A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 114

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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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114.

Seeing him exude such an ominous aura, my chest tightened slightly.
‘My luck truly is abysmal.’
How could I possibly run into him here of all places!
Yet amid my dismay, a thrill surged through me at the fact that he had actually consumed it.
At this point, there was no use trying to weasel my way out.
I decided to simply brazen my way through.
“Please don’t thank me so much. Consider it a token of my appreciation for the snake soup.”
“Appreciation? Ha!”
He let out a hollow laugh as if finding it absurd.
“It’s nothing but superstition that old fools believe in, yet apparently I looked quite frail in the Princess’s eyes. Hmm?”
“….”
“I can’t exactly open it up to show you. Or perhaps I should? Is that what you want?”
“Ugh! What a dreadful thing to suggest in a public place!”
As I recoiled in disgust, he dropped his smile and glared at me.
“It’s fortunate the poison had no effect, because this constitutes attempted murder of the Grand Duke, Princess. Do you understand?”
His threats no longer frightened me as much as they once had.
‘No effect, you say…!’
I had already heard from Eston that it was merely folklore, but what a shame it was.
I had hoped his heart would race so badly he couldn’t sleep, and that he’d suffer for several days.
Disappointed, I pouted my lips before responding flatly.
“The attempted murder would be Your Highness’s doing, not mine. Were you unaware that a serpent’s head is several times more dangerous than a monster’s reproductive organ?”
“I had the fangs removed immediately upon capture.”
“I gave it to Your Highness precisely out of concern for your health, as I said.”
“You certainly don’t back down. Your personality is truly peculiar.”
Who was he to say such things?
Flabbergasted, I opened and closed my mouth uselessly while he crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe.
“Did you come for a rank assessment?”
“Yes.”
I had delivered what I thought was a decisive blow, but it seemed to have landed without much impact.
If that were the case, there should be nothing more to say, so I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t leaving.
I posed my question with that thought in mind.
“What brings Your Highness here?”
“I’m occasionally curious about what goes through the Princess’s mind. Have you forgotten that I’m the Commander of the Northern Region?”
I hadn’t forgotten. I simply hadn’t cared.
‘Either way, he must hold some position of authority within the Security Bureau.’
Yet suddenly, he began spouting something entirely unrelated to his role as Commander of the Northern Region.
“Of course I came to see what rank the new Purifier is.”
I was utterly speechless.
“Is that… something anyone can just come watch?”
“Everyone who holds a position in the Security Bureau would come, wouldn’t they? It’s customary for people to swarm in whenever a promising newcomer appears and chatter about it.”
I frowned at his words.
‘What kind of custom is that?!’
Then I suddenly remembered how Yu Ji-han and Yu Se-hwa used to excitedly rush off on days when new recruits arrived when we lived together.
It was institutions like our Research Institute in the scientific field that were starved for the chance to see newcomers.
With few applicants and young talent preferring lucrative private companies over stable government positions…
The arguments I’d had with upper management demanding more recruitment announcements felt like a memory from a past life.
As I sighed wistfully remembering those peaceful days, Serge suddenly asked.
“Nervous?”
“Not exactly…”
That wasn’t why I’d sighed, but I was still worried about the rank measurement coming up.
“I’m a bit concerned about what happens if I come out as C-rank or lower.”
“If that’s what happens, then that’s what happens. What else can you do about it?”
He shrugged casually as he spoke.
‘Easy for him to say when he’s S-rank.’
I stared at him with displeasure, thinking how easily he dismissed it as someone else’s problem, when he suddenly wore a mischievous expression.
“What? Did the Duke threaten you that if you’re not S-rank, don’t even think about coming home?”
“I don’t know.”

― My instinct tells me you’re definitely S-rank.
― I need to make it crystal clear to all those braggarts! That Darius Blake’s daughter has awakened as an S-rank Purifier!

