A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 179

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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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179.

Ethan stopped a few paces short of the bench.
A cool silence settled between us.
‘How did he know I was here?’
He was facing away, so he couldn’t have seen me.
And how could he have known I was hiding in the Greenhouse?
I studied him with a sharp gaze.
Evading the Imperial Guard and the Awakeners while spiriting Ruellin away seemed to have taken its toll—he’d lost considerable weight in just days.
Perhaps the magical barrier on the verge of runaway amplification was partly to blame.
His sharpened jawline, pallid complexion, and shadowed eyes beneath conveyed an air of desolation.
‘When I saw him at the Imperial Palace, he wasn’t in this state… Did they cast him out without even giving him time to change clothes?’
Though I had declared him disowned, the Duke wasn’t the type to be so harsh.
Besides, seeing him wandering about so freely suggested the Duke had given him time to pack and tidy things before the palace knights arrived.
Yet Ethan’s appearance was decidedly disheveled.
His hair, always neatly combed, was tousled, and instead of the immaculate uniform he usually wore, he was dressed in shabby commoner’s clothes.
The change in just days was quite striking, and I wondered why he’d sought me out.
But that was all.
I wasn’t curious enough to ask about such things.
Having observed him, I quickly lost interest and spoke dryly.
“You haven’t left yet.”
It seemed odd to exchange pleasantries with someone I’d just cast out, so I simply acknowledged him dismissively.
It was meant as a clear dismissal.
“…That’s an unfamiliar outfit.”
Yet he, observing me just as intently, spouted something completely off-topic.
“Were you out somewhere?”
Had he truly gone mad, spiriting Ruellin away like this?
As if nothing had happened, he questioned me in his usual manner, and bewilderment washed over me.
What business is it of yours?
You’re nothing to me now—not even a brother—and you dare presume?
I had plenty to say. But I chose not to voice it.
I had no desire to waste emotion on him with such a quarrel.
“Personal business.”
So I answered as briefly as possible, and Ethan immediately pressed further.
“You have business important enough to leave the mansion for days?”
“How did you know I’ve been away from the mansion for days?”
“I asked first.”
“Yes, I did.”
I had no intention of continuing this childish bickering, so I answered without sincerity.
“Now it’s your turn to answer my question. How did you know about my absence?”
Already worn down by Vincent and Serge’s constant surveillance, I was thoroughly sick of being watched.
How did this man, who had been searching for Sephiroth with Ruellin, know I wasn’t home?
When I made no effort to hide my irritation, Ethan reluctantly responded.
“…I heard it from a servant. Five days ago, right after returning from the Imperial Palace, you stopped appearing at the mansion.”
“Which servant was that?”
“Why do you ask?”
“To silence them. And to hold them accountable for carelessly disclosing the master’s whereabouts to an outsider.”
Ethan’s lips pressed firmly shut.
It was only then that shock flickered across the blue eyes fixed upon me.
When the Duke declared the disownment, he hadn’t even flinched, but now he seemed to finally grasp it.
The line drawn between me and the world—that of an outsider.
It meant he could no longer meddle in the Duke’s Household affairs by invoking some hollow title, nor could he play the role of a protective older brother to me anymore.
For a moment, something resembling anguish or pain flickered across Ethan’s face.
He tried to hide it, repeatedly washing his face with both hands in dry, hurried motions.
The sight of a man who had lost everything in an instant for the sake of a foolish love affair looked pathetic and precarious.
Yet I felt no stirring of emotion whatsoever at the sight.
“…You.”
When Ethan finally lowered his hands, the fragments of emotion that had briefly surfaced were gone, washed away.
Instead, his bloodshot eyes fixed upon me with savage intensity.
I was almost relieved—if I had shown regret now, it would have left an uncomfortable aftertaste.
“You’ve always resented me, haven’t you? Me, who became your brother overnight, a nameless commoner you didn’t know.”
“….”
“Every chance you got, you’d run to your father and fabricate lies about me, demanding he cast me out.”
This was the first I’d heard of it.
I couldn’t verify if it was true, but it was certainly something Edith Blake would have done when the Duke adopted Ethan.
Unable to fathom why he was dredging up such ancient history, I simply kept silent, and he spat out his words bitterly.
“How does it feel? Now that you’ve gotten what you wanted, are you satisfied? Does your heart feel at ease?”
“Why are you asking me that? I’m not the one who cast you out.”
It was absurd.
He’d been struck at the Han River, and now he was venting his rage on the wrong target?
“This situation exists solely because of your choices—not because of me.”
“…!”
At the subtle shift in my tone, Ethan’s eyes widened.
There was no longer any reason to use the title of older brother or speak with deference.
Of course, as an Awakener who had earned a knighthood through his accomplishments, Ethan wouldn’t immediately fall to commoner status despite the disownment.
Even so, there existed a vast chasm of status between him and me, the sole Princess of the Duke’s Household.
I could have shown him the courtesy due to a nobleman, as I did with Dylan, but I had no desire to do so toward someone who blamed me even now.
“Loving Ruellin, clinging to her even after knowing she was no longer the Purifier, smuggling her out of the Imperial Palace and committing that crime—all of it was your doing.”
“….”
“Why? Does it feel like everything that’s happened is because of my lies?”
“If that weren’t the case!”
That was when it happened.
Ethan suddenly cried out, his voice sharp and piercing.
“If I hadn’t done this, would you have even looked at me?”
His upper body convulsed violently, as though he might hurl himself at me at any moment.
His eyes blazed with an unfathomable fury, as if he meant to devour me whole.
As though everything were my fault, he poured out his words in a voice trembling with resentment and desperation.
“Do you know when you started calling me brother and treating me with respect?”
“….”
“Precisely when Ruellin began frequenting the Duke’s Residence as the Purifier.”
“….”
“Before that, you didn’t even treat me like family—like a person at all. You always looked down on me, despised me. You only smiled and drew close when you were with Ruellin! That’s why I…!”
“….”
“That’s why….”
The man’s face, blazing with fury as he screamed, gradually twisted into something else.
Confronted with an expression I’d never seen from Ethan before and the barrage of his words, I simply went blank.
‘…So. You pretended to love Ruellin because of me. That’s what this is.’
That was the gist of it, when I pieced it together.
Even though he’d become my brother, I—or rather, Edith Blake of the past—had ignored him.
Because I’d only acknowledged him when he was with Ruellin.
‘Hah.’
I was too dumbfounded to even laugh.
The sharp words he’d hurled at me since the possession, his crude behavior, his fervent love for Ruellin—it all came rushing back vividly.
Just five days ago, he’d been the same.
‘How shameless can you be, spouting such nonsense now?’
Of course, all those bastards who’d driven Edith Blake to her death and now claimed they’d actually loved her were shameless.
But among them, this one’s audacity was particularly egregious.
At least Vincent and Dylan had apologized the moment they recovered their lost memories from the mind control.
This excuse was endlessly absurd and ridiculous.
But why was it—

