A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 1.1
“……th Blake.”
Someone’s grave voice roused me.
‘Did I fall asleep in the lab overnight again?’
With my eyes still closed, I quietly tried to gauge the situation.
Everything around me was deathly silent, like I was submerged underwater.
It seemed the staff had noticed me sleeping face-down on my desk and were deliberately keeping quiet.
‘Ha…… I should really wake up and wash my face before everyone else arrives.’
If Dr. Kang saw me like this, she’d definitely slap me on the back, yelling, ‘You idiot! Are you trying to die young at your age?’
But, contrary to my intentions, my body just wouldn’t move.
‘I just want to lie here a little longer…….’
Wait. Lie here?
Suddenly, something felt off.
That was when the voice that had awakened me earlier faintly sounded again.
“The deceased, in her lifetime…… great efforts…… we shall not forget her achievements, and will honor them……”
The words came through in fragments, as though they were being whispered from behind a wall.
‘The deceased? What deceased?’
One particular word registered loud and clear, snapping me fully awake.
“……Wishing that she, who has become another star, will be freed from all the sorrow and tears she endured in this world……”
Straining my ears, I could make out the words a bit more clearly now.
It sounded just like a funeral mass or something.
‘Did someone die?’
Commemorative remarks for the dead were usually my job during roll call if an employee or one of their family members passed away.
After all, I was the director of the research institute.
But I wasn’t religious, so I never actually prayed.
A strange sense of discord washed over me.
Maybe my senses were gradually awakening.
For some reason, I felt a strong floral scent, so overpowering it made me feel sick, linger at the tip of my nose.
The scent of death I first smelled at my mother’s funeral.
‘Am I at a funeral?’
My eyes snapped open.
“……Huh?”
But even though my eyes were open, everything remained pitch black.
“What is this.”
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.
By the time I barely managed to regain my sight, I realized I was trapped in a cramped, dark space.
“……Ah!”
Thunk.
I instinctively tried to sit up, only to hit my head against something soft and cushiony and fall back down.
Only then did I realize I was completely boxed in.
With fear in my eyes, I scanned my surroundings.
Was it just my imagination, or did this place feel just like a coffin?
“H-Hello! There’s someone in here!”
I reached up, feeling around for what I guessed was the lid, and shouted.
Ding… Diiing…
Just then, a bell tolled from somewhere.
“……Ahem. The wind is especially rough today. We must hurry for the sake of the deceased’s journey.”
Couldn’t they hear my shouting?
The murmured recitation, which had paused briefly, resumed.
I raised my voice even louder than before.
“Hello! Can’t you hear me? Please, let me out!”
“Let us all pray for the repose of Lady Edith Blake.”
Edith Blake?
I froze, closing my mouth.
It was a familiar name.
How could I not recognize it? It was the name of the villainess from the novel I’d read all night.
‘Why is that name coming up here……?’
Just as confusion overwhelmed me and my breath came in short gasps—
“The send-off will be handled by Count Dylan Frederick, the late Ducal Lady’s close friend. Now, it is time to bid our final farewell to the deceased……”
Another familiar name rang in my ears, snapping me to attention.
The Dylan Frederick I knew was an Awakened with the power to control fire.
And in that damn novel I’d read last night, there was a setting where, to eradicate miasma, all corpses had to be cremated.
Which meant, if this place I was trapped in was really a coffin, then I was about to be burned alive by Dylan Frederick.
This was no time to sit and try to make sense of things.
“Hey! Open this right now! There’s someone inside!”
Bang, bang, bang!
I frantically pressed and pounded on the lid with both hands as hard as I could.
But, whatever it was made of, it didn’t budge an inch.
Still, my efforts weren’t entirely in vain.
Ding! Ding! Di-iiing!
Each time I struck the lid, I could hear the strange sound of a bell tolling.
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