A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 206

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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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206.

Crack!
Something hurtled down from above, shattering the rocky ground and embedding itself deep within.
I recognized what it was only after the impact.
‘An ice spear.’
The sight of the ice spear lodged mere inches from my feet sent my hair standing on end.
It had been a razor’s edge.
If Vincent hadn’t pulled me back in time, I would have been impaled and dead before I could even comprehend what happened.
A strike aimed at me alone.
If Ethan had gone berserk, he would have swept Vincent away in an instant, so there was only one person capable of such an act.
‘Ruellin, you bastard…!’
I scanned the area with blazing eyes, searching for the culprit.
Since it had come from above, she wasn’t inside the cave.
But the moment I examined the large and small rocks piled atop the cave, another ice spear came flying.
Clang—!
Fortunately, I didn’t need to dodge this time.
Vincent summoned a gale that knocked the ice spear off the cliff.
Whoosh, whish—!
Not content with that, he immediately launched a counterattack.
Without much noise, several artificially stacked rocks atop the cave shattered like vegetables being sliced, crumbling to pieces.
“Ah! Vincent! Stop, stop! It’s me, Vincent! It’s me!”
The culprit, who had been holding her breath, revealed herself with pathetic ease.
Ruellin, clutching one shoulder as if slashed by the wind blades, struggled to her feet.
“…Ruellin.”
I glanced sideways at Vincent.
He showed no sign of surprise or confusion, as if he already knew that Ruellin was the one targeting me.
Rather, his protruding jaw revealed just how furious he was.
“What are you doing here.”
“Ugh, well, you see….”
Ruellin recited miserably, tears streaming down her face.
“Sephiroth told me to keep everyone away from the cave. Otherwise, he said he’d kill Ethan. So I….”
“….”
“I really didn’t know it was you and Edith Blake. If I had, I wouldn’t have done this…!”
“Stop lying!”
That was when it happened.
Vincent suddenly burst out in a suppressed rage, his voice booming.
“Do you still think I’m an idiot? You think I don’t know you stole Ethan’s abilities with that relic and ran off?”
“V-Vincent.”
“At least claim you were blackmailed into threatening to kill Edith Blake. I’m sick and tired of you playing dumb every single time, acting like you’re the only victim here!”
Vincent’s display of genuine disgust was remarkably unfamiliar to me.
I’d never seen him direct such fiery anger at Ruellin before.
Of course, unless he was truly insane as he claimed, there was no way he could be ignorant of what she’d done within the Security Bureau.
Still, since he hadn’t been inside the Bunker, I’d thought he might harbor inner conflict upon facing Ruellin.
‘That’s why I told him to leave right after dropping her off….’
Now it seemed that consideration was pointless.
Vincent’s gaze upon Ruellin was utterly devoid of affection.
“No, I told you it wasn’t like that! Vincent, why won’t you believe me…?”
Ruellin’s face bore the shock of witnessing this unfamiliar side of Vincent.
She stammered, unable to continue, before releasing a sorrowful cry.
“It’s true I tried to steal the artifact, but that was only because of Sephiroth, I had no choice….”
“….”
“Anyway! I didn’t deliberately steal Captain Ethan’s ability! I didn’t even know the artifact possessed such power….”
“You didn’t know? Stop spouting nonsense.”
Yet what returned to her was cold ridicule.
“You knew. When I told you about the time my ability was sealed within an artifact. You cried then too, claiming you didn’t know artifacts held such power, comforting me.”
“…!”
“Why. Did you confuse this with a dream too? Did that damned brainwashing fabricate your memories with me as well, not just with Edith Blake?”
The mocking jabs that had always been directed at me alone.
Those venomous words that could reduce even the innocent to wretchedness poured forth upon Ruellin without restraint.
“Vincent! H-how could you say something so cruel…!”
She stared at Vincent with wide, disbelieving eyes.
Then she lowered her head.
The hand that had been supporting her wounded shoulder wiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks as she murmured in resignation.
“…You’re right. I did know. I’m sorry for lying, Vincent. I’m truly sorry….”
“….”
“Why are you speaking to me so rudely?”
“What?”
Vincent flinched at her sudden change in tone.
Ruellin slowly raised the head she’d been bowing.
