A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 167

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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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167.

‘…Who is that? An Erosion Infected?’
The moonlight didn’t reach the bed, making it impossible to discern whether the figure lying there was human or Erosion Infected.
Not that it would have mattered even if the room were bright—the mask would have obscured any distinction.
Yet I could determine they weren’t Erosion Infected because of the large bucket positioned beside the bed.
A thick arm protruding from beneath the blankets had a long tube connected to an IV needle pierced into it.
Drip, drip.
Dark crimson liquid fell ceaselessly from the tube’s end, pooling in the bucket.
The bucket was more than half full, sloshing with accumulated blood—evidence that this had been happening long before my arrival.
Only then did I become aware that the entire room vibrated with the metallic stench of blood.
The human lying motionless on the bed, as if dead, was likely an Awakener.
One whose blood was being extracted to inject into the Erosion Infected.
I had witnessed Vincent’s blood being drawn through a dream before, but seeing it with my own eyes was entirely different—my stomach churned.
I thought nothing could shock me further, but I was wrong.
It was horrifying. It was gruesome.
To witness blood being extracted from a living person….
“Since we have a precious guest, I should offer some tea.”
That was when it happened.
Sephiroth lazily murmured the words while gesturing toward empty air.
Simultaneously, a teapot I hadn’t noticed on the table beside the bed floated gently into the air.
Splash—
Steaming water poured itself into a cup, and with a scrape, the chair slid backward.
It was an invitation to sit, but naturally, I didn’t move.
‘…Can he use telekinesis?’
I kept my eyes narrowed as I alternated my gaze between the bed, the table, and him.

