A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 154

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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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154.

Ruellin’s complexion drained to a ghostly pallor.
“H-how… how could I possibly remember…?”
She muttered in disbelief, then belatedly caught herself, clamping her lips shut with a stricken expression.
A moment passed.
“W-what are you talking about?”
Ruellin feigned ignorance, affecting an air of innocent naiveté.
Yet the trembling corners of her mouth betrayed her completely.
“I don’t know what you mean…”
“No, Ruellin.”
I tilted my head askew, regarding her with a crooked gaze.
Then I extended my index finger, pressing it against the smooth expanse of her forehead.
“Stop playing dumb. You should be on your knees begging me right now.”
Push. Push.
I’d intended only to humiliate her, yet somehow emotion had crept into my touch.
As I pressed harder, her lustrous honey-colored hair swayed lifelessly with the force.
The sight of her face contorting—humiliation, shame, and fury all twisted together in grotesque anguish—
sent a delicious chill down my spine.
“All those absurd things you’ve done until now, I could walk out right this instant and—”
“…”
“—expose everything. What then?”
I startled her like a misbehaving child, crying out “Boo!” and she flinched, her shoulders trembling.
I couldn’t help but laugh with delight at her reaction.
That’s when it happened.
Smack!
She bit her lower lip until blood beaded, glaring at me with murderous intent, and roughly knocked my hand away from her forehead.
“…Do you have proof?”
Oh. So she wasn’t quite the fool I’d taken her for.
This was far more manageable than her stubbornly denying everything.
“Proof? I have none.”
“Who would believe you without evidence?!”
“How can you be certain only my memories have returned?”
She fell silent like a mute, frozen by my question.
“You put the most effort into me, and I remember everything so vividly… but the others? Their memories are hazy. If I make an earnest appeal—”
“…”
“They may not believe everything I say, but they’ll certainly harbor doubts about you. And the irony? You’ve returned, yet you can’t perform purification. Convenient, isn’t it?”
“…”
“Let’s see if that’s really what happens.”
I turned away from her coldly.
I was about to stride across the room and head straight for the door when—
Thud!
“Wait, Edith!”
With a loud sound, my ankle was suddenly seized.
When I turned my head, I saw Ruellin tumbling down from the bed and prostrating herself at my feet.
“I-I didn’t do it on purpose! I had my reasons!”
Abandoning all pretense of dignity, she clung desperately to my skirt, her voice trembling with appeal.
“Just listen to me for a moment. You know Sephiroth, right? Because of Sephiroth, I had no choice but to do this to save the world!”
“….”
“You loved them too. Ethan, Vincent, Dylan… they were all people you cherished and loved, so you wouldn’t want them all to lose their abilities and die helplessly, would you…!”
Conscious of who might be listening outside, she wept quietly, her voice barely above a whisper—a sight that would have moved anyone to pity.
A stranger witnessing this scene would have instinctively sympathized.
But none of it reached me.
Staring down at my leg held captive by her, I exhaled something like a sigh.
“You….”
“….”
“You really can’t use your abilities anymore?”
Even looking at her empty head, I remained uncertain.
I had been bracing myself, wondering what trick she might pull if cornered….
But she wasn’t manipulating my mind at all—she was genuinely prostrating and pleading.
‘This is… actually turning out to be quite entertaining.’
I concealed the laughter leaking out by pretending to stroke my chin.
But I couldn’t hide my trembling body, and Ruellin’s eyes, glistening with tears, wavered precariously.
“…I won’t ask for anything else.”
She bowed her head to me, all pride abandoned.
“Just give me a little time. So everyone can naturally accept that they were kidnapped and lost their abilities.”
“….”
“You have nothing to lose from this. Because I disappeared in the middle of it, you even became a Purifier… everything you originally wanted has been achieved.”
She was spouting what she thought was persuasive reasoning.
The more I listened, the more rage boiled up inside me, and my blood felt like it was rushing backward.
‘What exactly?’
What has been achieved?
The real Edith ended up dead, and I’ve endured every conceivable nightmare in this cursed place.
And my body?
My body that you used recklessly and then discarded in ruins—I don’t even know what happened to my career, my reputation.
What happened to my body?! What?!
I wanted to grab Ruellin’s shoulders right then and demand answers.
But I barely managed to suppress the rage swelling in my chest, threatening to burst.
“…Then what about Sephiroth?”
It was too early to act.
First, I needed to understand the situation.