Her bare face, which had been wet with sorrowful tears moments before, had transformed into something sinister and cold.
“You could have gently admonished me like before. You said you didn’t care whether Edith Blake lived or died.”
“You…!”
“Why? Do you think I’m lying again? You remember everything too.”
Ruellin laughed sharply, throwing his own words back at him.
I’d long known she wore the mask of a virtuous and benevolent heroine.
But witnessing her discard that mask and reveal her truly deranged nature sent chills crawling down my spine.
“You said you loved me, Vincent. That you’d do anything for me. That you’d support me and forgive me no matter what I did!”
“….”
“I believed your words and look what I’ve done. The humiliation I endured just to crawl back here!”
“….”
“I betrayed Sephirot for you! I crossed the Gate itself to save you all! And you dare—how could you say such things to me! How could you—!”
Ruellin, eyes rolled back and thrashing wildly, was the very picture of a villainess incarnate—utterly grotesque and menacing.
At a loss for words, Vincent stared at the woman who had once been his lover with a blank expression.
She mocked him, then raged at him, then pleaded with him, and finally unleashed a piercing, gut-wrenching shriek—before suddenly turning her gaze toward me.
“It’s all because of her, isn’t it? Edith Blake, that damned woman drove a wedge between us, didn’t she? Tell me! Answer me!”
What? Why am I suddenly involved?
I, an innocent bystander caught unexpectedly in this lovers’ quarrel, could only stare in bewilderment at the sparks flying my way.
“Ever since that wretch came back to life, everything’s fallen apart! Everything’s ruined! I should have made sure to kill her in Tollen before leaving…!”
“Shut your mouth!”
In that instant, Vincent, who had been silent until now, raised his hand with brutal force.
Whoosh!
An invisible killing intent shot toward Ruellin.
Flutter!
“Agh!”
A sharp cry escaped her as a shallow gash appeared across one of her cheeks.
The gust Vincent had unleashed left a deep wound on Ruellin’s face as if carved by a blade, then dissipated.
“Wh-what….”
As if her scream had nothing to do with pain, Ruellin only touched her face hesitantly after her hair settled.
“Ah, ah….”
Upon discovering the split in her own cheek, she collapsed to the ground as though her legs had given out.
She shook her head as if denying the reality that Vincent had attacked her, then silent tears began streaming down her face.
This time, they seemed genuine.
But whether genuine or feigned hardly mattered. What was important was—
‘There’s no blood.’
No blood stained the hands clutching her cheek.
Now that I thought about it, the shoulder that appeared injured earlier was the same.
The fabric bore clear marks of being torn, yet no trace of blood was visible anywhere.
‘What on earth….’
I’d suspected she wasn’t truly human, but to lack blood entirely—
‘Could she survive even if her neck were severed?’
The same eerie premonition I’d felt witnessing Sephirot, against whom the Awakeners’ attacks proved useless, crept through my mind.
When I glanced back, Vincent seemed to be entertaining the same thought—his entire body had gone rigid and tense.
As an unsettling tension hung in the air, Ruellin’s pitiful monologue continued.
“Heh, Vincent… please, just listen to me, okay? You’re being deceived right now, heh.”
“….”
“Is she really Edith? Don’t you find it strange? That she’s not the Edith Blake you know, but someone else entirely….”
“…It doesn’t matter.”
Aren’t you afraid of that monstrous creature who doesn’t shed a single drop of blood?
‘Don’t answer. Just ignore her!’
I glared at him, trying to signal him with my eyes, but he opened his mouth anyway.
“Whether you’re the Edith Blake I know or not doesn’t matter to me.”
“Wh, what….”
“At least I’m better than a maggot like you who arbitrarily manipulates others’ minds and basely steals their abilities.”
Anyone would be enraged by being called a maggot.
Especially a monster who firmly believed herself to be a beloved heroine….
Ruellin’s tears, which had been flowing moments before, suddenly stopped.
‘We’re finished.’
In that same instant, her sorrowful expression twisted grotesquely once more.
Her eyes, blazing with crimson malice, swept past Vincent and fixed directly on me.
“It’s, it’s all your fault! If you hadn’t existed! If you had never appeared…!”
So what exactly had I done?
I never got the chance to voice my grievance.
Dozens of ice spears materialized in the void, piercing toward my crown.

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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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