I Became the Female Lead Ruined by Others - Chapter 37

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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 37

A man leaning casually against the doorframe smiled and held up the envelope in his hand.

“How did you know I’d be waiting with the baked pastries you promised?”
“Yay!”

The envelope swayed in time with Cap’s bouncing movements as she slipped from my grasp. A rich butter scent wafted through with the rustle of the wrapping.
The man steadied himself with his free hand against the open door and gestured down the corridor with his chin.

“By the way, Cap—the managers are looking for you in the garden.”
“Oh no! I forgot to tell them I was coming!”

Cap fidgeted nervously, glancing sidelong at my expression.
But my eyes remained fixed on the man, and he met my gaze without flinching or looking away.

“Go on, Cap.”
“Yes!”

As Cap bowed hastily and hurried toward the doorframe, the man extended the envelope to her.
She took it and rushed off; only after the sound of her footsteps faded completely did the door close.
Alone in the room now, just the two of us.
Heat flared through me at the sight of his relaxed smile as he bore the full weight of my sharp glare without wavering.

“Don’t look at me like that. Next time I’ll bring something for the young lady too.”
“How thoughtful.”

The man answered brightly, despite the obvious sarcasm in my tone.

“There’s no need for thanks between us.”

Based on my experience so far, one misstep here would drag me helplessly into something complicated again.
So I decided to abandon any roundabout approach and lay bare the question that had been gnawing at me.

“I’m trying to decide whether I can trust this ‘us’ you keep mentioning.”

It was an unexpected direct hit—the smooth curve of his mouth hardened.
I seized on that small opening and pressed my advantage.

“What benefit could there possibly be in lying to the Marquis about the Assassin’s death?”
“…….”
“And as if that weren’t enough, what good could spiriting the Assassin away have done you?”

The second accusation was more supposition than fact, lacking solid proof—yet the man did not deny it.
His steady gaze lay bare every truth without reservation.

“I need to know why you felt compelled to go that far.”

The man had been listening to me in silence, but now he moved abruptly with a bitter smile.
He approached with measured, soundless steps and stood before me in moments.
The shadow of a man far taller than myself fell across me, and an unexpected thought crossed my mind.

‘When did he get so tall?’

Though we’d faced each other countless times before, standing this close and looking up at him felt strange. He’d always matched my gaze before now.
It was the first time his blue eyes looking down at me without deference felt oppressive.
It was the moment I instinctively stepped back, seized by caution.

“You seem to be laboring under a rather significant misunderstanding.”

The man leaned forward abruptly, closing the distance I’d just created with that single step.
At the lower angle, my gaze finally aligned with his at a familiar height.
In his blue eyes, I saw myself still wearing that arrogant expression, and his smile—holding the full weight of that gaze—shone with an unwavering brilliance.

“Before it’s too late, I want to clear up the misunderstanding, to restore trust. How could that be wrong?”
“Then answer my question. What on earth were you thinking?”

Wandering in and out of the Basement on a whim, using Cap to deceive the Marquis, and in the end, smuggling out an Assassin too.
Why he’d done such a thing.
The man, seeming to grasp the meaning compressed within that short sentence, tilted his head slowly.

“What was I thinking……”

He gazed at his own reflection in my eyes with the intensity of someone studying an image in a mirror.
Then, straightening his spine, he stepped back two paces.

“You looked like you had no intention of solving things yourself, so I stepped in. Until a new plan could be drawn up, I was told to take responsibility for your safety.”

With that characteristic candid look in his eyes, as if to assert he harbored no intention of threatening me.
The anger hadn’t yet subsided, and his scheming remained suspect, but even in this moment I believed that much, at least, came from the heart.

‘The man who crossed into the Empire itself on nothing more than an exchange of letters with that Possessed One.’

And through the series of events that followed, I came to know just how sincere he was about that “promise kept.”
Yet precisely because of that, I understood it all the less.

“So what did you solve? You only made things worse. I was planning to cross-reference the Assassin’s confession against proper investigation results from the Marquis once he brought them.”

