A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 146

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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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146.

Dylan, cradling the woman in his arms, wore an expression of rigid tension.
Crackle, crackle.
At his feet, embers still smoldered and burned, not yet extinguished.
It was evidence that he had hastily assumed an offensive stance at the Gate’s sudden opening.
The fierce wind swept through, and his chestnut hair danced and fluttered across his face like a caress.
His ashen pupils trembled helplessly where it touched.
His expression wavered between chaos and shock.
I could easily infer that he hadn’t caught this person falling from the void knowing she was Ruellin.
And yet.

―Aren’t you angry?
―Ruellin… that vulgar witch dared to deceive and manipulate you with her mysterious sorcery…!

The sight of him carefully cradling the woman he’d just moments ago disparaged as a “vulgar witch” struck me as absurdly comical.
Even though this was hardly a situation for laughter.
“…lady.”
“…”
“Princess.”
Then I felt another’s grip tighten around my wrist.
I lifted my head with a start and saw a man staring down at me with an expressionless face.
It was Serge.
His expression was enigmatic.
“Are you alright?”
Was it an illusion?
For just a moment, something resembling concern flickered across those dark eyes that always burned with refined fury and bloodlust.
With so many absurd situations unfolding, I seemed to be seeing things that weren’t there.
Yet for some reason, in that moment, I exhaled the breath I’d been holding.
“…No.”
As I barely managed to answer, the sensations I’d temporarily suppressed came crashing down like waves.
“That woman! Isn’t she the Purifier who died on Equinox Island?!”
“Good heavens, the dead have returned to life! And from within the Gate, no less…”
“Could she be some kind of demon or something?!”
The crowd naturally descended into chaos at this bolt from the blue.
Screams, gasps, and clamor erupted from all directions.
Thanks to the commotion, I was able to regain my composure.
I quickly examined the Gate hovering in the sky.
The one saving grace was that the Gate’s scale was remarkably small.
Though wind howled through it, the turbulence was laughably weak compared to the typical manifestation phenomenon that terrifyingly sucked in everything around it.
A hairline fracture barely wide enough for two people to squeeze through.
Only a trickle of Magi seeped out, as if to announce that this was indeed a Gate.
Without any particular premonition, I could immediately discern the cause of this bizarre Gate’s opening.
‘Sephiroth…!’
That charlatan cult leader’s handiwork was unmistakable.
He’d pestered me relentlessly about bringing Ruellin back to this world.
It seemed he’d finally resorted to some method.
The condition for me to return to my body in reality, to make a wish upon the Book of Prophecy.
I was grateful it had been realized far faster than I’d anticipated.
Grateful, though….
‘…But what about my body?’
An unsettling truth suddenly occurred to me.
‘If he crossed over here, then my body right now is just an empty shell.’
No matter how hard I tried to rationally comprehend the situation, I couldn’t fathom how any of this actually worked.
Just then, the Emperor arrived late, pushing through the crowd.
“Listen! Sound the Gate alarm at once, and assemble the Awakeners――!”
“Ruellin―!”
But before the imperial command could even finish, someone rushed toward Dylan—no, toward Ruellin.

