I Became the Female Lead Ruined by Others - Chapter 17

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

Chapter 17

It was the moment I stepped toward the barred cell to finally interrogate the Assassin.
The Butler suddenly startled and moved to block my path.

“It’s dangerous, sir, even bound as he is. Let me check first—please wait here.”

He entered the cell and approached the Assassin, who lay on his side.

“Wake up. The master himself has come to—”

The Butler’s voice cut off as he bent to examine the Assassin’s condition.
For a moment he stood rigid as a statue, then began jabbing at the limp body repeatedly.

“Hey, open your eyes this instant.”

When the Assassin gave no response, his touches grew rougher.
Finally, with hands and feet still bound, the Assassin’s body was flipped over forcefully.
Now facing the ceiling, the Assassin lay with both eyes closed.

“But you said he was awake?”
“Y-yes, he was! He definitely was!”

Flustered, the Butler slapped the Assassin’s cheeks repeatedly with his palm.
Watching from outside the bars, every hair on my body seemed to stand on end.
I recoiled in alarm.

“He’s not dead, is he?”
“That’s impossible, sir!”

The Butler, equally alarmed, quickly held his hand beneath the Assassin’s nose.

“He’s breathing, sir! I simply didn’t know what to do with him, so I bound him. I even fitted a splint to his broken arm.”

My brief question seemed to trigger a torrent of explanations, and he poured out words rapid-fire.
Yet his hand never ceased striking the unconscious Assassin’s cheek.

“Sir, shall I throw water on him?”

I’d come down with purpose—I couldn’t return empty-handed.

‘After all, he was trying to kill me anyway.’

With my permission, the Butler fetched the water-filled bucket sitting in the corner.
Without hesitation, he poured it directly over the Assassin lying on the ground.

Gasp!

The body that had shown no response even as his cheeks reddened thrashed at the water.
The Assassin flailed about like a man drowning in the deep and shook his head wildly.

‘Sleeping through all this? That calm demeanor—he’s no Possessed One.’

At the sound of my clicking tongue, eyes slowly opened and fixed on me.
I looked down at my bound captive and kept my voice low.

“Who sent you?”
“Ack, h-huh… Rozelina Morse?”

The Butler seized the stumbling Assassin’s head and struck it with his fist.

“How dare you speak the Master’s name so carelessly! The audacity!”

Given that I was interrogating the Assassin, it was an endearingly clumsy response.
To be honest, this was my first interrogation too, and all I could manage was lowering my voice.

“If you won’t open your mouth, I’ll have no choice but to use harsher methods.”
“Yes, I’ll make you beg for death itself!”
“If you speak willingly, I’m prepared to spare your life at least.”
“There’s only one way to preserve that pitiful life of yours!”
“I’m not sure how much you were paid for my life, but I can offer more.”
“I’ll even give you the chance to sing the Master’s praises—now speak!”

The Butler didn’t give the Assassin a moment to respond, interjecting after every sentence I spoke.
The one who had been so earnestly assisting suddenly looked up the moment my words stopped.

“… just be quiet for a moment, will you?”
“Yes, sir.”

The instant I turned my gaze back to the Assassin’s face—

“Eek!”

His pupils, now in focus, trembled violently, betraying his panic.

“I’m sorry! P-please, spare me!”
“Huh?”
“I-I don’t know anything! I only r-received money from a middleman, that’s all!”

He twisted his bound body, crawling across the floor as though desperate to distance himself from something. Anything.
His pallid face shook as he repeated the same words over and over.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry! I really don’t know!”

The Butler, who had been crouching, grabbed him by the collar and shook him roughly, but to no avail.
The way he looked—as though utterly out of his mind—was distinctly strange.

‘He’s lost it completely.’

His body trembled finely, his breathing ragged and forced. This was different from desperate resistance to hide his employer.

‘Did he hit his head when that man subdued him yesterday?’

As I stepped forward toward the iron gate, I suddenly glanced down at my feet.
Dust settled on the wooden floor.
But the path from the Basement entrance, through where I had walked, to the iron gate entrance—that stretch alone was pristine, not a particle of dust.
As if that section had been swept clean.