To my rough protest, the man slowly rubbed his temple with his fingertips.

“Do you trust the Marquis?”

Then he posed a question that came from nowhere.

“From the way you two spoke that day, it certainly didn’t seem like it. And the Marquis was the same way.”

How much the man knew about the relationship between that Possessed One and the Marquis remained a mystery.
But when the Marquis visited here last time, the man had eavesdropped from outside the window—and from the atmosphere alone that day, he would’ve gleaned that trust between them was far from solid.

“If he set his mind to it, fabricating evidence would be child’s play. Whether he was actually involved or not, getting himself out of your suspicion would be his immediate priority.”
“……”
“The Assassin’s side is no better. You might not know it, but those men are trained with a ruthlessness that borders on pathological. Moreover, they’re the sort who’ll slit a throat for money alone—so once they come to their senses later, how could you possibly sift truth from lies in whatever spills from their mouths?”

The answer to the man’s question had been settled long before.
I didn’t trust the Marquis, and I didn’t trust the Assassin either.
That’s why I’d meant to compare what each of them said.
Whether a point of convergence emerged, or gaps that contradicted—anything to find.

‘But if they’re both lying.’

The man didn’t miss my hesitation, pressing forward again.

“In the end, neither of them would help at all in finding the Mastermind.”

Hearing it put that way, I couldn’t deny it—the logic held.
Of course, the lingering unease, the dissatisfaction, still remained.

“That hardly explains what you’ve been doing behind my back. It’s as if you have some ulterior motive.”

The man blinked slowly, unmoved by my sharp words.
If anything, he smiled.

“I know you’re suspicious by nature, but that’s quite an overreach.”

His shameless expression was so infuriatingly smooth that I found myself at a loss.

“You’d do well to give up trying to find the Mastermind.”
“…Pardon?”
“I’ve told you before. You have too many enemies. Anyone capable enough to send an Assassin of that caliber would harbor considerable resentment, yet you haven’t even narrowed down a suspect until now.”

My words caught in my throat.
If it truly was a Possessed One, it might be an enemy I should recognize immediately. Anyone who could reduce the mighty Marquis to submission—sending an Assassin of that standard would be no ordinary adversary.

“Besides, the Mastermind must be trembling with anxiety ever since that Assassin failed to return. If word leaks out during the Marquis’s investigation that the Assassin is dead, that will only deepen their fear. They’ll wonder if perhaps you’ve already uncovered something.”
“But what if they send someone else to verify things properly?”
“Security has grown tighter lately, and I’m someone who would stake my life on your safety, am I not?”

The man replied without hesitation, composed and matter-of-fact.

“You see, right now, there’s no one else who can help me. Only you.”

For a moment, his quietly added words brushed against my ear.

‘Right now?’

Before I could turn over the significance of his changed phrasing, the man smoothly shifted the subject.

“I also removed that person from the Basement because something felt off. A typical Assassin would have taken their own life long ago, but this one was desperate—as if they clung to life with excessive attachment.”

His eyes, which had narrowed as if remembering something, widened pleasantly once more.

“Perhaps even repeating the same words was an act. They could be lying low like that, waiting for an opening to strike—I couldn’t keep them confined at your feet forever.”
“But that person ended up like that because of you. With all your talk of ‘deep conversation’ and whatnot.”
“I really only talked to them.”
“……”

After our silent standoff, the man finally exhaled a thin, pained sigh and rubbed his face with a dry hand.

“Fine, I kicked them a few times.”
“But you said you only talked?”
“I didn’t want you to think I was a violent man.”

I recoiled with visible distaste at his words, and the man laughed softly.

“Regardless, I hope the misunderstanding is cleared now. Please, don’t misinterpret this. I swear it was all for your safety. Keeping someone whose moves I can’t read at your side would be quite dangerous.”

He spoke as though he simply couldn’t leave that Assassin in this Mansion for the sake of my safety.
But my suspicion of him did not ease.

“So what did you do with that Assassin?”

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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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