A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 31

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

31.

The Ballroom doors swung open with a grand announcement.
A slender youth with radiant golden hair and violet eyes stepped through the threshold.
Freckles dotted the bridge of his nose, and his youthful features still bore the softness of someone barely past adolescence.
‘The Crown Prince? Was there a Crown Prince in this novel?’
Perhaps there was…
The heroine becomes the Emperor’s adopted daughter toward the novel’s end.
The characters who cherished and loved her were so numerous beyond the male leads that I couldn’t possibly remember them all.
Adding one more of the Crown Prince’s siblings wouldn’t change anything.
Since no particular scene came to mind, fortunately the Crown Prince didn’t seem to be an important character.
“We pay our respects to the Empire’s young sun.”
The nobles gathered in small groups hastily bowed in greeting.
I followed along awkwardly, lowering my head as well.
The Crown Prince, leading his entourage across the Ballroom, ascended the platform and naturally claimed the central seat.
“Raise your heads, everyone.”
A bright, youthful voice—not yet deepened by puberty—resonated overhead.
“Good evening. Thank you all for making time despite your busy schedules.”
“….”
“This gathering was hosted by Grand Duke Belnac to commemorate the suppression of the Gate that occurred in Northern Tezeron, but unfortunately, the Grand Duke has been unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances.”
“….”
“In his stead, I shall preside over this gathering, so I hope you all enjoy yourselves thoroughly.”
As the Crown Prince’s opening remarks concluded, the music that had paused resumed its flow.
“…The Grand Duke couldn’t come?”
Vincent tilted his head, murmuring thoughtfully.
The confusion wasn’t his alone—the nobles themselves buzzed with puzzlement.
“Unforeseen circumstances? But the Gate is already closed. What could possibly have come up?”
“I came to the Capital two days ago to meet the Grand Duke, and now this….”
“Can His Highness even preside over such a gathering? He hasn’t even awakened his abilities yet….”
“Indeed. Did he even obtain His Majesty’s permission? Tsk.”
Without even straining to listen, I could discern the power structure and who held its center.
The nobles subtly looked down upon the young, unawakened Crown Prince.
‘How pathetic—they despise him simply because he lacks some ability.’
I clicked my tongue disapprovingly while observing the Crown Prince.
Unfortunately, not a single noble approached him to offer conversation.
He must surely sense this atmosphere.
Yet the Crown Prince stood firm in his position.
His raised chin and stubbornly set lips conveyed an unwavering determination to reclaim his authority.

“No matter how much of a duchess you are, an unawakened noble is still just an unawakened noble.”

At the Crown Prince’s words, the Duke’s earlier remark suddenly came to mind.
When I’d first heard it, I’ll admit—I was honestly a bit annoyed.
‘If you have no teeth, you eat with your gums. Don’t you know that?’
Not every human in the world was an awakened one, and statistically, they made up only about five percent of the total population.
So was he saying the rest of humanity should just entrust their lives entirely to the awakened and sit idle until death?
‘I can use my skills just like anyone else and live well!’
But now, watching the Crown Prince, I finally understood why the Duke had said such a thing.
For unawakened individuals to live on equal footing with the awakened, a certain level of environmental support was necessary.
In a society like this—archaic and bound by class systems—meritocracy centered on survival was inevitable.
‘…Though I suppose the world I came from wasn’t all that different.’
No matter how advanced modern science and technology became, invisible class hierarchies still existed.
The awakened were the ruling class.
The unawakened were the ruled.
Just as the Crown Prince was scorned by the nobility, and a biological daughter was beaten by an adopted son…
The realization that it was the same everywhere struck me with a hollow, bitter emptiness.
“What’s wrong? Seeing me after so long—feeling a kinship?”
At that moment, a mocking voice pierced my ears.
I lifted my head with a start to find Vincent looking down at me with an amused expression.
“Don’t pity the Crown Prince like that. He may look docile, but unlike you, he’s no pushover.”
“…”
“Do you really think the Grand Duke had a reason for not coming? To a banquet he personally hosted to commemorate his own victory?”
I frowned at his words.
‘What nonsense is he spouting?’
I was hardly in a position to pity anyone.
‘And whether the Grand Duke comes or not—what’s it to me?’
If the male lead didn’t show up, it was actually a relief for me.
“…Aren’t you going to look for Ruellin?”
Go already!
With that intention behind my question, he glared at me irritably.
“She hasn’t arrived yet.”
“Then when she does, will you talk to her? I don’t want to waste words with you. Since I’m foolish enough to be used by you anyway, you’ll do me this small favor, won’t you?”
At my polite request, the veins in Vincent’s forehead bulged.
“You really, ever since last time…”
That was when it happened.
Flash!
Suddenly, the center of the ballroom blazed like a lightning strike, and light gathered in the empty air.
Whoosh, whoooosh…
The tiny point of light rapidly expanded in size.
The luminous mass progressed through the sizes of a quail egg, a chicken egg, a baseball, and a soccer ball before finally taking on the shape of a human figure.
I doubted my own eyes.
‘…Space teleportation?’
Among Awakeners, there naturally existed those who could freely traverse space.
The ability commonly known as ‘teleportation.’
However, my shock stemmed not merely from witnessing teleportation, but from the fact that it was being used within the Imperial Palace.
‘They said ability usage was restricted inside the Imperial Palace!’
In the novel, using abilities within the Imperial Palace was portrayed as a grave crime that could be considered treason, resulting in the loss of one’s abilities and execution.
‘Yet here was this madman brazenly using space teleportation…?’
And with the Ballroom full of young Awakeners as his destination, no less?
In that moment, my train of thought came to an abrupt halt.
Whoooosh!
The light that had been shining brightly in human form finally exploded into darkness, and it was because of the two people who had appeared.
“Gasp!”
The one draped in a shabby robe, startled by the sight of so many people, hurriedly hid behind a nearby pillar.
The other man, however, remained remarkably composed despite having just teleported into the very heart of the Imperial Palace.
Hair and eyes as black as if infused with magic itself.
A black tailcoat inscribed with ornate gold embroidery.
The coarse black fur draped across his shoulders looked utterly incongruous and yet, simultaneously, perfectly suited to him.
“Well—was everyone enjoying themselves? I was delayed on the way here due to some business.”
He raised one hand in greeting, seemingly unbothered by the gathered crowd.
That hand was completely stained with thick, dark blood.
Drip, drip.
Drops of blood fell from his hand, staining the white marble floor black.
“W-wait! G-Grand Duke Belnac?!”
“H-how did you…!”
Everyone gasped in shock at the Grand Duke’s sudden appearance, as if he had erupted from the very ground.
But I.
I alone was not looking at the man’s murderous aura and appearance, but rather at what hovered above his head.

