A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 94

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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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94.

I had anticipated it deep down, but seeing that precarious 2% remaining, my heart sank like a stone.
In truth, the numbers hardly mattered anymore.
He seemed to have already entered the initial stages of a rampage.
“…Edith Blake.”
Did he still possess enough reason to recognize my voice?
Vincent called out to me with an uncharacteristically dejected expression.
And what he said was—
“Are you really going to cut ties with me?”
“…Ha.”
The absurdity of it all drew an involuntary laugh from my lips.
‘Even in a rampage, humans don’t change, do they?’
If he had the presence of mind to ask such things, he should at least try to suppress the tornado.
I crossed my arms and clicked my tongue—tsk—and his already gentle eyes drooped even further.
“Do you hate me? Will you never see me again?”
“….”
“I’m hurting, Edith Blake….”
Whining was truly his habit.
I gazed up at Vincent’s head repeatedly, examining him with careful scrutiny.
Surprisingly, despite the elevated readings, he still seemed lucid.
Apart from his eyes, there were no other obvious signs of rampage.
No grotesque black capillaries had surfaced, and his complexion remained reasonably healthy.
I had intended to ignore whatever he said and proceed with purification, but I changed my mind.
I felt somewhat sorry for those outside the Magi, but since things had come to this—
I decided to unleash the curses I hadn’t finished hurling at him.
“What do you expect me to do?”
“…What?”
“Stop your pathetic whining, you bastard. You think you’re the only one in pain? I hurt too when I fell earlier, you worthless piece of garbage!”
After that, I delivered quite an extensive tirade about his deplorable qualities.
After purification, he’d lose consciousness anyway and wouldn’t remember a thing.
“So get your act together and live right. Understood?”
“E, Edith Blake….”
After unleashing a barrage of curses like rapid-fire rap, I caught my breath, trembling with exhaustion, and his eyes—stained black by the Magi—wavered as if struck by an earthquake.
Disgustingly, his expression crumpled with hurt.
“Why, why are you cursing me so harshly?”
“Does it look like I’m about to stop cursing? Look at yourself, you pathetic wretch.”
“Me, pathetic?”
“Yes.”
I nodded without hesitation.
“Do you know what’s happening outside the Magi right now?”
“What is?”
“Because you can’t control your ability, a tornado is raging out there. Monsters and people alike are being swept up, all holding hands and spinning round and round together.”
“I see.”
Did he feel no pangs of conscience whatsoever?
He answered as though his soul had been hollowed out.
Whatever happened to the Ballroom because of him seemed to concern him not in the slightest.
‘As I thought, that repulsive expression from before was just an act.’
This was his true nature.
I furrowed my brow and lashed out at him.
“If you know that, shouldn’t you get a grip on yourself?”
“They’re just being swept around, and no one’s actually died yet, have they?”
He shrugged and spoke with infuriating nonchalance.
“If I’d been paying attention, they’d all be torn to shreds by now.”
It was a truly irresponsible thing to say.
And yet, in a way, it was also the truth.
‘Now that I think about it… I haven’t seen any blood.’
It’s a grim thing to say about the people spinning around out there, but at least they’re not dead, even if they’re dizzy and nauseous.
Then suddenly, heat flared through me.
“Wait, if you can control it, shouldn’t you have just not caused it in the first place?”
Do you have any idea how much I suffered trying to avoid it?
As I confronted him in anger, Vincent shook his head dejectedly.
“…I can’t.”
“Why?”
“It’s been like this since I awakened. Once I reach my limit, I can’t control my ability the way I want to.”
This was the first I’d heard of it.
My eyes widened in surprise, and he muttered despondently.
“…That’s why I didn’t want to become an Awakener in the first place.”
“…”
“Truth is, I always knew this would happen. Every time a Gate appeared, I had a premonition that I’d fail to control my ability.”
He continued speaking matter-of-factly, then smiled bitterly.
“But after Ruellin appeared, I managed to hold on somehow… but now that Ruellin is dead too, it’s all over.”
“…”
“From the beginning, my fate was to run wild and destroy myself. Isn’t that just perfect?”
Vincent asked me with that familiar innocent smile of his.
Drip, drip—
Yet in stark contrast to his expression, a black liquid streamed endlessly from both his eyes.
As if he were truly weeping.
“You’re right about everything, Father. I killed Mother. And that wasn’t enough—Ruellin, you, everyone died because of me.”
It was too great a leap in logic.
I realized anew just how deeply rooted the second male lead’s trauma was, something I’d only read about in the text.

