A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 215

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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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215.

I’d thought a single adjustment would suffice, but I was utterly mistaken.
“Hack, cough!”
Blood spilled from my mouth with the same sickening wetness as in the Cave, unstoppable and relentless.
By the time the coughing finally subsided, the world spun before my eyes, and my entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Had it not been for Serge’s telekinesis, I would have collapsed right then.
“Haa….”
I forced myself to focus ahead.
His form, once so vivid, had blurred into an indistinct haze.
“…Your Highness, I think I’m about to lose consciousness.”
I’d meant to tell myself to hold on, but what spilled from my lips instead was something pathetically childish.
I couldn’t help it.
Every time something like this happened, he was there beside me.
Protecting me, allowing me to surrender to unconsciousness without fear.
The moment I recalled that, tears began to flow.
“It hurts… This is all because of you, Your Highness.”
“….”
“You told me not to leave, so I poured everything into purifying that damned Sephiroth….”
He offered no response.
It was only natural—he wasn’t in his right mind.
Yet I despised this silence, feared it.
Because he didn’t seem like the Serge I knew, I wept like a child, my whole body shaking.
“Hic, so… come here quickly and hold me.”
“….”
“I’m dying from the pain. It’s all your fault, so take responsibility, you bastard….”
That was the moment.
The invisible force that had constricted my entire body released me as if it had been a lie.
Thump!
I collapsed, sliding to the ground.
“Gasp, gasp….”
The breath I’d been holding suddenly rushed free.
Panting heavily, I began to crawl forward on my hands and knees.
My legs had gone limp, and I couldn’t stand no matter how hard I tried.
Whether by fortune or misfortune, the man did nothing as I dragged myself to his feet.
“Growl, grrrrrowl….”
Still burning with fever, I reached out and seized the repulsive creature dangling from his left leg, tearing into it with my bare hands.
“Shrieeeek―!”
Whether his ability wasn’t functioning at all, the mass of flesh shrieked and dropped to the ground with a thud.
Ssssscrape.
The creature, only slightly diminished in size, scurried away with centipede-like speed.
I had no strength left to chase it down and annihilate it.
Because two more monsters still remained embedded in his body.
Unable to lift myself, I carefully cradled his leg, where the monsters had savagely torn away the flesh, leaving raw tissue exposed.
“What is this, really.”
Tears that had momentarily ceased began falling again.
“You said to look at you beautifully, but there’s nothing beautiful about this, nothing magnificent. It’s a complete mess, you bastard.”
It was a lie.
The truth was that Serge had been magnificent and remarkable for finally succeeding in closing the Gate.
But the reason he’d driven himself to this state seemed to be entirely because of me.
Not for some grand reason like saving the Empire or fulfilling an Awakener’s duty.
It seemed he’d done it to send me back to my original world.
A sob escaped between my lips, raw and anguished.
“Ugh… when did I ever say I wanted to go back? I said I didn’t know how to settle in this place.”
“….”
“Why won’t you listen to what I say and just leave? You kept saying you’d bring me gold and silver, the imperial throne!”
“….”
“You tempted me relentlessly and then die? What am I supposed to do with my riches and glory? I finally stayed here—who am I supposed to trust and live for, you madman!”
Thwack, thwack!
As I vented my frustrations like a child throwing a tantrum at someone who wouldn’t answer, the remaining monsters fell away as well.
Either way, it seemed purification was still occurring through contact.
I lifted my head to check the Magi barrier reading.
My vision was obscured by the tears that had filled my eyes, making it difficult to see clearly.
As I blinked, trying desperately to hold back my sobs.
Click.
Suddenly, weight settled on top of my head.
It was a man’s hand.
The backlighting made it impossible to discern his expression.
Only a familiar voice emerged, stuttering like a child just learning to speak, breaking his words into fragments.
“…Edith.”
“….”
“I, love.”
“Hic… sob.”
The tears that had stopped came pouring down again like a waterfall.
After finally pulling him out of his rampage state, and that’s what he says?
That he doesn’t like it. That he doesn’t understand.
Countless words I wanted to scream roared inside my mouth, yet I couldn’t utter a single one.
In an instant, my vision darkened, and I lost consciousness entirely.

