A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 69

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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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69.

***

When I opened my eyes, an entire day had already passed.
Turning my head, I spotted the Maid dozing fitfully in her chair—she had been tending to me all this while.
“…Nancy.”
“Oh, Miss!”
Nancy jolted awake at the sound of my voice, springing to her feet in alarm.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes.”
“The Physician said your body has been severely depleted. What on earth happened last night?”
“Well…”
There had been far too much to account for.
Even the mere thought of it made me wince, my temples throbbing with dull pain.
I brushed past the question vaguely, burying the memories, and instead asked about the most pressing matter first.
“…Where is Vincent?”
“Right after you collapsed, Young Master Ethan sent him away. He kept blocking the back door, so the Servants couldn’t pass through…”
At Nancy’s quiet addendum, my expression darkened considerably.
‘Insane. He stood there even after seeing that?’
I couldn’t fathom what he was thinking.
“Did he leave without complaint?”
“I’m not entirely sure about that…”
In any case, the fact that he was gone now was a relief.
If I had to see his face again right after waking, I doubted I could hold back my curses.
Next.
“What about Eston?”
“She returned yesterday afternoon. The Duke scolded her quite severely for arriving so late.”
At those words, I felt a pang of guilt toward Eston.
Her only fault was that she had fumbled the rope and couldn’t refuse what her master demanded…
“…Father must have been furious?”
“He was more worried about you than angry, actually…”
Nancy answered carefully, gauging my reaction.
Though she meant well in trying to ease my mind, I found it hard to believe.
When my expression remained unconvinced, Nancy hastily changed the subject.
“By the way, he spent a long time in private conversation with Eston yesterday.”
“What? A private audience?”
“Yes. Apparently, she arrived in the Grand Duke’s carriage.”
“Ugh….”
The world went dark before my eyes.
‘I’ve really made a mess of this….’
Not only had my midnight departure been discovered, but they had learned of my meeting with the Grand Duke as well.
I had no idea where to even begin salvaging this disaster.
“Sigh….”
That was when it happened.
Knock, knock.
The door opened with the knock.
“Nancy, how is the young lady’s condition…? Oh, young lady!”
The Butler who had entered the room froze in shock upon seeing me sitting on the bed.
“Young lady, are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine. But Butler….”
“This is no time for that! I must inform the Duke at once!”
“Wait! No, Butler…!”
Before I could stop him, he bolted from the room.
My plan to buy time by feigning continued unconsciousness crumbled to dust in an instant.
“Please don’t go….”
In the room where the Butler had already vanished like an arrow,
only my belated, sorrowful cry echoed hollowly through the silence.

***

I thought the moment he opened his eyes, he would summon me for a beating without hesitation.
Unexpectedly, the Duke granted me time to wash and eat.
I spooned down the potato soup that had been simmered until it was easy to digest, my mind racing furiously.
‘What on earth can I say to explain myself? That I simply went out for a night stroll and happened to meet him?’
No. There was no reason to take a night walk all the way to Legion Street, where commoners lived.
‘Should I fabricate a story about some special item sold only there?’
But then, if he asked why I had snuck out at night, I would have no answer.
“Sigh….”
My appetite suddenly vanished, and I set down my spoon.
Nancy asked with concern.
“Miss. Does the food not suit your taste?”
“…No.”
“But your expression….”
“It seems there’s only one method left.”
“One method, miss?”
Nancy tilted her head at my cryptic words.
I sighed deeply once more without responding.
No matter how much I thought about it, that explanation was the only one that held any credibility.
Yet when I tried to actually speak those words aloud, I felt a creeping dread, as if hives were breaking out across my skin.
The most plausible excuse for why I had left the house on a dark night and happened to encounter the Grand Duke.
It was simply this.

― I could say we were on a date.

