A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 138

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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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138.

My lips sealed shut as if honey had been smeared across them.
‘…How did I even know that was shorthand for male lead?!’
Moreover, the fact that I’d firmly believed him to be the male lead all this time stung, so I reflexively averted my gaze.
Seeing me suddenly fall silent, he chuckled slowly.
“You called me so naturally that I thought I was dreaming.”
“…”
“Why? Did I appear as your male lead in your dream?”
“That’s not it!”
I denied it vehemently, and he let out a soft laugh.
“Right. It couldn’t be my dream. I haven’t done anything so terrible to you that I’d deserve such curses.”
“Ha!”
I scoffed.
“Truly, Your Highness, you seem to lack any semblance of conscience.”
“Why? There’s no man around you who’s devoted himself to you as much as I have.”
He rattled on as if genuinely confused, even counting on his fingers.
“I found your lost earring, kept you from being sucked into the Gate.”
“…”
“I personally caught a snake to help you recover, rescued you without hesitation when you were kidnapped, and now I’ve even brought you a dragon’s treasure with my own hands.”
“…”
“There’s no bigger fool than this. Tsk.”
I responded with a frown, my tone flat.
“Have you already forgotten when you strangled my neck and threatened me?”
“And you smashed my head in with a chair.”
“…”
“An iron one, at that.”
I had nothing to say.
Now that I thought about it, I owed him quite a debt.
Even if everything except the last incident was against my will…
‘I purified you too, you bastard…!’
I tried to squeeze out a pathetic excuse, but unfortunately, I was outnumbered.
I’d only purified him twice so far, and both times it was practically forced upon me by circumstance.
The first was because I had no choice to survive.
The second was because I couldn’t turn away from him after he was wounded at the Sephiroth Sect Base and became addicted to Hexis.
‘After that wretched first meeting, I thought we’d never be entangled again…’
It struck me as strange that I was now facing Serge so naturally in my room.
And even more so that the person who brought me the object I needed most right now was him.
Caught in an unfamiliar sensation, I stared at him intently.
“…So. What dream were you having?”
He suddenly asked with subtle curiosity.
It seemed he was quite eager to know.
I brushed it off with a reluctant expression.
“Just… a nightmare.”
“Hmm. Judging by your request to return it, were you dreaming about that creature occupying your original body?”
“…!”
“Ruellin?”
“H-how did you…?”
I flinched and started to ask, but soon closed my mouth.
I remembered that he had overheard my conversation with Sephiroth.
‘Damn it. I suspected as much, so why ask?’
As I muttered my grievance internally.
A sudden sense of incongruity washed over me.
‘But… why does he seem so unbothered?’
If he heard everything, he should have also realized that I’m not really Edith Blake.
Yet the man said nothing about it.
I regarded Serge with a strange gaze, then slowly opened my mouth.
“Your Highness… you’re not bothered at all?”
“About what?”
“That I’m not really Edith Blake.”
In truth, before I possessed her, Edith had no real connection with Serge, and nothing had proceeded according to the prophecy.
For some reason, I felt a bit tense.
‘What would I even do if he said he wasn’t unbothered?’
Even as I mocked myself this way, I waited anxiously for his answer.
The man swept his gaze over me with an unreadable expression, then spoke bluntly.
“It’s rather fascinating.”
“…?”
“There were so many rumors that you’d throw a tantrum like a colt frothing at the mouth at the slightest provocation, so I had quite high expectations…”
“…”
“I thought it strange that you behaved quite like a person. Well, except for when you struck my head.”
It seemed the Duke had gone to great lengths to downplay the rumors back then.
Recalling that time, he muttered to himself and chuckled softly.
“But to think your very essence had been completely swapped out.”
“…Is that all, Your Highness?”
“What more should there be? That you’re equally savage and ferocious as the real one?”
“…”
“Or should I praise you for pulling off the role of the Empire’s greatest villainess so convincingly that I nearly fell for it?”
‘Shut up!’
It was becoming increasingly absurd.
With my face twisted in displeasure, I swallowed back a curse that had risen to the tip of my tongue, when he suddenly asked.
“But didn’t the people around you suspect anything?”
“No. I played the villainess role far too convincingly.”
As I answered with a sardonic edge, Serge tilted his head.
“They must all be blind. Even I, a complete stranger, found it odd, yet they felt no sense of incongruity whatsoever?”
“….”
“It seems the original owner of this body was hardly of interest to anyone.”
“I have heard them say I seemed like a different person at times….”
I reflexively responded, but then stopped, realizing I sounded like I was making excuses.
When I thought about it, Serge was right about everything.
So was the Duke.
All the people around Edith Blake—the male leads one, two, and three included—had readily accepted my claim of amnesia.
Was that why?
When Serge had asked me moments ago if it didn’t bother me that I wasn’t the real one.
…I was honestly a little afraid.
Afraid of hearing that the real body’s owner was gone and that I was here pretending to be the Princess.
‘…It’s somewhat laughable to worry about such things now.’
Perhaps because I had never imagined that someone would discover I wasn’t the real Edith Blake.
As I imagined the people I had vowed not to act like the original Edith around anymore, the people I had treated as I pleased, discovering the truth—the world seemed to spin dizzily before my eyes.
When I first possessed this body, the Edith Blake who had been scorned and despised by those people, who had hung herself and been coldly abandoned, seemed pitiful and foolish.
I found her attitude of acting carelessly as before, despite claiming to have lost her memory, tedious and repugnant.
So I drew a cold line and didn’t hesitate to sever ties….
‘…If they learn the truth, will I become something like Ruellin to them?’
Of course, to me, who had been suddenly dragged into this world, everything felt unjust and bitter.
But to them, who knew nothing, I would be nothing more than a thief who had stolen this body.
This sudden realization struck the back of my head like a heavy blow.
‘The original owner has been dead for a long time.’

