A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 185

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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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185.

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“…We request the Princess’s cooperation for Ruellin’s grade re-measurement.”
What Serge had warned about came to pass the very next day.
I was just about to have breakfast with the Duke.
The Duke’s expression darkened the moment he saw Dylan standing rigidly at the entrance.
“Wasn’t that girl already determined to be a non-Awakener? How long has it been since she fled and was caught, and now they’re summoning people at the crack of dawn? What kind of incompetence is this…!”
“Father.”
I gently placated the Duke in his fury.
“It should be nothing serious. I’ll be back shortly.”
“You haven’t even finished your meal properly.”
“We can eat together when I return. You’ll wait for me, won’t you?”
At my words, his expression finally softened.
“…There’s something I need to tell you, so come straight home. And don’t wander off on some other path.”
He cast a disapproving glance at Dylan before reluctantly issuing his command.
I nodded obediently.
I understood that his invitation to share breakfast so early in the morning wasn’t simply about eating together.
He likely intended to give me hints about Ethan’s disownment and the current situation.
I had anticipated having a conversation with him at some point, but the Security Bureau moved faster than expected.
Or rather, the Grand Duke moved faster.
“Let’s go.”
I gestured to Dylan, who stood waiting motionlessly.
Thanks to having prepared early for breakfast, I didn’t need to change clothes.
As I stepped outside the entrance, a carriage bearing the Frederick Family crest awaited, along with an escort.
For such an urgent, early morning visit, the display was quite lavish—befitting the transport of a distinguished guest.
‘Why did he have to come in person and make such a fuss?’
A simple letter or subordinates would have sufficed; I would have complied without question.
Though somewhat bewildered, I showed nothing and approached the carriage.
Dylan, following behind, hastily extended his hand to assist me, but I pretended not to notice and quickly passed by.
I knew it would embarrass him, but there was no helping it.
Honestly, it felt wrong.
To casually take the hand of a man whose life was ruined because of the mistress he once served.

― A tale of a certain servant who never bloomed his abilities and became an Erosion Being while trying to save the master he loved.
― Is it not even permitted for me to cherish you alone, Edith Blake?

