A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 186

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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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186.

I froze at words I had never anticipated.
For someone who had just dropped such a bombshell, his expression was eerily composed—cold, even.
Not some fleeting impulse, but a decision reached after prolonged deliberation.
There remained not a shred of affection for Ruellin, let alone lingering attachment.
A stranger observing him would find it impossible to believe that this same man had once loved the woman he was now accusing so desperately that he had caused Edith Blake’s death.
“…Why?”
“….”
“That alone would be difficult to prove, and it wouldn’t particularly benefit you either.”
It wasn’t merely a matter of lacking benefit—it was tantamount to laying bare one’s own shame with his own hands.
A family patriarch. One of the rare S-rank Awakeners holding an executive position at the Security Bureau.
If it were revealed that his mind had been manipulated and he had been toyed with by cultists for years, it would trigger an enormous backlash.
Not only would his honor and reputation be dragged through the mud, but his past might be exposed as well.
A past he couldn’t even remember—his transformation from an Erosion Being to an Awakener.
In that matter alone, he was an innocent victim, but it was not a problem that could be resolved so simply.
Along with the death of the previous Count Frederick, the Imperial Palace was deeply entangled in the Awakener experiments.
Stirring things up without clear evidence would only make matters worse.
And I couldn’t predict how Dylan might be silenced in the process.
The losses far outweighed the gains to go to such lengths merely to clear my name.
“Is it really necessary to cause such a stir just to ease your own mind?”
Cornering Ruellin was something I could support a hundred times over, but the problem was that this wasn’t the sole reason.
After all, it wasn’t even something I had directly suffered.
Such enormous sacrifice and devotion only felt uncomfortable and burdensome.
And yet.
“Would it be wrong if I did?”
Dylan responded firmly to my skeptical attitude.
“Would it be a burden to you if I used you to ease my own mind under the guise of atonement?”

―I would prefer that you not use me under the pretense of atonement simply to ease your own conscience.

The way he turned my own words back on me felt strangely unfamiliar.
I regarded him with widened eyes before composing myself to respond.
“…It may not be a burden, but your mood hardly seems pleasant, does it?”
“Even setting this aside, the Young Lady has never been in good spirits whenever we’ve crossed paths, have you?”
“….”
Why must he take it so far?
His blunt retort left me feeling oddly flustered.
His ashen eyes, which had seemed like desolate cinders, appeared to burn as fiercely as his crimson hair today—or so I imagined.
I averted my gaze from that scorching stare, letting my eyes fall.
“…This too could be the result of Ruellin’s brainwashing influence.”
“….”
“You’ve only recently learned the truth, so you might be acting out of shock and confusion. Once you receive treatment and recover, if you think about it rationally….”
“It does not matter. If only I can end this nightmare.”
He interrupted me—unusually—and after a brief pause, continued.
“Until now, I dreamed that you, possessing neither strength nor ability, abandoned me—powerless and wretched—before the Gate.”
“….”
“No matter how much I begged and pleaded, you never once looked back. Even knowing it was a dream, I resented and despised you for it.”
“….”
“I resolved that before being abandoned, I would abandon you first….”
Without further explanation, I could sense it instinctively.
Which period Dylan was referring to.
It must have been when he was under Ruellin’s mental control.
To fuel his hatred and resentment toward Edith Blake.
Dylan’s expression, which had been reciting his confession with dry precision, gradually crumbled.
“But lately, you smile at me before the Gate with a tenderness I cannot fathom, beckoning me forward.”
“….”
“I know. I know it is impossible for you to do such a thing. Even knowing it is a dream, I simply….”
“….”
“I simply cannot refuse.”
In the eyes of the man gazing at me with an expression caught between laughter and tears, rapture and despair flickered momentarily.
Yet he soon lowered his head as though concealing it, rendering it all the more incomprehensible.
His clenched fist, as though enduring something unbearable, turned deathly pale.
“…So this is how it must end, is it not?”
When Dylan finally raised his head again, his expression had returned to its usual impassiveness.
All those turbulent emotions, churning like tempestuous waves, were forcibly crammed behind an impenetrable wall.
“We have arrived. Please disembark.”
The man who kicked open the door and exited first did not offer me his hand this time.
Seeing him flinch as I descended moments later, it was less that he did not offer it than that he could not.
Afraid of being rejected once more.
Faced with such a man, I could not bring myself to deliver a third refusal.
My mind felt muddled.
I exhaled a shallow sigh and turned my steps toward the Security Bureau entrance.

