A World Where You All Are The Villains

I had a dream.

The reason I knew it was a dream was because it wasn’t mine.

A greenhouse overflowing with green plants.

Sitting at the center was Edith, her face much younger than it was now.

As if lucid dreaming, I found myself an outsider, watching her converse with someone.

“…t place, can’t you not go?”

“……”

“Is it because they found out you awakened because of me? It’s okay, I’ll smooth things over. Or do you want to go abroad until things quiet down?”

“……”

“…Why aren’t you saying anything? Dylan!”

‘Dylan? That’s Dylan Frederick?’

It was only then that I recognized the person sitting across from her.

A face too handsome for his shabby clothes, about the same height as Edith.

A red-haired boy, his hair tousled, didn’t look at all like the Dylan I knew.

“Answer me!”

Edith, still getting no reply, started haranguing him like a madwoman.

“You’re mine! Thanks to me, you haven’t had to do any dirty work and have lived comfortably until now! You said you’d spend your whole life looking after me!”

“……”

“And now you’re betraying me and saying you’re going to leave?”

“Betrayal, my lady? Please don’t put it that way.”

“If it’s not betrayal, what is it?! Why are you suddenly saying you’re leaving for the count’s house?!”

“……”

“What do you think is going to change if you go there? You think those people who already abandoned you once will ever accept an illegitimate child as family?”

At Edith’s barrage of accusations, Dylan’s face hardened.

He gazed at her for a while, then finally answered in a cold voice.

“If you called me here just to say that, I don’t think there’s anything more for me to say. I have things to do, so I’ll be going.”

Dylan turned away resolutely, and Edith’s blue eyes wavered for a moment.

Just as he was about to leave through the greenhouse door.

“…Don’t, don’t go, Dylan!”

“……”

“Don’t go. I’m scared… You know you’re all I have left right now.”

Amazingly, Edith pleaded with her own servant.

What was even more surprising was that Dylan, who looked as if he’d just ignore her and walk out, suddenly stopped in his tracks.

“Ever since she showed up, everything’s been a mess. Even Ethan and Vincent… It’s like everyone’s bewitched or something, always talking about Llewellyn, Llewellyn, Llewellyn! Everyone’s just looking for Llewellyn!”

“……”

“They just have to purify the miasma, right? Then why does it feel like everyone is drifting away? Why does everyone look at me with pity in their eyes?”

“……”

“It’s just like when Father abandoned me…”

At her childlike, trembling voice, Dylan finally surrendered.

He let out a sigh and quickly turned back.

Then, like a loyal retainer, he knelt on one knee and looked up at Edith.

“My lady— No, Edith.”

“……”

“I will never abandon you.”

I stood there with my mouth agape at the intimate address and his gentle, soothing tone.

‘Edith and Dylan… Were they really this close?’

Regardless of my shock, their conversation continued to flow.

“Then why are you trying to leave me for the count’s house…”

“Because staying by your side like this makes me feel so useless and incompetent.”

“How could you say that…!”

“Can you really say that after what’s happened to you?”

Interrupting Edith, Dylan gently pulled up one side of her skirt.

‘What’s he doing, this wet-behind-the-ears brat!’

Even though I knew it was a dream, I was startled and nearly jumped out in shock.

But I soon realized it was a misunderstanding.

Beneath the skirt, wrapped tightly in bandages, was her right leg.

‘…Did she get hurt?’

Dylan’s face twisted with guilt at the sight.

“I awakened, but I still can’t control my ability. I couldn’t even protect my own master… What a fool I am.”

“I told you, this isn’t your fault.”

“Until just recently, I didn’t even know what miasma contamination was. If something happens again and I lose control… If I go on rampage and end up hurting you…”

“……”

“I’d never forgive myself, Edith. Not even in death.”