82%

Unsurprisingly, it was Ethan.
“Ruellin, what is this… Hand her over at once, Count.”
“Ruellin!”
As Ethan grappled with Dylan, the Crown Prince threw himself into the fray as well.
“Ruellin, are you alright? Ruellin! Count Frederick, what on earth is happening?”
With Ruellin at the center, three men bickered loudly enough to echo through the Garden.
Amid that chaos, one unexpected figure caught my eye.
Among the gathered crowd, a head of distinctly striking blue hair stood out.
It was Vincent.
The very man who had been searching so desperately for Ruellin.
‘I thought he’d be the first to lose his mind and rush in….’
Yet he simply stood rigid like a stone monument, gazing endlessly at the three men clustered together.
Golden eyes trembling faintly, clouded with confusion.
The moment those eyes swept toward me as if searching for something—
I barely managed to turn my head away before our gazes could meet.
“What are you all doing! Move the Purifier inside at once, and prepare for the Gate! Count Frederick!”
Just then, the Emperor’s voice thundered out, bringing the situation to an end.
At his cry, Dylan—who had been standing there like a man possessed—suddenly snapped back to attention and moved forward.
As he strode toward me, the gathered crowd hastily parted to make way.
The moment Dylan, cradling Ruellin, passed directly in front of me, our eyes met.
At the same instant, his pace slowed imperceptibly.
A fleeting standoff.
Dylan’s brow twitched and contorted.
The gaze locked with mine slipped downward, landing on my wrist held by Serge.
Then he passed me entirely and disappeared deeper into the Ballroom.
“Why are you looking so displeased?”
Serge muttered, as if that glance had been no mere illusion of mine.
‘Exactly.’
I exhaled a quiet sigh and silently agreed.
It was rather absurd.
Here he was, cradling another woman in his arms, yet glaring at me as though I’d betrayed him—what was that about?
As if we were something to each other.
Ridiculous bastard.
Once the situation seemed to settle, people filed after Dylan into the Ballroom in a rush.
Naturally, Ethan and the Crown Prince were among them.
Those who remained in the Garden were the Awakeners, driven by their sense of duty.
“So we have to wait until the Gate fully opens?”
“At least it’s small—I’ve never seen a Gate this tiny before.”
“Right? Still, with the Blake Princess here, it should be resolved without major casualties.”
The remaining Awakeners gathered to discuss how to handle the Gate.
True to their words, the narrow Gate produced neither monsters nor much magical energy.
Compared to what I’d faced before, this was a situation I could resolve with ease.
Yet an inexplicable exhaustion, as if I’d just completed a massive purification, seeped through my entire body.
“It was such a pleasant day, and now it’s ruined by uninvited guests.”
That’s when Serge clicked his tongue and glanced back at me.
“Has it always been like this?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Every time you’re about to get attention, something conveniently crawls out and steals your thunder.”
I widened my eyes at his unexpected words.
What was he talking about?
He was referring to the circumstances I’d endured—or rather, the circumstances Edith Blake had endured.
I was vaguely aware of what had happened to Edith Blake because of the Book of Prophecy, but those events had occurred before I possessed this body, so they had nothing to do with me.
Moreover, Ruellin’s appearance at this precise moment wasn’t the result of some meticulous plan either.
Given her desire to be the protagonist, she wouldn’t want to face suspicious glances questioning whether she was a monster during such a dramatic moment of resurrection.
Yet Serge’s words seemed to illuminate my current predicament, and my mood sank.
“…How would I know?”
“How would you not? It’s written all over your face.”
“…”
“I saw earlier—you were squinting and pretending to be unconscious. Didn’t you notice? Dropping from that height and maintaining such composure. Impressive nerve.”
I hadn’t noticed at all.
I’d been too focused on Dylan to pay attention to Ruellin’s condition.
The man, who’d been scanning me from head to toe with a blank expression, went further and spouted off.
“What’s with that look? Did you already pawn off your medal?”
“…!”
At those words, I quickly lowered my head in realization.
The heavy medal that had been hanging from the ribbon until moments ago had vanished without a trace.
It must have caught on something and fallen off while I was being dragged around and jostled about.
“This is because of you…!”
The moment I tried to protest indignantly, he burst into laughter.
“That’s it. Act like you always do. Don’t mope around so unlike yourself.”
“What…”
“You’ve suffered like a dog to barely make it here. I doubt you want to lose your prize to some monster or ghost that won’t die even after being stabbed. Right?”
“…”
“Smile. Like a villainess. Wickedly.”
With that, he curled his lips into a vicious grin.
I couldn’t fathom who was supposed to be the wicked one here.
I understood roughly what he was saying, though.
Serge was telling me to act confident, as if Ruellin’s appearance hadn’t affected me in the slightest.
To act like the true protagonist of today’s medal ceremony.
I raised one hand to my face, bewildered by his words.
‘…I didn’t seem quite that downhearted, did I?’
I was startled by the sudden turn of events, but I felt no resentment or anger at losing the crowd’s attention.
In fact, given my current situation, I should have been delighted.
Ruellin had come to my side—didn’t that mean I finally had a path to return?
Yet for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to smile.
Was it because of the medal I’d earned through such grueling hardship, as Serge had said?
‘Though I’ve lost even that now….’
Still, thanks to him, the heavy feeling that had been dragging me down like a sinking ship grew considerably lighter.
“First… let’s deal with that.”
I turned my gaze from him toward the sky.
The Gate, which had been nothing more than a hairline fracture, had now opened into a considerable gap.
The Magi that had accumulated in small amounts was now spreading thickly across the Garden floor.
Since I was the only one who could purify it, it was a task I had to handle, no matter how unpleasant or tedious.
I wasn’t particularly concerned about the medal rolling around somewhere in the Ballroom.
No one would dare steal a medal bestowed by the Emperor himself, and besides, with my name engraved upon it, there was no way to sell it anyway.
‘Someone will find it and bring it back.’
Right now, I was already at my limit dealing with the mess Ruellin had created.
But then.
“What’s there to solve or not solve?”
Serge suddenly flashed his dark eyes with arrogant confidence.
“Something like that just needs to be crushed with force.”
Kuuuuuuung――!
At that very moment, the Gate that had been slowly opening came to an abrupt halt.
More than that, it began to close again with a thunderous sound.
Just as he’d said, as if an invisible force were pressing down with overwhelming power.

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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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