A World Where You All Are The Villains [Novel] Chapter 68

I hadn't realized at all while arguing with Vincent.

That the sun had risen, and morning had already dawned.

"…F-Father."

I barely managed to squeeze my voice out of my tight throat.

"Good morning, Your Grace."

Suddenly, Vincent released my arm and bowed respectfully to the Duke.

And then…

"I stopped by briefly to see Edith while passing through. Given the hour, I quietly borrowed the back gate. However…"

"…"

"It seems she is just getting back now."

The bastard looked back at me with a sickening smirk.

His golden eyes, catching the morning sun, gleamed with pure malice.

"…Are you mad, Edith?

His lips moved.

Even though he didn't actually speak the words, I felt like I could hear that familiar auditory hallucination ringing in my ears.

"…Wh-What?! Edith Blake!"

The Duke's furious roar echoed faintly, as if fading into the distance.

It was because of the sudden, deafening ringing in my ears.

My chronic illness, the one that struck whenever I faced something unbearable, whenever my stress peaked to its absolute limit.

The blaring tinnitus, Vincent's demonic smile, the Duke's shouting, Ethan's fierce glare…

Everything tangled into a chaotic mess and shattered into pieces.

I couldn't breathe.

I had reached my limit.

Perhaps the physical toll of purifying Male Lead No. 4 was only just now hitting me.

"…Haa."

I didn't know anymore.

With a ragged exhale, I lost consciousness.

At the sight of Edith, who had been standing perfectly fine a moment ago, collapsing without a sound, the three men froze in unison.

"E-Edith!"

The first to snap back to his senses was the Duke.

He rushed over in a flash and carefully lifted her head from the grass.

At the sight of his daughter's deathly pale face, all the color drained from his own as he cried out.

"Edith! Sweetheart, open your eyes! Why is she suddenly like this?!"

"…"

"Butler! Head Maid!"

"Father, I will carry her," Ethan intervened.

"Never mind that. You, hurry and bring a doctor or a healer!"

The Duke scooped Edith up in his arms and sprinted toward the mansion.

"Y-Your Grace! What is…!"

"Oh, why is the Young Lady…!"

"Call for a doctor immediately!"

The butler and servants, rushing out at their master's urgent shouts, gasped in horror upon seeing Edith limp in his arms.

Ethan followed closely behind, his face stiff and grim.

Amidst the sheer panic as everyone rushed to the mansion, only one person remained rooted to the spot.

"…What?"

Vincent muttered blankly, watching the Duke's family grow distant.

His expression was bizarre.

Because his face had frozen in that malicious smile directed at Edith, the corners of his mouth were still tipped upwards.

However, his heavily bloodshot golden eyes were wide open, trembling faintly like a candle in the wind.

His gaze clung tenaciously to the Duke's retreating back.

More precisely, to the slender wrist dangling loosely from his hold.

The very arm he had been gripping just moments before.

It swung limply in the air, gradually disappearing from sight.

If she had hastily faked this to escape the situation, she couldn't possibly act out such minute details.

The conclusion was undeniable.

"Did she… actually faint?"

In truth, when Edith had abruptly collapsed, he thought she was just putting on a show.

He naturally believed the Duke and Ethan wouldn't be fooled either.

Instead, he expected them to yell at her, demanding to know what she was playing at and ordering her to get up immediately…

"…Ah."

Suddenly, his skull throbbed as if it were going to split open.

Vincent let out a short groan and pressed both hands to his forehead.

His head felt hot.

He was angry.

So angry he couldn't stand it.

It was always his role to mess with Edith and make her anxious…

"What am I even doing here right now?"

He had started having her watched right after the Imperial Palace banquet.

He had heard something strange at a social club exclusively for high-ranking Awakeners and young male nobles.

At first, he truly did have protective intentions.

Edith had become far too strange after waking from her coma.

She claimed to have lost her memories, and she truly acted like a vulnerable child left by the water's edge…

Grand Duke Belnac was a dangerous loose cannon.

Whether positive or negative, nothing good could come from being entangled with him.

So, partly to protect her and partly to find out if her 'amnesia' was genuine, he secretly attached guards to her.

However,

Not even a few days later, Edith slipped out of the dress shop using the most bizarre method and suddenly headed for Volner.

Of all places, it was the very city where Llewellyn had been regularly volunteering for the past three years.

Anxiety and suspicion toward her flared up, but Vincent forced them down.

@though
There must be a reason. Volner has a lot of merchant guilds, so maybe she's trying to hire an errand boy…
@end

In fact, many nobles secretly visited the city for that very reason.

Even when he received the report that Edith had entered the slums, he still believed in her.

