A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 122

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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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122.

***

I had safely returned all the purified Erosion Infected to their homes.
Curiously, the children shared a common thread—they were all offspring of those employed within the castle.
Not mere servants performing menial tasks, but children of officials holding positions or elder advisors.
In other words, they came from families of considerable standing.
‘That’s why word reached the Security Bureau.’
Had they been ordinary villagers’ children, the matter would have been buried in silence.
Such was the bitter reality of a class-stratified society.
“…A serial killer, you say?!”
After hurrying back to Duke’s Castle, Walter revealed the full account.
An Awakener wielding wind-based abilities had begun targeting servants within the castle.
In incidents similar to the one at the warehouse, three people had already been killed over the past month.
‘Wind ability users aren’t particularly common.’
In the novel, Vincent had been the only one.
Perhaps it was because I had just recalled that dream where I extracted his blood.
An unsettling feeling settled over me.
Upon hearing of the killer, Ethan erupted in fury.
“How could such a dangerous situation occur without prior report? You should have sent a messenger before we even arrived!”
“Initially, we believed it to be accidental death. It’s only recently that the attacks have become so blatant….”
Walter stammered his excuses.
Aside from the most recent victim, there had been no signs of foul play whatsoever.
Yet the three murdered individuals shared one peculiar commonality.
They were the fathers of the children I had just sent home today.
‘Something doesn’t add up.’
I wasn’t the only one sensing it—Ethan’s eyes sharpened as he pressed further.
“Do you have any suspects in mind? Someone with a shared grudge against them?”
“Actually….”
Margaret, who had remained silent until then, suddenly opened her mouth.
“Margaret!”
In that instant, Walter called out to her in alarm.
“Why are you still here instead of preparing dinner? Is this how you treat guests?”
“Ah, yes. I’m going, I’m going.”
At Walter’s irritated rebuke, Margaret reluctantly left her seat.
“Ahem! It’s nothing to worry about. Margaret is fond of mystery novels, so she tends to spout nonsensical theories….”
As suspicion narrowed Ethan’s eyes, he cleared his throat and smoothed over the situation.
A strange silence fell over the hall for a moment.
That was when it happened.
“Marquis Harris! We have a crisis!”
The reception room door burst open as a knight rushed in urgently.
“What is it?”
“We were attempting to administer a sedative to the criminal locked in the Underground Dungeon, but he suddenly opened his eyes. However….”
The knight glanced toward me hesitantly, his words faltering.
“He’s causing a commotion, demanding that we bring the Princess to him.”
“Me?”
The criminal locked in the Underground Dungeon—he had to be the Space Ability User who attempted to kidnap me last night.
While I was away purifying the Erosion Infected, I had instructed the guards to administer sedative-laced water to him at regular intervals, fearing he might escape using his ability.
But instead of escaping, he was causing a commotion….
“Let’s go check it out.”
We hurried down to the Underground Dungeon.
True to the knight’s word, the man trapped behind the iron bars was thrashing about wildly.
Whoosh, slash—!
Somehow he had freed himself from the shackles, and with his liberated hands, he was wildly swinging a sword through the air.
He must have stolen it from one of the guards.
“Edith Blake! Bring Edith Blake here at once! That woman!”
The man, dancing about like a madman with his blade, was screaming my name frantically.
“It’s dangerous. You should go back up.”
Ethan tried to stop me.
But I pushed past him and stepped forward.
Of course, I stopped at a safe distance where the blade couldn’t reach me.
“What’s wrong?”
“You!”
Finally spotting me, the man’s eyes widened wildly.
The whites of his eyes, streaked with blood vessels, were quite unsettling.
Pointing the sharp blade’s tip at me, he bellowed.
“What did you do to me!”
“I purified you.”
“You must have done something! Otherwise, why can’t I use my ability? Why do I feel no power at all!”
I paused, looking up at the space above his head.
And in that instant, my eyes widened.
“Huh….”
The space above his head was empty.
In other words, the Runaway Index that should be visible on any Awakener was nowhere to be seen.
‘I’m certain I brought it down to 0%…?’
Why was the Runaway Index not visible?
As if he were a non-Awakener….
“I’ll kill you! Give me back my ability right now! Give me back my ability, Edith Blake… Aaahhh!”
Clang—!
The man who had been desperately swinging his blade through the bars to cut me down suddenly let out a scream and dropped his sword.
Ethan quickly approached and kicked the fallen blade away with his foot.
I could see a thin layer of white frost clinging to the hilt of the receding sword.
“Are you alright?”
“….”
“Edith Blake.”
I, who had been blankly staring above the Space Ability User’s head, reacted a beat too late.
“…Yes?”
“What were you so startled about?”
“Ah… I should head upstairs first.”
I answered incoherently and hurriedly turned away.
As I climbed the staircase leading to the upper floor, a sudden realization struck me.
‘…When the Magi reaches 0%, the ability disappears.’
I had unexpectedly discovered a new technique for purification.
“Aaahhhhh! Sephirot! Please answer my call! I beg you, save this foolish being…!”
Behind me, the desperate wails of the kidnapper—who had been a Space Ability User just moments before—echoed through the air.

