A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 23

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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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23.

***

I was dreaming.
I could tell it wasn’t my own dream because I was experiencing it as an observer.
A Greenhouse brimming with verdant foliage.
Edith Blake sat in its center, her face far younger than it was now.
Like someone lucidly dreaming, I watched from a third-person perspective as she conversed with someone.
“…you have to go?”
“….”
“Is it because they found out you awakened because of me? It’s fine, I’ll smooth things over. Or would you rather I go abroad somewhere until the fuss dies down?”
“….”
“…why won’t you speak? Dylan!”
‘Dylan? Is that Dylan Frederick?’
Only then did I recognize who stood across from her.
A delicate face that clashed with his shabby clothes, his height nearly matching Edith Blake’s.
The red-haired boy with disheveled hair didn’t seem to be the Dylan I knew.
“Answer me!”
At that moment, Edith Blake pressed him relentlessly, her voice sharp as a blade.
“You’re mine! You’ve lived comfortably all this time without doing any hard labor because I took you in! You promised to care for me your whole life!”
“….”
“And now you’re betraying me and leaving?”
“…betrayal, miss? Please don’t say such things.”
“If it’s not betrayal, what is it?! Why do you suddenly want to leave for the Frederick Family Estate!”
“….”
“Do you think something will change there? Those people already abandoned you once—they’ll never accept a bastard as family!”
Dylan’s face hardened under the torrent of abuse.
After staring at her for a long moment, he replied with chilling calm.
“…if that’s all you called me here to say, then I have nothing more to offer. I have matters to attend to, so I’ll take my leave.”
As Dylan turned to leave with resolve, Edith Blake’s blue eyes wavered.
It was the moment he reached for the Greenhouse door.
“…don’t, don’t go, Dylan!”
“….”
“Don’t go. I’m scared… you know you’re all I have right now.”
Remarkably, Edith Blake pleaded with her attendant.
But what was even more astonishing was that Dylan, who seemed about to ignore her and leave, suddenly froze in his tracks!
“Everything’s been a mess since she appeared. Ethan, Vincent… everyone’s as if they’ve been bewitched, always saying Ruellin, Ruellin, Ruellin! They only search for Ruellin!”
“….”
“You said all I needed to do was purify the Erosion! So why does it feel like everyone’s drifting away from me? Why are they all looking at me with such pitying eyes?”
“….”
“Just like when Father abandoned me….”
At the sound of my master’s voice, trembling like a child’s, Dylan finally surrendered.
With a sigh, he turned and hurried back.
Then, like a loyal retainer, he dropped to one knee and looked up at Edith Blake.
“Miss, no—Edith.”
“….”
“I will never abandon you.”
At the intimate address and his gentle, soothing tone, my mouth fell open.
‘Edith Blake and Dylan were this close?!’
Regardless of my shock, the two continued their conversation as naturally as flowing water.
“But why are you trying to leave me and go to the Frederick Family…?”
“Because staying by your side as I am now, I feel too incompetent and useless.”
“What’s wrong with you…!”
“How can you say such things after what you’ve endured?”
Cutting off Edith Blake’s words, Dylan carefully lifted the hem of her skirt.
‘What are you doing, you green fool!’
Even knowing this was a dream, I nearly jumped out of my skin in shock.
But I quickly realized my misunderstanding.
Beneath Edith Blake’s raised skirt, her right leg was revealed, wrapped tightly in bandages.
‘…Is she injured?’
Dylan’s face twisted with self-reproach at the sight.
“Despite awakening, I’m a fool who can’t properly handle a single ability, and I couldn’t even protect my master.”
“…I, I told you this wasn’t your fault.”
“Until recently, I didn’t even know what Erosion was. If I get caught in another Gate, and if I lose control and hurt you….”
“….”
“I could never forgive myself, Edith.”
“Dylan….”
I watched the two of them with bewildered eyes—they seemed remarkably close.
‘He was ashamed of the time he served Edith Blake! Even for a dream, isn’t this too much embellishment?’
Yet wasn’t this dream far too vivid and detailed to dismiss as mere fantasy?
That was when it happened.
The door suddenly swung open!
Someone stepped into the Greenhouse.
“Ah… I’m, I’m sorry! I was told Dylan was here….”
It was a face I was seeing for the first time since possessing this body.
Yet I recognized her instantly.
Soft, light brown hair, large emerald eyes like a deer’s, a gentle and pretty face.
‘Ruellin…!’
It was Ruellin.
Edith Blake, who despised her, naturally reacted with hostility.
“What are you doing here? Why are you even present?”
“I came to purify Ethan. And I thought Dylan might need it as well…”
“…!”
At those words, Edith Blake’s lips trembled as she bit down on them.
Jealousy, rage, inferiority, and emptiness—all directed at Ruellin, who possessed an ability she could never have.
Every emotion laid bare across her face without reservation.
Ruellin, meeting Edith Blake’s troubled gaze, shifted her attention to Dylan, who remained kneeling.
“By the way, Dylan. At the victory banquet last time, the Countess Frederick had a message for you.”
“….”
“I thought I should tell you regardless…”
“…I understand.”
At her words, Dylan reluctantly rose to his feet.
Edith Blake quickly seized his sleeve.
“Where are you going? Don’t leave, Dylan.”
“I’ll return shortly, Miss.”
“I said don’t go. Do you not wish to see me again?!”
Yet despite her ominous threat, Dylan merely gently removed her hand from his sleeve, offering no answer to her plea.
“I shall summon Nancy. Please return to your room.”
“Dylan!”
“….”
“Dylan―!”
Behind his retreating figure, Edith Blake’s desperate voice echoed through the space, but he never once looked back.