That was, until that damn Dylan Frederick suddenly showed up and ruined everything.

S-Class Awakeners, with their superior physical abilities, were highly sensitive to presences.

To avoid detection, his watchers had no choice but to pull out.

The moment he received that report, Vincent wanted to race to Volner right then and there to demand what the two of them were doing.

But he barely held himself back.

Not only hadn't he found proof that Edith was lying, but he also wanted to give her a chance.

A chance to confess what she was hiding and return to the old her.

To return to his Edith, who would believe and follow his every word even if the sky were falling.

However, completely oblivious to his magnanimous heart, when he received the report that she had met with the Grand Duke, he could no longer hold back.

The moment he saw that, he stormed out of his house and sprinted all the way to the Duke's back gate.

While waiting all night for an Edith who wouldn't return, all sorts of thoughts raced through his mind.

From why on earth she met the Grand Duke, to where she went, what the two of them were doing, and why she still hadn't crawled back home…

At some point, thoughts of Llewellyn's kidnapping had taken a back seat, but he didn't realize it.

He just stood blankly by the wall, nervously waiting for the side door to open.

And so, dawn broke.

Finally, the moment he saw Edith staggering in with an utterly exhausted face, his vision went white.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of something snapping in his head…

When he snapped back to reality, he was already screaming at Edith like a madman.

It was then. Suddenly, a dark shadow was cast at his feet.

"What are you still doing here? Haven't you left yet?"

Lost in his memories, Vincent slowly raised his head.

"…Ethan."

Ethan, who had returned at some point, was looking down at him with a frigid expression.

"Edith…"

"The doctor is examining her."

"The reason… what is it?"

"…"

"She didn't fake it?"

At his hasty, impatient question, Ethan furrowed his brow.

"…You saw it at the Imperial Palace too, didn't you? Ever since she woke from her coma, she collapses like that from time to time."

"…"

"Go back to the Marquis's estate."

As if at a loss for words, Vincent's lips trembled.

Ethan stared at him callously before turning around.

It seemed he had only come back out to tell him to leave.

He was treating him like a complete stranger.

Without realizing it, Vincent grit his teeth and sneered with a venomous look.

"I'm still a guest. Aren't you even going to offer me a cup of tea?"

"Vincent Leandro."

Ethan, who was about to head back inside, stopped and looked back at him.

"Know your limits. You've crossed the line."

"Hah. So you're saying I'm the one in the wrong?"

Vincent let out a sharp, incredulous laugh before shouting fiercely.

"Edith is the one in the wrong! The girl fearlessly roamed outside at midnight and only came crawling back after staying out all night!"

"…"

"Aren't you even angry?!"

"I am."

"Then why…?!"

"But that's our family's business. It's none of your concern, is it?"

At Ethan's chillingly detached words, Vincent pushed his hair back in sheer frustration.

"Why are you bringing up 'family business' now? Since when did we ever draw those lines between us…?"

"I heard her say she's cutting ties with you."

Suddenly, Vincent's mouth clamped shut.

After a moment of silence, he spat out in annoyance.

"That's… just something she says. Don't you know her temper?"

"Not too long ago, she even swore an oath with a drink in front of our father. That she has no interest in you anymore and will never get involved with you again."

"You believe that?"

"What if I do? Should I instead believe the guy who grabbed and screamed at the girl who explicitly said she hated him?"

Ethan, who had been responding in a flat monotone the whole time, suddenly snapped back sharply.

In that split second, a clear look of hostility and contempt flashed across his face.

"…Ethan."

Noticing it, Vincent's golden pupils began to tremble slightly.

Along with that, the bond they had built up for so long with Edith as their common enemy also wavered helplessly.

"What is wrong with you? That's Edith. The Edith Blake who lied on a daily basis and terrorized Llewellyn! Do you think her true nature just disappeared because she lost a little memory?!"

"The Edith Blake that I know…"

"…"

"…at the very least, isn't someone who makes a habit of lying."

"What do you know?"

The moment Ethan finished, Vincent snarled through gritted teeth.

Tossing aside even the bare minimum of courtesy, his ugly true colors were now on full display.

"I met her before you did. How much could a mere retainer's son like you possibly know about her…!"

"She has no reason and no need to lie. Because she has never once been in a position where she had to. Didn't you understand that even after seeing His Grace's expression just now?"

Ethan stated firmly.

And for some unknown reason, he smiled faintly.

"If you've misunderstood her all this time, then you truly wasted those 13 years."

At those words, Vincent stopped breathing.

Seeing his face harden in shock, Ethan turned around without any lingering attachment.

No one could know why his steps, as he headed back to the mansion, looked so oddly refreshed.