A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 148

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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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148.

Beams of light surged forth like a living thing, spiraling around Serge’s entire body before gradually spreading wide to cradle him like a gentle embrace.

92%
89%
86%

The numbers descended at a measured pace—neither rushed nor sluggish.
I knew that if I summoned the intense concentration I’d once wielded for rapid purification, the numbers would plummet far more steeply, yet I chose not to.
I simply… didn’t want to.
Whether it was because of the warning not to overexert myself, or something else entirely, I couldn’t say.
Sleep began to creep over me, and my eyelids grew heavy.
I furrowed my brow, fighting against the drowsiness, when I suddenly murmured in a hoarse voice.
“…Do you know something?”
“Know what?”
“When you become accustomed to insomnia, the moment sleep finally takes you feels strangely unfamiliar.”
Of course, she didn’t know.
She had never suffered from insomnia—only from extreme stress or the brink of physical collapse that might lead to unconsciousness.
“…Since my awakening, the times I’ve slept soundly can be counted on one hand… and now that I think about it, every single one of those moments was because of…”
“…”
“The Princess.”
Before she could even respond, my murmuring continued.
“Only twice have I ever slept so deeply that I didn’t even know who was beside me.”
“…”
“Ah, is this the third time?”
I rambled on like a drunk man before suddenly falling silent, a faint smile crossing my face.
I couldn’t tell if I disliked falling asleep during purification or if I was actually pleased about it.

78%
71%
65%

Just as the surging purification light began to devour the Magi swirling around his body more aggressively, Serge’s words trailed off.
Though he remained standing rigidly upright, it was clear he wouldn’t be opening his eyes anytime soon.
I exhaled softly and fully unleashed the ability I’d been channeling in restrained streams.
Whoooosh―!
The light pouring from my hands intensified dramatically.
Waves of emerald radiance engulfed Serge’s entire body, then spilled over onto the ground beneath him.
I heard gasps of astonishment from the onlookers, but I paid them no mind.
Eyes closed, I concentrated.
In the darkness, I felt the purification light I emanated spreading outward like a receding tide, farther and farther still.
Until at last it consumed every trace of Magi that lay scattered and undulating across the entire Garden grounds.
Onward.
Onward.
When a cool breeze brushed against my bare face like a whispered breath.
I finally opened my eyes.
And there remained those pitch-black pupils, still faintly open.

45%

My shock at the drastically reduced number and the man still awake was fleeting.
“Honestly… you’re infuriatingly stubborn.”
He muttered the words while glaring at me with obvious displeasure.
‘Why isn’t he asleep? This doesn’t work anymore either?!’
It was needless worry.
The moment those words left his lips, his tightly clenched fist went slack.
Serge’s massive frame toppled backward.
Thud!

***

The purification itself went well enough.
But I had no idea how to handle the man who had spectacularly crashed onto his back with his head striking the floor.
‘Surely I’m not expected to drag him away?’
I was clicking my tongue in bewilderment while glancing around the room.
“We shall attend to the Grand Duke, Your Highness. Please do not concern yourself.”
A group of men clad in black armor suddenly materialized from somewhere.
Upon confirming the Grand Duke’s House insignia etched upon their pauldrons, I finally felt a weight lift from my shoulders.
“Very well, then. You may go.”
“We shall escort him to the Duke’s Residence.”
“That’s fine.”
Having entrusted Serge to the Grand Duke’s knights, I turned away without hesitation.
I noticed the cluster of people who had been whispering hastily fell silent.
Some among them shifted as if wanting to speak with me, but perhaps due to the evident exhaustion etched across my face,
fortunately, no one approached me.
‘I need to return home quickly.’
After purifying the vast expanse of land in Acarna, I had grown rather depleted—not to the point of immediate collapse, but noticeably so.
My body simply felt heavy and profoundly drowsy.
‘Perhaps purifying the garden was pushing it too far?’
As Serge had said, the amount of Magi layered beneath the garden was so minimal it would naturally dissipate within two or three days.
It might have even been an opportunity to strike at Ruellin once she regained consciousness.
Purifying her body could have been deferred to another time.
Yet the reason I went ahead with the purification regardless was, simply put,
‘…that person didn’t need to step forward and close the Gate in the first place.’
It was a flimsy excuse.

― …Well, perhaps.
― Did I want to bolster my partner, whose spirit had been utterly crushed?

It was more accurate to say it was for the sake of displaying my power before everyone gathered, rather than for myself.
And yet.
And yet….
“…Edith Blake.”
It was just as I was passing through the doorway to enter the Ballroom.
At someone’s call, I suddenly snapped from my reverie.

