I Became the Female Lead Ruined by Others - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 13

He met my gaze directly.
Then, leaning his upper body forward, he spoke with deliberate slowness, pressing each word as if engraving it into stone.

“You promised to give me the Empire.”

The moment his words fell, a suffocating silence descended over the Reception Room.

‘Give him the Empire?’

I couldn’t grasp the precise meaning of what I’d just heard, but one thing was clear.

‘This man is nothing like the other nobles who’d been blackmailed by that Possessed Entity.’

He was someone far more formidable than they were.
The composure he’d displayed from the start, the ease in his manner—and those words: “You promised to give me the Empire.”

‘So that Possessed Entity didn’t just extract payment from him. He was someone worth negotiating conditions with.’

And if he’d been one of the blackmailed nobles, he would never have answered with difficulty to an offer to let the matter drop.

‘Was he conducting a transaction with that Possessed Entity?’

A covert transaction, one dangerous enough to merit an expression like ‘obtaining the Empire.’

‘But what exactly was it?’

Finding myself lost in a maze once more, I chose not to respond.
The man who had cast this silence over the room then murmured to himself.

“What are you thinking, asking me to forget about it now?”

Yet his smile remained soft, his tone untroubled.

“Are you still upset that my reaction was lukewarm at first? Why is it that everyone around me is so narrow-minded? Really, it’s exhausting.”
……
“Or perhaps it bothered you that I doubted the information the young lady sent at the beginning?”

He twitched the toe of his crossed leg while waiting for my reply.
At first glance it seemed like a meaningless gesture, but his blue eyes had shifted to a different light.
A sharp gaze that missed not the slightest tremor in me.

‘At this point, I have no choice but to answer ambiguously and let it pass.’

I decided to play along, pretending his words had hurt my feelings and changed my attitude.

“It’s not purely for that reason, but I can’t really say it’s wrong either.”

I deliberately furrowed my brow to project displeasure.

‘I need to leave this place now. Quickly. Please.’

But his reaction was nothing like what I hoped for.
After staring at me wide-eyed for a moment, he broke into laughter.
And as if that weren’t enough, he drew his already-forward torso even closer to me.

“Is there? Are you telling me there are other reasons?”
“……Yes, many.”
“If you told me, I could explain everything—the circumstances of the incident and the ways to improve it going forward. What do you think?”
“I’d rather not.”

Despite the cold, clipped tone of my words, the man simply laughed. Then, as if remembering something, he narrowed his eyes slightly.

“At first, I was skeptical myself. When I found out she was the daughter of a house falling into ruin, the idea that she’d make me such a proposal seemed almost absurd.”

I swallowed quietly, my throat tight.

“The first letter I sent—you’d agree it was unremarkable, wouldn’t it?”

He blinked, as if seeking my agreement.
His clear, transparent blue eyes now felt like a fathomless lake—seeming to reveal everything while concealing what lay beneath.

“But from the second letter onward, things changed. Information about security surrounding the Imperial Treasury, for instance. What impressed me most was the way you created fractures within the Noble Factions.”

As I listened quietly to his words, my hands clenched against my lap.

“That’s when I took out the first letter again—the one I’d dismissed as mere bluster or provocation.”

I kept my face expressionless, betraying no hint of emotion.
But behind that mask, something inside me was screaming silently, torn apart.

‘Security information? Fractures in the Noble Factions?’

I was hearing this for the first time.
Living as a servant, I had some awareness of the inner workings of the Empire, but truthfully, I’d never needed to know such things.
For Bianca, sheltered under the Duke’s House, survival meant only improving her relationships with those around her.

‘How could that Possessed Entity have known something I don’t?’

The man, who had been fixing me with an appraising stare, shifted his posture, resting his elbow on the armrest.

“Watching all the subsequent plans succeed made me trust you, young lady.”

A scream clawed at my throat, threatening to escape any moment.

‘Did his promise to give me the Empire mean he was sharing top-secret intelligence?’

His words were a verdict: the Possessed Entity had infiltrated far deeper and more carefully than I’d ever imagined.

‘But what would be the point of knowing that? Was she trying to rob the Imperial Treasury?’

Based on what I’d gathered so far, this man was not a target for blackmail—he was a business partner.
Which meant that without knowing the Possessed Entity’s true intentions, he was the most difficult adversary of all.

‘He might even have information he could use to blackmail Roselina.’

Perhaps they’d been the kind of allies who covered for each other’s secrets.
Now, even swallowing and breathing felt dangerous.
I’d just realized this man was far more dangerous than I’d ever anticipated.

“So I’ll pretend I never heard you ask me to forget any of this.”

The man smiled with his eyes as if reading my thoughts, and his composure never wavered.

‘Just what are you……?’

His face was carved with such precision that it seemed the work of divine intention—beautiful beyond measure, yet in that beauty lay a subtle wrongness that unsettled something deep within me.
Then, as I sat in silence with turbulence churning behind my lips, the man spoke to me softly.

“If you need time to think things through, I can wait.”
“…?”
“I did show up rather suddenly, after all.”

Wait for me?

‘Yes, if I could just put distance between myself and this man, even for a moment.’

That alone would be enough to catch my breath. First, I needed to uncover his identity—only then could I devise a response.

‘Should I send someone to investigate? I’ve never done anything like this before. Can I order the butler to look into it?’

But the man’s next words immediately froze my racing thoughts once more.

“I’m thinking of staying here for a while.”
“I beg your pardon?”

The absurdity of his statement caught me off guard, and words tumbled out before I could stop them. My throat, strained from long silence, even cracked on the syllables.
Yet he seemed entirely unbothered, continuing the conversation with casual ease.

“I like that it’s quiet here, with few people about. I’ve been needing a rest anyway.”
“A rest? What you’re proposing is breaking and entering, followed by squatting.”
“The breaking in—that wasn’t me. Someone else did that part.”

His words brought back last night’s chaos, and a chill ran down my spine. Without him, I might have been cut by that dagger.
Perhaps noticing the flicker of fear that crossed my face, his expression softened somehow.

“Besides, I have my reasons for wanting to stay in this house.”
“And what would those be?”

As though avoiding his gaze would spell disaster, I held it steadily. My momentum had already crumbled; I couldn’t afford to show it.

“…?”
“I said I want to stay here because of you.”
“This Estate belongs to me.”
“Yes, I know. Who said it didn’t?”
“I won’t allow someone like you to—”

I pressed my lower lip and held my tongue, whereupon the man laughed softly.

“We most certainly are. I don’t see it any other way.”
“Is there truly a reason not to spare one room? Surely not, when we share the same purpose.”

“I made it clear—let’s pretend nothing happened.”
“If my feelings are hurt, does that upset you? I’ll let it go.”

“……Hmph.”

A brazen face sculpted into a rather pitiful voice.
He had never once laced his words with coercion, and yet I found myself unable to refuse him.
The raw power with which he’d subdued the assassin in a single breath, and all the secrets he surely possessed.
Thinking of those things, provoking this man would be no different from suicide.
Perhaps it would be better to simply give him what he wanted right now.

“I’d prefer a room with plenty of sunlight. Even better if it overlooks the Garden.”

Was it really all right to keep such a man at my side?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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