A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 56

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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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56.

I widened my eyes and pressed further. “…You opened a Gate?! How is that even possible?”
“Well, it’s more of a legend, really.”
“A legend…?”
“Yes. Five hundred years ago, it would have been difficult to accept Gates as a natural disaster… So perhaps they simply attached whatever explanation they could.”
My anticipation deflated at those words.
‘I was genuinely startled, thinking they’d physically opened a Gate….’
It seemed to be the common sort of personification—rough seas because the Sea King was angered, volcanoes erupting whenever a giant trapped in the mountains thrashed about.
“I find it rather unsettling that they revere such a criminal as a deity. In any case, a heretical sect is a heretical sect.”
Eston finished speaking while shaking his head disapprovingly.
‘I suppose that’s not so bad, is it?’
I made a conscious effort to think positively for the sake of the young lady’s reputation.
When there were already countless devotees of various spirits and demons, and humans desperately wishing for the world’s destruction….
If Sephirot opened the Gate, then surely he possessed the power to close it as well.
Just as Asura was an evil deity in India but a benevolent one in Persia.
“But then, why suddenly ask about the Sephiroth Sect?”
Eston asked belatedly, as if puzzled.
“I just… happened to hear about it and grew curious.”
“Don’t take an interest in it. There’s talk that the Imperial Palace will soon officially declare the Sephiroth Sect heretical and ban it.”
“The Imperial Palace? Why?”
Isn’t that religious persecution?
As I tilted my head in confusion, Eston answered matter-of-factly.
“There’s a theory that Sephirot was one of the imperial family members erased from the genealogy. It’s likely because he tarnished the Imperial Palace’s honor.”
At those words, memories I’d forgotten suddenly surfaced.
At those words, memories I had forgotten suddenly came flooding back.

― A Sephiroth Sect believer. Drag them underground.
“They’re a follower of the Sephiroth Sect. Take them underground.”

The Duke who doubted me, and Serge who was apprehending the Space Ability User.
Meanwhile, the Crown Prince and the female lead, who is The Purifier, have close ties to the Sephiroth Sect.
Yet the Imperial Palace is preparing to formally proclaim them heretics?
None of it added up.
‘And what’s this about making people into Awakeners?’
Any cult would make such claims, but everything was based on rumors and riddled with questions.
To find the female lead’s whereabouts, I’d need to learn more about the Sephiroth Sect somehow….
‘How am I supposed to uncover information about a cult that doesn’t even appear in the original work? Do I need to become a believer or something?’
Of all people, why did Ruellin have to believe in a cult!
As I grumbled endlessly to myself,
I fell asleep without realizing it.
Perhaps I had lost consciousness from the exhaustion of using my ability.
“…Miss! Young Lady, wake up quickly. We’ve arrived at the Salon!”
At Eston’s cry, I barely regained consciousness and stumbled out of the carriage in a daze.
My body felt impossibly heavy.
‘…I’m dying. I’m never doing this again, female lead or not.’
With that resolve, I trudged up the staircase of the accessory shop building.
When I reached the rooftop, I glanced down and saw the Duke’s escort dozing against the building’s outer wall.
‘He wouldn’t have noticed even if I’d gone through the front entrance.’
I clicked my tongue and crossed the rooftop.
Then I retraced the same route I’d used to escape.
Finally reaching the First Floor of the Dress Shop again, Nancy greeted me with a worried expression.
“Miss!”
“Nancy, did anything happen?”
“No… but I’m not sure if I chose well.”
I gave a quick look over the three or four dresses she’d selected.
Overall, they weren’t heavily decorated, and the designs were understated and unobtrusive.
Exactly my style.
“I love them, Nancy.”
“Really, truly?”
“Yes. You did well.”
“Sob… Miss, I really can’t do this again. Do you know how much my heart was pounding, worried the escort knight might come in?”
Only then did Nancy’s tension finally break, and she poured out her complaints.
I quietly nodded and said, “Me too.”
Truly, I was exhausted beyond measure.
“Let’s go.”
Nancy and I left the Salon, receiving the owner’s generous farewell.
“Please come again soon, Young Lady. We look forward to serving you.”
The owner gave me a discreet wink.
I frowned slightly, then approached the escort and my watcher standing in front of the carriage.
“Kyung.”
“You’ve returned, Young Lady!”
“Were you sleeping this whole time?”
“Y-yes…?”
My sudden question made the knight’s expression go blank before he frantically shook his head.
“N-no, that’s not it!”
“Really? Actually, I snuck out while you were dozing and came back. You didn’t notice, did you?”
“Gasp…!”
At my words, his face drained of all color in an instant.
“Y-you’re serious…?”
“Mm.”
“T-that can’t be! I absolutely wasn’t sleeping! If someone had come and gone, there’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed…!”
My escort vehemently denied it, shaking his head frantically.
I gave him the answer he wanted just as he was on the verge of tears, then hopped smoothly onto the carriage.
“Yeah. Actually, I was lying.”
“Young Lady…!”
He sputtered indignantly, his face flushed, but I paid him no mind.
‘He didn’t suspect a thing.’
It was an exhausting outing that yielded nothing.
Yet there was one thing I savored—the perfect crime itself.

