A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 197

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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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197.

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Still, I had managed to fall asleep in the Bunker midway through, so I thought my condition wasn’t terrible.
But by the time I returned to the Duke’s Mansion, my mind was in a fog.
It wasn’t from using my ability.
It was simply that the unexpected realization had left my head feeling as though it might burst apart….
I knew this wasn’t the time for such comfortable thoughts, yet I couldn’t stop my hand from touching my lips.
I felt like I was losing my mind.
Upon arriving at my room, welcomed by Nancy, I simply collapsed into bed right after washing and fell asleep as though unconscious.
“…Miss, Miss.”
Then, a careful hand shaking me awake roused me from sleep.
“…What is it?”
“You need to come out for a moment.”
Nancy’s face was drawn tight with tension.
I looked around with bleary eyes.
Except for a single mood lamp, the room was shrouded in darkness.
It seemed the sun had set long ago.
“What time is it?”
“Just past midnight.”
“Huh….”
So I’d slept nearly twelve hours.
I hadn’t done anything particularly strenuous, yet what had made me so exhausted.
‘My pathetic stamina.’
I wanted to linger longer, but something about Nancy’s expression made me hurry to my feet.
I threw on a cardigan and headed straight to the first floor.
Despite the late hour, every light in the Estate was blazing brightly.
Moreover, for some reason, the entrance doors stood wide open.
‘In the middle of the night?’
Something had definitely happened.
As I quickened my pace and stepped outside the Entrance Hall, an unfamiliar sight unfolded before me.
I saw knights clad in full armor bearing the Duke’s Household crest.
Though I didn’t know them all, they were the same Awakeners who often accompanied Ethan.
And standing before them, equally well-armed, was the Duke.
As though bidding them farewell, all the Servants had come out.
“Father.”
I widened my eyes and approached him.
“Edith Blake.”
“What on earth is happening?”
The Duke’s expression was grave.
He dispensed with pleasantries and went straight to the matter at hand.
“…Gates are being generated endlessly near the Caspian Mountains, or so I’m told.”
As if the barrier that had been erected over the Gorge had shattered and a Gate Wave was flooding through.
From those words alone, I could immediately grasp the situation.
‘Sephiroth has already made his move.’
I furrowed my brow, and the Duke continued.
“Orders have come down for all available personnel from each family to mobilize.”
“Father too?”
He nodded with a grave expression.
Was the situation dire enough to conscript even those who had long since retired from the front lines?
My confusion was short-lived; the reason soon became clear.
Only the Duke could command the Awakeners of the family.
There was no Ethan left to take his place.
I had never harbored fond feelings toward him, but now that circumstances had shifted, a bitter taste filled my mouth.
“Just a moment. I’ll prepare and be right out.”
“No.”
“Pardon?”
“You will stay home for the time being. Do not involve yourself.”
“But….”
I was momentarily taken aback by his firm refusal.
“Father, what are you saying? What happens if the Purifier doesn’t go?”
“Edith Blake.”
Suddenly, the Duke reached out and gripped my shoulder firmly.
“I have already lost you many times over.”
“…Father.”
“Trapped in foolish, arrogant habit, I had completely forgotten that the life of an Awakener means constantly treading the line between life and death.”
Speaking rapidly as if time were pressing, he continued.
“I simply… wished for my child to awaken moderately as I have, to live comfortably without regard for anyone’s opinion. Not some unique Purifier, not some high-grade Awakener. Just moderately… I thought it would suffice if you could tend a garden like your mother.”
“….”
“Had I known I would end up repeatedly thrusting you into the jaws of death, I would never have spoken such words….”
The Duke’s words trailed off, his face etched with regret and anguish.
He had already atoned once before for his cruelty in the past.
But now he seemed tormented by the very fact that his only daughter had become an Awakener—and in such an emergency, an indispensable figure who could not simply excuse herself.
The image of him standing at the gate with a banner hung in celebration when I returned from Equinox Island felt like a distant dream.
You had already lost your daughter long ago.
Unable to speak such words, I could only stare blankly at the Duke.
