A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 108

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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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108.

“What? You’ve already forgotten my face? It’s me, Vincent.”
“Vincent…? Vincent Leandro?”
At my disappointed grumbling, she laughed awkwardly.
“Ah… it’s been a while. A year, wasn’t it? Why haven’t you shown up all this time?”
At her response, as though she’d only just remembered, his quiet chest began to pound with an ominous rhythm.
“Why are you like that? Just a few days ago you were sending letters demanding I buy you accessories for your birthday.”
“Letters? What letters….”
“Edith.”
Just then, someone called out to Edith.
When I turned my head, a boy with silver hair I’d never seen before gestured to her.
At that, Edith’s face brightened.
But then she immediately puffed out her cheeks as though nothing had happened, pouting.
“Why are you only coming now? I told you to come early, Eren!”
“It’s not Eren, it’s Ethan… come here. The Duke is looking for you.”
The boy sighed and corrected his name, then turned his back.
And then Edith cried out “Let’s go together!” as she scurried after him.
Without even checking the gift she’d brought.
Abandoning him, whom she hadn’t seen in a year, as though he were a stranger she barely knew.
Vincent returned to the Marquis’s residence as he was.
To him, scratching at his wrists in self-harm, his nursemaid wept and confessed everything.

― Young Master! It’s my fault! If things continued as they were, I was certain you would surely die! So I had the girl do it, just…!
― It’s all my fault! So please don’t do this, strike me instead, I beg you!

What kept him breathing was not Edith’s letters, but merely the cheap pity of a servant.
The commotion that followed was brought to an end when Marquis Leandro, who had come after him, slapped his cheek.

― You worthless bastard! You couldn’t even make another impression on the Young Lady, and you come back without even giving a proper gift? Do you know how much money I’ve poured out so you could set foot in the Duke’s Mansion?!
― I thought you’d finally cling to the Young Lady, but you’ve ruined a perfectly good meal! How desperate must things be for the Duke himself to take in a foster son! To separate you from the Young Lady!

Only then could Vincent understand the truth of it all.
Over the past year, Edith hadn’t sent him letters at all—instead, the Duke, unable to leave him with such a dangerous murderer, had made her forget him completely.
Yet they had known each other for six years since he was seven, so how could such a thing be possible?
Because a replacement toy had quickly appeared.
Ethan Blake.

After that, Vincent spared no effort to reclaim his position as Edith Blake’s one and only childhood friend.
He attended every party and gathering she graced, and sent her letters accompanied by gifts whenever he could.
It was possible because he was still young and his abilities remained unstable, keeping him out of Gate operations.
The Duke still disapproved of him, but winning Edith’s favor proved surprisingly easy.
Though no one dared speak it aloud because of the Late Duchess, few in society viewed the arrogant and insolent young lady kindly.
‘If I could just reclaim my place as her childhood friend, if I could just find my way back to her side again….’
As he pushed Ethan Blake aside and drew closer to her, one step at a time.
Whenever Vincent felt utterly wretched, he repeated those words like an incantation without pause.
And what came after?
He didn’t know what came after.
Back then, that alone was the purpose of his existence.
Without understanding why, he simply clung to Edith with blind obsession.
Three years passed.
Finally, just as he reclaimed his position as Edith Blake’s one and only childhood friend, he was deployed to the Gate Site for the first time.
After that, the days blurred into chaos—no time to think of Edith.
Fighting, killing, surviving.
The Gate Site was nothing short of hell itself.
Each time the Magi surged, each time he watched people die, Vincent felt his mind slipping away.
He couldn’t breathe for fear he would lose control again.

― Vincent Leandro! Why aren’t you using your abilities?!
― Hey, you bastard. Get your head in the game?!

Even as his superiors beat him, the chronic condition refused to improve.
It felt exactly like three years ago, when he was trapped in the Annex Building.
He needed a breathing hole.
So he barely managed to find time to seek out Edith.
But then.

― What do I do, Vincent? I didn’t awaken this time either. I was so sure I’d naturally become an S-rank Awakener like you….