「Vincent lost his mother to a rampage shortly after his awakening and spent an unstable childhood.」

As I recalled his past, which the novel had glossed over so briefly, words escaped me.
I could only gape silently, unsure how to respond.
“I’m scared, Edith.”
He mumbled softly, as though purging a secret he’d kept so carefully hidden.
“…Scared of what?”
“Sometimes I feel like I’m not myself anymore…”
His face twisted in confusion as he gripped his head tightly with both hands.
“I don’t even understand why I turned away from you. I was determined to save you, yet…”
“…”
“Is that why you became so cold?”
He stared into the distant void.
It seemed he wasn’t asking me, for his murmuring continued shortly after.
“I don’t know how to go back to the way things were. I don’t want to be like this, but I keep lashing out at you.”
“…”
“I didn’t mean to say such harsh things just now. It’s just that you keep ignoring me. You fell, yet you wouldn’t even ask for my help…”
I held my breath, listening intently to Vincent’s innermost thoughts, hearing them for the first time.
“You weren’t always like this. You always relied on me, always looked only at me.”
“…”
“Is it because I’m cruel? Is that why you hate me? Why you can’t even stand to look at me anymore?”
“…”
“But you were wrong too.”
This wasn’t some tragic count’s lament.
The man who had been pleading so pitifully suddenly twisted his expression and glared at me.
“What if Ruellin refuses to purify me because of you? Then I’m finished.”
I was utterly fed up with his endless refrain of “it’s my fault,” and I had no patience left to endure it silently.
“I’m sorry then. But what now? Ruellin, the one who could purify you, is dead.”
“…”
“Why, are you going to blame me for that too?”
As I spoke with bitter sarcasm, Vincent’s expression went blank for a moment.
“…You’re right. That’s true.”
“…”
“Ruellin is…dead…”
That was the moment.
The brilliant golden light vanished without a trace, and focus drained slowly from Vincent’s eyes, now stained pitch black.
And then.
Drip, drip….
Black blood began trickling from his nose as well.
Along with that.

99%

As the number climbed steadily, I deeply regretted my sarcasm toward him.
‘Damn it! I should’ve just kept my mouth shut!’
This wouldn’t do.
There was no time to waste—I had to purify him immediately.
With that thought, I reached out to grab Vincent by the collar.
“…The you in reality must’ve already escaped far away by now, haven’t you?”
He suddenly muttered something I couldn’t comprehend.
I froze, my gaze fixed on him with confusion.
“So you’ve been thinking this whole time that I’m not real?”
“I haven’t lost my mind so badly as to forget you’re an Unawakened.”
He added with a hollow laugh.
“I can still hold on for now.”
Well, that wasn’t what I was seeing at all.
I hurried to reach for him again.
But he called out to me once more.
“Edith Blake.”
I should’ve just ignored him.
I usually ignored him just fine.
But this time, I couldn’t ignore the pitiful gleam in his eyes.
“…Yes.”
As I reluctantly answered, he smiled brightly with joy.
My eyes widened.
The second male lead making such an expression.
“Run as far away as you can. I’ll hold on until then.”
“….”
“And… I’m sorry. For breaking my promise to always be by your side.”
An apology so sincere.
All of it was a first for him.
“I was so desperate to get purified by Ruellin that I overlooked the possibility of you getting hurt.”
“….”
“I was arrogant. I believed you would remain unchanged in that place forever.”
“….”
“…Will I never see the old you again?”
I had no words to offer.
He was right—the Edith Blake of old was gone, never to return.
Because the real Edith Blake was already dead.
Watching my silence, Vincent’s eyes crinkled as he smiled like a butterfly.
Then he whispered tenderly.
“So, as you said, we….”
….”
“Let’s sever our friendship, Edith Blake.”

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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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