***

How I’d ended up at the Duke’s Mansion afterward remained a blur.
I’d been bedridden for a solid two days.
Compared to how I used to languish for entire weeks, it was truly remarkable progress.
When I awoke from that deep, dreamless sleep, the Duke and everyone in the household surrounded me.
“Edith Blake!”
“Miss!”
“Why… is everyone doing this?”
I gazed around at them through the haze of half-consciousness.
Waking to find several people hovering over my bed was hardly a welcome sight.
It reminded me of the moments right after I’d first possessed this body.
Eston, the first to regain his composure, explained the reason.
“You lost a considerable amount of blood even while unconscious.”
“Blood? But my legs were healed.”
“Not from your legs—from your mouth. You coughed up blood several times. It seems the flow of your ability became tangled internally…”
Unable to pinpoint the cause, Eston’s expression grew despondent.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that I’d scraped away at my ability so violently I’d coughed up blood.
‘Though I seem reasonably intact now.’
Thanks to Eston’s meticulous healing, my body felt light enough to soar.
Recalling my state just before losing consciousness, it was a miracle I still drew breath at all.
Had I lost control, I would have lacked the strength to even thrash about.
“…You faced Sephiroth alone, then.”
Then came a stern rebuke.
It was the Duke.
The expedition must have been grueling—his bloodshot eyes made him look utterly exhausted.
Impatient with my hesitation, he pressed further.
“When your legs were healed, why didn’t you mention you had other wounds?”
“I didn’t want you to worry, Father…”
“Didn’t want me to— Now, of all times?! Ugh!”
“N-Duke!”
“F-Father!”
Suddenly, the Duke clutched the back of his neck and staggered.
The Butler and Langton rushed to steady him.
I too jolted upright in alarm.
“At my age, to collapse from the back of my neck while nursing my only child’s illness…! Butler, bring me alcohol at once! This instant!”
Fortunately, the Duke quickly regained his footing and began ranting.
Everyone broke into a cold sweat as he fumed once more over his daughter’s troubles.
It was Eston, the most level-headed among them, who stepped forward to face the Duke.
“Duke, you forgot you’re supposed to abstain from drinking for a while because of your injuries?”
“I don’t care! My arm is completely healed now!”
“Even if the wound has closed, you still need to be careful about inflammation! Duke, you’re at an age where age-related ailments appear, so your recovery ability is inferior to that of younger people!”
“What, what did you say?! Age-related ailments?!”
Eston was truly a human being shaped like a capital ‘T’.
At her cold-blooded retort, the Duke began to thrash about indignantly.
“Enough.”
I exhaled a shallow sigh and quickly quelled the commotion.
“Could you all leave for a moment? I have something to discuss with Father alone.”
They all left as if they’d been waiting for those very words.
In the suddenly quiet chamber, the Duke’s anger subsided awkwardly.
“What did you want to say?”
He approached hesitantly and collapsed into the chair beside my bed.
“I apologize for causing you worry, Father.”
“What…?”
The Duke’s eyes widened, as if he hadn’t expected an apology from me.
“To explain myself, I was the only one who could prevent Sephiroth from opening the Gate any further. Purification was fatal to him.”
But at my next words, his brow furrowed deeply.
“Regardless, how could you think to face him alone? If you truly had no one to ask for help, you should have at least told me!”
“I didn’t want to lose you.”
I confessed my feelings from that time calmly.
I no longer wanted to hide anything. I couldn’t hide it either.
“Because you left Eston by my side and departed. And I had to watch you standing in line with others, your wounded body mixed among them.”
“…”
“The very fact that such a situation arose made me so angry and heartbroken that I couldn’t bear it…”
“…”
“Will you still be angry with me?”
At my cautious question, the Duke’s fierce gaze gradually softened.
Soon he looked at me with a contorted expression.
“…I too.”
“…”
“I too thought I was losing you, Edith Blake.”
“…”
“I wasn’t trying to scold or punish you. I was afraid. Afraid that something might happen to you and you’d leave me…”
Recalling that moment, his lips trembled. Like someone truly consumed by fear.
He raised both hands and wiped his face repeatedly with dry palms.
And with reddened eyes, he spoke to me.
“It’s not that I doubt you or that I’m not proud of you, my precious daughter.”
When had the Duke, who was always so steadfast and fortress-like to me, become so diminished?
Sitting in the chair beside my bed, he looked exactly like someone who had stayed awake for days on end, fearing his child might die.
Only now, as if finally releasing a long-held breath, did my shoulders slump and my hands tremble intermittently.
The moment I witnessed this, my eyes grew hot inexplicably, and an overwhelming emotion surged forth that I could not contain.
I rose slowly from my seat and stood before him.
And I embraced him gently.
“…I am too.”
“….”
“I am proud of you too, Father.”
The Duke’s trembling intensified gradually.
In turn, I too burst into tears like a child.
That night, as father and daughter clung to each other and shed tears together.
Our relationship was redefined anew.
Under the name of true family.

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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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