A blink.
And the scene shifted.
Nothing had changed dramatically.
The same place. Still the Duke’s Residence greenhouse.
“…What? What did you just say?”
Edith Blake stood rigid, her gaze fixed upon him with venomous intensity.
When I saw the man facing off against her, my eyes widened in shock.
The boy who had been wearing tattered clothes moments before had somehow matured into the male lead I knew.
Neatly swept crimson hair and a sharply tailored uniform.
Not a trace of the delicate young servant remained.
“I intend to propose to Ruellin.”
Dylan delivered the words with a frigid expression.
Edith Blake’s face drained of color upon hearing them.
“You… have you lost your mind?”
“No. I am perfectly sane.”
“Ha!”
Edith Blake let out a sharp, hollow laugh before erupting into a fit of rage.
“You said you’d return soon. That you’d never betray me! Is this the loyalty you spoke of?!”
“It is a matter decided by the family. I have no choice.”
“Don’t make me laugh! When did you ever become part of the Frederick Family? Just three years ago you were nothing but my servant!”
“…Edith Blake.”
“Miss, no less! I picked you up from the streets where you were begging, fed you, gave you shelter, and now you act as though you’ve awakened to something greater…!”
“This is exactly why!”
That was when it happened.
Dylan, who had been listening in silence, suddenly cut her off with a loud voice.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want to come back. Because you demean people and treat them with such contempt!”
“What…?”
“Did you know that Dylan is the name of a famous male courtesan who entertains noblewomen? You gave me that name deliberately, didn’t you?”
At the sudden accusation, Edith Blake’s shoulders trembled.
“No, no! I really didn’t know! That couldn’t be right—why would I ever do something like that to you…!”
“How would I know? How could someone like me, a discarded bastard who begged on the streets, ever comprehend the deep intentions of such a noble and magnificent young lady?”
“Dylan!”
“From now on, do not summon me here again.”
He delivered his verdict coldly to his bewildered former mistress.
“This will be the last time I visit the Duke’s Residence, Edith Blake. No—”
“….”
“Miss Blake.”
As I watched the man turn and walk away, Edith Blake’s face gradually crumbled.
Her slender form trembled, unable to reach out and stop him, lost and helpless.
Her blue eyes, glistening with unshed tears, wavered endlessly—a sight so fragile it seemed ready to shatter.
Like a child who had lost their mother….
.
.
.
“Damnable bastard!”
I shuddered at Dylan’s two-faced duplicity, then snapped my eyes open.

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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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