A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 164

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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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164.

I hurried back to the Grand Duke’s Residence, leaving Vincent in the Maze Garden.
The front courtyard of the estate, which he had reduced to ruins, was in a flurry of activity.
The people who had been swept away and knocked down by the gale were nowhere to be seen, and the damaged plants and stonework were being rapidly replaced.
Everyone seemed to share the same desire—to suppress the chaos before the brutal master returned.
“Young Lady!”
The Butler, who had been leading the servants from the front, spotted me and rushed over in a panic.
“Are you unharmed?”
“Yes, well…”
There had been quite a lot to contend with.
The image of Vincent kneeling and weeping, pleading with me, still felt like a dream—surreal and disorienting.
“But Marquis Leandro…”
“He’s gone.”
“Using his ability?”
My silence confirmed it, and the Butler’s expression darkened considerably.
Understandably so—an S-rank Awakener had stormed the Grand Duke’s Residence in broad daylight and wreaked havoc without restraint.
On top of that, he had no idea how to report this disaster to the master of the house.
‘Well, it’s not my concern.’
I was planning to leave this place as of now.
Whether Serge pursued damages later or marched on the Marquis’s estate to exact revenge in kind, it was entirely the responsibility of the one who had caused the outrage.
I had merely laid the groundwork to escape.
“I have a bit of a headache. Would it be alright if I took a parasol and went for another walk?”
“Of course. I’ll bring it at once.”
“No, you’re already busy enough. I’d like to walk alone with the Maid I brought with me.”
“Then just a moment…”
The Butler clearly intended to follow me, as though he had been ordered to keep a close watch.
“Butler! I think you should come look at this!”
But just then, one of the Gardeners who was replanting the vegetation called out to him.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
I slipped into the mansion quickly while the Butler was deliberating.
When I returned to my room, I found Nancy peering out the window.
“Miss!”
“Nancy.”
“Are you alright?”
She hurried over and examined me from every angle.
No matter how worthless a man he was, he would never dare raise a hand against a Young Lady.
Seeing Vincent’s behavior toward me through another’s eyes made me realize just how terrible it truly was, and a bitter smile escaped me.
I got straight to the point with her.
“Did they also steal the money you brought with you?”
“Pardon? Oh, no! I kept the purse safe.”
“Bring it here, along with the parasol.”
“Yes!”
While Nancy went to fetch the money, I hurried to the table.
The note and mask Sephiroth had sent were still lying there undisturbed.
I gathered them and handed them to Nancy.
She placed them in the small bag she’d brought along with the purse and fastened it securely.
It wasn’t unusual for a maid to carry various items when a noblewoman went out, as ladies of high standing required many things for their outings.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
As I spoke with a meaningful glance, Nancy nodded with a tense expression.
Just before stepping outside the room, I recalled the crystal orb and the Book of Prophecy I’d left in the study, and hesitated for a moment.
‘Should I take them with me?’
The crystal orb was secondary, but the Book of Prophecy was the condition of my deal with Sephiroth.
She said she would return me if I brought it, but naturally I didn’t believe her.
After all, I had made a wish, yet nothing happened.
‘Better to use it as leverage than to take it and lose it without getting anything in return.’
I suppressed the urge to immediately grab the Book of Prophecy and demand she save my life.
As I left the mansion with Nancy, the servants’ gazes, including the butler’s, turned toward us.
However, thanks to my prior notice, no one stopped me as I leisurely set out for a stroll beneath the parasol the maid held over me.
Thus I returned to the entrance of the Maze Garden without incident.
“Nancy, give me the bag.”
I stopped and extended my hand, and Nancy carefully removed the bag she’d been carrying and handed it to me.
“Miss, are you going out like this?”
“Yes.”
Though Nancy gazed at me with worried eyes, she asked nothing further.
She truly was someone I could rely on.
“Wait here for about thirty minutes, then go back and tell them I sent you on an urgent errand. After that, return to the Duke’s Mansion. You don’t need to come back here.”
“Understood.”
“Everything else is fine, but my box in the study—that one thing must be brought to my room. Do you understand?”
“Yes. Don’t worry, Miss.”
“Thank you. I’m counting on you.”
After patting the shoulder of Nancy, who was steeling herself with grim determination, I immediately entered the Maze Garden.
Fortunately, Vincent was still standing in that same spot.
He appeared quite anxious, pacing back and forth in front of the fountain.