― Now that I think about it… why is Edith Blake still alive and well?
― By now, Edith Blake should be living as me. The soul exchange spell definitely succeeded…?

Suddenly, I recalled what Ruellin had said in the dream I’d just had.
‘She was trying to implant Edith Blake’s soul into her own body.’
I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason behind such a deranged act.
Based on the scattered words she’d rambled on about, it was obvious that this was her intended method of “making everyone happy.”
However, given that Ruellin’s body had fallen into a coma and I had entered this one, it was likely that….
‘She died.’
I had already suspected as much, but now it was confirmed.
Edith Blake was dead.
Unable to escape the soul exchange ritual—or whatever madness—that Ruellin had performed.
Ultimately abandoned by those she had cherished, lonely and forlorn.
Utterly, wretchedly so….
“…Did I fall asleep with my eyes open?”
“….”
“Hey.”
It was then.
A voice suddenly roused me from my reverie, and I snapped back to awareness.
“…Yes?”
Startled, I asked back, and Serge regarded me with a puzzled expression.
“What are you thinking about, staring at my face like that?”
“Ah….”
“Why. Have you suddenly taken a liking to me?”
The moment I emerged from my contemplation, his nonsensical barrage made my face crumple like a discarded tissue.
‘…Well. At least it’s him who found out. That’s almost a relief.’
Feeling an odd sense of reassurance, I offered a vague deflection.
“I wasn’t thinking of anything in particular. Just….”
“Just?”
“I was wondering how to use this.”
“I don’t know either. They said it would show you a way to fulfill your wish, so why don’t you just make a wish first?”
Fortunately, it seemed like a reasonable answer, so he spouted something utterly unhelpful.
I murmured as if sighing.
“…I need to purify it first.”
“You’ll naturally wish to return to your original dimension, won’t you?”
It was such an obvious statement that I nodded without hesitation.
Then he squinted one eye and spoke softly.
“When you go back.”
“….”
“I’ll miss you quite a bit.”

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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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