He never explicitly told me not to come home, but it seemed he was secretly hoping for S-rank.
Of course, the atmosphere had already been ruined when I declared I’d leave first.
‘If I really am C-rank or below… I suppose I’ll have to sell everything I own and buy a house in the southern regions.’
While I was thinking such thoughts.
“If you get kicked out, contact me.”
Serge suddenly said something unexpected.
“The Grand Duke’s castle has plenty of empty rooms. Besides, you’re The Purifier—what does a mere rank matter?”
“That’s kind of you, but I must decline.”
I refused immediately.
Aside from living under the same roof as Male Lead 4, the Northern Region frequently had Gates opening with high-tier monsters.
Why would I willingly expose myself to all those dangers?
“You don’t even have anywhere else to go. Your personality really is strange, you know.”
He gave me a disapproving look, as if I’d just rejected some magnificent proposal.
That was when it happened.
“Gasp! G-Grand Duke Your Highness! How did you…?!”
Marquis Clonella, who had disappeared somewhere, finally appeared.
Serge responded to the Marquis with a rather confident tone.
“I stopped by to discuss some private matters with the Princess.”
“With the Princess, you say? Hmm, so that rumor was…”
Marquis Clonella covered his mouth and murmured.
“What rumor?!”
“…”
I asked immediately, but he only looked at me and Serge with a meaningful gaze without answering.
“Forgive me, but the rank measurement is ready, so we should… move along, Princess.”
“See you again soon, Princess.”
I didn’t know why he was saying such ominous things, but fortunately Serge withdrew without protest.
After watching him disappear down the corridor, I followed Marquis Clonella.
A staff member was standing in front of the Bunker door.
“Good day, Princess. I’m Kyle Nerison, the rank measurement officer. I’ll open the Measurement Chamber door now.”
Click, click-click—
As he bowed to me and then turned a round handle like a steering wheel, I pressed the Marquis for answers.
“Please tell me what rumor you’re talking about, Marquis.”
“Well, it’s nothing major… but there’s a rumor that you and the Grand Duke are quite close…”
“What did you say?!”
I nearly shrieked.
“Are you insane?! Who in the world is spreading such nonsense?”
“I’m not entirely sure… but it seems the rumor started when His Highness gave you medicinal herbs out of concern for your health.”
“Sigh…”
Well, it made sense. After going on an expedition and catching only a single sea serpent in thirty minutes, rumors were bound to spread.
I pressed my hand to my flushed, heated forehead when the Marquis asked quietly.
“That… the rumor must have been distorted, wouldn’t you say?”
I regarded him with a peculiar intensity gleaming in his eyes.
“Is angering an Awakener perhaps the proper procedure before a rank assessment?”
“Ha ha… y-yes, do come in!”
Screeeech!
The iron door swung open with a heavy, resonant groan.
The interior of the Measurement Chamber resembled a laboratory.
A pristine white space devoid of anything.
The large window cut into one side felt oddly reminiscent of an interrogation room.
As I gazed curiously at the several chairs arranged beyond the glass, a group of people suddenly began filing in from one direction.
I recognized a familiar figure leading the procession.
None other than Serge Belnak.
He grinned wickedly and waved a hand at me in exaggerated flourishes.
But that wasn’t all. Behind him came Dylan and Ethan too…!
‘What is this? They came to watch?’
True to Serge’s word, it seemed every notable figure in the Security Bureau had come to observe.
As the area beyond the glass suddenly filled with spectators, I couldn’t help but grimace.
‘So that’s why the Duke offered to come along.’
This was ridiculous. How was I supposed to perform a proper assessment with all this pressure?
Drrrrrr—.
At that moment, the staff member who had opened the Bunker door returned, dragging a tray covered in black cloth.
He stopped before me and promptly removed the covering.
What was revealed was…
“The heart of an Ancient Dragon.”
It truly was a heart.
A reddish heart the size of a fist floated suspended within a glass Cage.
The Ancient Dragon, unlike other monsters, had an interior so transparent it was perfectly visible, like clear water.
Had blood been present, it would have been utterly grotesque.
Fortunately, only a faint line dividing the atria and ventricles existed, along with an enigmatic orb wreathed in violet flames at the center.
