A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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01.

“…dith Blake.”
A stern voice roused me from sleep.
‘I must have fallen asleep again after another all-nighter at the Research Building.’
I kept my eyes closed, quietly assessing the situation.
Everything around me was hushed and muffled, as though submerged beneath water.
The staff must have noticed me slumped over my desk and considerately kept their movements quiet.
‘I need to wake up before everyone arrives and at least wash my face.’
If Dr. Kang saw me like this, he would surely strike my back and say, “You fool! Do you want to die young at your age?”
Yet despite my intentions, my body refused to move.
‘I just want to lie here a little longer….’
Wait. Lie here?
A sudden unease washed over me.
That was when the voice that had awakened me earlier echoed faintly once more.
“The deceased, during their lifetime… made many efforts… and we shall honor their achievements….”
The words came in fragments, as though whispered through a wall.
‘The deceased? What deceased?’
One word came through clearly enough to jolt me fully awake.
“…May we comfort her, now another star in the heavens, and help her shed all the sorrow and tears she endured during her time on this earth….”
As I strained to listen, the words became clearer than before.
It sounded like a funeral service was taking place….
‘Who died?’
Eulogies for the deceased were typically something I delivered during morning briefings when staff members or their families passed away.
After all, I was the director of the Research Institute.
But I was not religious and did not offer prayers.
A strange sense of wrongness crept over me.
My senses were gradually awakening.
A floral fragrance, strong and unmistakable, seemed to linger near my nose.
The scent of death I had first encountered at my mother’s funeral.
‘Have I come to a funeral?’
I snapped my eyes open.
“…What?”
Yet despite opening my eyes, everything before me was pitch black.
“What is this.”
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.
As my vision gradually returned, I realized I was trapped in a dark, confined space.
“…Oh!”
Thud.
I reflexively tried to sit up, but my head crashed into a plush cushion, and I flopped back down with a soft thump.
Only then did I realize that all four sides were sealed shut.
I swept my eyes across the darkness, my gaze trembling with fear.
If this enclosed space really was a coffin, was that just my imagination?
“H-hey! Is anyone there? There’s someone in here!”
I raised my hands and pounded against what I assumed was the lid, my voice desperate.
Ding, ding-dong….
Then, from somewhere, the sound of a bell rang out.
“…Ahem, the wind is quite fierce today. We must make haste to escort the deceased on their final journey.”
Could they not hear my screams?
The chanting that had paused resumed once more.
I cried out louder than before.
“Hey! Can’t you hear me? Please get me out of here!”
“Let us all pray for the eternal rest of the Lady Edith Blake.”
Edith Blake?
I froze, my mouth falling silent.
It was a name I knew. The villain’s name from the novel I’d fallen asleep reading last night—how could I not recognize it?
‘Why is that name being spoken here…?’
As confusion flooded through me and my breathing grew ragged, a new voice emerged.
“The funeral procession will be conducted by Count Dylan Frederick, the Lady’s closest and dearest friend. Now comes the time to bid the deceased a final farewell….”
At the sound of another familiar name, my mind snapped into sharp focus.
The Dylan Frederick I knew was an Awakened with the ability to manipulate fire.
And that damned novel I’d read yesterday had a setting where corpses are burned without exception under the justification of eliminating magic.
In other words, if this really was a coffin I was trapped in, I might very well be burned to death by Dylan Frederick’s hands.
There was no time to make sense of what was happening.
“Listen! Open this right now! There’s a person inside!”
Bang, bang, bang!
I desperately threw my hands upward, pushing and pounding against the lid with all my strength.
But whatever this thing was made of, it wouldn’t budge.
Yet my efforts were not entirely in vain.
Ding! Ding! Ding-dong!
Every time I struck the lid, a bell rang out—strange as it was.
“…!”
At that very moment, the mourner’s eulogy came to an abrupt halt.
Thanks to the silence, I could now feel the rope wound around my right wrist.
A half-forgotten superstition flashed through my mind—the practice of tying a bell to a corpse’s wrist to prevent premature burial.
“There’s no one else out there! Please, get me out! Someone save me!”
Certain now that I was ringing the bell, I began shaking my hand frantically.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Then a bell rang out so loudly that no one could possibly ignore it.
I could hear it clearly even from inside the coffin, so outside must have been deafening.
Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!
Doooooong―!
How long had I been waving my right arm without pause?
Creak, crrrreeeeak―
Finally, the heavy lid shifted with a grinding sound.
Cool air and a shaft of light seeped through the gap.
Soon my vision opened completely.
At that same moment, my eyes met those of the man lifting the coffin lid.
“Gasp!”
His face drained of all color as he cried out and stumbled backward.
Regardless, I bolted upright.
“Are you all insane?”
Dong!
The bell rang out powerfully once more.
I paid it no mind and screamed at the top of my lungs.
“Why did you stuff a perfectly alive person into a coffin?!”
“….”
“Who’s the doctor here?! Can’t you do a basic vital check?!”
Dong! Dong, doong….
In the eerie silence, my furious voice and the clear bell tones alternated in the air.
After venting my rage, my pounding heart gradually began to settle.
Only then did I look around.
The funeral was taking place in a secluded outdoor area.
Strangers in somber black clothing—foreigners I’d never seen before.
Their expressions of shock, as if they’d seen a ghost, left me utterly bewildered.
‘Who should really be shocked here?’
That’s when it happened.
“Th-th-the corpse! The corpse is moving!”
Someone pointed at me and screamed.
That was the turning point.
“Kyaaaaaaah―!”
“The duchess has risen from the dead!”
“A demon! It might be a demon! Fall back!”
Everyone shrieked in unison and collapsed.
Some screamed loudly, others stumbled backward and fell, still others wept and fled….
The funeral grounds descended into chaos.
I stared in bewilderment at the ceremony that had spiraled into complete pandemonium.
Everyone seemed to be in shock, and I couldn’t figure out who to confront about being locked in a coffin in the first place.
“Edith Blake has risen from the dead!”
Amid the chaos, several people pointed at me and uttered unsettling sounds.
I tried to slip away, but their fingers pursued me relentlessly.
A sudden breeze swept through, and long strands of hair cascaded silkily across my shoulders.
“Huh….”
Upon discovering the lustrous golden locks, I let out a hollow laugh.
I had never dyed my hair in my entire life, and since adulthood, I had maintained a sharp, short bob cut.
Then what of this golden hair that reached my waist, these fragile wrists that seemed ready to snap, these ornate jeweled rings adorning every finger?
Whose body was this supposed to be?
‘This is a dream, isn’t it?’
I reflexively denied it.
Honestly, it made no sense. Possessing the body of a villain from a novel.
And what was this cursed funeral?
What about being trapped inside that coffin?
“Ow….”
As I pinched my face in various places, hoping to wake from this dream, I gradually came to accept that this was reality.
Facing the terrified people around me who were panicking and thrashing about, I screamed along with them.
“Aaaahhhhh―!”
Clang, clang, clang….

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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