A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 53.2
“Do you even realize how dangerous Volner is?”
“……”
“This is a place where crimes happen countless times in a single day. A place crawling with men who see no issue harassing any woman who passes, be she noble or commoner. And yet, what in the world possessed you to come all the way into the slums without a single guard…!”
As he spoke, Dylan’s voice grew sharper and louder… then suddenly cut off.
Taking a steadying breath, as if to rein in his emotions, he fixed me with a chilling glare.
“…Why is it that Your Ladyship is always like this?”
‘Huh? What’s with the sudden diss?’
I was dumbfounded.
“Your words are rather excessive, Sir.”
“Excessive? After I went out of my way to help you, is that all you have to say?”
Well, what else was I supposed to say?
I honestly had no idea.
I’d already thanked him more than enough, and if anything, he’d basically been tailing me in secret.
‘So he hadn’t simply passed me by earlier.’
The realization made me click my tongue inwardly. Then he pressed further.
“Why did you come here. What were you trying to do alone. How did it come to this.”
“……”
“Is it really that difficult to tell me the whole story? Is this what you call the vaunted ‘noble manners’ you boast of?”
I blinked in surprise.
That straight-laced man, who looked like he wouldn’t utter a single curse word, was sneering at me, laced with open sarcasm.
— Your manners are as poor as ever, Sir.
The words I’d thrown at him back in Tollen… he was still holding onto them.
I gazed at him for a moment, then drew a clear line.
“If this is an official investigation, I’ll cooperate.”
“……”
“But that’s as far as it goes.”
“……”
“I’d prefer you didn’t pry into my personal matters. Isn’t it far too cruel to tell the victim she brought it on herself by walking around alone?”
At my words, his jaw clenched hard.
“…That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what? It’s not as if you and I are close enough to be sharing private matters.”
“Truly… you are a woman who can make a man sick of people altogether.”
“The feeling is mutual. Which is why it’s best we part ways here.”
“That’s why I pretended not to recognize you!”
Suddenly, Dylan burst out in a raised voice.
I flinched, eyes widening in shock.
With a face that for some reason looked… aggrieved, he spat his words like venom.
“Why is it that every time I’m sent out on reconnaissance, you happen to be lurking in front of me in that state? If our paths didn’t cross, we wouldn’t have to pay each other any mind!”
“……”
“If you wanted me to stay out of your business, you should’ve at least conducted yourself properly. Nearly getting raped by gutter trash, and now you claim we’re not close enough to speak of such things?”
“……”
“Are you doing this on purpose? Did you find out my schedule and set up this farce, just to catch my attention?”
At his tirade, my mouth fell open.
What kind of twisted thought process led to that conclusion?
On purpose, he says.
‘That’s exactly what I want to say to you, you bastard!’
Tollen. The ballroom. And now Volner.
Why the hell did he keep showing up everywhere I went?!
I hadn’t done anything to deserve this kind of abuse.
Even the faintest shred of gratitude I’d felt toward him evaporated in an instant.
“Whatever I do, whatever happens to me. Why should that matter to you at all?”
You’re the one barging in whenever you please, solving things however you please, condemning me however you please.
“If you’re only going to spout nonsense like that, there’s no point in me standing here and talking to you any longer.”
With an icy retort, I moved to walk past him.
No, I would have, if not for…
Whish—!
A crushing grip seized my shoulder and yanked me back into place.
“That damned ‘Sir, Sir, Sir’!”
“Urk…”
“Drop the ridiculous honorifics. Since when did you ever address me so politely!”
“What on earth… Count Frederick.”
“Speak as you always did. You went around talking like you knew me better than anyone, so why are you suddenly pretending otherwise, confusing people?”
His face twisted savagely as he barked at me.
Eyes I had thought were dry and ashen now burned with a searing, inexplicable blaze.
The number rose once again.
‘Ah.’
At last, I understood.
His incomprehensible anger, his violent emotions.
They were all signs of an impending rampage.
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