I Picked Up an Abandoned Villain in the Polar Region

Episode 71

 

Rubinus turned her head.

Perhaps she had already sensed Brody’s arrival, as she showed no particular sign of surprise.

Brody awkwardly smiled when their eyes met.

It didn’t seem like Rubinus was displeased by Brody’s unexpected visit in the middle of the night. Though she didn’t explicitly invite her in, her silent demeanor gave Brody the impression of permission, so she stepped inside.

Ron was still crying.

Brody glanced at Ron in Rubinus’s arms before cautiously asking her,

“May I hold him for a moment?”

She intended to suggest she take a break after presumably struggling for a while to calm the crying child.

At first, Rubinus remained still, holding the baby without responding, making Brody almost feel like her offer had been ignored.

However, after a moment, she stepped forward and handed Ron over to her.

“…Ronald.”

Brody called the child by his full name, rather than his nickname.

Ron, who had been wailing loudly, stopped crying as if he recognized Brody’s voice, then looked up at her.

The sight of a familiar face in an unfamiliar place seemed to reassure the child.

Watching Ron swallow his sobs and calm down, Brody suddenly recalled the first day she met him.

At that time, when their eyes met, she had smiled at Ron, only for the baby to burst into tears as if he had seen a monster. It had left her feeling unexpectedly hurt.

Now, that moment seemed like a distant memory. Seeing Ron finally quiet in her arms, Brody smiled softly.

After holding him for a while, Brody carefully laid the sleepy baby down on the bed as his eyelids began to droop with fatigue.

“Have you raised a child before?”

Rubinus asked as she observed Brody handling Ron with surprising adeptness.

Brody suppressed a laugh at the question and shook her head.

“Not at all. Ron is the first baby in my life. Honestly, both of us struggled a lot in the beginning.”

If not for the Yak tribe, she admitted silently, she might have given up before even leaving the Forest of Ennea.

She stopped herself from adding this aloud though, not wanting to sound boastful.

Rubinus said nothing for a while, merely watching Ron as he lay still.

Eventually, as Ron’s breathing grew steady and his eyes fully closed, Rubinus broke the silence.

“Thank you. For bringing him back safely.”

Her gratitude surprised Brody, who looked at her with a slightly startled expression.

Apart from the way she gazed at Ron, she always seemed cold and detached. So to hear such sincere words from her was unexpected.

A little flustered, she returned her thanks with an embarrassed smile.

It was just a simple word of thanks from a mother, but it made all the hardships of bringing Ron back feel worthwhile. Still, Brody found the idea of taking all the credit unbearable, so she responded sincerely,

“This wouldn’t have been possible without Kyle. There were also many others who helped us along the way. And…”

She hesitated for a moment before continuing.

“In the end, Ron was able to come home thanks to Eileen. Without her, we wouldn’t have been able to bring him out of the Forest of Ennea.”

She deliberately mentioned her name, knowing it might unsettle Rubinus. Still, she couldn’t avoid it. She hoped the two friends would mend their broken relationship.

Rubinus didn’t react as strongly to Eileen’s name as she had before. However, her eyes grew heavy and dark. She looked down at Ron with a somber gaze before cautiously asking,

“Was Eileen in… a bad condition?”

Hearing the answer would only make her guilt heavier, and she already bore a tremendous weight.

Such burdens would only hold her back from moving forward. So Brody responded in a deliberately cheerful tone,

“I’m not sure about the details. What I do know is that Eileen is awake now and recovering. Like I said earlier, she’s doing just fine.”

She emphasized Eileen’s recovery, though it didn’t seem to lessen the worry and guilt in Rubinus’s eyes. That was something Brody couldn’t help.

The moonlight streaming through the window didn’t seem to touch Rubinus.

Dressed in a black gown that resembled mourning clothes, her entire presence felt dark and somber.

As she watched her, Brody remembered something Shiloh had once told her: a story from Rubinus and Eileen’s youth.

They had once been close friends, dreaming of becoming witches together. But their friendship had fractured when Rubinus turned to dark magic.

“May I ask you something?”

Rubinus looked up at Brody, who hesitated for a moment before her nod encouraged her to speak.

“What made you… turn to that magic?”

