A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 128

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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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128.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Vincent, gripping my shoulder, frantically scanned my body as he spoke.

62%

The percentage had risen dramatically compared to the last time I’d checked.
I had no idea why the sandstorm suddenly stopped, but it seemed Vincent had used his ability to make it happen.
Thanks to him, I was able to escape from the Gate without difficulty.
I was simply bewildered by the Second Male Lead’s sudden appearance.
Noticing my silence was strange, he pressed further.
“Why aren’t you answering? I asked if you were hurt.”
“I’m not hurt.”
I finally gave a brief reply and brushed his hand away from my shoulder.
“But why are you here?”
At my words, Vincent’s deeply furrowed eyes flickered once.
“…I know you hate seeing me.”
He spoke in a hollow voice.
“But when I heard that you were nearly kidnapped on the way to Acarna, I simply….”
“….”
“I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.”
How strange this was.
Why had someone who cherished Edith Blake so much acted that way all this time?
I knew that Ruellin had manipulated his mind, but hadn’t Vincent harbored hatred for her beyond mere love?
Even after I possessed this body and he kept his distance, his attitude remained unchanged for a while.
So why.
Why was he doing this now?
No matter how pitifully he gazed at me, I felt nothing.
“Fine, whatever.”
“….”
“Believe what you want.”
“Edith Blake.”
“Move.”
I tried to brush past Vincent without hesitation.
But before I could take more than a few steps, I was blocked by another figure.
“…You.”
When I looked up, Ethan was staring down at me with a rigidly tense expression.

75%

The percentage glimmered—a number I hadn’t fully purified due to rushing after Ayla.
He opened his mouth slowly, his voice dropping low.
“…Did you go to die?”
At his abrupt words, my expression turned bewildered.
“…What?”
“Now that you’ve died once at the Gate and come back to life, you think you can act however you please?”
“….”
“If the Grand Duke hadn’t gone to rescue you. If Vincent hadn’t stopped the wind, how exactly were you planning to escape?”
His sudden anger and accusations left me dumbfounded.
I stared at him, unable to comprehend.
“Somehow. In the end, I came back perfectly fine anyway.”
“You…!”
In that moment, Ethan let out a loud exclamation.
Then, realizing the attention it had drawn, he clenched his teeth and took a deep breath.
Yet he still couldn’t seem to calm himself.
With a contorted face, his shoulders trembling, he asked.
“…Why didn’t you show any reaction when you saw me?”
“….”
“If you’d pushed me away, whether it was the purification or anything else, and asked for help, I would have done something, anything….”
He, who had been rambling frantically, suddenly stopped as if he’d realized something.
“Did I….”
“….”
“Not give you enough reason to trust me?”
“….”
“Enough that you’d put me to sleep and follow the Kidnapper without hesitation…?”
A faint shock flickered in his clear blue eyes.
Though I found Ethan’s words absurd, I didn’t immediately deny them.
My compliance in following Sephiroth without resistance had been for a different reason, but his words held some truth nonetheless.
Even if I hadn’t been going to confirm whether I could return to my original body, I wouldn’t have asked Ethan for help.
I would have wanted to escape alone, by any means necessary.
Just like with Vincent—how could I trust someone who had once turned his back on me?

― …Vincent! Dylan!
― Take me with you! Yes? I was wrong about everything!
― Big brother! Ethan, big brother! Sob, I’m scared. Please don’t leave me alone! Someone save me… Kyaaaaaaah―!

