A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 29

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

29.

The moment I recognized who had snatched my hand away from the Butler, my brow furrowed deeply.
“What? Why are you here?”
“I came to go to the Imperial Palace with you.”
“That’s exactly what I’m asking—why would you go with me?”
“You don’t have a partner, Edith Blake. Who else would handle you but me?”
Vincent grinned mischievously, scratching at my patience.
His infuriatingly carefree demeanor left me speechless.
‘Wasn’t everything settled last time?’
And yet he’d appeared again after that spectacle?
He smiled so brightly, as though he’d forgotten every word of our previous conversation.
*Smack.*
I wrenched my hand free from his grasp.
“I don’t need you. Leave.”
“That’s so cruel. I even left my carriage behind so I could go with you…”
He pouted like a child, puffing out his cheeks with his lower lip thrust forward.
It was hardly behavior befitting a grown man, yet his face made it endearing.
‘Endearing, my foot…’
I caught myself thinking it and immediately denied the thought, but the power of beauty was truly formidable.
Dressed in a white tuxedo that seemed deliberately matched to mine, he looked every inch the cherished young master of a noble household.
But that was neither here nor there.
“Butler, prepare a carriage for Marquis Leandro.”
I turned my gaze away from him, fixing the Butler with a cold stare.
I suspected he might have conspired with this man to orchestrate this situation.
But it seemed my suspicion was unfounded, as he responded with considerable caution.
“Miss, I can certainly prepare a carriage, but if we delay any further here, we may not arrive on time.”
“Is that my concern? The one who barged uninvited into someone else’s home should figure it out himself.”
“You speak truly, but…”
The Butler glanced nervously between Vincent and me, beads of cold sweat forming on his brow.
“Since Marquis Leandro has come all this way, wouldn’t it be best if he accompanied you as your partner?”
“Butler.”
“*Whistle*—Butler, nice!”
Vincent and I called out to the Butler simultaneously.
Worse still, Vincent whistled and chuckled with unbridled delight.
‘…So this is how he’s going to play it?’
I glanced around, wondering what heavy object I could find.
“O-of course! Our young miss is perfect in every way, b-but…!”
The Butler, who instantly grasped what I was searching for, let out a cry of alarm.
“If you appear alone without a partner at a gathering composed of young nobles like today’s, all eyes will be upon you! You could become the subject of unwanted gossip…!”
“….”
“Sob, this old man speaks only out of concern for you, Miss. Please, I beg you to believe me….”
The Butler, sensing a threat to his very existence, appealed to me with something akin to tears in his voice.
Now that he’d apparently finished assessing me, everything he mentioned was precisely the sort of thing I despised.
‘I cannot draw attention to myself.’
I had to avoid the male leads at all costs.
Especially the fourth male lead who suspected me.
Realizing he wasn’t spouting nonsense, I finally exhaled a deep sigh and gestured to Vincent.
“…Fine.”
“Ha, Butler! You’re quite something, aren’t you?”
The man who patted the Butler’s shoulder in praise spoke with unbridled confidence.
“That’s right, Edith Blake! Listen to what the Butler says. You may not remember because you’ve lost your memories, but do you know how much you used to whine to me about not wanting to go alone?”
“….”
“At least be grateful that I came…wait, hey!”
I ignored him entirely and boarded the carriage first.
Click—slam!
Though I deliberately shut the door as I entered, the shameless man followed right after.
“Edith Blake. Your Butler apparently didn’t tell you this, but I’m one year older than you.”
“….”
“Sigh… It’s such a hassle that you’ve become a complete fool who’s lost all her memories.”
“….”
“But there’s no helping it. From the beginning, it was only I who looked after you in all your clumsiness. In that sense, would you call me ‘older brother’ again, like you did when we were children?”
The man, who had naturally taken the seat across from me, spouted utter nonsense.
I cast a sidelong glance at the top of his head.