I should have been pleased that he was waiting obediently as planned, yet instinctively I concealed myself behind the wall.
And for a moment, I observed him.
‘Before, I could never understand what that man was thinking… but now…’
Strangely enough, I found myself reading his every move with crystalline clarity.
Without realizing it, his feet kept shifting toward the corridor where I stood, only to hesitate and retreat in a nervous, agitated rhythm.
Any moment now, he looked ready to storm back into the Grand Duke’s Residence.
It was painfully obvious he was wavering about my suggestion to leave together.
It wasn’t even that late, yet his inability to wait even a few moments felt pathetic.
‘Is leaving with him really the right choice?’
What I’d considered a reasonable plan now filled me with doubt.
Perhaps that’s why I’d hidden myself away.
Because I couldn’t be certain this decision was correct.
Honestly, it was almost laughable—wondering when he’d become so obsessed with me.
If he couldn’t even trust a simple promise like this, his talk of affection felt utterly hollow and shallow.
Maybe that’s why I felt no qualms about using him.
Because I didn’t trust him either.
“…!”
Without thinking, I remained hidden behind the wall, watching to see what he would do.
As if sensing my gaze through some supernatural instinct, he suddenly lifted his head.
Before I could react, our eyes met.
“Edith Blake…!”
He came rushing toward me in a flustered sprint.
“You really came? You actually came?”
“….”
“I waited for you quietly and obediently, just like you said. I did well, didn’t I?”
This was the same man who moments ago had been debating whether to charge back into the Grand Duke’s Residence.
His flushed, eager face seeking my praise was utterly shameless.
“But… why were you standing there like that? Why didn’t you come right away?”
Vincent asked, as if he’d already sensed my arrival before our eyes met.
Just as I had quietly observed what he was doing, was he also gauging what I would do?
Was he trying to determine whether I would turn back or follow through?
But now that we’d been discovered, there was no turning back.
I walked past him with feigned composure, as though I’d never hidden behind that wall, and strolled toward the direction of the fountain.
“Can you carry me out of here?”
“Of course. Someone like you, I could carry with just one arm.”
Vincent trotted after me, speaking with unmistakable pride.
I didn’t stop walking until I reached an open area where I could flee in any direction, then turned to face him.
Vincent stood a few paces away, his arms spread wide open toward me.
“…What are you doing?”
“You said you wanted to leave, didn’t you?”
“….”
“I have to hold you.”
“….”
“No matter how skilled I am, I can’t move you without using my hands.”
He was right.
Even if he could command the wind with perfect freedom, without something to anchor against, he’d be swept away just like those servants earlier—powerless and tumbling through the air.
I knew this intellectually. I’d already anticipated it coming here.
Yet I couldn’t fathom why watching him stretch out his hands with such carefree delight irritated me so intensely.
‘Is this why I couldn’t feel confident about this?’
I scowled for several seconds, glaring at him, before finally sighing and trudging forward.
As if eager to witness me walk directly into his embrace, he stood motionless with his arms spread wide.
Those golden eyes, fixed unwaveringly upon me and gleaming with an eerie luminescence, were deeply unpleasant.
The moment I reluctantly stepped before him—snap!
Like a sprung trap ensnaring its prey, both arms pulled me into a crushing embrace.
“Ah… Edith Blake…”
With a familiar gesture, he buried his face in the crook of my neck and breathed deeply.
I shuddered and twisted my body away.
“You said you could carry me with just one arm?”
“That’s true, but it’s too dangerous that way…”
He spouted nonsensical excuses while tightening his grip around me with renewed force.
Then, like a man intoxicated, he murmured something deeply unsettling.
“Edith Blake, I’ve missed your scent so much. It’s wonderful… did you apply perfume? It smells like oranges…”
“Stop spouting strange things and move us already.”
“Where to? Ezennia?”
I knew he’d been watching me, but hearing him recite my destination so precisely sent a chill down my spine.
‘Will I be able to shake him off in time?’
With that thought, I reluctantly opened my mouth.
“First… take me to the alleys around the Grand Duke’s Residence, somewhere at a distance from it.”
I immediately doubted whether he’d actually listen to me.
But then.
“Understood.”
Surprisingly compliant, he murmured, “I need to hold you tight,” and squeezed me until I could barely breathe.
And then—whoosh!
A sharp wind that seemed to pierce my skin enveloped my entire body, accompanied by a dizzying sensation of weightlessness.

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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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