I Became the Female Lead Ruined by Others - Chapter 20

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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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Episode 20

The man slipped through the window as naturally as he had on their first meeting.

“Why were you there…….”

I was so taken aback I couldn’t find words.

“Why were you there in the first place?”
“Looking at it, the mood didn’t seem right for me to waltz through the door.”
“……?”
“You seemed to be in the middle of a serious conversation, so I was waiting.”

Waiting?

“I figured it wouldn’t do to barge into a gathering I wasn’t invited to.”

Ah.
His words were so deflating that I lost even the will to compose myself.

“That’s not the point now…… is it?”
“Isn’t it?”
“Last night, this morning, and right now too. Why do you insist on coming and going through the window?”

My voice came out somewhat peevish before I could help it.
Yet the man didn’t so much as blink, as though he hadn’t noticed at all.

“Ah.”

He merely offered a short sound of realization and waved his left hand.
The one holding the Short Dagger.

“To ambush him if the moment arose.”

……Ambush?
Until now, only the Young Lady and the Marquis had been in this Reception Room.
He’d been waiting to judge the right moment to strike with that blade. Me? The Marquis? Perhaps both?
The man, reading my expression as it froze in an instant, suddenly burst out laughing.

“No, no. It’s not like that.”

He raised both hands like someone surrendering, waggling them gently.

“There’s no way it would be for the Young Lady. It’s the Marquis.”
“Ah.”

I see—so he’d meant to ambush the Marquis. I nearly misunderstood.
Though this hardly made it normal.

‘So the target wasn’t me, I get that. But standing around with a weapon hidden is far from ordinary.’

The man approached with a leisurely gait and slid into the seat across from me.
There he remained, chin propped on his hand, staring directly at me.

“I thought I might help if the Young Lady got into trouble. If he tried anything foolish, I’d have to deal with him right away.”

He shrugged his shoulders as though speaking of something trivial.

“I’m glad it was resolved quietly.”

His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled brightly—a face so utterly harmless it was almost convincing. Almost enough to believe he meant what he’d said about being relieved.
But my attention was wholly fixed on the Short Dagger he’d tucked into his waistband.

‘Surprise attacks, disposing of people……’

The danger this man posed was becoming only too clear. My grip tightened on the armrest.
Yet one question loomed larger than even that realization.

‘Why does it sound like he’s trying to help me?’

I was still searching for an adequate response when the man withdrew another Short Dagger from his waistband.
Tap.
He placed it on the table and slid it toward me with a swift motion.

“Perhaps my sincerity won’t come across if I go around carrying these things?”

He’d even been considerate enough to turn the handle toward me.
The man, now keeping his distance, leaned back against the sofa and smiled.
A Short Dagger in a Leather Case. What was he trying to prove by laying down a weapon instead of words?

‘I understand he has no intention of harming me.’

But the problem was that this looked like a deception—like he was merely pretending to surrender the upper hand.
This was leisure. This was confidence.
The ease of a man who’d finished his arrogant calculations, certain that handing over something so trivial could never put him at risk.
When I ignored the dagger, he tilted his head slightly to the left.

“Speaking of the Assassin in the Basement——”
“Oh, him. He didn’t seem likely to open up easily. Just kept repeating that there was a middleman, so he didn’t know who hired him.”

It was exactly what the Assassin had told me, but that hardly dissolved my suspicions.

“What did you do to him?”
“What did I do? Strong language, Young Lady. I simply had a conversation with him.”

Just a conversation? Then why had he been so terrified?
Perhaps noticing my sour expression, the man quickly corrected himself.

“Actually, I apologize. That was a lie.”
“It was?”
“It wasn’t just a conversation—it was a very deep one.”

I found my eyes squeezing shut of their own accord.

“You see, I’ve always been interested in exploring the human psyche. I simply wondered how he’d ended up this way.”
“So you were curious how he became an Assassin.”
“Surely you’re curious too, Young Lady?”
“Is that…… something I should be curious about?”