***

In the end, I did not attend the evening dinner.
My mind was far too cluttered to eat anything.
Knock, knock.
Just then, the head Maid entered with a knock.
“Miss, aren’t you hungry? I’ve brought you some light refreshments.”
She set down the tray she was carrying on the desk where I sat.
Along with simple fare like sandwiches and soup, she had brought portions of the dinner dishes.
“Thank you, Margaret.”
“The castle atmosphere is rather gloomy, isn’t it? To think you would arrive at such an awkward time—I’m truly sorry….”
As I shook my head to deny her gloomy demeanor, something suddenly came to mind, and I asked.
“By the way, what was that thing you started to say earlier but stopped?”
“Ah, that was….”
Margaret hesitated with an uncomfortable expression.
“If you know anything, tell me the truth. We can’t just let a serial killer continue roaming about.”
I persuaded her once more.
After a long pause, Margaret sighed and cautioned me.
“…Please keep this secret from Kalen.”
“I will.”
“Actually… Ayla was among the dead Erosion Infected. She was Kalen’s twin sister.”
“What?!”
My jaw dropped at the shocking revelation that came from her mouth.
“You’re saying she’s been living separately in the Forest because of the plague?”
“When Lord Walter heard that Kalen was coming, he made the servants keep quiet out of concern that it would shock her.”
“What do you mean… So Ayla was also exposed to the Magi half a year ago and was purified? And this time she transformed into an Erosion Infected again?”
Margaret nodded carefully.
And she revealed the story she had been hiding.
“When we discovered that Ayla and Turner were dead, it was already too late, so we separated their bodies and left them in the Forest. We planned to hold a funeral and cremate them when dawn broke. But then…”
“…”
“…the next day, Ayla’s body vanished without a trace.”
Fear settled across Margaret’s face as she whispered in a hushed voice.
“Strange rumors began spreading through the castle from that day on. That the vengeful spirit of the dead Ayla had returned as a demon.”
“…”
“In fact, I saw her too. On the day Lord Berhardt died…”!
Berhardt had been the first victim murdered by the serial killer.
“I heard screaming at dawn and rushed outside, and there—Lord Berhardt was lying on the ground, bleeding…”
“And then?”
“Well, wasn’t Ayla standing on top of the Castle Tower?”
Margaret’s face turned ashen as she recalled that moment.
I, who didn’t believe in such things as ghosts, furrowed my brow.
“…Are you sure you didn’t just see something that wasn’t there?”
“No! I saw it clearly with my own two eyes. Ayla is someone I practically raised and have watched my entire life!”
She spoke passionately, as if indignant at the suggestion.
‘So she became an Erosion Infected and died, but was resurrected with an ability…’
I had a rough idea of what had happened.
The remaining question was why Ayla harbored enough resentment to kill people, including her own father.
“But all the dead people were fathers of children who became Erosion Infected… Do you know anything about that?”
At my question, Margaret’s shoulders trembled slightly.
Then she evasively dodged the issue in a way that was obviously suspicious.
“Y-yes… I’m not entirely sure about that…”
With those words, her lips sealed shut firmly.
It seemed I wouldn’t be able to extract anything more from her even if I pressed further.
“Alright. Thank you for telling me. You may go now.”

***

I had expected that the change in sleeping quarters combined with the eerie atmosphere from the serial murders would keep me awake, yet surprisingly, I fell asleep almost immediately.
It seemed I was quite exhausted from the long journey and the toll of performing purification the moment I arrived.
It was deep in the night.
“…Edith, Edith Blake.”
Someone shook my arm to wake me, and I groggily opened my eyes.
“Who… Brother?”
“Shh.”
Startled by Ethan’s face so close to mine, he brought a finger to his lips.
And whispered softly.
“Sorry for waking you, but it seems we need to go somewhere urgently.”
“Where at this hour….”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
Without even time to change clothes, I hastily threw on the cloak Ethan handed me and followed him out of the room in a daze.
As we stepped into the Courtyard, the crisp dawn air stung my nose.
I could see Kalen standing beside two saddled horses.
“Your hand.”
Ethan, who had already mounted the horse, extended one hand toward me.
Without thinking, I placed my hand in his, and with a firm grip, he pulled me up and seated me in front of him.
Only then did I feel fully awake.
“W-where are we going?”
“Village Outskirts. Hyah!”
Ethan said nothing more and immediately urged the horse forward.
‘At least tell me why we’re going, you bastard!’
As I swayed, I could barely manage to grip the reins and steady myself, let alone ask more questions.
The horse carrying Ethan and me galloped like an arrow.
A sharp, biting wind whipped across my face relentlessly.
Noticing me trembling, Ethan pulled me snugly into his embrace.
I huddled my body tightly, enduring the cold.
Even as I thought this was an absurd ordeal in the middle of the night, the reality of riding a horse alongside him felt almost unbelievable.
After riding through the quiet village where everyone slept for quite some time, we arrived near the Warehouse we had visited during the day.
Ethan jumped down from the horse first.
Then he lifted me down after him.
“What on earth is this…!”
“Look over there, Edith Blake.”
Just as I was about to demand an explanation, he beat me to it and pointed somewhere.
I reluctantly turned my gaze in that direction.
Half a year ago, due to the Gate’s emergence, the terrain beyond the village’s boundary had become lower, like a cliff face.
Yet that entire area was now covered in a pale, misty haze so thick that I couldn’t see even an inch ahead.
“That is….”
“The Magi.”
Ethan declared firmly toward the mist that billowed like the sea.
I opened my eyes wide.
“A Gate has already manifested here before, yet I cannot fathom why the Magic Barrier has appeared again.”
Then Kalen, who had followed behind, added an explanation in a trembling voice.
And muttering while casting a sidelong glance at me.
“The area seems far too vast to purify entirely….”
He was right—it lay far beyond the scope of what I could possibly purify.
The Magic Barrier blanketing the vast expanse appeared to be at least dozens of times larger than that of Equinox Island.
But the Magic Barrier itself was not the real concern.
An anomaly—a Magic Barrier suddenly appearing once more in a place where a Gate had already manifested.
I knew this all too well.
“…We must evacuate the villagers.”
My face, reflected in Ethan’s clear blue eyes, had already grown rigid and taut.
“It is a harbinger of a Gate’s emergence.”

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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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