Dark magic was known to destroy even the soul of its wielder. Surely she had known this. What could have driven her to embrace it despite the cost?

Rubinus was briefly taken aback by the question but soon met Brody’s gaze with unflinching honesty.

“Jealousy.”

“Jealousy…?”

Her answer startled Brody, but what followed shocked her even more.

“When I was young, I envied my friend Eileen. She was brilliant, capable of learning ten things from studying one. Watching her, I admired her but also resented her.”

It had started as a childish envy, but as they grew older, Eileen’s achievements made Rubinus feel increasingly inadequate.

Her frustration and despair over her own limitations fueled an unhealthy desire for greater power.

That desire, mingled with jealousy, eventually led her to cross a dangerous line.

She made a pact with the dark witch Amidal and began practicing dark magic.

Though it caused a rift with her closest friend, Eileen, Rubinus was too consumed by her thirst for power to care.

She relentlessly pursued stronger dark magic, unaware that she was losing her soul to Amidal.

Even after inheriting her parents’ title as ruler of the wastelands, Rubinus neglected her duties, leaving the land lawless and chaotic as Amidal wished.

But over time, she began to see the extent of the destruction caused by her actions.The wasteland, its people, and even herself had become pawns of Amidal’s will.

The realization came too late; she was bound by the curses and magic that had taken root in her.

It was then that Eileen, unable to stand by any longer, led an army to Volcan.

She fought and defeated Amidal, breaking the dark magic that bound Rubinus. However, the effort left Eileen exhausted, and in her moment of vulnerability, Amidal took possession of Rubinus’s body.

Amidal, having repeatedly used Rubinus’s body and manipulated her mind, easily seized control once more.

Using Rubinus’s body, Amidal launched a surprise attack on Eileen, delivering a fatal wound before fleeing.

When Rubinus regained her senses, all that remained was overwhelming guilt for causing her friend’s death and the heavy burden of responsibility for her own actions.

At first, she was consumed by guilt and wandered in despair. Fortunately, she had someone she loved, and with the help of her partner, she began to piece her life back together, little by little.

Rubinus was slowly recovering, hoping to rebuild her life with her beloved..If Amidal had left her alone, she might have fully healed.

But even in hiding, Amidal persistently sought to reclaim Rubinus, eventually succeeding.

This time, Amidal used Rubinus’s body to murder the person she loved.

As if that weren’t enough, during the time Rubinus lost her mind, Shiloh Ennea invaded and kidnapped her child.

Thus, Rubinus lost everything—her friend, her homeland, the person she loved, and even her child. This was the cruel price she paid for delving into dark magic.

“All because of my petty jealousy, I lost everything. My one and only friend, my wasteland, the one I loved, and even my child.”

By now, Brody was seated by the window, silently listening to Rubinus’s story.

She looked at the woman who had not only hurt her friend but also taken the life of the one she loved with her own hands.

Just hearing her story was heartbreaking; she couldn’t begin to fathom how much agony Rubinus must endure, living with bloodstained hands.

She was crushed under the weight of a past she couldn’t undo, her despair and resignation holding her in a stranglehold.

Rubinus was trapped, unable to break free from the shadows of her mistakes.

Brody pitied her. Yet, as she remained mired in despair, she spoke to her.

“You haven’t lost everything yet.”

There were still things left for Rubinus. Brody wanted her to see beyond her despair and move forward.

“Your friend is still alive. Ron is back. And as long as you don’t completely give up, there’s still hope for this wasteland too.”

Rubinus’s eyes, once hidden in darkness, turned toward Brody, who sat by the window.

The light that filtered through the window touched her gaze.

“If you only think about what you’ve lost, you’ll remain trapped in the past. But there are so many people who need you to stand up again. Eileen needs a friend to mend their relationship. Ron needs his mother. And out there, the people of this wasteland need your care.”

As Brody spoke, images of the things Rubinus still had—of the people and responsibilities waiting for her-rose in her mind.

Brody offered her one final message.

“It’s true you can’t undo everything. But you do have a chance to not lose anything more. This time, you have the chance to protect what matters.”

That chance wasn’t in the past but in the future-on the path she still had to walk.

Brody didn’t know whether Rubinus would take that path. But as her gaze shifted toward her child, Brody could see that her eyes were no longer those of someone who had given up on everything.