It was a ‘date’.
“Ugh!”
Clang!
The moment I visualized those words, I let out an involuntary cry and slammed the spoon down roughly on the table.
“Hah…!”
Nancy gasped at my sudden convulsive head-shaking, but I couldn’t help it.
‘What other legitimate reason could a grown woman have for sneaking out at midnight besides that?’
In modern times, I could at least claim I’d gone to a convenience store.
This godforsaken place closes everything by eight o’clock except the taverns.
So no matter how hard I racked my brain, ‘date’ was the only excuse I could come up with.
‘Could I actually say it out loud?’
I might manage to get the words out somehow.
But how would I handle the Duke’s reaction afterward, and the backlash that would surely follow….
‘What if that madman Serge gets wind of it?’
Just imagining it made my skin crawl.
Knock, knock.
“Miss, it is time.”
Unfortunately, the hour of reckoning was steadily approaching.
“I trust lunch was satisfactory? The Duke requests your presence in his Study.”
“…Understood.”
At the Butler’s message, I rose to my feet as though being dragged to my execution.
I briefly considered feigning another collapse, but abandoned the thought.
It was inevitable anyway.
There was no way around it now.
All I could do was pray that Vincent would drop dead soon….

***

I had thought it wouldn’t happen, but things unfolded far more strangely than expected.
“So you went with the Grand Duke last night to catch the culprit, is that right?”
The moment I sat on the sofa in the Study, the Duke bombarded me with questions.
“I’m sorry?”
“You fool! If something like that happened, you should have told me first!”
“Wait, Father, please—”
At the Duke’s sudden outburst, my eyes widened in bewilderment.
‘What? How did this happen?’
I quickly scanned the Duke first.
Though he was scolding me, his expression didn’t seem particularly angry.
Rather, he seemed oddly excited… or was it just my imagination?
After finishing my scan, I asked cautiously.
“The culprit, you mean…?”
“Why, that ruffian who smashed the Grand Duke’s head and fled during the banquet a few weeks ago! You saw his face as he was escaping, didn’t you?”
Me?
I nearly blurted out a reflexive question, but barely swallowed it back.
‘Is he testing me now that he knows everything?’
That culprit was me.
But judging from the Duke’s reaction, he didn’t seem to know that.
I nodded knowingly.
“Ah… yes, yes. That’s right…”
“The Grand Duke sent a mountain of gifts through Eston along with his thanks.”
“The Grand Duke… Your Highness?”
“Of course. If he borrowed someone else’s precious son in the middle of the night and put him to work, he has to pay the price for it.”
The Duke snorted and muttered.
Yet he didn’t seem particularly displeased.
Based on what he’d said so far, it seemed the male lead had explained last night’s events on my behalf.
‘Why would he do that…?’
Suddenly, Nancy’s words about Eston returning in the Grand Duke’s carriage late in the afternoon came back to me.
My mood became strange for a moment.
I and he, we… we…
In any case, I had come prepared for that terrible excuse.
“I felt sorry for my only son being exposed to mana corruption… but that Baron Gavent turned out to be a truly wicked fellow, tsk.”
Then the Duke suddenly clicked his tongue and muttered to himself.
At the familiar name, I lifted my head sharply.
“Baron Gavent?”
“Yes. That scoundrel was the culprit, wasn’t he? A man of his age, fallen into drugs and attacking people? This is why late-life scandals are so frightening.”
Everything I had done was now completely pinned on Baron Gavent.
I was overwhelmed by the sudden flood of information.
I rolled my eyes and cautiously probed further.
“…I didn’t know the detailed circumstances either.”
“On the day of the banquet, he was caught using drugs secretly at the Guest Palace, and when he ran into the Grand Duke, he apparently committed that act out of fear that he would be reported.”
Ah, so that’s the story they fabricated.
It was a rather elaborate setup.
It was around the time I offered a moment of silent condolence to the deceased Baron Gavent.
The Duke sipped his tea with a slurping sound and clicked his tongue once more.
“They say those addicted to alcohol, drugs, and gambling don’t even die gracefully, yet to think he would meet his end on the road to the afterlife while shamefully indulging in group drug use….”
Fortunately, that was something I already knew.

― How will it be handled? It will all be lumped together as a death from group drug use, roughly speaking.

Serge had truly transformed the deaths of the Sephiroth Sect followers into a case of group drug use overnight.
A man who turned a passing remark into reality.
The power and authority he possessed suddenly felt terrifying and sinister.

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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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