Save for its subtle pulsing, it resembled nothing more than a heart-shaped ornament.
‘…It was an Ancient Dragon’s heart?’
As I examined the interior of the glass, I tilted my head in confusion.
Had I read this in the novel, I surely would have remembered it, yet it felt entirely unfamiliar to me now.
“The measurement method is simple. Direct your ability toward the Ancient Dragon’s heart, and the atria and ventricles will gradually turn black in sequence. If only the left atrium darkens, you’re D-rank; if the right atrium darkens as well, you’re C-rank…”
“…”
“If instead of this sequential process, the entire structure darkens in a single instant, you are S-rank.”
The Marquis explained the rank assessment.
It differed considerably from the original work, where an ancient artifact would automatically display one’s rank upon contact, but this hardly surprised me.
As I nodded in acknowledgment, I pointed toward the orb wreathed in flickering flames at the heart’s center.
“What is that?”
“Ah. That’s a Mana Core.”
“A Mana Core…?”
“Yes. Before the Gates appeared, the ancient magical beasts that originally existed on this land wielded a power called Mana instead of abilities. This is like the nucleus that serves as the source of that power.”
The Marquis finished his explanation, noting that despite the ancient dragon’s death, its heart still beat because of that core.
I narrowed my brows slightly.
‘Isn’t this mixing too many things together?’
Setting aside what didn’t appear in the original work, I couldn’t even begin to understand what kind of world this was supposed to be.
Abilities weren’t enough—now there was Mana too….
‘At this rate, wizards will show up next.’
Just then, a staff member removed the glass cage entirely.
Strangely enough, the heart floating in midair didn’t fall.
“Well then, why don’t you try using your ability now, Princess?”
Finally, the Marquis and the staff member stepped aside, urging me to proceed with the measurement.
I nodded and stood before the tray.
I thought it wouldn’t be particularly difficult, but as I felt quite a few gazes upon me, I grew suddenly tense.
After taking a deep breath, I reached out one hand toward the ancient dragon’s heart.
And I murmured softly to myself.
‘Purify.’
Whoosh—!
At that moment, a green light began pouring from my hand.
After leveling up on Equinox Island, one good thing had changed.
Namely, I could now freely use my ability whenever I wanted without having to speak ‘Purify’ aloud!
Roooaarrr—!
The green beam pouring from my hand strangely wrapped around the ancient dragon’s heart in spirals.
As if it were a Magic Barrier itself, the light relentlessly pecked at its surface the way light consumes a barrier.
I expected the heart to turn black any moment.
But oddly enough, even after quite a long time had passed, there was no change whatsoever.
‘What? Can’t even reach D-rank?’
That was far too humiliating.
Besides, anything below D-rank didn’t make sense.
Even though I’d lost consciousness, hadn’t I purified the widely spread Magic Barrier on Equinox Island in one breath?
That thick pillar of light that shot endlessly into the sky for several minutes was still so vivid in my memory.
‘…This isn’t enough. Think of the Energy Wave!’
I brought together my other hand that I’d been holding back.
Roooaarrr—!
Then the intensity of the light pouring out definitely grew fiercer.
It was just as I gritted my teeth, watching the now noticeably thicker pillar of light.
Crack.
Suddenly, an unfamiliar sound reached my ears.
Something splitting apart….
My heart still showed no change whatsoever.
Thinking I must have misheard, I was about to refocus on the purification when—
Crack—
This time, it was unmistakable. The sound of something splitting apart.
It wasn’t just me who heard it; from the corner of my eye, I saw Marquis Clonella and the staff member flinch.
“T-there! The mana core is…!”
The staff member pointed toward something.
Looking in that direction, it was exactly as they said—something was indeed splitting apart.
Specifically, the violet orb lodged in the very center of my heart!
Crack, crack….
“Princess, please stop for a moment…!”
The Marquis tried to halt the measurement, but it was already too late.
I could activate my ability at will, but I couldn’t stop it….
Shatter—!
With a deafening sound, the orb finally shattered into countless fragments.

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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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