If I were truly Edith Blake, I might have welcomed it—but I wasn’t.
It felt uncomfortable and awkward.
His past, which he himself couldn’t remember, and the fervent emotions flickering in those ash-grey eyes as he looked at me.
Dylan stared at his suspended hand for a moment before boarding the carriage as if nothing had happened.
I covertly observed Dylan as he settled into the seat across from me.
‘…Seems fine enough.’
I’d worried whether losing so much blood would be problematic, but fortunately he showed no apparent ill effects.
In any case, since Sephiroth had publicly declared him a successful creation, there was no need for me to worry.
Having set aside my concerns, I averted my gaze from him as the carriage began to move.
“Blake….”
Contrary to my bracing for suffocating silence all the way to the Imperial Palace, Dylan spoke first.
“Lord Ethan has been isolated in the underground bunker beneath the Grade Measurement Facility.”
Whether news of his loss of status had already spread widely, he corrected his form of address and delivered information I had little interest in.
“For now he’s managing with sedatives, but it doesn’t seem like it will hold much longer.”
“I see.”
“…I regret it.”
What was there to regret?
Ethan’s loss of status? Or perhaps the possibility that I’d need to purify him before he went berserk?
Either way, it didn’t matter to me, so I nodded indifferently.
The reason Ruellin’s grade reassessment had been scheduled so urgently was likely closely connected to Ethan’s condition.
Regardless of his loss of status, he was too valuable a piece to discard.
In fact, this was favorable terrain for the Imperial Family and the Security Bureau.
An S-rank Awakener on the verge of going berserk, locked away with crimes to his name and no backing from the Duke’s Household.
A hunting dog molded to our specifications, walking itself into our hands with its own leash.
If Ruellin was determined to have retained her abilities, they could use the framing as leverage against me too—the child would naturally be anxious.
Even if she was definitively proven to be a non-Awakener, the result would be the same.
‘They can’t control me outright, but they’ll invoke the emergency to pressure me.’
Either way, I couldn’t escape the pressure to purify Ethan.
If I wanted to avoid it, the only option was to rely on his power as Serge suggested and push back….
But I didn’t want to go that far.
‘…Sigh, such is my fate.’
Recalling the nonsense he’d spouted while shielding Ruellin still made my teeth ache.
Ruellin wasn’t a Purifier or anything else—what gave him the audacity to act that way?
Loving her so much he didn’t care about going berserk—let him try dying then.
I couldn’t deny there was a vengeful impulse behind my declaration that I wouldn’t purify him.
No, it was definitely revenge.
But I hadn’t truly wished for his death.
It wasn’t that his pleas last night had softened my heart, or that I’d suddenly developed sympathy.
I simply didn’t want to become a murderer.
‘Inaction is complicity either way.’
If he spiraled out of control and died as things stood, I couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling that I bore some responsibility for it.
Perhaps it was because the last time I saw him, he had accepted his arrest with such resigned composure.
The fact that he never even uttered a single plea for purification from me.
“After Ruellin’s grade measurement, we’ll proceed with sealing Ethan’s abilities as well.”
At that moment, a quiet voice pulled me from my thoughts.
“In case of emergency, it seems the Young Lady should be present for that as well.”
“Ability sealing… is that done with that artifact? The one called the Ancient Dragon’s Heart?”
“Yes.”
Dylan gave a brief affirmation.
I considered asking more about the principles and methods behind ability sealing, but decided against it.
I’d see it firsthand soon enough anyway.
‘But if they can strip away abilities even temporarily… isn’t that dangerous?’
In the hands of a Communist Party charlatan spouting equality, it would be catastrophic.
I was amazed that the heart of a long-dead creature could be used for so many purposes.
‘But didn’t they say Sephiroth killed that dragon? How does its heart end up in the Imperial Palace? Is it a different dragon?’
As I tilted my head in confusion, the carriage gradually slowed its pace.
Looking out the window, I could see the main road leading to the Imperial Palace.
At that moment, Dylan suddenly asked, as if thrusting a blade through my defenses.
“…Was it you who brought me to the Count’s residence a few days ago when I lost consciousness?”
I had thought the conversation was over and let my guard down, so I turned to him in surprise.
Dylan’s face was composed, but his eyes held an uncanny certainty.
“…Why would you think that?”
“You’re not denying it.”
At his response, I realized my mistake.
‘Damn it, I should have asked what he was talking about.’
I’d fallen right into his trap with that casual probe and ended up confessing.
Flustered, I bit my lip, and seeing my reaction, he smiled faintly.
“When I came to briefly, I remember seeing you. I thought it was a dream…”
“Then it was a dream.”
“You told me to focus on my own body and mind.”
Before I could even attempt to deny it, he recited my exact words without a single mistake.
“To get your head straight and figure out how to handle a situation like this on your own…”
“…”
“That’s how I knew it wasn’t a dream.”
“You could have said those things in your dream too.”
“That’s impossible.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“Because in my dreams, you always smile so beautifully.”
He gazed into empty space with distant eyes, as if searching for a mirage.
Then, with a bitter smile, he answered with finality.
“…So, I suppose the reality is that you shoot me an icy glance as though my death or survival matters not one whit to you.”
If you truly didn’t care whether I lived or died, you wouldn’t have stopped the bleeding.
You wouldn’t have informed Serge of my presence, creating unnecessary discord.
I swallowed the rebuttal that surged in my throat.
“…You are not well.”
There was no point in denying it now.
Instead, I spoke words that needed saying eventually.
“Seek out a mental-type ability user and receive treatment. If you keep losing blood like that each time, you’ll waste away before anyone even notices.”
“Are you…concerned for me?”
“It’s not concern, it’s——”
“I’ve suffered from this inexplicable sleepwalking for about five years now. It coincided precisely with when I left the Duke’s Household.”
Just as I was about to clarify that I was speaking out of basic human decency, he said something entirely unexpected.
“Every time I awoke in an unfamiliar place and returned, I recorded the circumstances in meticulous detail. Not only the blood loss, but also those moments when my body felt remarkably light despite having no memory of receiving purification.”
“….”
“Most have disappeared or perished, but there were shadows assigned to me after I attained my title. They will be useful in testifying to the unreasonable things the Young Lady endured.”
“What do you——”
“Today, Ruellin intends to expose the crimes of stealing your ability in the past and impersonating the Purifier.”

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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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