A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 17.1
She stared at me for several moments, looking flustered for reasons she couldn’t explain. Fortunately, Eston’s sobbing gradually quieted down. After wiping away her steadily dripping tears and snot, she collected herself and, after a while, finally spoke.
“When did you… awaken your ability?”
“……”
“I’ve never heard of a case of secondary manifestation after puberty.”
She must have been really curious, asking again even though she already did yesterday. Fearing she might start crying again, I answered as sincerely as possible.
“Not sure. I lost my memory, so I don’t know exactly when.”
“I heard you were found inside a monster’s mouth. The cardiac arrest and coma were probably aftereffects of awakening, too.”
She made a comment befitting a healer.
I nodded silently. It was something I’d already suspected, but it didn’t really matter anymore.
After reading my mood, she finally revealed what she was really concerned about.
“You’re… not going to report me to the Security Bureau, are you?”
“Pfft.”
I tried not to, but a laugh escaped me before I realized.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Hearing you say something so naive, I realize you really are just a kid.”
“What…?”
“If I were you, I’d threaten me to purify your brother before blabbing to everyone about my awakening.”
Eston jumped in place and waved her hands in denial at my words.
“T-Threaten you? Unlike some people, I’d never do something so low…! No, not even for a second have I thought of anything like that!”
“……”
“Like you said, you saved my life. How could I do something like that to you?”
She appealed with what looked like real frustration, then quickly returned to her usual sullen self and shot me a look.
“You’re not planning to tell the Duke or Young Master Ethan either?”
“No. Is there any reason I should?”
“It’s just, you always…”
She stopped herself mid-sentence, then hurriedly switched topics.
“But… awakening is something to be celebrated, isn’t it? And it’s not just any ability, but a purification power…”
“……”
“If it were me, I’d announce it to the whole world and bask in the attention.”
“There’s already a Purifier, so what for? And before I get to bask in any attention, I’d just get dragged to every Gate outbreak and work myself to death. I have no interest in that.”
I shrugged as I replied, and Eston’s face took on a strange expression.
“Honestly… since you woke up, it’s like you’ve become a completely different person.”
It stung a bit, because I had become a completely different person.
“Sometimes, people change after coming back from the dead.”
“You used to always envy and resent Lady Llewellyn.”
“You don’t have to spell it out for me.”
I glared at her and snapped, and she quickly looked away, muttering in a rather dejected voice.
“There was a time… I saw you crying in secret in the greenhouse.”
“Me? Why?”
“I don’t really know, but… I think it was after you had a fight with Count Frederick. After that, the Count stopped coming to the manor.”
“…Frederick?”
It was a name I’d heard many times.
‘Wasn’t it mentioned yesterday, too?’
— If I’m not there, my brother will be burned to death by Count Frederick…
Recalling what Eston had said, I tilted my head and asked,
“Who was that again?”
“You really don’t remember?”
Eston looked at me in disbelief, then added,
“Dylan Frederick. He used to be your attendant, but after awakening he returned to his family and inherited the title of count…”
“Oh.”
I remembered.
‘Male lead #3!’
And then.
— The send-off will be handled by Count Dylan Frederick, the late Ducal Lady’s close friend.
The very guy who almost had me burned alive on the day I transmigrated!
As soon as I recalled that, information about Male Lead #3 popped into my head.
It was a story you hear all too often. An illegitimate child of a noble, abandoned in the back alleys after a one-night mistake.
Male Lead #3, picked up by a band of vagrants, grew up as a petty thief and pickpocket. One day, while watching a festival, he tried to steal from young Edith and got caught.
The young boy, caught by the escort knight, wasn’t punished by Edith. Instead…
— He’s such a pretty boy. Are you sure he’s a boy?
— Don’t hand him over to the capital guards. I’ll take him home.
She brought him home and made him her attendant.
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