999%

Above Sephiroth’s head, a number still hovered with such clarity that I couldn’t even fathom purifying it.
The Empire’s most powerful telekinetic Awakener and the reason he wanted Sephiroth dead swirled chaotically through my mind.
‘…Did he gain the ability to use telekinesis by extorting blood like this?’
An Awakener without backing.
Serge’s bleak childhood came flooding back to me.
A man strong enough to forcibly close Gates—I couldn’t possibly imagine him helpless on a bed like that Awakener, having his blood drained.
Yet why did my heart suddenly sink?
“I can’t use offensive magic, so stop your suspicions. If I wanted to coerce you through force, I would have done it long ago.”
Sephiroth made a subtle gesture toward me as I stood there vacantly.
“Magic….”
Was he saying he couldn’t attack with the stolen power?
A hollow laugh escaped me rather than relief.
It seemed he’d simply given a plausible name—’magic’—to the Awakener’s abilities he’d arbitrarily extorted, and that struck me as somewhat absurd.
‘No wonder that man’s temperament is the way it is.’
Having endured something so devastating, I couldn’t imagine how he remained sane.
Moreover, not only did she contribute to it, but she even pushed him toward the Gate to die.
If I were in his position, I would despise the Imperial Palace and want to kill everything.
Especially her—the source of all his trauma.
“…I didn’t come here to leisurely share tea with you.”
I glared at Sephiroth with hostile eyes and spoke coldly.
“Ruellin has returned as promised, so tell me how to use the Book of Prophecy.”
“Have you already found the Book of Prophecy?”
“No. But I will soon.”
“Is that so? What I’ve heard is quite different.”
I’d anticipated it, but he easily saw through my lie.
And he didn’t even bother hiding that he’d been watching me, laying everything bare.
“I was quite surprised to hear that the late King’s fourth child brought it to you.”
“….”
“That one is like a hedgehog with its quills raised, so it’s not in his nature to care about anyone like that….”
“Stop wasting time with useless talk.”
I raised my hand to cut off his words.
Honestly, hearing more about Serge was becoming unbearable.
If I continued dwelling on it, I’d lose sight of why I came here and be swept up in his rage and hatred as well.
I didn’t want to hate Serge, nor did I want to kill him.
I simply….
“All I want to know is how to return to my own body.”
“Of course, that would be it.”
The woman nodded briskly and responded cheerfully, then moved with a leisurely gait.
And instead of the refreshment I’d refused, she sat in the chair set aside and calmly savored her tea.
Whether anyone died or not, her utterly composed demeanor made my brow furrow involuntarily.
“What are you doing right now….”
Just as I was about to burst out in anger, the woman who had set down her teacup fixed me with a direct stare.
“A hollow shell abandoned by its soul must return within forty-nine days to survive.”
“…What?”
“Since Ruellin returned a week ago, I’m afraid you have only forty-two days remaining.”
“….”
“Ah, midnight just passed, so perhaps forty-one days now… Still, you have some time to spare, don’t you?”
“Wait.”
My mind, which had been processing the sudden flood of information, came to an abrupt halt.
I stared at him with bewildered eyes and asked.
“Why a week? Ruellin returned just days ago….”
“Who else would have retrieved that reckless girl who threw herself into a double Gate and sent her back to the Imperial Palace in perfect condition?”
My expression twisted at his words.
I had already sensed that Sephiroth was involved in Ruellin’s return, so it came as no surprise.
But while one person had been caught up in gossip about the “miraculous resurrection of a dead Purifier,” suffering endless vile rumors, and had rushed here in panic fearing the abandoned body might perish,
another sat there calmly sipping tea, casually mentioning that death awaited in forty-one days and that they were the one who had facilitated it….
That gap between us made my mood utterly unbearable.
“Why do you find everything so easy?”
I asked quietly, suppressing the roiling anger within me.
“When you need something, you steal another’s body or abilities without hesitation. When you don’t need them anymore, you simply abandon them to die without a second thought?”
“….”
“Do you possess not even the slightest conscience or sense of moral responsibility?”
Sephiroth did not answer my words.
He merely regarded me with an enigmatic expression.
The fact that Ruellin had been gone not merely three days but a full week slipped out of me before I could stop it, and I regretted it the moment the words left my lips.
“Of course. How could such things exist in creatures that don’t even die….”
What use was there in appealing to human emotions when addressing beings that were not human?
Conscience. Responsibility.
Had such things existed, I would never have found myself here, suffering through this possession in the first place.
I would not have manipulated Edith Blake’s mind to play the role of Purifier, nor would I have committed the atrocity of draining the blood of helpless Awakeners.
Even as I made a deal with Sephiroth, who promised to send me back to my original world, I wondered why I felt so unsettled.
Because Ruellin and Sephiroth were the same—there was no distinction between them.
Not merely in appearance, but in their actions and very nature.
As he had called it, a “fragment”—the same being.
In the end, I had made a deal with the very one who had pushed me into this abyss.
‘…Why did I only realize this now?’
In truth, I had known all along, but I had unconsciously turned away from it.
The hope of returning to my original world was simply too sweet to resist.
As I smiled bitterly at my own pathetic self-awareness, Sephiroth belatedly made an attempt at human civility.
“…I regret not informing you sooner.”
“….”
“I didn’t expect Ruellin to cross over so suddenly and recklessly either….”
“Enough.”
I cut him off coldly and spoke of our bargain.
“As you well know, I’ve upheld the conditions you set forth.”
I found the Book of Prophecy, and regardless of how it happened, Ruellin returned on her own feet.
It was nearly an escape, but the image of myself that I showed through the crystal orb couldn’t have failed to strengthen her resolve.
“So now it’s your turn.”
“….”
“What must I do to return to my own body?”
“Haven’t you already tried making a wish?”
Sephiroth asked with a puzzled expression.
Without even a moment’s surprise that he knew of that dawn attempt I’d made in secret and with half-hearted doubt, he continued.
“If nothing happened, then that’s the end of it.”
“Then you should have explained the proper way to use it first!”
“That simply means your wish wasn’t desperate enough.”
“What….”
“Surely you don’t believe that any wish made blindly will come true without any price?”
You’ve long since passed the age for such naïveté, he added mockingly.
“A… price?”
I muttered blankly, as though struck on the head.
I had never considered such a thing existed.
I had simply assumed there was a separate method of use, and that was why it hadn’t worked.
Perhaps I had secretly dismissed it as ridiculous, given that it had even granted Ruellin’s absurd wish to become a novel’s protagonist.
“…What kind of price?”
At my halting question, Sephiroth’s mouth split into a long, wide grin.
“Your life.”

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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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