The sheer nonsense flowing from him as easily as breath left me speechless.
His unhurried tone, his soft voice, the fluid shift of his expressions—
even the small gesture of brushing back hair like moonlight filtered through leaves carried an air of complete ease.
And his slick wordplay that sidestepped the core issue? Pure theater.

‘Something’s wrong.’

This man is strange. A man of unknown identity, possessed of overwhelming power.
I know perfectly well he’s dangerous, someone I should guard against.

‘He keeps making me lower my guard.’

His manner is so natural, so comfortable, that he makes me forget the danger again and again.
Whether it’s his gift for words or his cunning…….
At this rate, I’ll be drawn into his current and suffocate.

“Well, that’s not important. Anyway, I thought that person was sent by Brilliant the Marquis.”

Brilliant the Marquis?
As my eyes widened, the man gestured toward the spot where the Marquis had been.

“So I visited the Marquis, but there was nothing particularly suspicious about him.”

Then why?
As my brow furrowed deeper, the man playfully mimicked me, narrowing his own.

“What can I do? In my current position, it would be very inconvenient if anything happened to you. Very inconvenient indeed.”

He spoke in a casual tone while resting his arm on the back of the sofa, and there was something quite affectionate about it.

“Only if you remain safe can we keep the promise we made.”

Right now I cannot know the contents of the deal that passed between the Possessed One and this man.
But there was one thing his manner revealed to me.

‘This man will look after my safety until he achieves his objective.’

The way he subtly brings up his own efforts, treating me warmly all the while.
If I have no choice but to keep such a man at my side—a man who won’t slip away no matter how I try to shake him off—

‘then I’ll have to use it.’

As long as I don’t let on that I know nothing before I learn this man’s secret, I should be safe.
Besides, I’ve never even faced the Possessed One myself, so there’s little risk of suspicion.

‘I’ll think about what comes later when the time comes.’

If only fortune favors my possessed life and lets it flow according to plan.
Once my calculations were complete, I lifted my chin and spoke as boldly as I could manage.

“I’m glad you understand so quickly. You clearly know that my safety is the top priority for keeping our agreement.”
“That’s right. In this situation, you’re the only one who can help me.”

At those words, the taut thread of tension snapped limply.
There was no need for pretense. It was a signal that I didn’t need to hold back.

“But the situation has changed slightly. Those reckless rats came sniffing around yesterday, so I need to completely revise my plans.”

The man’s eyes still gleamed, and I held his gaze without flinching.

“So I’ll need to add conditions.”

The man, who had been studying me quietly, fell silent for a moment, then laughed with a sound like air escaping.

“You’re quite greedy…….”

His tone was unbearably soft, but there was steel beneath the words.

“You said if I just opened the Imperial Treasury, taking half would be enough.”
“…….”
“Now you come out and say you want me to work for you? That’s not balanced at all.”

My heart hammered violently in my chest. A chiming sound that shouldn’t have been audible rang out near my ear.

‘Could it be…… he was actually after the Imperial Treasury all along?’

Security information on the Imperial Treasury. And the promise that he would “give me the Empire.”
I’d been suspicious of the intersection between those two things all this time.

[Whoever possesses the Imperial Treasury shall possess the Empire.]

No one knew its source, but it was treated as a sort of last curse left behind by some oracle trampled under Karzen’s military boots in ages past.
It was an old rumor that followed the Imperial Treasury, which held all manner of treasures plundered by Karzen through countless wars.

‘Given the strict security and imperial authority, it’s normally an impossible notion.’

But those who coveted the valuables within had been referring to plundering the Imperial Treasury as “taking possession of the Empire” for quite some time now.

“But what can we do?”

Then, cutting through the silence, the man opened his mouth softly.

“It seems the situation has become difficult, so you must be troubled too. Speak freely.”

He still sat at an angle, draping his arm over the back of the sofa.
He tapped his slender fingers in an irregular rhythm, letting them sway gently.

‘The way he speaks, as if he truly understands my position and is willing to listen willingly.’

It’s as good as saying this man is desperate.
Even if I added conditions now, he’d have no choice but to agree.

“Well?”

At my certainty, the man smiled at me warmly with that handsome face.

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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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