A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 150

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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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150.

“Ah, Father.”
I stared at the Duke with a vacant expression.
Disowning him now, of all times?
Regardless of my personal feelings toward Ethan, this was not a decision to be made hastily.
It would be more than enough to spark a scandal—whispers that the Duke’s Household cast aside an adopted son the moment his true daughter awakened, inviting all manner of negative rumors.
With Ruellin’s return already throwing everything into chaos, I had no desire to see our family’s dirty laundry aired before the masses.
So I chose my words with deliberate care.
“There’s no need to do this because of me. It’s all in the past, and this isn’t something to decide in haste….”
“No. I didn’t decide in haste. I’ve been wrestling with this for some time—today, I simply found my conviction.”
Yet the Duke added his words with unwavering resolve.
“Tomorrow, I’ll request the Security Bureau to reinvestigate the incident at Tollen Gate.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
“And I’ll have Ethan, Vincent Leandro, and Dylan Frederick brought to trial on charges of negligent homicide.”
Bombs far more devastating than the disownment fell upon me all at once.
I could do nothing but gape at him with eyes that no longer recognized the man before me.
At my frozen reaction, the Duke attempted a consoling smile.
“I’ve already found witnesses. I’ll handle all the procedures myself, so there’s nothing for you to worry about.”
‘He’s found witnesses…?’
The unexpected revelation made me flinch.
Yet I quickly accepted it.
Tollen was a sizable village—surely there were one or two people who witnessed someone emerging from the Gate without the Princess.
But even with witnesses, uncovering the truth of the incident would be difficult.
It had been long since the case was closed as an accident, and I myself had claimed memory loss ever since the possession began.
Beyond Ethan, there was no telling how Vincent’s and Dylan’s families would respond, and other factions might seize the opportunity to undermine the Duke’s Household, and furthermore….
I was a person who would soon leave this place.
Nothing would be more absurd than the key witness vanishing without a trace while the trial proceeded.
I had more than enough reasons to stop the Duke’s relentless pursuit of justice.
Yet the moment our eyes met, I found myself utterly unable to speak.
“….”
The belated remorse and self-reproach etched across my aging father’s face.
And yet, I knew all too well that his dead daughter would never return….
I understood it far too deeply.
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this now.”
Revealing the truth now would not resurrect Edith Blake, who had been used and discarded, dying so meaninglessly.
Even if the perpetrators ultimately faced justice for their crimes.
Even if I abandoned this body and returned to my original world.
My throat burned, and an indescribable emotion surged within me, threatening to overflow.
I barely suppressed it, then whispered my question.
“Don’t you think it’s too late to undo everything?”
At my words, the Duke’s eyes widened slightly.
Those blue pupils, so identical to Edith Blake’s, trembled faintly before sinking deep as the abyssal depths of the ocean.
“Edith Blake, I wish for you….”
….
“If only you could find your smile again, even now.”
At his response, I held my breath for a moment.
Seeing my reaction, the Duke offered a clouded smile.
“Do you know? Since that incident, you haven’t smiled even once at home.”
….
“It’s been a long time since you stopped visiting the Greenhouse you once frequented.”
It was only natural that I was different from the Edith Blake of before.
Because I had possessed her body by then.
But I hadn’t considered how I appeared in the Duke’s eyes.
“That you’ve grown uncomfortable in the house where you were born and raised.”
….
“That nowhere in that vast space is there a place where you can truly rest at ease.”
The middle-aged man, etched with bitter anguish and remorse, timidly extended his trembling hand toward me as if afraid.
“This foolish father, who only now understands….”
….
“Won’t you forgive me just this once?”
Though I tried to hold back, I couldn’t prevent my face from contorting painfully.
Seeing his finely wrinkled hand tremble so slightly, I felt a nausea akin to the urge to vomit.
It wasn’t the Duke’s belated plea for reconciliation that repulsed me.
What was repulsive was myself.
How I’d grown so weary of this cursed place, always thinking I’d cast it aside without hesitation the moment opportunity arose.
How I’d always empathized with and raged at Edith Blake’s unjust condemnation and death.
Yet in this moment, I wanted to take the Duke’s hand as he apologized, feigning ignorance of everything….
It was so pathetic and disgusting.
That even if I returned to reality, this would never happen to me.
That I envied even the dead Edith Blake.
It was so miserable.
“…Edith Blake?”
As all these emotions swirled together and finally became hot tears streaming down one cheek,
the Duke called out to me in surprise.
I quickly raised my gloved hand to wipe my cheek.
And I tried to compose my expression as if nothing were amiss.
But it didn’t work.
Breath that carried both grievance and anger kept leaking from my lips.
In the end, I lowered my head and spoke rapidly, my voice trembling.
“…I’d like to stay here tonight.”
“What?”
“Please go back first. I’ll return once the sun rises.”
“But there’s no one here….”
“Please do as I ask, Father.”
Faced with my stubborn insistence, the Duke finally sighed and surrendered.
“…Leave a guard knight behind.”
At those words, I passed by him and headed toward the entrance of the Two-Story House.
A knight who had been standing at a distance quickly approached and opened the door for me.
Just as I was about to step through.
“…Edith Blake.”
“….”
“You’ll come back when daylight breaks, won’t you?”
The Duke’s question reached me from behind.
But I did not answer.
The Duke’s Mansion carriage did not depart until I had finally vanished into the thick darkness.
Even long after midnight had passed.

