A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 67

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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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67.

His golden eyes, flushed crimson with heat, blazed with violent emotion.
The aura radiating from him was terrifying.
My heart sank in an instant.
‘Surely… he didn’t see everything I purified?’
A sudden wave of anxiety rose unbidden.
But I quickly dismissed it.
Given Vincent’s nature, if he’d known I’d Awakened, he wouldn’t have kept his mouth shut.
Especially not if my ability was “Purification.”
Besides, hadn’t he just said it himself?

— The ones I had tailing you kept losing you every time. Tsk, incompetent fools.

If I were alone, perhaps.
But S-rank Awakeners like Dylan and Serge would never fail to notice a watcher’s presence.
‘So he’s interrogating me about why I met with them when he doesn’t know that part.’
While I felt relief that my Awakening hadn’t been exposed, a sudden question nagged at me.
‘We were talking about Ruellin’s kidnapping, so why did this suddenly come up?’
What business was it of his who I met with outside?
I couldn’t make sense of it.
As I stared at him silently, my brow furrowed, Vincent pressed me.
“Why won’t you speak, Edith Blake? Did you do something you can’t tell me about? Hm?”
“…What does my meeting with those two have to do with Ruellin’s kidnapping?”
“What do you mean it has nothing to do with it? I’m asking whether you conspired with those bastards or if they’re suspecting you like I am and followed you.”
“Then go ask them directly. Whether they conspired with me to kidnap The Purifier, or if they followed you out of suspicion.”
“Don’t play word games with me.”
Crack.
A sinister sound escaped from his clenched jaw.
“Do you not understand the situation? I’m barely holding back right now.”
“…”
“Just tell me the truth right now, Edith Blake. That’s how I’ll decide whether to forgive you or not.”
Forgive me for what?
It was an attitude so arrogant it was almost laughable.

81%

At that moment, the number above his head rose by 2%.
It meant his state was becoming unstable.
But since there was still quite a distance before he’d go berserk, his threatening words didn’t frighten or concern me.
‘Why am I even having this ridiculous conversation here….’
I was simply annoyed and exhausted.
“Sigh… Vincent.”
I exhaled deeply, speaking in a low voice.
“You’re the one who’s lost his mind over a woman and can’t read the situation. Let’s say everything you’re spouting is true.”
“So you’re finally admitting it?”
“No. Not admitting—let’s just hypothetically assume that I kidnapped The Purifier, as you claim.”
He frowned, apparently unable to grasp that subtle distinction.
I paid him no mind and continued.
“Then why haven’t you found Ruellin yet? You said three S-rank Awakeners have been chasing after me.”
“That’s….”
“Count Frederick and the Grand Duke both couldn’t possibly have conspired with me to kidnap The Purifier… Ah, is it because of those unavoidable circumstances you mentioned before?”
“What?”
“An accident. The situation wasn’t favorable? S-rank Awakeners sure have plenty of excuses to fall back on every time.”
At my sarcasm, Vincent’s eyes widened sharply.

― It was just an accident! The Gate, the situation wasn’t favorable…! Look, you’re still alive and well anyway!

I was quoting what he’d desperately shouted at me in the Reception Room before.
“You….”
Realizing what I’d done, Vincent’s face hardened menacingly.
It was somewhat amusing how he flinched like a loach doused in salt whenever that subject came up.
And I was curious where that blind faith that it must have been Edith Blake’s doing came from.
Now that I thought about it, wasn’t he habitually casting my friend as the villain?
“In Tollen and now—do you have any evidence that I kidnapped Ruellin?”
“….”
“You don’t, right? It’s all just your suspicion. Just as you have no evidence that I made you die.”
“Watch your words. I said it wasn’t like that…!”
“You said you were even watching me. Why should I explain to you, who doesn’t even know why I met with the Count and the Grand Duke? Why?”
When I asked back as if I genuinely didn’t understand, he moved his lips like someone at a loss for words.
“What are you? If you say you’re holding back, should I kneel and applaud?”
“What are you, what…?”
At my biting tone, Vincent’s pupils dilated significantly.
He chewed over my words as if he couldn’t believe them, then eventually glared at me with an ominous expression.
“Are you done talking?”
“No, I’m not finished yet.”
“Hey.”
“I’ve been curious about this for a while now—what gives you the right to keep ordering me around like this?”
“You really…!”
He’d been about to bark something back when he suddenly scrubbed his face roughly with both hands.
As if suppressing his anger, he buried his face in his palms and took a few deep breaths before finally exhaling a heavy sigh and lowering his hands.
“Sigh… Let’s stop this. I told you everything’s already been exposed, Edith Blake. Stop being stubborn and just admit it.”
And that was all he had to say about it.
He’d already decided on the answer and refused to listen to anything I said.
“What you’re doing—it’s bringing shame on your father and your brother’s faces.”
He probed skillfully at my weak points, stripping away any will to defend myself.