95%

‘Have I gone insane?!’
The fourth male lead was on the verge of a rampage.
It was hard to believe he was wandering about in such a state.
The nightmare I’d witnessed with Eston not long ago came flooding back.
If someone so much as touched a trigger there, he would descend into madness and slaughter everyone in sight.
‘The female lead! Where is the female lead!’
I desperately searched for the female lead who could purify him.
But then.
“Aaaahhhhh―!”
Instead of the female lead, a slovenly middle-aged man came tumbling out.
Thud!
The man who had been hiding behind the pillar crumpled to the floor in an undignified heap.
The fourth male lead had seized him by the scruff of his neck and hurled him down with brutal force.
In the process, the man dropped the sack he’d been carrying.
“Eek! W-what is that?!”
“Is that… blood?”
Several nobles cried out in alarm at the large sack smeared with dark blood.
“Tsk, tsk. One must be careful. My precious spoils mustn’t be damaged.”
“I-I’m sorry, Grand Duke! I’m sorry!”
At the fourth male lead’s murmur, the middle-aged man trembled like an aspen leaf, falling to his knees and begging for forgiveness.
‘Is that… the Space Ability User?’
Since I knew the fourth male lead possessed only one ability, it was certain that the man sprawled before me was the Space Ability User.
Yet the dynamic between the two resembled not colleagues, but rather a human hunter and his slave.
‘He treats the Space Ability User like this…?’
Even in the modern era where I came from, Space Ability Users were highly valued.
Especially one capable of teleporting others—that meant at least A-rank or higher.
I observed the fourth male lead and the middle-aged man with newfound wariness.
“W-what in blazes are you doing, Grand Duke!”
A sharp voice suddenly cracked down like thunder.
Startled, I turned to see the Crown Prince glaring at the fourth male lead with a pale, taut expression.
The Grand Duke lifted one corner of his mouth at the sight of the Crown Prince.
“Well, well. An uninvited guest has arrived and is playing host.”
“H-how insolent! Show proper respect!”
“How fortunate that you’ve come, Your Highness. I was planning to visit you soon to prove my loyalty.”
Despite the Crown Prince’s fury, the Grand Duke moved with unflappable composure.
Step, step.
He approached the sack the middle-aged man had dropped and lifted it effortlessly with one hand.
Then he rummaged inside with his other hand.
A moment later.
A heavy mass of fur the size of a watermelon came away in his grasp.
The fourth male lead tossed it carelessly onto the ground before the Crown Prince.
It rolled with a rumbling sound before coming to a stop with a soft thud.
Though it appeared to have been thrown haphazardly, it landed with perfect precision at the Crown Prince’s feet.
“It is the head of a Griffin brought from the Caspian Gorge.”
“….”
“There are rumors that one can achieve awakening by boiling and consuming its brain—so I severed its head the moment it was captured.”
A fierce visage with wide-open, piercing eyes and a yellow beak resembling a golden eagle.
It was nothing less than the severed head of a monster.

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