A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 5

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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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05.

The chamber stood empty now that Ethan had vanished.
I stared into the void with trembling eyes, my voice barely a whisper.
“Idith was… an Awakened?”
Awakening typically manifested around the time of secondary sexual maturation.
Yet in rare cases, abilities emerged belatedly in adulthood—and I was one such case.
Idith might fall into that same category.
The problem was that this damnable novel contained no such information anywhere.
“Did she not realize her ability had manifested? Or perhaps she kept it secret because she couldn’t identify what it was?”
I entertained several hypotheses before shaking my head.
Both seemed unlikely.
She’d displayed those numbers so openly—there was no way she hadn’t known.
Even if she couldn’t identify her ability, Idith’s personality would never have allowed her to conceal it.
She would have shouted her Awakening to the entire world.
“Could it be… she died within the Miasma and was resurrected?”
In that instant, a single hypothesis struck me like lightning.
—They said she was found inside a Demon Beast’s maw. Was such a thing even possible?

The novel never specified exactly how Idith had died.
But regardless, she had perished while exposed to Miasma, and I had been resurrected when I possessed her body.
Which meant…
“…the conditions for Awakening were already satisfied.”
Could this actually be happening?
It defied all logic, yet the hypothesis was disturbingly plausible—a hollow laugh escaped my lips.
“Should I be pleased about this or not?”
If I were truly Idith, I would have been ecstatic beyond measure.
It was the wish she had yearned for her entire life.
And to possess the ability to perceive the Rampage threshold of other Awakened… that was extraordinary.
Most Awakened feared Rampage far more than death in battle.
Naturally. Who would wish to be hailed as a hero of the age, only to descend into infamy as a serial killer and meet a dog’s death?
Moreover, the higher the grade of one’s ability, the greater the probability of Rampage.
Those with high energy metabolism experienced accelerated Miasma corruption the more they wielded their powers.
‘That’s why our S-rank male leads are so temperamental.’
Idith would have revealed this ability and gladly used it for the male leads.
Not because she was unreasonably kind, nor because she loved them.
Rather, she would have sought to resolve the accumulated sorrow and deprivation within her, to prove her worth to everyone.
No matter how cruel a villainess she appeared, she was merely a girl who had recently come of age.
‘Was she already twenty years old now?’
Recalling Edith’s current age, I smiled bitterly.
“I’m sorry.”
I offered an apology to the real Edith—whether dead or alive—in a somewhat dry voice.
Perhaps the attention and affection you so desperately craved.
An opportunity you could have fully received.
“I’m not the sentimental type.”
I would grant nothing—not power, not emotion—to those who acted like bastards toward me.
Whether it was ability or feeling.
“Sixty-four percent, then….”
I recalled the sight of Ethan from moments before.
The traces of demonic energy lurking at his waist.
‘If it rises all the way to the top of his head and reaches one hundred percent, he’ll probably go berserk.’
I twisted one corner of my mouth upward and sneered.
“At that level, he can still endure, can’t he?”
Right, I should have been kinder to my step-brother who miraculously came back to life.
If I had, I might have at least given him advice to meet Ruellin soon.
No.
He wasn’t even worth that.
Before Edith died, he turned his back on her too, didn’t he?
“Shameless bastard.”
And then he probably spouted off to me about becoming a demon or whatever.
In the novel, it clearly said the male leads felt guilt over Edith’s death, but guilt? Nonsense.
From what I could see, Ethan Blake was a sociopath.
The Duke’s own daughter, whom he found irritating—he must have been secretly pleased she was dead.
How displeased he must be now that she’s alive and well.
“…But what was that scene I saw earlier?”
At that moment.
A phantom I had glimpsed just before my ability manifested suddenly came to mind.
Ethan clinging to Edith’s feet, groaning.
And someone gently caressing such a man….
“Ugh, that’s creepy!”
No, no!
I scrunched up my face and shook my head vigorously, brushing away that afterimage.
Such a scene never appeared in the original work, and it made no sense when I recalled the Ethan from moments ago, glaring at me with contempt in his eyes.
“Did I conjure up some delusion out of jealousy toward Ruellin… and that’s what stuck in my memory?”
It’s incomprehensible, but it’s possible.
Perhaps he dreamed of becoming a Purifier himself after seeing Ruellin.
But why would the object of that dream be him, of all people?
“Ha… I don’t know.”
I clutched my throbbing head and collapsed onto the bed, utterly drained.
I’d barely opened my eyes, yet so much had already transpired.
“And why is everything diverging from the original story from the very beginning?”
Wasn’t it too cruel to throw all this at someone who’d only possessed this body for two days?
I squeezed my eyes shut, desperately trying to escape reality.
When I opened them again, I desperately hoped this would all turn out to be a dream.
For a dream, it was actually a rather brilliant idea, I thought.
‘When I wake up, I’ll propose to Dr. Kang that we develop a rampage measurement device….’

