A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 160

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

160.

Had I truly lost my mind, driven to the brink by such relentless psychological torment?
I couldn’t even understand why I’d closed my eyes as if entranced by those words.
The moment darkness consumed my vision, another’s breath flooded in.
The soft sensation that had touched my eyelids now brushed against my lips.
That tepid warmth lingered there for several seconds without the slightest tremor.
‘…?’
I was somewhat taken aback.
When he demanded payment, I’d expected him to ask for something extraordinary….
Instead, it was merely like children playing house, pressing their lips together in secret.
Yet somehow, that simple contact felt unbearably ticklish.
My eyes snapped open.
And immediately, I saw the face positioned mere inches from mine.
He’d told me to close my eyes, yet his own were firmly shut.
His long lashes trembled delicately—far more beautiful than necessary.
His straight nose as well.
And for some reason, even the tips of his ears, flushed crimson.
‘Why?’
My impressions of him were strange and absurd.
Why did this crude, disrespectful trash—using payment as a mere pretext for mockery—appear so bashfully shy?
Had my eyes finally deceived me?
While such foolish thoughts occupied my mind, his lips withdrew silently.
The man showed no particular surprise at finding my eyes open.
He simply gazed at me quietly, his pupils somewhat unfocused.
His warm hands, still cupping both my cheeks, remained exactly where they were.
At a distance where the slightest movement would bring our lips together again, I found myself whispering involuntarily.
“…Is that all?”
“…No.”
Despite having merely pressed our lips together for mere seconds.
The man breathed heavily, roughly pulling down the cravat around his neck.
“Can I do more?”
“No. That’s not what I meant… Hah!”
Opening my mouth had been a mistake.
The moment his hands shifted from my cheeks to the back of my head, pulling forcefully, our lips met again.
As if to prove the previous contact was mere play, his thick tongue invaded my mouth with overwhelming dominance.
“Mmph…!”
I reflexively pushed him away.
However, the large hand pressing down on the back of my head didn’t budge an inch.
Instead, it captured my restless tongue and tangled it thoroughly, leaving me unable to resist.
My unfinished words and breath were all stolen away, everything churned together recklessly.
Cold, so cold—
The wet, slick sounds of tangled flesh echoed relentlessly, completely unraveling the rationality I desperately tried to maintain.
Shaking my head did no good.
The lips I’d thought were soft clung tenaciously, sucking, licking, biting until….
‘I can’t breathe…!’
As fast as I exhaled, he inhaled, and my breath ran short in no time.
This was far too much to call a kiss.
“Wait, ah, stop…!”
By the time I felt like I was being devoured, I was already pounding my fists against the man’s chest.
Perhaps my fierce struggle for survival finally worked.
The man let out a low groan before finally lifting his head.
Even then, his tongue reluctantly traced along my teeth one last time, as if reluctant to part.
“Gasp, ah….”
The breath I’d been holding burst out all at once.
My lips and the skin around them were completely wet and sore.
I rubbed my hand across my mouth roughly and glared at Serge with all my might.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, he looked little better than I did.
His swollen lips glistening with saliva of unknown origin, his eyes reddened and flushed.
The way he examined me carefully, as if searching for an opening….
Fearing he might pounce again at any moment, I cried out urgently.
“Why did you do that twice?”
“…What?”
“I haven’t even agreed to the deal yet, so why do it twice!”
“…A deal?”
As if he’d heard an unfamiliar word, he made a strange expression.
I was exasperated.
“You said I should beg and plead for help! I haven’t decided whether to do it or not yet, so…!”
Back off!
I shook off his hand that still gripped the back of my head, irritated.
“…I see.”
Finally understanding, he mercifully stepped back without resistance.
“I apologize for my rudeness, Princess.”
His unexpectedly polite addition made me laugh bitterly.
‘After doing all that, and now apologizing for rudeness.’
As I stared at him with displeasure, he stepped back and spoke as usual.
“I’ll look into Sephiroth’s current situation right away, so rest today. The Butler will show you to your quarters. You won’t need a separate Maid assigned, will you?”
His tone, as if my staying at the Grand Duke’s Residence was only natural, left me bewildered.
“That’s enough. It’s late, so let’s just head back….”
“No.”
He narrowed his brow and cut me off with a sharp edge to his voice.
“I can’t let this go now.”
“What….”
“I’ve received payment, so I should honor a request worthy of it. We made a deal, didn’t we? Right?”
“….”
“Sending you away empty-handed would weigh on my conscience.”
The man murmured in that subtle tone, then suddenly fixed his gaze directly on me.
Realizing his eyes had settled on my lips, which had begun to swell, I stammered out a response.
“As for updates, I could provide them in writing….”
“If you return after less than a day of running away, won’t that look ridiculous?”
“….”
“Stay put. It won’t take long.”
That wasn’t what I meant about returning to the Duke’s Mansion.
Before I could even respond, he turned away.
And without hesitation, he left the Reception Room.
His gait was somewhat hurried, unlike his usual leisurely demeanor.
Click, thud.
With the sound of the door opening and closing, silence descended upon the Reception Room, as if a storm had swept through.
“…What was that.”
I stared after the man who had vanished like the wind, lost in thought.
A kiss. Or rather, payment?
In any case, after that indescribable act was finished, we had certainly conversed normally.
I never agreed to it, but regardless, what he demanded was fulfilled, wasn’t it?
And yet.
“…Why did he look like that?”
As if he were disappointed about something.
The expression that had crossed his face the moment he mentioned the deal troubled me.
I was the one who lost my first kiss to an absurd deal, so why would he wear such an expression?
“That can’t be right.”
I shook my head firmly.
When I thought about it deeply, I was the only one at a loss.
Right now.
Right now I needed to worry about my dying body and how to return.

