A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 191

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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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191.

The hand lifting my bare feet moved with utmost care.
As if terrified even the slightest scrape of skin might occur.
An unexpected serenity settled over the moment.
Yet behind us, the sounds of destruction and shattering echoed as beasts clashed in desperate struggle.
Here was a man, gentlemanly and dignified, kneeling before a woman to slip his own shoes onto her feet—a Grand Duke no less, now barefoot in battle.
Was such a sight even permissible for a ruler of a nation?
My chest lurched again as if I might be sick, and something twisted uncomfortably inside me.
“Listen carefully, Princess.”
He rose from his crouch, now condemned to bare feet in my stead, and spoke.
“When you reach the White Room, there will be a crack in the lower right corner. Kick it hard. If that doesn’t work, smash it with a chair. A dog hole should open—take that passage….”
“If I wear these, what about you, Your Majesty?”
At my abrupt interruption, his eyes narrowed sharply.
“Is this the time to worry about others?”
“I’m escaping while you’re heading into battle. Your venom—or poison, or whatever it is—melts through walls, and you’ll have no shoes….”
“So your revenge is already finished?”
I’d spoken out of genuine concern, yet he suddenly let out a derisive laugh.
Confused by this nonsensical response, I furrowed my brow, and then it struck me.

― You said you wanted revenge because you were wronged by having your throat strangled by me?

That he was recounting what had happened last night.
I had never even considered such a thing in the first place.
And what in the world did that have to do with the current situation?
I opened my mouth to deny it, but Serge was faster.
“One moment you’re a heartless villainess, the next you’re oddly tender-hearted. I can’t quite figure out which tune to dance to.”
“….”
“At least you’re not cursing me to death like you used to, so I suppose that’s something to be grateful for.”
He muttered as if speaking to himself, his gaze sweeping over me with unmistakable meaning.
As if trying to confirm what lay within my heart.
I had never actually cursed him to death, but….
Actually, I had. Many times.
From the moment we first met, and especially at the Cult’s place of worship and on Equinox Island, I had harbored such impure thoughts whenever I couldn’t bear the sight of him.
‘But I’ve never actually said it out loud… have I?’
As his sharp gaze pierced through me as if reading my very soul, I felt a pang of guilt and found myself tensing unnecessarily.
“Getting nervous, are we?”
Only then did he finally relax his frown and let out a soft chuckle.
Tap.
The man brushed the tip of my nose with his index finger, and with that, he abruptly turned away.
I knew perfectly well that this was not a situation where he would walk away.
Serge had already captured that creature once before, and since it wasn’t even a fully-formed entity, he would dispatch it with ease.
His Magi level was merely ‘56%’, so there was no immediate need for purification.
Yet as he turned away from me, my heart seemed to plummet.
Without thinking, I reached out and grasped the fabric of his receding garment tightly.
“Together,”
Unable to face him directly, I cast my eyes downward.
“Let’s go together.”
“What?”
He asked as if he hadn’t heard correctly.
This was something I would never normally say.
It was unlike me, and utterly irrational.
Yet having witnessed people’s deaths unfold before my very eyes, my mind seemed to have gone awry.
I couldn’t tear my gaze away from those two feet, protected only by thin black socks, with no shoes to shield them.
“Let’s go together, you fool. You don’t even have shoes. What were you thinking?”
“Heh.”
As I lowered my head and murmured, a soft laugh descended upon me from above.
“Then who’s going to deal with that repulsive serpent?”
“You said there are many others who can stop it. So, just….”
“Grand Duke! Please, escape!”
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, a shout erupted from behind us.
The moment I reflexively lifted my head, a powerful force shoved me backward.
Stumbling in the loose military boots, I crashed onto my rear end helplessly.
Crash―!
A deafening collision thundered through the chamber.
When I opened my eyes, which had instinctively squeezed shut, the gaping maw of a monster loomed directly before me.
Serge, holding an iron bar that had fallen like lightning—though I couldn’t recall when he’d picked it up—barely managed to block the creature’s strike.
“Ssssshhhhh―.”
The colossal stone serpent writhed, releasing a chilling cry.
Fangs the size of an adult man’s torso trembled above Serge’s shoulder, poised to pierce him through at any moment.
Drip, drip.
Yellowish venom dripped from the fangs onto Serge’s suit.
Sizzzzz….
With a acrid, burning smell, the fabric dissolved in an instant, exposing his upper body.
The raw flesh where the venom had traced its path burned an angry red, snapping me fully awake.
“Your Majesty!”
“Princess. This creature is targeting you. So pull yourself together and run.”
….
“I can’t hold much longer. Hurry!”

