Taming The Villainesses novel Chapter 452

One spring day, after the wedding that had been the talk of the town for days finally ended.

This is a story of one such day—after the long lingering glow of those festival-like days had faded, and everyone had returned, one by one, to their everyday lives.

━Jijibae, jijibae!

Imps, awakened by the warm weather and the chirping of birds, shook off their midday naps with a full-body stretch and a shiver.

“Uuuuugh...!”

They always began the same way after waking up—with a deep stretch. Then, using a hand mirror or whatever was nearby, they would dust off any dirt on their faces or bodies and tidy up.

“Ahh! Dust has landed on Moromoro’s precious star-tail...!”

Especially the long, glamorous tails—they received extra care and attention for quite a while. Brush, sweep, brush. And before they knew it, it was already well past lunchtime.

What snapped the imps out of their tail-preening trance was another imp’s loud voice.

“Everyone, it’s time to begin the afternoon shift...!”

The one shouting from atop a raised platform was an imp with short red bobbed hair wearing a dashing uniform. On her left arm was a crimson armband that gleamed brightly.

That armband had no actual power or function, but it was so highly coveted that it was always ranked in the top wish list of all imps—right alongside the honey water dispenser.

Tartart, the imp with the armband, knew this well and always made sure to flaunt her crimson armband to stir up the others’ motivation.

“Any imp sister who works hard will be promoted to the blue armband, and eventually, like me, will wear the crimson armband...!”

At her words, the imps imagined themselves wearing those armbands with sparkling eyes, and then returned to their designated posts.

Thus began the imp employees’ afternoon shift at the Black Angmar Company.

“Imp sisters, let’s work hard this afternoon too...!”

Their afternoon work was highly productive. Recently, they had been crushing piles of flower petals to make dye, using it to color cloth and cotton. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

While the work was overseen by armband imps like crimson-banded Tartart or blue-banded Purupuru, there wasn’t actually a hierarchy between them and the unbanded imps.

“Ahhh! Gargargar, you mustn’t eat the flower petals...!”

“Garrarar! Garrar!”

Aside from special cases like Gargargar, most imps obediently listened to managerial imps like Tartart, so there wasn’t much trouble.

“Today, we’ll use black roses to make black-tailed imp dolls...!”

The imps extracted dye from flowers, then sewed cloth and stuffed cotton to finally produce cute, high-quality dolls.

Marumaru. Tarutaru. Purupuru.

Imp dolls were wildly popular not only in the Kingdom of Angmar but also overseas—they were an important export that brought in foreign currency.

Because they knew the pride behind their work, the imps took even the simplest tasks—cutting thread, sewing on buttons—with utmost seriousness.

Recently, after collecting customer feedback, a new doll named Garugaru was launched. It sold out the moment it hit the shelves.

And so the imps worked diligently, sweat beading on their foreheads.

But even fun labor requires proper rest.

The off-duty imps spent their time playing tag in the wide gardens of the Black Angmar Company, chasing butterflies, or watering flowers and imp tails.

Today’s off-duty and watering-duty imp was Moromoro with the star-shaped tail.

“Hurry, time to water them...!”

Grasping a water can filled to the brim, Moromoro waddled toward a planter full of colorful, oddly shaped imp tails.

Yes—tails.

The jars were filled with planted tails. Now that barriers were no longer needed, in the lands where roaming adventurers and soldiers had begun reconquering, countless jars of unknown use had been found.

The remaining imp tails in those jars were all recovered and sent to the Black Angmar Company.

Since the company paid a high price for them, discovering imp tails was considered a joyful reward for warriors and adventurers alike.

If you planted those tails in flowerpots, watered them daily with clean freshwater and a potion filled with the imp’s secret recipe and love... Surprisingly, new imps would grow from them!

“Everyone, grow up quickly so we can play hide-and-seek together...!”

Moromoro gave a proud twitch of her coveted star-shaped tail. After watering today, she would play hide-and-seek with the other off-duty imps.

Or maybe try squid-game, the newest trend. Whatever it was, playing with her imp friends was so much fun that Moromoro never noticed time passing.

“Hm-hmm, hmm-hmm~”

“Moromoro.”

Just then, as Moromoro was humming and watering the tails, someone approached.

When she turned her head, Moromoro flinched. It was NarNar, the imp she feared most, suddenly standing behind her.

“Mo-Moromoro is off-duty today! I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“Ah...?”

NarNar was a tall imp, towering like an adult, and incredibly cool.

But unlike the tiny, chattering, laughing imps, the towering NarNar had a stern personality, so most of the imps were secretly afraid of her.

Moromoro, too, had once dyed an entire batch of red-haired dolls blue by mixing up the dye order, and had been thoroughly scolded by NarNar for it.

Remembering that incident, Moromoro grew anxious. Why had this big imp come looking for her...?

As if to confirm her fear, Moromoro’s proud star tail drooped between her legs and began trembling.

Then NarNar spoke.

“It’s nothing bad. I just had something to give you. Yesterday, I handed it out to everyone, but I missed you.”

Shff.

In NarNar’s slender hand was something wrapped in sleek, black luxury paper.

Moromoro didn’t know what was inside, but her sensitive nose picked up a sweet spring scent with a slightly bitter edge.

“Ahhh!”

Moromoro’s tail perked up.

“Ahhh! This smell—it’s honey chocolate...!”

“That’s right.”

Honey chocolate!

It was chocolate filled with honey.

After some FTA trade agreement or whatever with Turki, a bunch of these chocolates had ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) been imported. Among imps, they were as coveted as crimson armbands.

But the supply was so limited, and the price so high compared to honey candy, that very few imps had ever actually tasted it.

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