― Ruellin’s ability does nothing more than fan the flames of humanity’s secret, sordid desires.
― Whether love transforms into hatred depends entirely on your own choice.

Sephiroth’s explanation of Ruellin’s ability flashed through my mind.
I didn’t need to hear that Edith Blake’s slights had carved away at his pride and inferiority, spreading his petty infatuation into outright hatred.
Dylan and Vincent were likely no different.
But even after Ruellin disappeared and the brainwashing lifted, Ethan continued to behave like a madman.
Every time Ruellin was near, Edith Blake reacted in convulsions, so I could grudgingly accept that she bore some responsibility.
However, spiriting Ruellin away from the Imperial Palace was another matter entirely.
That crime was committed solely by his own will.
“…So.”
I watched him with an expression of utter incomprehension.
“What didn’t go according to your plan? What exactly are you trying to say to me?”
“I….”
“You despised what I was, so you turned a blind eye whether I lived or died. And so I truly did die and come back to life. You knew you were being toyed with by Ruellin’s ability, yet you chose her anyway.”
What grievance could you possibly have?
I saw him clench his teeth at my words.
His mouth twisted grotesquely as he sneered.
“…What makes you think Vincent Leandro is any different? Dylan Frederick?”
“….”
“Those bastards were toyed with just the same, so why…!”
He, unable to contain his rage again and straining his voice, fell silent upon seeing my expressionless face.
He seemed to immediately grasp my half-skeptical thoughts—wondering what the point of all this even was.
With his fists clenched tight, Ethan bit his lips until they bled, then his entire body went slack.
And in a voice heavy with exhaustion and weariness, he murmured softly.
“…Why do you treat only me so harshly.”

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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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