“Even if I overlook all the insane things you’ve done, you’re saying the world will perish? That the Awakeners will lose their abilities and die. How exactly do you plan to prevent that?”
“That, that is….”
Ruellin mumbled uncertainly in response to my cold inquiry.
“…I have a way.”
“What way?”
“….”
“You don’t, do you?”
“No, no I do!”
She shook her head in startled panic.
“If, if I just had the Book of Prophecy, everything could be resolved!”
“Where is it?”
“….”
“You don’t know?”
Ha.
As I let out a dry laugh, Ruellin’s shoulders sagged.
“…If you just help me a little, we can save the world together, Edith Blake.”
Not only was she asking me to overlook her crimes, but she wanted me to help restore her honor as well?
There had to be limits to human audacity. How could anyone’s face be this thick?
I clicked my tongue at Ruellin’s shameless nature and spoke.
“If I help you, then you become a hero again and are revered, while I stand beside you watching you monopolize all the credit with my arms crossed?”
“….”
“Don’t you think the math doesn’t add up?”
“I, instead I’ll concede Ethan and Vincent to you!”
She declared it solemnly, as though she’d made some tremendous sacrifice.
I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t find words.
“D, Dylan too….”
As I stared coldly, she apparently misunderstood something and added hesitantly.
“Actually, I liked Serge. Grand Duke Belnac, I mean. The rest were just friends, but somehow they all ended up liking me….”
“….”
“But if I convince them, you’ll be able to restore your relationships quickly too. As long as I can stay at the Imperial Palace with Serge, I don’t really care….”
“Please….”
“…Huh?”
“Just shut up, Ruellin.”
Why was it?
Until now I’d managed to tolerate and listen, but this time I couldn’t. Why was it that—
The mention of Serge made my vision flip in a way I couldn’t explain.
Unable to hold back any longer, I reached out and grabbed a fistful of her hair at the crown of her head.
“Ugh! What, what are you—!”
Ruellin naturally recoiled at my sudden, violent action.
Yet refraining from tearing out her hair with all my strength was the absolute limit of my patience.
“I can’t tell if your head is a flower garden or just decoration.”
“E-Edith Blake. Don’t do this—!”
“You saw everything through the crystal orb and still think like that? Do I look like someone who needs your concessions right now?”
“…!”
At my sharp retort, Ruellin’s eyes widened in shock.
I’d made a mistake.
I hadn’t intended to reveal who I really was, or that I’d been watching over her all this time since she crossed into the real world.
Biting the inside of my lip in frustration, Ruellin pressed eagerly, “What… what do you mean? A crystal orb? What…?”
“….”
“Could it be… you saw everything too? Where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing? You have a crystal orb as well?”
“Hah…”
I released my grip on her hair with a sigh.
If I kept talking with her like this, my frustration would boil over and I’d end up spilling everything.
It was better to retreat now, go back, and organize my thoughts.
“Listen carefully, Ruellin.”
I crouched down to meet her gaze, still kneeling.
“As you said, I won’t mention your past atrocities myself. Not for now, anyway.”
“….”
“But I do need to report that you’re no longer an Awakener. That’s why I came looking for you today.”
“B-but that doesn’t change anything…!”
Fortunately, she was quickly swept up by my sudden topic change.
“What will you tell people right now?”
“That you lost your abilities because of Sephiroth?”
“But… if it happens so suddenly, it could cause strange misunderstandings. What if they suspect you’re a spy sent by the Heretics? The Imperial Palace might even expel you…”
“Hey.”
I cut off Ruellin’s whining in one stroke.
“Do I really have to consider your situation in detail right now?”
“….”
“When I’m being generous, stay quiet and accept it. Don’t babble about concessions or whatever and make me angry.”
“….”
“Understood?”
The conversation ended there.
I straightened up from my crouch.
I tried to head straight for the door, but I couldn’t take a single step.
Ruellin was gripping my leg firmly.
“…If I don’t help you, won’t you struggle too?”
“…I-if I don’t help you, won’t you struggle too?”
She glared up at me with eyes brimming with venom, her words dripping like a curse.
“Ethan still loves me. Vincent and Dylan too…! Even if I’ve lost my abilities, they’ll still trust my words more than yours…!”
“So what.”
Despite the massive hint I’d given her about the crystal orb, she continued wielding those names like weapons. I couldn’t fathom her logic.
What were those worthless men to her anyway.
I regarded Ruellin with irritation, then, as if granting her one final mercy, spoke each word deliberately.
“Those pathetic fools won’t accept them anyway, so keep them for yourself.”

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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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