A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 45.2
And at that point, I was more or less certain.
‘This bastard doesn’t know exactly what my ability is.’
If he really knew, there’s no way he’d be talking so casually about something like ‘griffin brain soup’.
Suppressing the surge of exhilaration, I drove the nail in.
“By the way, Your Highness. Do you know what my ability is?”
“Can’t believe you’re asking the victim that. I didn’t take you for someone with such a weird personality.”
“I was wondering if you remembered.”
“Of course I do.”
He confidently barked up the wrong tree.
“Isn’t it some ability that renders enemies unconscious without a sound? Something like an electric shock, maybe.”
At that moment, elation swept through me.
For the first time since meeting him, I smiled as I responded.
“…Yes, that’s actually it.”
“It lacks lethality, but having an immediate effect isn’t bad. Can you use it without physical contact?”
“No.”
“Now that’s a crisp answer. I like it.”
Like it…? Like what?
Nothing good ever happened when he said he liked something.
I stared at Male Lead #4 with anxious eyes.
Sure enough, he curled the corners of his mouth into a long, sinister grin.
“Let’s make a deal, Ducal Lady.”
“Excuse me? A what…?”
“You’ll come running whenever I call and use your ability. In return, I’ll keep your secret safe.”
“Ha…!”
I was dumbfounded by this so-called deal, which was nothing more than a declaration that he intended to use me however he pleased.
“Oh, now you want to trust me? After you tortured me while accusing me of being the Purifier’s kidnapper?”
“Three days of investigation showed me the real culprit was someone else. I’ve come to trust your words, at least to some extent.”
The nonchalant way he said it made me want to leap up and strangle him.
‘Then maybe you should’ve figured that out before going for my neck!’
Now he says there’s another culprit and flips like it’s nothing. What, does he think this is a joke?
Clenching my teeth, I firmly made my stance clear.
“My answer is no.”
“Why not?”
“You really don’t know?”
“Nope. That’s why I’m asking.”
“I don’t want to make deals with someone as irrational and violent as you, Your Highness.”
“Hah! I really don’t know who’s calling who violent here.”
He let out a hollow laugh like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Don’t you see my forehead, the one you split open? That’s attempted murder.”
“It was an act of self-defense.”
“By that logic, it was just an unfortunate accident during a suspect interrogation on my part. Let’s call it even, we both gave as good as we got.”
“……”
“No, actually. I’m the one being generous, Ducal Lady. Attempted murder is a much more serious crime, you know? And I didn’t even leave any proof of having tortured you.”
Shut up, will you? Is that something to brag about?
The way he kept smugly countering everything I said had me hanging by a thread.
What made it worse was… some of what he said was true.
With a tremble of rage, I snapped back.
“…Regardless! I don’t want to be involved with you anymore! I refuse.”
“Maybe the offer was too generous. You’re taking it as a favor…”
Suddenly, Serge’s expression darkened.
Maybe the repeated refusals had finally gotten to him, because he leaned toward me and muttered in a low voice:
“Don’t forget I’m the Grand Duke, Ducal Lady. I could send an official order requiring your compliance.”
“Are you threatening me right now?”
“Come now, no need to be so cold. Let’s call it persuasion. You don’t want the fact that you’ve awakened to get out, do you? You’ve been doing such a good job hiding it all this time.”
Just as expected.
He’d been waiting to pounce, clearly planning to use my awakening as leverage to manipulate me however he pleased.
‘Not a chance.’
Sure, I’d used my ability impulsively. But that didn’t mean I hadn’t prepared for a situation like this.
I smiled at him.
“Your Highness seems to have forgotten that I also have leverage against you.”
Unfortunately, my smile of triumph didn’t last long.
“Oh, that?”
“‘Oh, that’…?”
“Tsk. I thought you were clever, but you only know one side of the coin. You’re a fool who doesn’t see the rest.”
“What are you talking about…”
“Just like you said to me, what are you going to do with it? Say you just happened to witness me rampaging by chance? And how does that prove it was my blood?”
“Wouldn’t Your Highness’s brooch be more than enough?”
“What are you, a pickpocket?”
He scoffed derisively, then immediately fired off a barrage of questions that were hard to answer.
“Then explain this: how did you, and only you, manage to escape completely unharmed from the ‘attacker’ who ambushed me?”
“……”
“And what exactly were you doing alone with me, in the Purifier’s room, of all places?”
“Ugh! Don’t say ‘alone’ like that…!”
Even in the middle of a serious conversation, I instinctively recoiled in disgust, and he chuckled coldly.
Then added,
“Now you understand, don’t you? Why I went through the trouble of coming here in person.”
“……”
“The evidence you think you have was useless from the very start, Ducal Lady.”
As if to say, you really didn’t get that?, he clicked his tongue and looked down at me.
But I wanted to laugh in his face.
I’m not the one who only knows one side of things, you are.
“Sure, if it’s just me, maybe so.”
“……”
“But if I told my father and my brother everything, and asked for their help, wouldn’t it be possible to prove everything?”
We might not get along, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m still the Duke’s daughter.
“…Hmph. I hadn’t thought of that.”
Finally, Serge wore a look like he’d taken a hit.
Tap, tap, tap.
He tapped his fingers against the table, deep in thought.
I hoped that this was it, that he’d give up and walk away.
But then.
“What a drag…”
“……”
“Should I just kill them?”
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