― From now on, try to create something worth holding onto here.

So I deliberately ignored the voice echoing in my ears, the murmuring in my chest.

***

“This is….”
The room the Grand Duke’s Residence Butler had shown me was as spacious and ornate as my own chamber at the Duke’s Residence.
It was far too lavish for a guest staying only briefly.
“Surely there’s another room….”
“Miss!”
That was when it happened.
Just as I was about to ask for a different room, the figure already settled inside rushed out and pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Nancy.”
“Are you alright? Why did you arrive so late? I was worried—your expression at the end looked so troubled….”
“Please, rest comfortably.”
Before I could even respond, the Butler hurried away in a fluster.
I had no choice but to follow Nancy’s lead into the room.
“And you—did everything go well? No one gave you any trouble?”
I couldn’t fathom why Nancy, whom I’d instructed to wait in the carriage, was here.
“Trouble? The Butler showed me around the Grand Duke’s Residence—I didn’t have a moment to be bored!”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes! It was absolutely magnificent! One entire hall is filled with the Grand Duke’s Gate trophies—goodness! I thought I’d wandered into a museum! And there’s the Maze Garden, and an Annex Building with walls made entirely of jewels… Later, you simply must come see it with me!”
Nancy’s eyes sparkled as she chattered away like a bird.
I was relieved she hadn’t been neglected in my absence, yet her apparent enchantment with the Grand Duke’s Residence left me with an odd sense of unease.
As I nodded absently in response, I suddenly noticed something missing from the room.
“But where are my belongings?”
“Your belongings? Now that you mention it, the Servants took everything from the carriage….”
“What? Surely not the box I brought?”
“No! They said that was your personal item and absolutely could not be given up. I brought it to the Study connected to this room myself.”
Nancy guided me familiarly to the adjoining space.
I’d assumed the Study would be merely a guest room fitted with the bare essentials—a desk, shelves, and books—but I was mistaken.
An enormous bookcase nearly identical to the library at the Duke’s Residence greeted me, lined with countless volumes.
In the center stood an antique desk, commanding the space.
‘This is… practically a room befitting the master of the house.’
I couldn’t determine whether the Grand Duke’s Residence was so magnificent that it offered such chambers even to guests, or if this was truly his own personal study.
Feeling somewhat overwhelmed, I let out a small sigh—until I spotted the familiar box resting quietly on the desk, which brought me relief.
Nancy’s tour was far from over.
Beyond another passage connected to the bedroom lay a dressing room nearly as vast as the sleeping chamber itself.
“Look at this, Miss! It was completely empty before, but in less than an hour they brought everything and filled it! And they’re all perfectly tailored to your measurements. I suppose that’s why they took your luggage.”
“But what on earth….”
My eyes widened at the countless dresses and garments hanging on the racks.
There were nearly as many as those in my wardrobe at the Duke’s Residence.
I had never agreed to stay, so I couldn’t fathom why all of this had been prepared.
‘Have you lost your mind? Is this what you dragged me into that reception room for all that time?!’
Oblivious to the way my insides were burning, Nancy murmured as though lost in a dream.
“My, the Grand Duke seems far kinder and more considerate than the rumors suggest….”
Have you lost your mind?
Show him kindness twice, and your master’s tongue will be ripped clean out.
I formed a retort I couldn’t dare voice aloud, when suddenly Nancy’s eyes, fixed upon me, gleamed with alarm.
“…But, Miss. Why do your lips look like that?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————