61%

As if he’d opened his abilities to their maximum, his Magi reading surged dramatically.
Lingering here out of concern would only be a burden to him.
I scrambled to my feet and dragged his shoes across the floor as I rushed toward the White Room’s door.
Whether his claim that the creature was targeting me was true or not, the monster’s torn pupils—pinned down by Serge’s telekinetic force—slid smoothly to track my movements.
The same held true even after I entered the White Room.
The interior was silent thanks to the soundproofing, but the large glass windows meant I couldn’t help but see the monster lurking outside.
Serge remained motionless in his stance, apparently resolved to hold his ground until I had completely escaped.
Behind him, I could faintly see the Awakeners rushing in to attack again.
Without watching any further, I urgently found the gap Serge had pointed out to me.
Thud, thud!
After kicking several times, cracks appeared in the wall.
Once I was certain, I threw all my strength into breaking through the wall.
“…Kwaaa… Kwaaaaagh!”
Realizing I was trying to escape, the monster shrieked and I heard it flare with light intermittently.
Boom boom boom boom boom―
The floor trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
‘Faster.’
Panic seized me.
The wall I’d kicked multiple times now had a hole, but it still seemed far too small to squeeze my body through.
I gave up on kicking and quickly grabbed the chair instead.
The moment I lifted it high, a massive shadow loomed beyond the glass window.
It seemed there was a limit to how much of the creature’s elongated body Gear could restrain with telekinesis—the tail section that had slipped free from his control was hurtling toward me at terrifying speed.
Whoosh―!
The White Room was silent, yet the sound of the enormous tail cleaving through the air felt vivid against my ears.
If I had any sense left, I should have ducked immediately.
But somehow, a crushing sense of helplessness dominated my entire body.
Perhaps it was self-loathing—neither fighting back like the others nor even managing to escape in time, and now facing this.
‘…At least I won’t die.’
It’s not like I was doused in venom, and a few shards of glass wouldn’t kill me.
Even without offensive abilities like the others, I still had an Awakener’s body.
There was no point in dodging what I couldn’t stop anyway.
Eston would have a rough time, but if I just passed out, at least I wouldn’t feel the pain and would heal without a trace.
It was a remarkably calm thought to have just before the stone serpent’s tail struck me.
And then everything seemed to flow in slow motion.
Serge, his face drained of color, turning toward me in urgent desperation.
The shadow of the monster crashing through the glass window.
The critical moment when it finally descended upon the White Room.
Crack, crack-crack―!
Suddenly, ice pillars erupted from the floor, coiling around the serpent’s tail.
The massive body that had been striking at the glass window froze in place.
The ice pillars didn’t merely restrain the tail.
The stone-like scales touched by the ice began to freeze instantly, as if exposed to dry ice.
The frozen area spread like wildfire, and a portion of the serpent’s tail transformed into a solid block of ice in mere moments.
Then.
Crash―!
Several thick ice spears materialized from nowhere and pierced through it.
The monster’s body, which had remained unscathed by Dylan’s flame attacks and seemed impervious to ordinary weapons and abilities, shattered into fragments.
My thoughts couldn’t keep pace with what had suddenly unfolded.
I could only stare wide-eyed through the glass window at the scene playing out beyond.
“――!”
Without warning, the tail broke apart, and its jagged cross-section writhed violently.
The serpent, in agony, thrashed its elongated body wildly, and more ice spears surged toward it.
The stone serpent, having retreated from the White Room, launched itself at the one attacking it.
A rare spectacle unfolded—an enraged monster and a single Awakener locked in a brutal struggle.
Remarkably, the Awakener held his own against the S-rank monster that had even given Serge difficulty.
Or perhaps he couldn’t afford to fall behind.

100%

The one wildly thrashing about and unleashing torrents of ice attacks was none other than Ethan, consumed by his own rampage.

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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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