A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 4.1
“…What?”
At my words, the Duke paused and looked back at me with a strange expression.
‘If you can’t avoid it, just play dumb.’
The method I chose was an age-old cliché from dramas.
Amnesia!
With a lifeless voice, I quickly recited a line I’d heard countless times before.
“I don’t remember. Where am I? Who are you?”
“What…?”
“Is Edith Blake my name, by any chance?”
No sooner had I finished speaking than a heavy silence filled the room.
The Duke, who had been looking at me blankly, suddenly twisted his face in distress.
“Norman! Eston! What… What on earth is going on here?”
He shouted at the doctor and healer.
“Didn’t you say she was perfectly fine?”
“T-That is… if Her Ladyship suffered a severe shock, temporary memory confusion can occur! She did experience cardiac arrest, after all…”
“That’s strange. When I checked just a moment ago, there were no signs of serious shock…”
Unlike the flustered doctor, the healer scanned me with sharp eyes.
Then, tilting her head, she asked the Duke,
“Shall I try using my healing power one more time?”
“Ah, my head…!”
Before the Duke could give permission, I quickly clutched my forehead and flopped onto the bed.
“My head hurts so much. I feel nauseous, too… How long do I have to stay like this?”
“It might be a mental rather than a physical issue.”
With my best acting, the doctor quickly jumped in to persuade the Duke.
He seemed pretty terrified of being accused of another misdiagnosis.
“It could be short-term amnesia, so let’s observe her for a few days. I’ll prepare some medicine that’s good for brain health.”
“…Ahem.”
The Duke glared at me disapprovingly for a moment, then finally turned toward the door.
The doctor, the healer, and the other servants all followed him out of the room.
‘Phew… Saved.’
I secretly let out a sigh of relief.
I’d only just barely come to terms with transmigrating, and there was no way I could act as the vicious Edith right away.
No.
To be honest, if I tried, I could imitate her just fine. Fortunately, my memory is pretty decent.
However…
― Is that all you have to say to me?
― How much do you really know about me, Father?
Remembering some of the lines Edith used to throw at the Duke in the novel made my vision swim.
Amnesia was a hundred times better, honestly.
‘If I keep this up and it seems like I can’t take it anymore, I’ll just say my memory came back.’
The more I thought about it, the better the plan seemed.
If I’m just going to be a villainess destined to die anyway, isn’t it better to quietly stay away from the protagonists?
‘Come to think of it, it’s a five-person love polygon. Damn, I need to stay as far away from that mess as possible.’
Just thinking of the fierce love-and-hate battles among the four male leads around the female lead made my energy drain away.
I was congratulating myself on coming up with a pretty good plan for something so rushed when—
“You…”
“…!”
A low voice suddenly echoed through the room, making me jump.
When I quickly looked up, I saw a man still standing in place.
‘What? Why haven’t you left yet?’
I’d assumed he’d left with the Duke, so I was extremely flustered.
Ethan Blake.
That cold, silver-haired, handsome man exuding an icy aura was Edith’s stepbrother and the first male lead.
After his close lieutenant died in a Gate incident, the Duke took in the lieutenant’s only young son.
He planned to raise him as a knight like his father, but unexpectedly, Ethan manifested as an Awakened.
True to his appearance, he possessed a powerful S-Class ice ability.
Since his daughter never awakened, it was only natural for the Duke to adopt Ethan and make him his successor.
“Do you really remember nothing at all?”
Ethan asked, his expression strangely stiff.
‘What’s this about? He’s not asking because he’s worried.’
As you could guess from his annoying tone, Ethan and Edith did not get along well.
He couldn’t stand Edith’s twisted personality, unladylike behavior, and viciousness, and gradually grew to hate her.
Especially after learning that Llewellyn was being bullied by her, that feeling reached its peak.
‘Still, it seemed like they got along pretty well as kids…’
Three of the male leads, including Ethan, interacted frequently with Edith when they were young.
That must be why she hated the female lead who took them away so much.
Of course, considering Ethan had suffered from Edith’s cruelty since they became siblings, I could understand his feelings.
But for some reason, I never liked him while reading the novel.
Maybe it was because I projected my own past onto Edith’s situation.
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