“Butler, see that no one enters or leaves the estate while I am away. Lock it down completely.”
He tore his gaze from me, issued a curt command to the Butler, and vaulted onto his horse in one fluid motion.
“Go.”
Then he led the knights away without hesitation.
“Ah, Father!”
“Young Lady.”
I started to chase after him, but the Butler and Servants rushed forward to block my path.
“The situation is grave. It would be wise to heed the Duke’s words.”
“But….”
I hadn’t even managed to wish him a safe journey properly.
I could only watch the Duke’s receding silhouette in a daze.
“Please retire to your chambers, Young Lady. The night grows late.”
The Butler ushered me back into the Estate.
Even after Nancy led me back to my Room, I remained in a stupor.
Perhaps because everything had unfolded so suddenly, like lightning striking.
Though I’d been awake for a while now, everything felt distant and dreamlike.
“…Is this even right?”
The Duke knows nothing.
Nothing of what Sephiroth is doing right now.
With dimensions merging—with this very world on the brink of annihilation—could I really just stay here comfortably at home?
I sank into a chair and gazed out through the expansive window, muttering to myself.
Even after the master departed, the lights throughout the Estate remained lit.
I could see Servants and knights moving about the courtyard and Garden.
Likely patrols, or perhaps surveillance.
The Duke had ordered that no one enter or leave the Estate, but it was obvious who that restriction was meant for.
“Hah….”
I let out a hollow laugh and splashed water on my face.
The Crown Prince and the Security Bureau Director had died so pathetically, and the man who’d become the unrivaled number one had been granted permission to march forth.
Yet here I was, utterly trapped by the Duke.
Of course, even if I went to Caspian Gorge right now, I wouldn’t be much help.
Before I could even find Sephiroth, I’d have to contend with the hordes of Monsters pouring from the Gate.
At best, I could only purify the Magi and Awakeners from the rear.
But with the Gate generating infinitely, purifying Magi would be pointless, and in the early stages of battle, there wouldn’t be any Awakeners to worry about going berserk.
If someone had to protect me and couldn’t fight properly because of it, perhaps staying home was actually more helpful.
Yet I couldn’t understand why my heart felt so unsettled and anxious.
“I thought awakening would solve everything….”
My Biological Father and stepbrothers had boasted about it so much.
The media praised Awakeners as if they were gods.
I’d believed that awakening would resolve all my worries and fears, and I’d become an unprecedented rare Purifier as I’d wished.
Yet whether as Yu Sol or as Edith Blake, I remained powerless.
‘Can I truly stop Sephiroth?’
Of course, there were dozens, hundreds of powerful Awakeners like Serge and Dylan besides me.
If they united their strength, they could block anything.
But I couldn’t shake my doubt.
‘She blocked all those attacks.’
Sephiroth already had a track record of emerging unscathed even from the combined assault of all the Awakeners.
And I was the only one who had inflicted a meaningful wound upon her.
‘Should I follow her even without the Duke knowing?’
I was gnawing at my thumb, wrestling with what the wisest course of action might be.
Knock, knock—
A knock suddenly sounded from nearby.
I startled and lifted my head, noticing a shadow cast across the small window beside the large glass pane.
The massive silhouette crouched on the windowsill was unmistakable.
“…His Highness?”
Perhaps because I had experienced this once before, I didn’t shriek in terror as I had then.
Instead, bewildered at how he had scaled this heavily guarded wall, I simply stared at him with confused eyes when another knock sounded—’knock, knock’.
“Open the window.”
The man whispered softly, his lips barely moving.
At that, I sprang to my feet and rushed over.
The window was locked with an unfamiliar latch.
Normally I wouldn’t have kept it locked for ventilation, but it seemed the Duke had given Nancy advance instructions.
Click—
The moment I undid the latch, the window swung open and the man tumbled inside.
“What’s with all these guards prowling about in the middle of the night? Have you been imprisoned?”
The man, squeezing himself through the opening, grumbled irritably.
“Anyone seeing this would think I’m here to rescue some princess locked in a tower. It’s been quite thrilling trying not to get caught.”
“…”
“Did you sleep well, princess?”

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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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