―I suppose I ended up sweeping all the way here while I was at it.

It certainly seemed like someone had beaten me to it.
But why?
To keep him from speaking in front of me?
And if so, why that?

“What shall we do, sir?”

The Butler asked me with an uncomfortable expression while I stared down at the Assassin with a frown etched across my face.

‘Holding them like this won’t get me any real answers.’

I turned away from the sight of the Assassin thrashing about on the cold floor in terror.

“I’ll have to come back later. Make sure the Basement security is tightened.”
“Yes, of course. Understood, Master.”

Behind me, I heard the Assassin’s pleas mingling with the sound of the iron gate sliding shut.

“I was wrong, I was wrong!”

I climbed the Staircase, unable to shake an unsettling feeling.
With each step, questions that seemed impossible to answer settled softly upon me.

‘What on earth could their true identity be……’

Those blue eyes that had gleamed at me flickered in my mind’s eye.

* * *

Once I returned from the Basement, I headed straight to the Study.
The first thing I did was cross-reference the Ledger in the Desk drawer with the Security Personnel Extortion Plan.
The facts laid bare were unmistakable. According to the Plan, the Nobility weren’t content with money alone—they were extracting Security Personnel in duplicate.

‘And the Marquis Brilliant is one of them.’

But that wasn’t the problem.
I couldn’t find the Marquis Brilliant’s name anywhere in the Ledger. I combed through every corner searching for any mention or information about the suspicious man, but that too turned up nothing.

“Those two are the real issue right now!”

Later, wondering if perhaps that Possessed One had built a false wall, I knocked on the walls repeatedly, lifted the Rug off the floor, and hauled the heavy Desk across the room with effort, but came up empty again.
I collapsed onto the floor scattered with documents, breathing heavily.

“I’m truly…… so frail…….”

I crawled forward slowly, gripped the chair, and managed to pull myself up onto it.
All right, now let me catch my breath and think this through calmly.
The Marquis Brilliant’s background. And the man’s composure, the strange magnanimity in his bearing.

‘Both the Marquis and the man must hold some special meaning for the Possessed One.’

Whether that meaning is good or ill.

‘Perhaps they’ve hidden it somewhere other than the Study.’

I sprang to my feet as I surveyed the destroyed Study.
When I yanked the Study door open and stepped out, the Butler was waiting in front of it.

“Prepare some tea. Bring it to the Bedroom.”

The Butler understood my meaning at once and nodded with solemn resolve.
I made my way to the Bedroom at a brisk pace, wary of running into the man.
As I collapsed into a chair, breathing heavily, the Butler returned with the Teacup.

“Here you are, Master.”

The moment the Butler set down the teacup, I picked it up again.
I’d barely begun to blow on it when I drained the whole thing in one gulp. My palate would blister raw, but this was no time for such concerns.
Clack.

“M-Master?”

The Butler’s voice turned cautious at my sudden movements—sharper than yesterday’s.

‘If I’m perfectly fine today after yesterday’s performance, it’ll look suspicious.’

I clutched my head with exaggerated gestures, groaning theatrically.

“Ow, ow—my head’s splitting…”
“Your body has yet to fully acclimate to the poison, sir.”
“Yes, I understand. My memory’s mostly come back today, but there are still some gaps.”

I stopped him as he reached to his chest, evidently to produce the poison bottle as he’d done yesterday.
While I continued to wince and moan, scrunching my face in apparent distress, the Butler approached and bowed at the waist.

“Where do I usually spend time?”
“Yes?”
“Besides the study and bedroom, there’s somewhere else I used to stay for long stretches. Where was it?”
“You primarily keep to your study and bedroom, sir. The study especially—no one else is permitted to enter. You attend to the cleaning personally. As for the bedroom, the maids clean it every other day, whenever you’re occupied in the study.”
“That’s not what I mean.”

The Butler blinked helplessly at my frown, clearly bewildered.
I swallowed once, then whispered very quietly.

“A space suitable for storing something important.”
“Ah…”
“Or, say, a safe.”

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