A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 149

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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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149.

The Duke, who had been speaking with measured composure, suddenly clapped a hand over his mouth and turned his head away.
I could only stare at him in bewilderment, my eyes wide with shock.
Then I caught sight of droplets glistening as they reflected the moonlight, and I flinched.
“Father, surely you’re not…?”
“I’m not crying, *cough*! I’m not crying.”
“But there are tears…”
“I said I’m not, blast it!”
At his sudden outburst, I wordlessly withdrew a handkerchief and offered it to him.
*Honk!*
As if to prove his own words, the Duke accepted the handkerchief and blew his nose with considerable force.
Yet the noticeably reddened eyes and the intermittent trembling of his shoulders could not be concealed.
‘What could he have eaten wrong at the ballroom?’
I was simply bewildered, unable to understand why the Duke was behaving this way.
The family’s honor and prestige…
The reason I had purified the Imperial Palace Garden had nothing whatsoever to do with what he had just said.
Yet the atmosphere felt such that I dared not broach the subject, so I simply waited for the Duke in silence.
After quite some time had passed.
“…I suppose I should tell you now.”
Finally, having regained some semblance of composure, the Duke murmured in a heavily subdued voice.
“I am the only B-rank among all the Dukes of Blake throughout history.”
“…B-rank?”
“Yes. Even my own father was A-rank, falling just short of S-rank. In that sense, I was nothing but a disgrace to the family.”
This was something I had never known.
The novel—or rather, the Book of Prophecy—had not bothered to mention even the rank of the Duke, who was little more than an extra in its pages.
Wondering why he was suddenly bringing up ranks, I stared blankly at him, and the Duke sniffled.
“Of course, being B-rank wasn’t entirely a curse. Thanks to it, I lived my life without ever having to venture into the perilous subjugation of Gates.”
“…”
“But I spent my entire life consumed by inferiority, constantly comparing myself to other families. The only pride I had was marrying your mother, who was an S-rank gardener.”
The Duke smiled bitterly, as if recalling a distant past.
“Your mother wanted to retire from the political arena early and return home, so the three of us could live together in peace. But I was too greedy to allow it.”
“…”
“And then I let your mother slip away so meaninglessly, yet I still couldn’t come to my senses. You were still young and full of promise, after all.”
“…”
“You were my only remaining hope. I thought that raising you without shame, making you an Awakener, and proudly passing the Duke’s title to you was the only way I could repay your mother.”
I wore a peculiar expression upon learning of Edith Blake’s family circumstances, which I had never known before.
I knew full well that this was not my story.
Yet why did my ears naturally turn toward the Duke’s words?
“That’s why I was so harsh and cruel to you. Your mother sheltered you so, I thought I had to be even more severe.”
“….”
“You are the Duke’s Household’s sole heir, and a woman at that. I believed without doubt that I had to teach you harshly so you could lead the family and survive among those piranhas of the Nobility.”
Listening to the Duke’s confession—like a priest’s absolution—I felt somewhat deflated.
I had always been curious why the Duke treated his own daughter so poorly and disapprovingly.
Of course, Edith Blake’s personality was twisted and difficult enough….
Perhaps there was some secret about her birth that I didn’t know.
Or perhaps, like me, it was simply because she had failed to Awaken.
But given how I’d been treated since possessing her body, it wasn’t actually that bad, which made it somewhat puzzling.
And yet.
‘It was all just to resolve his own inferiority complex….’
I couldn’t say I didn’t pity Edith Blake, who had died from being wrongly blamed, but still, I could understand the Duke a little.
After all, he had clear reasons, and it seemed he hadn’t been entirely devoid of affection for his child.
But alongside that understanding, another question suddenly bubbled up.
“But then, why….”
“Why did you take Ethan as an adopted son?”
Before I could even finish speaking, the Duke cut in as if he’d known what I was about to say.
“That too was all my greed.”
He continued with a somewhat dejected expression.
“Of course, there was also the promise I made with that boy’s father to care for him well. But I won’t deny that I harbored the vain hope that if you stayed close to an S-rank Awakener, you would naturally Awaken to S-rank as well.”
“….”
“No, perhaps this too is merely an excuse. Maybe it was all self-consolation born from my inferiority complex….”
“….”
“If the household had even one S-rank Awakener, we wouldn’t be disrespected anywhere, I thought. Neither you nor I.”
The Duke finished speaking and laughed bitterly.
His answer was far more candid than I expected, and I was taken aback.
After deliberating for a while, I carefully asked.
“…So, did things work out as you wanted?”
The Duke didn’t answer my question.
Yet his expression, which twisted in pain for a moment, was answer enough.
“You….”
He repeated opening and closing his lips as if choosing his words, before finally speaking with difficulty.
“From when you, Edith, died and were barely brought back to life.”
“….”
“That’s when I began to feel that something was wrong.”
At this unexpected turn, my eyes widened.
Recalling that time, the Duke’s breathing grew slightly ragged.
“Back then, I thought it was enough that you had miraculously returned to life.”
“….”
“Frederick, Vincent, and even Ethan were with you, yet you returned in such a state. It was peculiar, I’ll admit… but you’ve always been a reckless, unpredictable spirit, haven’t you? So I accepted the report at face value—that everything was simply your carelessness.”
“….”
“No, that’s what I wanted to believe.”
“….”
“If it weren’t so… then I, with these very hands of mine….”
The Duke suddenly raised both hands and spread them before me.
His expression twisted with revulsion, as though filth clung to his palms.
Or perhaps it was the anguished cry of one swallowing a blade—he forced the words out with tremendous effort.
“Did I not shelter the dark-haired beast that caused my daughter’s death?”
“….”
“All three of those wretches owe our family a considerable debt. No matter how ungrateful humans are, they would not repay kindness with enmity….”
The moment I saw his trembling hands suspended in the air, I understood instinctively.
The Duke had learned the truth about everything surrounding his only daughter’s death.
“…After that, you awakened, and I believed everything was simply unfolding well. You spouted some nonsense about leaving to live your own life, but I thought it was merely a passing whim, like a cold wind.”
“….”
“Just childish sulking, as always. You awakened as The Purifier, of all things, and your rival conveniently disappeared—naturally your pride would swell accordingly.”
“….”
“I believed you were living days more joyful and content than anyone else….”
The Duke slowly lowered the hands he had been holding.
And finally, his eyes revealed themselves—deep regret and sorrow.
And endless despair and anguish.
“Every time you returned from your duties as an Awakener, which you desired so greatly, Edith Blake, you….”
“….”
“Collapsed with a face more miserable than anyone else’s.”
Unable to meet my gaze, the Duke hung his head weakly.
“The first time or two, I told myself it was acceptable. You awakened at a late age, so it was natural that you would suffer twice as much as others….”
“….”
“But today, watching you laboriously purify the Imperial Palace floors with an injured body… a terrible premonition suddenly seized me.”
“What….”
“That I, our family… are we not driving you toward death once again?”
At his unexpected words, my eyes widened.
Today’s purification had nothing to do with Ethan or the other male leads, nor with the Duke’s Household.
“That’s not it, Father. What I purified today truly wasn’t because of the family or others’ eyes….”
“….”
“It was simply a sense of duty. It happened during my medal ceremony, after all.”
I denied it earnestly, but the Duke, his head already bowed, seemed unable to hear me.
He simply shook his head in silence, then—his face aged a full decade in mere seconds—he dropped a bombshell.
“…Ethan will undergo the disownment procedure in due time.”

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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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