***

The next day.
Unfortunately, my fervent wish did not come true.
When I opened my eyes again, I was still trapped in this damned novel.
Moreover.
“…A week has already passed since the funeral?!”
Thanks to the Maid who’d come to attend me, I was able to correct my grave misunderstanding.
Horrifyingly, I had now been in this body for seven days.
After awakening in the coffin and screaming before losing consciousness, an entire week had passed—not just one day!
“So I’ve been asleep this whole time?”
“Yes. Though I did wake you periodically to have you take medicine and eat porridge.”
I had no memory of any of it.
I wasn’t a hibernating bear—how could I have slept for an entire week without remembering?
According to the Physician, my body had been so depleted that it needed all that time to recover.
‘Well, I suppose that makes sense. I did experience cardiac arrest and come back from the dead—there’s no way I’d be fine.’
Now that I thought about it, yesterday I’d exhausted myself after conversing with Ethan and only woke this morning.
The recollection ignited a sudden fury within me.
‘So those damned people put me through all that after I’d been unconscious for a week?!’
No matter that Edith had dug her own grave.
She was still family, wasn’t she?
‘They didn’t need to make it so obvious that they felt neither sorrow nor concern.’
The more I dwelled on their callous treatment, the more I swallowed bitter curses—until I suddenly laughed hollowly.
‘Family? What am I saying?’
There were parents in this world who wouldn’t care if their own children died.
Having learned that truth long ago, it was absurd for me to get worked up over Edith’s situation now.
Having quickly shed those useless emotions, I opened my mouth to address the Maid.
“Regardless, thank you.”
“Yes? For what…?”
“For taking care of me all this time.”
“Oh, no! It was only my duty, after all!”
The Maid hastily waved her hands at my words.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Nancy, sir.”
“Nancy.”
“You may not remember, but I originally worked at the Villa. Five years ago, the young lady brought me to the Duke’s Mansion.”
Nancy added quietly, gauging my reaction.
‘She did that? How unexpected.’
In the novel, it had said that no maid would willingly serve the young lady out of fear of her tyranny.
Yet Nancy seemed rather favorably disposed toward me.
I offered her a carefully composed smile and spoke warmly.
“I see. Bringing you here was truly a good decision.”
Nancy’s eyes widened at that.
Soon, a rosy blush spread across her youthful, freckled face.
“I… I’ll go fetch your meal right away!”
Embarrassed, Nancy sprang to her feet and hurried out of the room.
Not long after, she returned with a tray laden with food and set it on the table.
Every dish was delicious.
There were many varieties, and it was clear she had taken care to select foods that would be easy to digest.
‘I thought they’d starve me, leave me to rot for all they cared…’
Compared to the Duke’s cold treatment yesterday, this was surprisingly decent care.
I had worried the servants might shun me, but fortunately, things weren’t quite so dire.
I relaxed somewhat and asked Nancy various questions.
“Has anything notable happened since the funeral?”
“No, sir! It was a bit chaotic, but everyone left after congratulating the young lady on her recovery.”
“And Father… how is he?”
“The Duke has gone to the Capital, and the young master has traveled to Ezennia.”
I had asked about the Duke’s reaction since I awoke, but received an unexpected answer instead.
‘What do I care what those people are doing.’
My appetite dampened, and I asked without much enthusiasm.
“Ezennia?”
“Yes. It’s the region where the young lady I used to serve has her Villa. Since the Gate appeared in that area…”
That was rather intriguing news.
‘Did he rush off to meet the heroine without hesitation?’
Thanks to my convenient amnesia, Nancy answered my questions without suspicion.
Ezennia was a small village adjacent to the Capital, described in the novel as “Ethan’s summer Villa.”
But according to Nancy, the Villa originally belonged to Edith.
An inheritance left by the Late Duchess—Edith’s own grandmother—to her only granddaughter.
‘The Late Duchess… wasn’t she the one who raised Edith to be so utterly spoiled?’

― Hmph! Grandmother said it didn’t matter if I lacked an ability like that. After all, I’m the Empire’s one and only princess.
― If Grandmother were still alive, burying something like that would’ve been child’s play….

I recalled Ruellin’s lines, the ones where she constantly invoked her grandmother.
When I read the novel, I’d wondered how many times she must have whined about it to still be seeking out her dead grandmother even as an adult.
Unfortunately, after Ruellin’s death, that Villa apparently fell into Ethan’s hands.
In the novel, Ethan takes Ruellin there to enjoy secret rendezvous.
In other words, it was nothing more than one of the female and male leads’ dating spots….
“The young lady used to take her vacation there every year. When the Late Duchess was still alive, festivals were held there too, and I often got to see them….”
Yet Nancy chattered on about Ruellin’s stories—ones that never appeared in the novel at all.
How much she loved that place, how many memories she’d left there, and how much she missed her grandmother.
Through her chatter, I grasped something, and my heart grew a little heavy.
‘…So that’s why she dragged Ruellin along.’

― What were you thinking, bringing the Purifier to the Gate’s point of origin.

I hadn’t been trying to go to the Gate’s point of origin.
I was heading to Ezennia.
To protect the Villa, which would soon be consumed by magical energy.

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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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