A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 178

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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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178.

“As of today, I disown you and strip you of your name and all titles.”
The words fell like thunder through the suffocating silence.
I heard the Servants collectively gasp, drawing sharp breaths.
With his back to me, I couldn’t discern what expression Ethan wore.
Yet despite hearing such words, he remained motionless, kneeling rigidly without so much as a flinch.

95%

The last time I’d seen him at the Imperial Palace, the number had been merely ‘89%’.
Whatever he’d done in the interim, the figure hovering above his head had risen to a perilously unstable level.
One wrong move and he’d plunge into a rampage.
I’d never witnessed what precursory behavior Ethan displayed before losing control.
But given his caliber, the fallout would be catastrophic.
‘I hope he leaves before that happens.’
Whether he was disowned or cast out naked mattered nothing to me.
I felt no curiosity about why he knelt there in the first place.
But the Duke destabilizing his condition further and inviting danger was something I couldn’t permit.
I was deliberating whether to intervene when—
“…Butler.”
Fortunately, the Duke called for the Butler instead of escalating his fury.
“Send word to the Imperial Palace at once. Langton, gather all our retainers immediately. We must thoroughly prove our Family has no involvement in this matter whatsoever.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
The Butler and Aide responded in turn, moving briskly to execute his orders.
After venting his rage, the Duke’s voice had lost some of its edge.
The situation appeared to be settling down.
Yet the Duke seemed unaware I’d even arrived.
‘Perhaps that’s fortunate?’
I’d expected a barrage of scolding upon my return.
Stepping forward now and stirring up another commotion was something I preferred to avoid.
So I turned my back on the chaos immediately.
As I moved toward the Garden, Eston startled and hurried after me.
“Where are you going, Young Lady?”
“The Greenhouse.”
“But why the Greenhouse…?”
“This isn’t the time to venture inside.”
I shrugged my shoulders and gestured toward the Mansion.
The Duke was standing right in front of the entrance hall, making it awkward to slip past him.
I couldn’t very well stand in the garden either, with all those flowers in bloom, so I’d decided to take refuge in the Greenhouse for now.
‘…If I’d known this would happen, I should have stayed longer at the Grand Duke’s Residence.’
A fleeting, pointless thought crossed my mind, and I quickly shook my head.
“It seems to be because of what happened recently.”
Eston, who’d been trailing after me, whispered the explanation in a hushed voice.
“Recently?”
“Yes. Right after the Young Lady ran away, the Imperial Palace knights came looking. They say the Young Master smuggled out the previous Purifier….”
“….”
“You know well, don’t you? That woman who died and came back to life—Ruellin.”
He used to call her “Ruellin” respectfully enough before.
Eston, drawing a rather cold line as he gauged my reaction, continued his explanation.
“They say she burst out from the Gate, but honestly, it’s all very suspicious. Whether she’s real or a demon….”
“….”
“In any case, they needed to keep watch on that woman, but the Young Master secretly took her outside the Imperial Palace, and now they can’t find her whereabouts.”
It was absurd.
I’d already learned that Ethan was mad that day at the Imperial Palace.
‘But didn’t he at least act within the bounds of reason before?’
That is, according to what was written in the Book of Prophecy before I possessed this body.
He did commit the atrocity of killing Edith Blake under Ruellin’s mental control, but he didn’t push himself to the point of sacrificing his own flesh and blood for her.
The first male lead was always portrayed as a cold, rational character.
This was the sort of thing the emotional second male lead or the fourth male lead—madness incarnate—would do….
As I thought that far, my mood became strange.
I realized that at the moment Ethan smuggled Ruellin out, both of them were by my side.
Though not by my choice, the third male lead was also there, after all.
Everything had diverged from what was written in the Book of Prophecy.
‘…Doesn’t it grant wishes unconditionally?’
Of course, the situation had reached this point because Ruellin brought it upon herself.
If she hadn’t fled to where I lived, claiming she was defying Sephiroth, I would never have possessed this body, and the Book of Prophecy would never have been disrupted.
But wasn’t it a wish granted at the cost of one’s life?
Moreover, according to Sephiroth, they even took an advance payment.
Half of one’s lifespan, no less.
“…What’s going on? How can it be like this?”
It was such a shoddy deal that one could end up with just their lifespan cut and nothing else.
How could anyone trust such a flimsy arrangement and make a wish?
“That’s what I’m saying.”
I muttered irritably, even stopping in my tracks without realizing it, and Eston, misunderstanding my words, chimed in agreement.
