A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 213

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

213.

95%

The perilously low Magi barrier reading caught my eye first.
Blood-soaked blue hair, long ice spears piercing through his chest and ribs came next.
“Why are you still…?”
“Ugh.”
Vincent, who had been walking toward me slowly, suddenly stumbled.
I limped forward as quickly as I could to reach him.
“Are you okay?!”
“Gah… Don’t make a fuss. It’s nothing serious.”
“Nothing serious, my foot!”
My brow furrowed at his bravado even in this state.
“Why didn’t you retreat when you reached this condition? I told you to go back immediately!”
“If I left, how would you get back?”
“That’s…”
I had no words.
I’d been worrying about that very thing just moments ago.
But Vincent’s condition was far too grave to dismiss with pleasantries.
Beyond the severity of his wounds, using any more power here would be dangerous.
And I wasn’t in a position to purify him immediately either.
As I gazed at him with a heavy heart, he suddenly let out a dry laugh.
“I can at least get you to safety, so don’t worry. More importantly, are you hurt?”
“Who’s worried about whom right now…”
I’d lost considerable blood, but it was nothing compared to Vincent’s pierced chest and ribs.
Yet Vincent didn’t even mention pain.
His ashen complexion and trembling eyes suggested he must be in excruciating agony.
Still, he forced himself to speak with feigned nonchalance and jest.
“Let’s go.”
“…”
“I can’t carry you on my back with this new accessory, right?”
He gestured to the ice spear protruding from his back with a joke that barely qualified as one.
I couldn’t bring myself to laugh along.
It was so unlike him—the one who would whine and pout to Ruellin over the slightest injury.
As I stared at him in unfamiliar bewilderment.
“Edith Blake? Edith Blake?”
Another voice suddenly cut through.
“Edith Blake! I was wrong! Now that I think about it, I think I went too far. You must have struggled so much in this unfamiliar place, and I was so selfish, wasn’t I?”
“….”
“So forgive me, and couldn’t you help me just once more? I won’t take your things again, okay?”
The rapid-fire chatter brought back an existence I’d completely forgotten.
In the instant I reflexively turned toward the voice,
“Don’t look.”
Vincent suddenly seized my cheek and fixed my gaze on him.
“…Is that Ruellin?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he withdrew something from his pocket and held it out to me.
A pulsing, crimson mass.
It was the relic Ruellin had stolen.
Though it was called the heart of an ancient dragon, the dragon’s heart I’d seen didn’t look like this.
So perhaps it was Sephiroth’s….
“Keep it with you and return it to the Security Bureau.”
Vincent handed me the relic with an impassive expression.
“But… you recovered this.”
“Did you forget? I absolutely hate getting tangled up in tedious matters.”
He shrugged his shoulders.
He seemed to have no intention whatsoever of receiving credit.
Yet he offered me the relic again as I hesitated.
“If I keep it and Father finds out, things will get complicated. So help me out.”
I reluctantly accepted it in the end.
I didn’t know what kind of trouble Vincent meant, but unlike him, Marquis Leandro was an ambitious man.
Since I knew his relationship with Vincent was terrible, I couldn’t refuse further.
As I tucked the relic deep into my inner pocket, Vincent wrapped an arm around my waist as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
Whoosh!
Avoiding the spear embedded in his chest and ribs, he held me at an angle and suddenly soared into the air.
Contrary to my concerns, Vincent flew with considerable stability.
Whether due to his injuries or not, his speed was much slower than before, but that was actually better for me.
The nightmarish cave gradually receded into the distance.
“Edith Blake? Vincent! Wait, you’re not… leaving me behind, are you?”
Vincent seemed to want to hide it from me, but because of how I was clinging to his shoulders, I naturally couldn’t help but see.
What had become of Ruellin, whom he’d fought.
Scattered across the rocky terrain above the cave were pale, whitish chunks in all directions.
‘What is that….’
The moment I reflexively narrowed my eyes to see more clearly, I regretted it.
It was a human body decomposed into dozens of pieces.
Undoubtedly Ruellin’s.
I immediately understood why Vincent had tried to hide it from me.
‘So it didn’t die even after I severed its limbs.’
I’d known for some time it wasn’t human, but what difference did it make from the monster that had once been Sephiroth’s husband?
The only saving grace was that after witnessing such horrors within the cave, Ruellin’s gruesome fate didn’t strike me as shocking.
“Vincent! It hurts! I was wrong, okay? Please don’t leave me here like this!”
“….”
“Edith Blake! It’s because of that bitch Edith Blake! I’ll kill her! I’ll kill her, I swear! Edith Blake―!”
The round, silver-furred mass that had taken flight trembled violently upon noticing us.
I felt Vincent’s body flinch at the sound of Ruellin’s anguished screams.
‘…Right. This must be hardest on him.’
Though the brainwashing likely played a significant role, she was still someone he’d once believed he loved.
Thinking of Vincent having to butcher her with his own hands stirred a twinge of sympathy in me.
I covered both of Vincent’s ears with my hands.
“…Just hold on a little longer.”
“….”
“Once you recover, I’ll purify you right away. Don’t end up dragged off pathetically like Ethan did.”

