A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 22

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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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22.

“Sister… is it over now? Have those scary people left?”
Theo, who had been trembling with his face buried against Eston’s back, slowly lifted his head.
Naturally, the child’s face was pristine.
His pupils showed no blackening or dilation—the telltale signs of Magi corruption—and no viscous black fluid oozed from his eyes, nose, or mouth.
“…!”
The man approaching Eston froze in shock, turning to glance at his lord.
“No, wait…! How is that even…!”
The Village Chief’s mouth hung open as his gaze darted between Theo and Eston.
Yet Dylan simply stood with his arms crossed, watching in silence.
“Young one. If you don’t mind, could I take just a single strand of your hair?”
“Y-yes, sister.”
Theo grew frightened at the unfamiliar man’s request.
“It’s alright, Theo. It won’t hurt. The gentleman is just curious about your hair color. Should sister pull one out too?”
Eston soothed her younger brother with practiced ease.
Thanks to her reassurance, the man collected Theo’s hair without incident and placed it into a glass vial he was holding.
Inside the vial, which sloshed with water, several tiny fish no larger than a pinky finger swam leisurely.
I’d experienced this examination once before.
‘Magi detection.’
A simple, fundamental method: if the fish died, exposure to Magi was confirmed.
The man began gently shaking the vial, stirring its contents.
I watched intently, somewhat tense.
I was certain I’d purified him completely, but as an ordinary person, I couldn’t see the rampage gauge and thus couldn’t be certain.
Moreover, Theo had only been awake for less than an hour.
‘If traces of Magi still lingered in his body….’
Eston, harboring the same worry, fixed me with a desperate gaze.
I swallowed dryly, waiting for the examination to conclude.
“…He’s perfectly fine.”
At last, the man declared it with certainty.
The fish inside the vial he handed to Dylan—not a single one had died.
“Haa….”
Eston, who had been rigid with tension, finally exhaled in relief.
Though I showed nothing outwardly, I too felt as though I’d aged ten years.
Only one person shook his head in denial of the result.
“That… that can’t be right… That’s impossible, Count!”
“….”
“Just yesterday, Sophie reported he couldn’t speak a single word…!”
“Then how would she speak clearly when she’s been bound up in pain for days and starved?!”
Magi wouldn’t have been detected either, Eston shot back sharply at the Village Chief.
Then he turned his gaze toward Dylan.
“Count. I’ve just learned something—it seems several villagers came to thaw out the frozen Corrupted. That’s also why Nancy… I mean, the Lady was being chased.”
“E-Eston…!”
The Village Chief was taken aback by her sudden accusation.
“N-no, it wasn’t the others, Count! It must have been Sophie, that woman acting on her own authority…!”
The Village Chief denied the allegations in shock.
Regardless, Eston continued his tattling as if venting pent-up grievances.
“If you go and check, you’ll see—Sophie came to thaw out her own son and set the fire. To stop us from taking Theo away.”
“…”
“That’s how the Corrupted escaped. But no matter how the fire spread, it’s unreasonable for them to escape this quickly and in such numbers, isn’t it? Unless they were thawed beforehand.”
Dylan, who had been listening quietly to Eston’s accusations, suddenly furrowed his brow.
“The reports were all lies.”
“C-Count! This is a misunderstanding! Please hear my side too! It’s…!”
“Frank. Arrest all those involved and interrogate them.”
“Yes, my lord!”
“W-wait! Count! Count—!”
The Village Chief was dragged away by Dylan’s subordinates.
It was quite an anticlimactic conclusion.
“…”
Silence descended once more over the Dead Forest.
‘Well, it’s resolved for now, at least.’
It was somewhat unexpected that the villagers who had thawed the ice blocks would also face punishment.
Being chased by the Corrupted was truly a perilous situation, but that didn’t make Eston a purely innocent victim either.
The fact that she hid her younger brother, exposed to Magi unlike the other residents, and that people were injured because of it—all of it was true.
But I had no intention of passing judgment on her.
‘It’s bothersome anyway. It’s not my problem.’
Honestly, coming all this way only to leave empty-handed without a single clue about possession made my head feel like it would burst.
