or is it merely the chains binding you? You may have earned the regret of the witches, but I see they’ve also earned yours.” 

“I’ve actually not the slightest regret. My tea parties have been nothing but fun. And if the witches are wise, they’d share in the sentiment. Believe it or not, they’re lucky. There are worse things than devils out there. Just not too many.”

“And would they also wilfully invite a sword once they wished to return home … if returning is even your wish. Tell me, would destroying your shackles send you back to the darkness or simply allow you to tour the modern streets of my kingdom?”

Far from wilting, the girl’s smile simply blossomed anew. 

“So very mistrustful. So very dubious. So very right. And also so very wrong.”

She flicked her wrist towards the nearest group of witches, as if hoping to accidentally swat one.

“I came at the behest of the witches. But I do not stay because of them. If I wished to, I could be free of their bindings, their hexes and their lunacy. But that’s not why I’m here. No, I didn’t come to this dull village to simply play dolls with witches. I came here for something better. This past decade has been nothing more than a minor moment of fleeting drudgery while I waited for what truly mattered. You.”

The girl twirled for the sake of it, then pointed directly at me.

“... Yes, Princess Juliette Contzen. I, a devil of the hells, am here solely for you.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Words I’ve heard before. And just like the nobility wishing to sit at my tea table, there’s a queue longer than they have bribes to constantly give. To call me out is unlikely to shorten the waiting length.”

“Your petitioners needn’t worry. A moment is all I need for you to give me the only thing I lack.”

“... Standards?”

“No. A reprieve from the great plague called boredom.”

The girl leaned forwards. The shadows parted before her.

“Do not mista...

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1ll4v6v/the_villainess_is_an_ss_rank_adventurer_chapter/