74%

I hadn’t realized it in the darkness outside, but his rampage coefficient had risen slightly.
‘It was 71% last time.’
I could immediately tell that he hadn’t seen Ruellin during all this time.
A chill crept across my chest.
‘Where on earth is she, Ruellin.’
Please, just appear already and take care of your own mess!
Soon the carriage began to move.
I turned my head away without hesitation from where I sat above Vincent’s head.
“…It’s been so long, and you’re just going to keep staring out the window like that?”
Unfazed by my consistent silence, he opened his mouth again.
His voice was certainly more subdued than before.
He spoke with that playful smile now, but there was no telling when he might change again.
I had no choice but to answer.
“We have nothing to say to each other anyway. Let’s just go quietly.”
“Tch. I have plenty to say.”
“….”
“Are you still upset?”
Upset.
What could have caused someone to go into shock was reduced to mere ‘upset’ for another—it was simply astounding.
“You have to understand. I’ve been so preoccupied searching for Ruellin lately. It’s been far too long since I gave you flowers….”
“….”
“So I just momentarily forgot. Not that I forgot, but just for a moment.”
“….”
“I really didn’t do it on purpose? So as an apology….”
“Vincent.”
“Hmm?”
“Have I ever asked you to apologize to me?”
When I cut off his rambling and asked in return, his mouth snapped shut.
For a moment, his golden eyes that had been fixed on me wavered faintly.
I gazed at him indifferently.
“That conversation ended that day. Besides, I don’t even remember who you are, so I’m not even angry with you.”
At those words, Vincent’s jaw clenched visibly.
He spoke in short, clipped tones as if enduring something.
“Now you know. Who I am.”
“What good is knowing your name and age? I don’t know what kind of person you are.”
“Then we can get to know each other again from now on.”
“Why should I?”
“Because you and I have been friends for thirteen years.”
“Friends….”
I nearly let out a scoff.
‘When did he ever care whether I lived or died? And now he calls himself my friend?’
I refrained from mocking him to his face, largely because, absurdly enough, his expression seemed genuinely sincere.
‘If I provoke him too much and he uses his ability, that could be a real problem.’
So I decided to play along with him moderately.
“I see…”
“Do you understand now, Edith Blake? Surely you haven’t forgotten what a friend is?”
“No.”
I nodded obediently to his sarcasm, then made my declaration.
“Then let’s end our friendship right now, Vincent.”
“…What?”
“I said, let’s end our friendship.”
He wore an unfamiliar expression, as though hearing the words for the first time.
He stared at me blankly before letting out a bitter laugh.
“…Ha! You’re not even a child, yet you prattle on about ending friendships like some petulant brat, Edith Blake.”
“I’m serious. I don’t want to be your friend anymore.”
“Think before you speak. Don’t just blurt out whatever comes to mind.”
His voice turned glacial as he responded immediately.
His cheerful face hardened frighteningly, as though a split personality had emerged.
Faint killing intent emanated from him—he was genuinely furious.
‘He’s this angry over a simple dissolution of friendship?’
His unexpected reaction caught me somewhat off guard.

― I thought you’d simply perish, yet somehow you’ve managed to claw your way back to life.

Not long ago, he’d come to me spewing insults and curses.
I couldn’t fathom why he was so desperate to cling to a relationship that had already shattered beyond repair.
As I stared blankly ahead, Vincent clicked his tongue irritably.
“Why are you acting so recklessly now, claiming you don’t remember? How much are you going to regret this later?”
“That’s something future me will have to deal with.”
“You….”
Perhaps it was because I refused to give him the answer he wanted, even to his threatening words.
Vincent ground his teeth harshly.
After taking a deep breath to suppress his anger, he gradually reined in the aura leaking from him.
“…Let’s stop this. I don’t want to fight with you on a day as good as today.”
How unfortunate indeed.
The moment I saw his face, any semblance of a good day had already gone up in smoke.
‘But wait, why is today a good day? Is he on his way to meet the heroine?’
Now that I thought about it, I couldn’t understand why he’d come here to cause a scene instead of going to the heroine and asking her to be his partner.
“…I’m curious about something.”
“What?”
“Why didn’t you go to The Purifier?”
Vincent’s expression became peculiar at my question.
“I thought you’d be pleased if I came to you instead of Ruellin… Ah, now that you’ve lost your memory, you wouldn’t understand, would you?”
He muttered under his breath before continuing with arrogant condescension.
“You begged me so many times to be your partner, Edith Blake. So this time, I chose you to apologize for what happened before.”
“Did you two fight?”
“Even with your memory gone, is that pathetic brain of yours capable of thinking anything else?”
He scoffed mockingly.
Then he launched into an explanation I hadn’t even asked for.
“Of course there’s no problem between us. The real problem is that there are other men who will ask Ruellin to be their partner besides me.”
“….”
“Sigh… That girl is too kind for her own good. She’ll probably choose the most pathetic bastard today too.”
That aligned perfectly with the novel’s plot.
Even though she couldn’t see rampage levels like I could, the heroine would surely be able to distinguish Vincent’s feigned ailments.
True to his words, she was so kind and virtuous that she would even use intermissions during banquets to purify the male leads.
As I recalled this and nodded,
he finally revealed the ‘real reason’ he’d come to be my partner today.
“I want Ruellin to come to me of her own volition. For that to happen, I need bait that will provide just the right amount of stimulus.”
He met my gaze and spoke in a gentle voice.
You’re nothing but bait to provoke Ruellin’s jealousy, he was saying.
Then, his golden eyes sparkling like a child anticipating a gift, he asked,
“…Are you angry, Edith Blake?”

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