“I really didn’t expect the Young Master to be like this. Repaying kindness with enmity is one thing, but they say it’s also related to the injury the Young Lady sustained at the Tollen Gate?”
“….”
“But if she ran away like that, it should be over. Why would she come back alone again? Is that woman hidden somewhere else? From the looks of her kneeling, it seems like she came to turn herself in….”
Eston scrutinized Ethan’s true intentions with an expression even more grave than mine.
We were of one mind.
Unfortunately, I had nothing to offer her—I couldn’t care less about the motivations of the man she was curious about.
“Eston. Slip in through the Back Door and keep watch over the situation. Once things settle down, come fetch me.”
The Greenhouse wasn’t far.
I resumed walking, deftly separating myself from Eston.
“Then what about the Young Lady? She’ll be alone in the Greenhouse until then? Should I find Nancy and send her?”
“No, it’s fine. Let me sort through my thoughts alone. Just bring me something like a fatigue recovery potion when you come back.”
“…I’m not sure if my position is healer or servant anymore.”
She grumbled in a petulant tone, but obediently followed my instructions.
After exchanging a glance with Eston, I stepped directly into the Greenhouse.
A lush, verdant fragrance swiftly filled my nostrils.
The Glass Greenhouse, which the Duke had built specifically for his only daughter with pollen allergies, was meticulously maintained year-round.
Though it bore no flowers, exotic plants more vibrant than blossoms drew the eye quite effectively.
Still, compared to the sprawling jungle-like garden I’d seen at the Grand Duke’s Residence, it was rather modest.
‘Nancy said the greenhouse there was three times the size of the Duke’s Residence, but I never did get to see it.’
Were there exotic creatures there?
As my thoughts drifted unconsciously, I suddenly snapped back to awareness.
“Damn it, stop…!”
When I’d left that place, I’d felt not a shred of attachment, yet I couldn’t fathom why these memories kept surfacing.
‘Is this really the time for you to be thinking peacefully about such things?’
The damned charlatan Cult Leader, the missing Ruellin, the infallible Book of Prophecy that wasn’t, and my own body dying in this very moment.
There was no shortage of things demanding my thought and worry.
I shook my head convulsively, then quickly traversed the Greenhouse.
Without sparing a glance at the plants the Butler had recently procured from the East, I collapsed onto the bench in the center.
Rustle—
Only when something pricked my carelessly lowered hand did I realize I was clutching something.
A crumpled yellow envelope.
Information about Sephiroth that Serge had conveyed through Eston.
I’d intended to reread it upon my return, but an overwhelming sense of exhaustion made the thought unbearable.
I stared blankly at it.
I’d roughly figured out what Sephiroth was trying to do, why he’d become this charlatan Cult Leader and committed all manner of atrocities.
But questions still plagued me.
Why had he created a being called Ruellin in the first place, and what did he intend to accomplish using her?
Whether I should stop him, or simply continue feigning ignorance as I had been…
‘He must have gone to the Caspian Gorge.’
There was only one obvious course of action for Ruellin after escaping the Imperial Palace.
Even if not the Caspian Gorge specifically, she would have certainly persuaded Ethan to help her meet Sephiroth.
Since I’d already exposed that she was no longer the Purifier and possessed no supernatural abilities, she’d be limited in what she could accomplish alone.
‘She can’t even manipulate minds anymore. What in the world was that madman Ethan thinking, helping her with that?’
Of course, I understand now just how terribly he loves her.
But isn’t that reason far too reckless?
Ruellin is still under suspicion by the Security Bureau regarding her identity—she could be implicated in aiding a criminal’s escape.
That’s precisely why the Duke openly mentioned “disownment” and raged so furiously.
To the point where he’d lose his family and position, where his own life could be endangered, does he care for her that much?
To the point where he cannot help but aid her?
‘What on earth is this love that drives him so….’
I was lost in deep contemplation, my brow furrowed.
Click.
Suddenly, the sound of the Greenhouse door opening reached my ears.
I lifted my head with a start.
The dense foliage obscured the door from this vantage point.
But it was obvious it had to be Eston.
“Back already?”
Yet the cheerful, chattering voice I expected to hear did not come.
Instead, footsteps drew closer—thud, thud—
“…Eston?”
I called out in confusion as the approaching footsteps grew nearer.
“Edith Blake.”
A tall man emerged, pushing aside the long branches that hung in his way.
Silver hair gleaming in the sunlight streaming through the glass.
It was Ethan.

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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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