A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 54

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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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54.

“Ha….”
I exhaled a deep sigh that welled up from within my chest.
I had only come here hoping to learn something about the Young Lady’s whereabouts.
I couldn’t fathom why I had to be swept up in such a wretched situation.
But one thing was certain: I had not the slightest inclination to purify someone who was merely venting their frustrations on me.
‘In any case, I should have nailed this down with him long ago.’
In Tollen, I had collapsed before I could find the opportunity to speak.
The Edith Blake he knew no longer existed anywhere.
Suppressing my irritation with deliberate effort, I met his gaze and spoke with cold precision.
“I lost my memory after awakening from a coma.”
“….”
“So now I only know superficial things about you.”
He widened his eyes in an instant.
And he asked back as though he couldn’t believe it.
“You… lost your memory?”
“Yes. Of course, I’ve heard vague things about your past.”
“Wh, at….”
“That I was your attendant.”
“…!”
Dylan Frederick flinched at those words.
After staring at me for a moment, his brow furrowed sharply.
“You’re asking me to believe that now?”
“Whether you believe it or not is your choice. I’m simply explaining that what you asked me to do is now impossible.”
“….”
“I hear you’ve been terribly averse to being entangled with me in any way. You were famous for either declining to attend any gathering I participated in, or leaving immediately.”
“That was….”
His lips trembled, but ultimately he closed his mouth without any excuse.
He seemed not to have anticipated that I would speak of it so nakedly and with such detached indifference, as though I were a third party.
“I regret that we’ve encountered each other again like this, following last time.”
“….”
“However, you needn’t worry. I won’t approach you first or speak of you to others going forward. After all, I——”
“….”
“Don’t even remember what kind of person you were.”
My shoulders were beginning to ache.
I glanced pointedly at my shoulder, which he still gripped firmly.
“If you understand, would you please let go?”
“….”
“Lord Frederick.”
But he remained unmoved.
I’d explained enough that he should have understood.
Yet he simply stared at me with an expression I couldn’t begin to fathom.
‘Damn it, let go already! I need to escape before you lose control!’
I kept glancing nervously above Dylan’s head, my anxiety mounting.
That was when it happened.

95%

With the number climbing once more, for reasons I couldn’t explain.
Drip, drip, drip—
A thick stream of black blood trickled from Dylan’s nose.
Startled into reflexive silence, he murmured something with an expression like that of someone lost in a dream.
“…When I first saw you here.”
“….”
“I thought you’d come looking for me.”
His whispered words snapped me back to reality.
I shook him urgently.
“Lord, wait. You’re bleeding….”
“In my dreams, it was always like that. You always came to me first, held me.”
“Lord Frederick.”
Drip, drip, drip—
But it was no use.
The black stream flowing from Dylan’s nose didn’t stop—it only grew thicker.
‘Damn it, he’s going to lose control at this rate.’
I couldn’t fathom what I’d said to provoke this.
I’d only meant to reassure someone who despised me.
‘This won’t do. There are too many people here.’
In the heart of the Slum, where ramshackle dwellings stretched endlessly.
Even an ordinary Awakener would be a problem, but Dylan Frederick was an S-rank Awakener.
If he lost control, this entire district would become an inferno.
I gnawed at my lower lip as I studied Dylan carefully.
Fortunately, though his eyes had grown somewhat unfocused, he didn’t yet appear to have lost his reason.
“Lord Frederick. I have nothing to wipe it with. Please calm yourself and do something about the nosebleed first.”
“I can’t calm down when I look at you.”
The fact that he answered me directly suggested he still had his wits about him.
And yet Dylan simply stared at me, allowing the black blood to drip freely from his nose.
“I’m angry.”
“What on earth is this?”
“I’m nobility now, so why do I feel like a worm every time I face you?”
“Your Grace, please let go of this first….”
“I thought that if I inherited the title, I could become your equal. But why….”
Suddenly, he gazed down at his other hand—the one not gripping me—with hollow despair.
“You’re still in a place I can’t reach, aren’t you?”