***

They said it was furnished well enough to move into immediately, and indeed, the modest two-story house contained everything one could need.
Lacking the energy to explore further, I simply made my way to the nearest sofa and collapsed onto it ungracefully.
The house felt quite cold, having stood empty for so long, but I had no idea how to light a fire.
Fortunately, a blanket draped over the sofa made it bearable enough.
The cumbersome dress and accessories were terribly inconvenient, but without Nancy’s assistance, removing them myself was simply impossible.
“…I’ve truly become quite the noblewoman, haven’t I.”
Just yesterday, I was cycling through the same few outfits and a research coat, sleeping cramped on an uncomfortable single bed.
Now I couldn’t even light a fire or undress myself without someone to attend to me….
Lying on the cold sofa, staring blankly up at the dark ceiling, a sigh escaped me unbidden.
My mind was in turmoil.
‘Has the Duke returned?’
The carriage and his silhouette, which hadn’t budged until I stepped inside the house, suddenly came to mind.
A belated sense of regret washed over me.
“I should have just closed my eyes and taken his hand once….”
Given his nature, it must have been an apology offered with considerable pride set aside.
And though I was entirely mistaken, he even wept because of my purification….
“Sigh….”
I don’t know.
In that moment, all I could think of was escaping.
Besides, reconciliation and forgiveness were not my burden to bear.
I’m not even Edith Blake—what right did I have to forgive anyone?
I didn’t even know how much hatred or affection she held for the Duke before her death.
And besides.
‘What happens to Ethan? Will he really be disowned?’
And what about the trial for those three hopeless brothers?
What becomes of Ruellin, and Sephiroth….
“Ah, I don’t know.”
I closed my eyes, turning away from the mounting troubles.
Unsurprisingly, sleep would not come.
Until recently, I had believed that everything would be resolved once Ruellin returned.
But why was it.
That even after she returned so dramatically, nothing was actually resolved?
Instead, an unsettling sense of being pulled deeper into a labyrinth tormented me throughout the night.

***

“A-a-achoo!”
Damn it.
I ended up staying awake the entire night with my eyes wide open.
How could I possibly sleep when I was freezing?!
The moment dawn broke, I scrambled out of the two-story house in a panic.
But then.
“Young lady.”
“…Butler?”
Standing before the gate waiting for me was none other than the Butler.
“Why is the Butler here…?”
“I had a feeling you would return early this morning, so I came to greet you.”
His shameless answer made it immediately clear whose doing this was.
‘Sigh, I said I’d be back in the morning…’
It was undoubtedly the Duke’s doing, worried that I might not return.
I clicked my tongue inwardly and climbed into the carriage that the Butler politely opened for me.
I had been wondering how I’d get back at this ungodly hour, but truthfully, I was relieved.
“Has anything happened at home?”
I glanced at the Butler seated across from me and asked out of courtesy.
“No. Young Master Ethan has not yet returned, but…”
Whether that fool came crawling back or not was none of my concern.
I wasn’t particularly surprised, as I had somehow expected as much.
Yet for some reason, the Butler wore a grave expression.
“However, you should take a look at the newspaper.”
He pulled out a bundle of papers from his breast pocket and handed it to me—apparently he had brought the morning edition.
“The newspaper?”
I accepted it in bewilderment and unfolded it.
And then.

[EXCLUSIVE! Gate Incident During Imperial Palace Banquet—
Grand Duke Belnac’s ‘Psychic Suppression’ and the Blake Princess’s Purification,
And the Pink-Tinged Aura Shimmering Between the Two?!]

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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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