― Sister, are you okay? You could’ve at least tried not to scream. What’s so scary about a cockroach….
― Sister, Father seemed really angry about you fighting with your brother. Why don’t you apologize to him first?

The gaslighting that Father’s third adopted son had perfected so well.
‘What do you know? Mind your own business.’
It would’ve taken just one sentence.
But I was young then, and it hurt.
I couldn’t say it. How foolish I was.
“…So what.”
“….”
“Whether I shame my family or not is none of your business.”
“How is it none of my business?”
Vincent responded to my words with bewilderment.
“Who’s the one who’s been running around cleaning up after all your ridiculous messes this whole time?”
“That was you? Oh, I see… But what can I do? I’ve forgotten all about it, so I don’t remember.”
“Please. How much longer are you going to keep pretending not to know, Edith Blake? Does lying and saying you’ve forgotten everything make all the shameful things you’ve done just disappear?”
“At least it means I won’t have to deal with you anymore.”
“…Stop spouting nonsense like that!”
That was when it happened.
He suddenly let out a furious shout.
“Who’s the one who’s been chasing after someone for 13 years calling themselves a friend―!”
His eyes glared at me as if I were a mortal enemy.
His shoulders heaved roughly with agitation.
I was stunned by how suddenly his demeanor had shifted, as if a switch had been flipped.
But that shock was short-lived, quickly replaced by exasperation.
“…Friend?”
I let out a scoff without bothering to hide it.
In the past, I might have held back once or twice, but I couldn’t bear to watch him still spouting that nonsense about friendship.
“13 years—you threw all of that into the garbage with your own hands, Vincent.”
“…What?”
“So you think it’s normal for a friend to suddenly suspect someone who came back from the dead just days ago of kidnapping the woman he’s in love with?”
“….”
“And threatening someone with an allergy that could literally kill them—you think that’s what a friend of thirteen years should do?”
This would have been the moment to ask, “Are you angry?”
But for some reason, Vincent’s lips remained firmly sealed.
A shame, really. I was genuinely furious this time.
Vincent’s complexion drained of color as he stared at me.
His golden eyes dimmed, wavering faintly.
He hadn’t anticipated that Edith Blake—the one who should stumble and surrender when her blind spot was touched—would push back so relentlessly.
Much less that she would turn his own contradictions against him and attack with such ferocity.
I’d been far too lenient with him.
But he kept insisting we were friends.
And after I possessed this body, the first thing I did was offer him something like an apology.
“Then there’s nothing more to say.”
“….”
“I don’t want a friend like you, so please—let’s end this friendship.”
I declared the severance once more and turned away coldly.
But then—*thud*—
A firm grip seized my arm, preventing me from taking even a single step.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Let go. I’ve said all I need to say.”
“I still have things to say.”
“Then go whine about it to your father.”
“Edith Blake―!”
That was the moment.
“…Edith?”
An unfamiliar voice suddenly cut through the tension between Vincent and me.
“Vincent. Why are you here…?”
“….”
“What are you both doing in this place at such an early hour?”
As I slowly turned my head, I saw the Duke.
And Ethan Blake stood beside him, his face etched with surprise as he looked at us.
They appeared to have been taking a stroll through the garden.
My mind went blank, leaving only a single thought.
‘I’m finished.’

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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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