A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 44.2
“……!”
Without realizing it, I flinched and reflexively pressed myself up against the door.
Clack!
Thanks to that, the door I’d gone to the trouble of leaving open shut completely.
‘Damn it…!’
While I stood frozen in place, Serge let out a mocking laugh like he found me ridiculous.
“So it’s a habit now, huh. Not closing doors all the way.”
“…It’s a basic safety measure for my own protection.”
“Why? Afraid I came all the way to the duke’s estate just to do something to you?”
He clearly wasn’t asking because he didn’t know.
I stared back at the bastard as if to say he was full of it, tightening my grip on the vase I was holding.
Then.
“Isn’t it you who’s trying to do something to me, not the other way around?”
“W-What…!”
Whoosh!
As if someone had taken control of my body, the hand I’d hidden behind my back was suddenly yanked forward.
The vase slipped from my grasp in an instant.
It floated up and flew across the room, only to be effortlessly snatched midair by the man.
“This is confiscated.”
“……”
“Tsk. Were you going to hit me with this? I don’t even have a weapon. Isn’t that a little unfair?”
“And don’t you think it’s even more unfair to disarm someone like that?!”
I snapped back without thinking, and he just shrugged.
“I don’t really want my forehead split open a second time, you know. Can’t you see? Thanks to you, it really hurts.”
“…I was hurt too.”
“I know. You fainted, right?”
He spoke like someone who knew what happened but didn’t give the slightest damn. Then turned his back to me.
I was fuming.
I hurriedly searched the room for anything else that might work as a self-defense weapon.
In the meantime, he’d walked to the table and jerked his chin at a chair.
“What are you doing? Sit.”
But I remained glued to the door, hesitant to move.
‘What if I get close and he chokes me again or something?’
As I stared at him warily, he let out a sigh.
“Haah… Seriously, kids raised with a silver spoon don’t listen the first time you tell them anything.”
Like he was calling over a dog, the bastard flicked his hand.
And then.
Just like the vase earlier, my entire body lifted off the ground.
Before I knew it, I was being hurled toward the table at incredible speed.
Whoosh—!
“Kyaaah!”
I screamed and shut my eyes instinctively.
Having your body moved against your will like that… it was a sickening feeling no matter how many times you experienced it.
Thankfully, I was soon dropped onto something hard, ending the floating sensation.
Haa, ha…
When I cautiously opened my eyes, I saw the man sitting across from me with his legs crossed, staring at me in irritation.
He’d used telekinesis to forcibly seat me in the chair.
For a moment, the surreal, almost magical situation left me stunned. Then I glared sharply at him.
“W-What do you think you’re doing?”
“You didn’t seem to know how to sit, so I helped you.”
“Calling that helping…?”
A string of curses almost made it out of my mouth.
But the changing number above his head made me hold my tongue.
His rampage meter had ticked up slightly, probably because of the telekinesis.
Now that I’d experienced the full force of it myself, I understood why his reading had shot up to 95% last time.
If he could move objects without laying a finger on them, he must’ve been abusing his power constantly in daily life.
“…If you keep overusing your ability like that, you’ll go on rampage again.”
“Oh?”
He looked genuinely surprised by my warning.
“You’re worried about me?”
“No!”
I denied it immediately.
Then dropped my gaze from the number above his head to the bandages wrapped around his forehead like a badge of pride.
“You didn’t call a healer?”
“Why would I? It’s basically the only piece of evidence I’ve got against the person who smacked me in the head.”
“And did you find that person?”
“I came to catch her. Right now.”
With a smirk, he pulled something from inside his coat.
A small accessory case, about the size of a ring box.
Most likely containing the earring he ‘coincidentally’ found.
“Now that I’ve got the evidence, I could arrest you right here for attempting to assassinate the Empire’s Grand Duke, couldn’t I?”
Tap!
He dropped the case onto the table with a threat disguised as a casual remark.
But I was more surprised at how predictable the bastard was than anything.
The worst-case scenario I’d been dreading most was that, once we were alone, he’d start strangling me again.
Or maybe come at me in a rage and try to kill me.
Compared to that, even if he was throwing around some powers, at least he hadn’t tried to harm me… yet.
‘Come to think of it… I’m actually sitting across from him and having a conversation?’
Like he said, the Duke was in the estate.
He couldn’t do anything too extreme at the moment.
‘But torture by strangulation’s still on the table…!’
Still, as long as he didn’t kill me, I’d eventually have my chance to pay him back.
I engraved that thought into my mind, and forced down the fear rising inside me.
“…And?”
“Hm?”
“What comes next?”
“What do you mean, next?”
“How exactly do you plan to prove I’m the culprit?”
At my utterly unflinching question, his eyes widened slightly.
‘If you thought I’d crumble over a single earring, you’ve got the wrong girl, you bastard.’
I scoffed and continued.
“You’re not seriously going to claim that some powerless, non-Awakener noblewoman managed to knock out the Grand Duke of all people, are you?”
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