***

Time flew like an arrow.
Over the course of two weeks and a bit, I found myself quite occupied.
I gathered information about the Sephiroth Sect bit by bit through Nancy and Eston, and reluctantly attended several social gatherings at the Duke’s insistence.
Truth be told, at first I attended eagerly, hoping to pick up some rumors about the cult from the nobility.
But rumors? Forget it.
All I did was play the role of a dignified noble and come home.
The nobility’s sole recent preoccupation was the Equinox Commemoration.
Beyond that, there was only the matter of The Purifier’s sudden disappearance.
‘God, I wish I knew where the female lead went too.’
The male lead number four, who had seemed ready to summon me at any moment and work me to the bone, had been surprisingly quiet.
Since he was of royal blood, I had planned to ask him about Sephiroth if we happened to meet, but there was no word from him at all.
‘And I absolutely refuse to be the one to suggest we meet!’
He was someone I should avoid whenever possible—definitely not someone I should get close to.
“Miss. A letter has arrived from Count Frederick’s Estate.”
“Again?”
Instead, that irritating fool kept sending requests to meet every single day.
At the Butler’s words, my face twisted into a grimace.
‘Ugh, what a creep! I already sent him a gift, so why is he like this?’
The day after I had purified male lead number three in Volner and left him behind.
I sent him a token of gratitude to confirm he had returned safely.
Nothing extravagant—just some tea leaves and spices that had come from across the sea.
Modest little things, perfect for a gift.
And the moment that fool received it, he sent back a reply asking to meet me that very day!
‘I went through all that unexpected trouble because of him. What could he possibly want to meet about?!’
Naturally, I refused.
There was nothing I could say to him, no matter what he asked.
‘Why were you sprawled out like that? Or why did I just leave you unconscious and go?’
I couldn’t exactly say, “You went berserk, you madman!”
Unfairly enough, no matter what answer I gave, I would end up looking like the villain.
So I simply chose to avoid him.
And now he was sending letters practically every other day!
“Burn it.”
“But… Miss. He’s sending such earnest love letters. Don’t you think it would be proper to meet with him at least once…?”
“Butler. Do you know that a paper knife is still a knife?”
“Yes. I’ll burn it right away.”
The moment I quietly pointed the paper knife at him, the Butler wordlessly tossed the letter into the fireplace.
‘Love letters, my foot!’
I shuddered at the Butler’s absurd misunderstanding.
‘I should just assume he was exhausted and move on. Why is that bastard so persistently trying to find out?’
If it were me, I wouldn’t even ask, too embarrassed to have collapsed in front of a woman.
At least, unlike certain others, Dylan had enough pride not to brazenly storm the Duke’s Mansion.
‘…Of course, he won’t remember the rampage or the purification.’
Based on Eston’s and Serge’s experiences, memories seemed to blur just before a rampage.
I’d wiped away all traces of blood.
With no evidence left behind, that incident would remain my secret alone.
“From now on, don’t bring me any letters from Count Frederick’s Estate. Handle them yourself.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
I let the Butler’s obedient response fade into the background as I resumed checking the letters I’d set aside.
Most were pointless invitations, so I was skimming through them carelessly when—
A black envelope I’d never seen before caught my eye.
“What’s this, Butler?”
“Oh? I’m certain I didn’t see it when I checked earlier… My apologies, Young Lady. It must have gotten mixed in by mistake.”
“But my name is written on it.”
After showing the Butler my name written on the envelope’s surface, I opened it without much thought.
It was a blunder.
I should have examined the seal pressed in wax first….

「By midnight tonight, come to Legion Street, Fifth Avenue.
If you don’t show, I’ll take it to mean you wish to meet me alone at the Duke’s Residence again.

― Serge Belnak」

That man never learns.
As if mocking my belief that things had grown quiet, contact came from Male Lead 4.

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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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