68%

The one blocking my path was none other than Vincent.
His expression bore that lost, childlike quality from before our false reconciliation.
“…Let me say something for a moment.”
“Later. I’m exhausted.”
I attempted to pass by him without stopping.
I simply lacked the energy to deal with him right now.
And yet.
A sharp sound—
My wrist was seized.
I tried to wrench free immediately, but found myself unable to do so because the hand gripping me trembled like aspen leaves.
“I’m on your side.”
Those pitifully golden eyes spilled the words toward me.
“I didn’t act like a busybody like Dylan Frederick, and I didn’t rush forward without dignity like Ethan.”
I couldn’t immediately grasp what he was saying.
When I turned to face him with an incomprehending expression, Vincent forced his rigid lips upward into a strained smile.
Eyes that gleamed with such servility and gloom, as if asking, ‘I did well, didn’t I?’
Only then could I discern what he was trying to convey.
‘So what?’
Because you didn’t carry Ruellin away in your arms like Dylan, and didn’t rush at me in panic like Ethan—
Was he seeking my praise?
Did he expect me to embrace him and kiss him, moved to tears by his gratitude?
As I continued to say nothing and merely stare, the smile that had seemed to form on Vincent’s lips gradually faded.
“We… made up, didn’t we? We’re on the same side now. Right?”
Watching him speak with such childish desperation—like an abandoned child afraid of rejection—exhaustion crashed over me suddenly.
“Vincent.”
I swallowed the sigh escaping my lips and opened my mouth.
“Regardless of how you behave, I don’t….”
“Edith Blake.”
That was when it happened.
With perfect timing, someone inserted themselves between us.
I immediately averted my gaze from Vincent, my eyes widening at the unexpected figure.
“Father…?”
The Duke crossed through the chaotic Ballroom toward me.
“Why haven’t you left yet….”
Without a word, he suddenly thrust something into my hands.
“This is….”
Resting upon his weathered palm was none other than my lost medal.
“Were you searching for this?”
“Ahem, well. I simply happened to find it rolling about.”
At my astonished expression, the Duke let out an awkward cough.
‘When did I drop it?’
A strange unease washed over me in an instant.
I had assumed he would have left long ago once the Gate opened, yet he had lingered all this time searching for it….
“But do you two have something to discuss?”
The Duke looked between Vincent and me with evident confusion.
“Duke, that is….”
“No.”
The answer came simultaneously from both of us.
I firmly wrenched my wrist free, hoping the Duke would catch my meaningful glance.
“We were just exchanging farewells.”
“I see. Then let us depart.”
Fortunately, the Duke quickly grasped my freed hand and escorted me away.
I turned my back on Vincent without hesitation.
As I left the Ballroom, his gaze clung persistently to the back of my head.
Yet he did not reach for me again.

***

Inside the carriage on the way back.
A suffocating silence pressed down upon my shoulders.
I traced the medal the Duke had found with my fingertips, trying to gather my drowsy thoughts.
I wanted to lean back and relax completely, but the person sitting across from me made that impossible.
‘Come to think of it… this is the first time I’ve ridden alone in a carriage with the Duke.’
It had been my best option to avoid Vincent, but this situation was hardly less awkward.
“You look tired.”
The Duke suddenly broke the suffocating silence and spoke.
“The Healer said you’ve almost fully recovered. Are you still unwell?”
“It must be from using my ability after so long.”
I answered casually, sensing he too found this awkwardness unbearable.
“I’ll be fine once I rest properly after returning home.”
“There’s somewhere we need to stop by before heading back.”
“Somewhere to stop by?”
Startled by his unexpected words, I straightened up in my seat.
Now that I thought about it, I had only seen unfamiliar streets through the window.
This was definitely not the route back to the Duke’s Residence.
“Where….”
The Duke never did tell me where our destination was.
Before long, the carriage came to a halt.
“Get out.”
The Duke stepped out first without hesitation, pushing the door open.
I followed him down in bewilderment.
The carriage had stopped before a modest two-story house that looked as though it had stepped straight out of a fairy tale.
Though absurdly small compared to the Duke’s Residence, the rose vines generously draped along the perimeter wall and the antiquated interior suggested it was a newly built high-end residence.
“Where is this place, Father?”
At my question, the Duke hesitated for a long moment before finally opening his mouth with difficulty.
“…I promised you before that I would give you an estate.”
“….”
“It’s furnished well enough that you could move in immediately without any trouble, so settle your mind and relocate whenever you’re ready.”
My mouth fell open at these unexpected words.
Move out? Just like this, so suddenly?
Of course, I was the one who first brought up leaving, but wasn’t it too much to give me no time to prepare?
“This is… rather abrupt.”
I protested softly in a disgruntled tone, and the Duke gazed at the two-story house.
“Do you remember when I set a condition for granting your independence? That you stop serving as the Purifier.”
“…Yes.”
“But seeing you today, I realized my selfishness had gone too far.”
“What do you…”
The Duke, who had been staring at the two-story house with distant eyes, turned his gaze back to me.
His unfamiliar expression drew me deeper into confusion.
The Duke looked at me with sorrowful, wistful eyes and spoke.
“The Purifier everyone thought was dead appeared, and your heart must have been in turmoil. Your only brother ignores his suffering sister and shields that girl instead.”
“….”
“Yet even through all that, watching you drag your ailing body through purification for the family’s honor and prestige, I simply…”
“….”
“I simply had no shame left to keep you confined to this house, *cough*…!”
Huh?

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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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