96%

The percentage climbed again.
In that instant, understanding struck me like lightning.
‘This bastard has lost his mind.’
I had only witnessed one Awakener in a true rampage before—Eston.
Serge had been purified immediately, so I never saw what he would do, and Eston had thrashed about hallucinating by the time his nosebleed started.
Because of that, I hadn’t immediately grasped how severe Dylan’s condition truly was.
Aside from the blood flowing from his nose, his expression, his eyes—
Nothing had changed at all.
Then it happened.
Crack—
Suddenly, a crushing grip seized my shoulder where he held me.
“…Ow!”
“I’m furious. I can’t endure it. That look in your eyes.”
“It hurts! Let go of this…!”
“The way you look at me… Ugh!”
In that moment, Dylan—muttering like a drenched monk—suddenly collapsed without warning.
“Dylan!”
I called out his name before I could think.
Thud!
Like in the days when he was my servant, he dropped to one knee.
“Huh…!”
Because his grip on my shoulder remained firm, I had no choice but to bend forward awkwardly.
Our faces drew dangerously close.
Dylan’s eyes met mine at a distance where our noses might have touched.
Yet he didn’t seem to be looking at me.
His unfocused pupils, no longer ash-gray, had turned pitch black with demonic energy.
Drip, drip.
Black veins began crawling grotesquely across his beautiful face.
Drop.
Finally, a single black tear fell from one of Dylan’s eyes.
And.

97%
98%
99%

The numbers hovering above his head began to climb silently and relentlessly.
I felt the urge to cry.
I was truly at my wit’s end.
“If you’re going to die, die alone, please!”
“….”
“So why do you keep chasing after me like some vengeful spirit, clinging and refusing to let go, you absolute madman…!”
I grabbed him by the collar and unleashed a torrent of curses.
But I realized there was no other choice.
He would never let me go, and I couldn’t afford to be caught in his rampage and die.
“Ha… Purification.”
I finally whispered the words with reluctant resignation.
In that same instant, both my palms burned with searing heat.
Whoooosh―!
A torrent of emerald light exploded outward.
The alley was instantly enveloped in the crisp, refreshing scent of phytoncide.
Whiiiiiiiii….
The luminous aura wrapped around Dylan’s entire body like a whip of light.

94%
91%
87%

The rampage percentage that had climbed toward 100% began to plummet rapidly.

80%
72%
64%

As the green light relentlessly consumed the black aura, the runaway index that had been steadily declining finally reached 60%.
But I didn’t stop there.
‘This bastard doesn’t seem to sense his own condition very well.’
Comparing him to the male lead at 95% made the difference unmistakable.
Back then, Serge clearly understood that his body was nearly consumed by demonic corruption.
After all, he controlled his abilities so meticulously that the magic stone couldn’t even detect a trace.
Moreover, even right before the nosebleed started, he remained composed without the slightest emotional fluctuation.
In other words, he possessed exceptional control over his rationality—the kind that wouldn’t easily waver under external influence.
Dylan, on the other hand, was still a complete mystery as to what triggered him in the first place.
He’d made an unusually loud outburst, but it wasn’t nearly as violent as Eston’s display.
His face remained calm even as he ranted about being unable to bear his anger.
He was clearly numb to his own body and emotions.
With the subjugation battle looming ahead.
I resolved to deal with this sickening situation once and for all to prevent encountering it again.

60%
55%
49%

Finally, the index dropped below fifty percent.
At this level, I could confidently say we were in the safe zone.
The pupils that had turned pitch black, the dark veins that had bulged across his skin—everything had returned to normal.
Whoosh—!
The moment I confirmed the nosebleed had stopped flowing, I immediately released my grip on his collar.
The green light enveloping him faded away like a distant memory.
Thud.
Only then did the hand that had been clinging to my shoulder fall away limply.
“….”
Dylan closed his eyes quietly, his expression no different from before the runaway state.
Then, like a puppet with its strings cut, he collapsed right there.
Naturally, I quickly dodged out of the way.
Thud—!
With a dull sound, his face crashed into the dirt ground.
I didn’t even have time to snicker at his misfortune.
“Ugh, my head….”
My condition was terrible, probably from using my ability longer than usual.
My stomach churned, and my shoulder where he’d grabbed me throbbed painfully.
But since there was work to be done, I held my forehead and slowly crouched down.
I checked various parts of the armor he was wearing.
But in the end, I couldn’t find a single scrap of cloth to wipe with.
“…How can I keep causing nothing but trouble right to the very end? Am I your nursemaid? Do you think the Princess is a joke?!”
I vented my frustration and reluctantly wiped his face clean with the hem of my robe.
I wanted to turn away and pretend I hadn’t seen anything, but I couldn’t leave the traces of his rampage exposed like that.
‘It won’t even serve as evidence. Damn it.’
Fortunately, my robe was black, so the dark blood didn’t show.
By the time the murky bodily fluid finally faded away, revealing his original handsome features.
Suddenly, dizziness washed over me and my vision blurred.

― Ugh… Edith, Edith…!
― Yes, Dylan. I’m here.
― Ah, Edith… Please, just… Do something for me….

And a strange phantom vision materialized vividly before my eyes.

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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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