‘Where do I go from here? What am I supposed to do? Do I just have to live like this?’
From the moment I realized I had been possessed until now.
Everything had passed so chaotically that I seemed to have deliberately avoided facing reality.
As the reality that I might live my entire life as ‘Edith Blake’ in this insane novel sank in, my vision darkened.
In stark contrast to me standing there in a daze, Eston approached with a beaming smile.
“Lady, are you alright? You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”
“Yeah, well…”
I gave a vague nod.
Fortunately or unfortunately, thanks to Dylan using his ability at the right moment, I had no injuries.
But.
‘I feel like I’m dying.’
I may have pushed myself too hard.
My legs trembled, and dizziness washed over me.
A premonition sounded an alarm—I needed to leave quickly.
It was the moment I spun around to depart.
“Edith….”
“….”
“How much did you know about this, Miss Blake?”
Did he still have business with me?
Male Lead 3 had caught me again.
Irritation surged through me.
I took a deep breath and turned to face him slowly.
“Do I need to be interrogated as a related party?”
“…I would appreciate it if you would think of this as cooperation, since you are directly involved in the incident.”
“Ha….”
A bitter laugh escaped at his audacity.
But I quickly suppressed my amusement and responded coldly.
“Send an official document to the Duke’s Household. Tell them that a young lady from the Duke’s family nearly died due to negligent management of the Devourers in your territory.”
“….”
“Then I’ll be happy to cooperate.”
Eston inhaled sharply at my provocative threat—one severe enough to spark conflict between houses.
Yet I, who had uttered those words, remained perfectly calm.
I was certain Dylan would not take that risk.
‘A man already ashamed of his past, publicly entangled with me? In a situation where it could be his fault?’
He had already once driven Edith Blake to her death.
Though third parties remained ignorant, and I myself refrained from speaking of it.
If word spread that another incident threatening a young lady had occurred in the same territory, people would certainly find it suspicious.
Dylan, who had barely shed the bastard label, would never risk such exposure.
“Let’s go, Eston.”
I glanced at him with contempt and walked away without farewell.
Eston, who had been fidgeting, bowed in my stead.
And he hurried after me.
Thus, at last, I was escaping the friction with Male Lead 3.
Thud, thud―
Suddenly, urgent footsteps echoed.
And.
“Wait.”
“….”
“Please wait a moment.”
With his superior stature, he caught up to me in an instant and blocked my path.
“Allow me to escort you to the Duke’s Residence.”
‘Why is he like this? Has he lost his mind?’
I barely suppressed the frown threatening to crease my brow, then forced myself to maintain composure with great effort.
“It’s fine. I arrived by carriage as well.”
“If it was waiting at the village entrance, I’ve had it sent back.”
“Pardon? Why would you….”
“Because the Coachman failed to clearly identify himself or state the purpose of his visit.”
At this point, was he deliberately trying to provoke me?
‘How could someone with such poor social awareness have been Edith Blake’s attendant? Just how breathtakingly beautiful must she have been in her youth….’
As I studied him with fresh eyes, I exhaled as though sighing before responding.
“…Then I’ll simply borrow one from the village and make my own way, so please don’t concern yourself.”
“I’ll have William send word to the Duke’s Mansion to dispatch a carriage at once.”
In that moment, I became certain.
He was deliberately doing this, provoked by my earlier challenge.
Since I was openly wearing a maid’s uniform, there was no way he wouldn’t realize I’d slipped out in secret.
As if asking what I would do now, he gazed down at me intently.
A headache bloomed.
Instead of cursing and screaming, I gritted my teeth and forced a smile.
“Really now….”
“….”
“You certainly have a talent for wearing people down, Eston.”
Was it my imagination? His ashen eyes wavered for a moment at my words, tinged with amusement.
It was probably my imagination.
Because my vision darkened completely at that very instant.
Without warning, my body crumbled, accompanied by a dizzying sensation creeping up the back of my head.
“…dit!”
Someone called out to me urgently, but I couldn’t respond.
Thump―.
My eyes closed.
Darkness consumed everything.

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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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