96%

As I murmured while anxiously watching the slightly risen percentage, Vincent’s rigid body relaxed.
“It’s dangerous, so keep your arm around my neck.”
He shook his head and brushed away my hands covering his ears.
Since Ruellin’s shrieks were no longer audible, I obediently withdrew my hands.
Then he suddenly asked.
“…Edith Blake, did you know?”
“Know what?”
“From when you were seven until thirteen, I carried you on my back while you slept.”
“I did that?”
“You did. Even when I said we had to go home, you’d throw such tantrums….”
I naturally knew nothing of Edith Blake’s childhood.
Unlike me, who narrowed my eyes, Vincent continued with a teasing tone, chuckling softly.
“And yet, just because you didn’t see me for a year, you completely forgot my face? Not to mention that memory loss you had recently.”
“….”
“You really do have the memory of a goldfish.”
“Do you want to die?”
I snapped and raised my voice, and he actually trembled as he laughed.
“Stop laughing! What if your wounds open up!”
“Ah, ugh… yeah, that’s true.”
He seemed to be in pain, and fortunately, he exaggerated his groans and quickly stopped laughing.
But his mouth showed no signs of stopping.
“…You know. I was really hurt back then? Honestly, you went too far.”
“….”
“I survived that hellish year by thinking of seeing you again. If I’ve forgotten things from childhood, so be it.”
“….”
“But why did you have to make a show of becoming best friends with Ethan? You said I was your only best friend.”
Best friends with Ethan? That was a horrifying thought.
The Edith Blake I knew had never been particularly close to Ethan.
That was separate from how she’d been jealous of Ruellin and craved her affection.
So it was clearly a misunderstanding.
“That never happened.”
“No, you did.”
“Back then, your eyes must have been playing tricks on you.”
“I suppose….”
When I denied it outright, Vincent didn’t press the matter further.
“Anyway, that’s why… back then, I resented you so much and held such a grudge.”
Instead, he murmured hollowly.
“But I never once wished for you to be hurt or dead. That’s the truth.”
“….”
“Rather, I promised myself I would cherish and protect you….”
“….”
“How did things end up like this?”
I didn’t answer his empty question.
He would know best without me saying anything.
That childish emotion, that heart which was nothing but a summer shower.
It had caught Ruellin’s eye and snowballed into something massive, leaving indelible scars on both him and me.
“Edith Blake.”
Vincent whispered softly to me as I remained silent.
“When we return, I won’t ask for your forgiveness anymore.”
“….”
“I won’t insist on going back to how things were, and I won’t put you in an awkward position. So….”
“….”
“Forget it all. Every cruel word I said to you, every despicable thing I did—all of it.”
By then, his voice had grown thick and choked with moisture.
“Forget everything… and let’s pretend we never met. From now on, even if we cross paths, we’ll be complete strangers, seeing each other for the first time.”
“….”
“Let’s do that, you and I.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————