No. Becoming an Awakener is far more painful and difficult than you think.

― What if Father casts me out? Do you know what he said to me yesterday? That I won’t even be fit for the marriage market, let alone serve as his heir!

Your father won’t cast you out just because you didn’t awaken. Why else would he have taken Ethan in as an adopted son?

― Vincent. Why haven’t you been answering my calls lately? I have something to tell you.

Edith Blake, I’ve been struggling lately.
Can’t you please just listen to what I have to say?

— Vincent, I’m upset about something.
— Vincent. You’re happy now that you’ve abandoned me for the Awakener Association?
— Vincent. Vincent!

That Edith Blake who had once given him even a moment’s respite was nowhere to be found.
She was nothing but a phantom and illusion conjured by his own fractured mind.
And yet Vincent could not let her go.
Because.
Because she was his….
First love.

Caught between the Gate and Edith Blake, ground down from all sides, he grew increasingly hollow.
Then one day, The Purifier appeared.

— You’ve suffered enough, Vincent. Let me make things easier for you now.

He was exhausted beyond measure.
So he could not refuse the warmth of that gentle hand caressing him, nor
the sound of fingers snapping before his eyes.
Snap!

***

I had just reached the third floor where my room was located.
Suddenly, I flinched at the sound of a finger snap echoing from somewhere and turned around.
Naturally, there was nothing in the darkened stairwell below.
Yet I couldn’t explain why the back of my neck prickled with an inexplicable chill.
‘Has my body grown weak…?’
With so many people around, there couldn’t possibly be ghosts.
Dismissing it as a poorly oiled hinge, I turned back and strolled down the corridor.
“I’m exhausted to death…”
I’d only spoken with Vincent for a few minutes, yet somehow my energy had been completely drained.
My legs felt unsteady beneath me.
I was hurrying my steps, eager to return to my room and collapse, when—
I suddenly noticed my door standing wide open.
Through the gap, the Maids from the Duke’s Mansion bustled about, carrying enormous boxes back and forth.
“…What is this?”
I walked toward my room with a bewildered expression.
I spotted Nancy in the center of the room, frantically organizing a massive sack alongside the other Maids.
“Nancy, what is all this?”
“Oh my! Goodness, Miss! Where on earth have you been?”
“Just… taking a walk…”
I answered casually, but then I caught sight of something inside the sack and my face twisted in disgust.
“Ugh! What is that!”
It was the massive paw of some beast, complete with eight sharp claws.
Apparently unfazed by its grotesqueness, Nancy answered matter-of-factly.
“It’s a Dire Bear’s paw, they say.”
“A… a monster?!”
“Yes.”
“Why is a monster’s paw in my room…”
It wasn’t just the paw.
The other sacks were crammed full of strange horns, scales, and clumps of fur.
I shuddered in horror, and Nancy hastily explained the situation.
“It’s that… Ethan obtained all these monster parts from the subjugation and gave them all to you, Miss.”
“What…?”
“That’s not all. Count Frederick, Marquis Silen, Viscount Linus, Baroness Kentaphil…!”
“Wait, wait!”
I hastily cut off the endless recitation of noble names.
After all, I didn’t even know who most of them were besides Count Frederick.
“Just tell me the point. Why are they all giving these things to me?”
“Well… they all said they were deeply impressed after seeing you purify the Magi this time…”
“Impressed? Ha.”
At those words, I furrowed my brow.
‘What the hell is Ethan thinking, and what about Dylan—what’s going through that bastard’s head?’
He’s been sending bundles of flowers through his Aide since morning.
Judging by his actions alone, he didn’t seem like someone who despised me at all.
Moreover, even if he’s trying to make an impression on the new Purifier, why in the world would he send me these cursed magical creature accessories?
‘If you’re going to give something, give money or jewels—why these repulsive things…’
That’s when Nancy casually mentioned the damned setting of this novel that I’d completely forgotten about.
“I think… you might be the Equinox flower of this generation, Miss!”

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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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