***

The Underground Facility, which I had visited once before, was teeming with people from the entrance itself.
Judging by their appearances, it seemed not only Security Bureau staff but nobility had come to observe as well.
‘It was quiet when I had my rating assessment last time….’
Whether positive or negative, the way Ruellin drew such attention certainly made her protagonist material.
If I hadn’t committed such foolish acts as spirit summoning in an attempt to escape Sephiroth, my wish would have been granted….
“Young Lady!”
At that moment, someone greeted me as if we were acquainted.
I felt all eyes suddenly snap toward me.
The one who pushed through the crowd and rushed toward me was none other than Marquis Clonella.
“I trust you have been well? Was your journey here peaceful?”
“Yes, well….”
As I answered halfheartedly, Dylan, who had come here with me, quietly bowed and withdrew.
When I looked at him heading outside with confusion, the Marquis explained in his stead.
“He is going to the lower levels to escort Ethan.”
“I see.”
“I heard the news. The Duke has made a momentous decision… You must be deeply concerned, Young Lady.”
The Marquis alluded indirectly to Ethan’s disownment with an air of regret.
Unfortunately, I felt nothing about it.
However, in a situation where everyone was watching me closely, I could not reveal that, so I changed the subject.
“There are quite a lot of people today.”
“Yes, given the nature of the matter… Please come this way.”
He led me toward the center of the vast space.
It seemed the preparations for the rating assessment were already complete, as a tray covered with a curtain stood prominently in the middle of the barricaded area.
Several chairs I had not seen before were placed in front of it.
It appeared to be a VIP section for those of considerable standing among the spectators.
My eyes met unintentionally with the Crown Prince, who sat in the very center.
“Hmph.”
He scanned me from head to toe, then suddenly let out a scoff and turned his head away immediately.
Was it because Ruellin had returned?
The Crown Prince, whom I had met only a few times, suddenly displayed hostility toward me.
“National Director. It seems you should come check on things for a moment.”
“Please sit here, Young Lady. I will verify the situation and return shortly.”
In the meantime, the Marquis left me and departed.
Immediately after, the Crown Prince rushed over to provoke me.
“Young Lady, aren’t you going to greet me?”
“Yes. I greet the Empire’s little sun.”
I offered a perfunctory nod and a hollow bow, and the youthful face immediately flushed crimson with indignation.
“So you’ve grown arrogant just because you’ve caught the Grand Duke’s attention and gained some notoriety! But how long do you think you can keep your head held so high?”
“If that is how you perceive it, I am deeply sorry.”
“Soon it will be revealed that you slandered Ruellin. How does that feel?”
“I am profoundly sorrowful.”
“What? How dare you mock the Crown Prince! What audacity do you—!”
“Your Highness, there are many watching eyes. You must preserve your dignity.”
I gave him the response he desired, yet I could not fathom why he was erupting with such fury.
‘The boy has no sense of propriety.’
There were moments when I felt sympathy for him, subjected to the Grand Duke’s one-sided oppression, but witnessing this display suggested he possessed a nature inclined toward inviting his own suffering.
I observed his attendant attempting to restrain the Crown Prince for a moment, then dismissed the scene and moved on at an opportune moment.
I walked toward the far end of the row of chairs arranged in a line—the most vacant spot.
Before anything had even begun, I felt as exhausted as though the day were already over.
‘Damn Ruellin, when exactly is she going to arrive?’
I peered toward the entrance where crowds were gathering, my expression clouded with discontent.
Thump—
As if to announce that my ordeal was far from over, someone collapsed into the seat beside me.
“Hello, Edith Blake.”
Hair the color of the sky fluttered, releasing a refreshing fragrance like cool water.
“Who are you looking for? The Grand Duke?”
“…”
“She’ll be with Ruellin. The moment she was dragged to the Imperial Palace, she threw a fit, insisting she wouldn’t flee again unless she had a private audience with the Grand Duke first.”
Following the Crown Prince, Vincent spoke to me, his face twisted with malicious mockery.
“They should have just bound her and locked her away. Yet here he is, granting her another meeting. Don’t you agree?”

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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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