I still vividly recalled the dream I had when I first possessed this body.
Edith Blake’s desperate voice echoed persistently in my ears.
‘So I nearly died, and now she’s begging me to save her again? That’s completely insane, isn’t it?’
It was such an obvious conclusion, yet I couldn’t fathom why I was reacting as though shocked.
But I was growing tired of laying out all these tedious details to Ethan.
I attempted to wrap up the situation with a rather indifferent expression.
“That’s not what this is about.”
“If it’s not that, then—”
But Ethan pressed me immediately.
I sighed and offered an excuse as though annoyed.
“I thought it would be safer to simply comply.”
“How is that safe when you’re being taken into the Gate—!”
“Sorry for interrupting this touching family reunion.”
Just then, Serge, who had remained silent until now, suddenly interjected.
As attention shifted to me, he shrugged and gestured behind him.
“Mind if we pay attention to that over there?”
“Kieeeek—!”
Before his words even finished, an eerie shriek echoed from the distance.
I hastily shifted my gaze, and there it was—the Gate, now a perfect circle.
Massive silhouettes were falling from within it, one after another.
They were scorpion-type monsters.
“Damn it.”
Vincent, muttering a curse, walked irritably toward the cliff’s edge.
Now that the Gate was open, the monsters pouring out had to be dealt with.
Ethan, who had been standing motionless and staring at me, finally averted his gaze.
Once he too went to confront the monsters, only Serge and I remained.
I looked at him with the unspoken question of why he wasn’t going, and he smirked.
“You looked troubled.”
“…”
“You don’t need to be so grateful.”
At his nonsense resuming, I furrowed my brow.
“Aren’t you going?”
“Didn’t I say it before? I have no intention of cleaning up someone else’s mess in their own territory.”
“Then Your Highness should just head back.”
“And you?”
“I need to stay and purify this.”
I walked past him, trudging toward the cliff’s edge.
Vincent and Ethan’s figures had already vanished—whether they’d jumped down after the monsters or not.
Peering down the cliff, I could see the sea of Magi churning below had risen considerably higher than before.
The Magi was already accumulating due to the abnormal phenomenon caused by the double Gate, and now new Magi was pouring out from the Gate itself—a dire situation compounding upon itself.
At this rate, the Magi would overflow and consume the village before I could eliminate all the monsters.
Word that the Purifier had arrived had spread throughout Acarna, and I couldn’t simply abandon the purification and leave while new incursions continued to manifest.
“This is ridiculous.”
Suddenly, I sensed a presence beside me.
When I glanced over, Serge had already drawn close, his gaze sweeping over me from head to toe.
“When the Security Bureau made such a grand proclamation about not purifying recklessly, I thought you wouldn’t care who perished or what happened.”
You’re still here?
His sudden jab left me speechless.
“Why haven’t you returned, Your Highness?”
“If the Princess collapses during purification, who will save her?”
“Someone will surely find her and bring her to the castle.”
“Hmm. Watching you now, your intuition seems utterly useless….”
He furrowed his brow, then said something entirely unexpected.
“You’re asking me to keep playing the white knight.”
In other words, he was saying he would remain at my side until I completed the purification.
Rather than relief or gratitude, a strange emotion stirred first.
“Why?”
I looked up at him with unfamiliar eyes and asked.
“Isn’t Your Highness the type to leave without even looking back?”
The madness dwelling in my original body had consumed my thoughts, leaving no room to reflect, but now his actions seemed peculiar.
From entering the Gate to rescue me under the guise of reinforcements, to staying by my side until the purification was complete.
It was far too different from the male lead in the novel I knew.
‘Come to think of it, I thought he might even seek revenge for the turtle testicle incident….’
My mood shifted strangely in an instant.
At my question, Serge stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment.
“Who knows.”
“….”
“Perhaps being with you lets me witness amusing spectacles frequently?”
“You find it amusing when I collapse during purification?”
“Or maybe I’ve grown attached through constant friction.”
He answered nonchalantly, then suddenly gestured ahead.
“Aren’t you going to purify?”
The Magi that had churned below the cliff had already risen to my feet.
As he said, I had no choice but to purify immediately.
I stretched both hands toward the sky.
Thinking of Equinox Island, I wasn’t certain how much of this vast terrain I could purify.
But I decided to do my best with what I could manage.
That way, at least I wouldn’t hear any criticism afterward.
Recalling the light particles that scattered like drizzle, I quietly chanted within myself.
‘…Energy Burst!’
Kwaaaaaaah―!
An enormous torrent of emerald light erupted from both my palms.
The beam was far thicker and more magnificent than what I’d unleashed on Equinox Island.
I was startled to realize my power had upgraded further.
Kuooooooh―!
The verdant rays poured forth with terrifying intensity, matching the vast expanse of the Magi below, streaming endlessly without cessation.
As the light drained away, it felt as though my very soul was being pulled from my body, and nausea began to roil within me.
‘Please, just purify enough and stop….’
Of course, I had no control over it whatsoever.
“Ugh!”
Just as I was about to retch.
Crack! Crackle….
Finally, the light streaming from my palms began to diminish bit by bit.
“Haa, ha….”
An overwhelming sense of exhaustion washed over me, and dizziness made the world spin before my eyes.
I knelt on the ground, gasping for breath.
“Young Lady, look at that.”
At that moment, Serge pointed toward the sky.
With great effort, I lifted my gaze and my eyes widened.
Even through my blurred vision, an enormous mass of emerald clouds hung in the sky, so vast that it obscured the Gate above.
And as it poured forth.
Storm clouds stretched endlessly, easily covering the terrain around us and extending all the way to the village.
Rumble, rumble….
Deep emerald thunder crackled within the clouds.
Then.
Shwoooooosh―!
Unlike the gentle drizzle I’d summoned on Equinox Island, brilliant streaks of light now poured down like a torrential downpour.
I couldn’t be certain it would purify everything, but it seemed certain to lower the water level of the Magi sea below.
That was a relief.
“EX-rank really is different in every way.”
“….”
“Impressive, isn’t it?”
I stared blankly upward when Serge suddenly spoke.
When I turned to look at him, I saw a man gazing at the cascading light with a radiant smile.
It was a sight I’d never seen before.
‘I thought he was the type to mock others and wear only sneering smiles….’
My heart suddenly stirred.
Or perhaps it was just the dizziness overwhelming me and my stomach turning.
“…Your Majesty. I think I’m about to lose consciousness.”
Clinging desperately to my fading awareness, I spoke to him in a tone that was almost threatening.
“Just don’t leave me here without letting the Castle know I’m still alive.”
“….”
“Otherwise, I won’t purify you again….”
The world tilted.
My vision blurred, and suddenly everything spun sideways.
The shadow of a man rushing toward me with a startled expression was the last thing I saw before darkness consumed my sight.
“…Edith!”
At the urgent voice calling my name, even as my mind faded, a single realization crystallized.
Ah.
So it was him who came running, calling out to me back then….

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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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