If You Are Suited for the Villain's Secretary - Chapter 21

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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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If the Villain’s Secretary Suits Me
Chapter 21
Before long, the two of them were engaged in a serious discussion about the contract.
“Is there no way to break that contract? It’s clearly an illegal agreement.”
“A contract inscribed with magical power can only be nullified by burning every single copy, but that’s practically impossible. Since there are multiple pages, just finding them all is difficult. And even if the mage who cast the contract dies, the contract passes on to their successor.”
“That’s insane.”
“There’s a reason I work alone, you know? It’s not because I’m ostracized! I just hate mages like that!”
“I understand.”
Iliana, who had been discussing solutions with Delilah, extended her hand toward him.
“First, please get up, Lenox.”
An outstretched hand.
Five years ago, there had been someone who extended their hand to Lenox when he lay drunk and despairing about his circumstances after escaping the Mage Tower.
“Come on, get up.”
It was Aden.
Such simple, unremarkable words—yet back then, Lenox had grasped that hand, risen to his feet, and wept a little.
Now, Lenox felt tears threatening to spill once more, just as they had then.
“…Yeah.”
Lenox grasped her hand in return and pulled himself up.
“…So it seems the stigma was reactivated because of that one remaining contract page.”
Since La Mar had video recording artifacts, they ended up sitting on a bench in an unexpectedly deserted park to talk.
Of course, he couldn’t speak about his days of slavery, but he never imagined his first time opening up about the situation would be to the Protagonist and some mage he’d never met before.
It was half deflating, yet half relieving.
“I know there’s no way for me to solve this either. So I was planning to leave before the stigma fully regenerated…”
Still heavy-hearted, Lenox muttered gloomily until Iliana cut him off.
“Wait a moment. You said the contract is valid with just one page, so why did the stigma disappear for a while?”
“Since it’s a contract bound with magical power, the mage must periodically infuse it with magic for the stigma to persist. It had been neglected all this time, but after Crimson found the contract page, they must have infused it anew. Of course, with just one page, the magical cost and the impact on Lenox would be somewhat reduced, but he’s still suffering all the same.”
“So it’s like a part-time worker hired at minimum wage by an unscrupulous employer. The obligations and intensity might be lower than a full-time position, but the stress is comparable.”
“That’s quite an apt analogy, but hearing it put that way makes me feel oddly uncomfortable…”
Whether Lenox heard her or not, Iliana continued questioning Delilah about the “Blood Contract.”
“A ‘Blood Contract’ doesn’t care about the contents as long as the conditions are met, right? So as long as there’s a contractor and a contractee, and the mage regularly infuses magical power into that contract page, it becomes a ‘Blood Contract’?”
“Well, yes?”
“And the contractee must unconditionally do whatever the contractor wishes?”
“That’s also correct?”
She really wants to help somehow.
Lenox laughed weakly.
“Protagonist. I appreciate the sentiment, but it’s pointless unless you can use time-reversal magic. A ‘Blood Contract’ cannot be broken.”
Delilah, who had been watching carefully, nodded at Lenox’s words.
The moment Lenox realized that one contract page remained, he had investigated the matter from every angle.
But no matter how hard he searched, there was only one way to break the contract: burning the contract page itself.
‘Since things have come to this, I cannot remain in the Capital City any longer.’
By now, word of today’s events has certainly reached Kaileb Crimson’s ears.
There’s no telling what a resentful Kaileb might do.
“I’m sorry, but I need to ask you one thing, Protagonist. …Please, don’t tell anyone at the Merchant Guild about my contract. I’ll come up with another excuse on my own.”
“Wait, hold on! La Mare is a huge Merchant Guild, isn’t it? You have plenty of experts! If we all put our heads together, we might find a way…!”
“You’re right. They’d all try to help me however they could. They’d ask around, seek advice from mages, hold meetings. That’s exactly why I can’t let them know.”
Lenox cut off Delilah’s words and let out a dry laugh.
“I can’t let the people at the guild know I made such a contract.”
Delilah wanted to ask—how could pride possibly matter more than one’s life?
But the words that followed left her with nothing to say.
“…I have a younger sister at another branch. I made this contract because she was sick and needed medicine. If she ever found out what the price of that medicine was… it would destroy her.”
What would happen to his sister, who already felt guilty toward him, if she learned the truth?
Rather than watch her suffer shock and self-recrimination, Lenox would sooner bite his own tongue.
So this was the right choice. Lenox forced a smile and began to stand, saying it was time to go.
“Just a moment, Lenox.”
Iliana, who had been contemplating something intently the whole time, stopped him.
Lenox let out a hollow laugh and asked.
“What. Can you really use time-reversal magic? Is that why you’re stopping me? Because ‘blood contracts’ can’t be broken….”
“Yes. I understand they’re difficult to break.”
It was a single moment.
A light kindled in the Protagonist’s teal eyes.
“But I think we might be able to nullify it.”
Lenox, taken aback, repeated her words.
“Nullify it?”
Now that he thought about it, the Protagonist had only ever asked about the ‘contract’ itself, not the magic.
As if she were reviewing contractual terms on paper, checking for loopholes.
“A dual contract.”
“…What?”
“A ‘blood contract’ is still a contract, isn’t it? If you make two contracts with completely opposite terms, which one would be valid?”
Delilah, suddenly posed the question, thought carefully.
“Unless someone’s completely insane, no one would ever make a ‘blood contract’ twice… but generally speaking, the first contract wouldn’t take priority like it would with ordinary contracts.”
“Is that so?”
“Magic always prioritizes whoever has more mana. Think of fire and water. Normally water extinguishes fire, but if the fire burns hot enough, it can actually evaporate the water instead… huh?”
Lenox shot to his feet.
“So, then.”
“If we inject more mana into a new ‘blood contract’ with completely opposite terms….”
“We could overwrite and nullify the existing contract. Right?”
“Exactly! That’s it! All I have to do is make a different contract! I won’t have to suffer under that cruel master anymore!”
Lenox’s hand, which had been covering his mouth, slowly fell away.
“But, I…”
The hope that had swelled like a balloon deflated with a soft hiss.
I could tell that Delilah was dealing with a mage quite different from those she’d encountered before.
Yet the prospect of placing the leash in another’s hands with her own hands once more filled Lenox with an inexplicable dread.
Setting everything else aside, this was someone she’d only just met today.
‘When I first made the contract, she deceived me, saying these were good enough terms for me.’
The initial contract, bound by medicine for her younger sister.
Every word the mage had spoken with that smile—that she only needed to occasionally help with the Magic Tower’s affairs—had been a lie.
Seeing Lenox’s expression, Delilah’s spirits dampened as well.
“Well, actually…”
Iliana spoke, having gathered together everything Delilah had confirmed and all her knowledge of contracts.
“The contractor and the contracted party don’t necessarily have to be different people, do they?”
“…What?”
“What if you think of it as Lenox being the proprietor and Lenox being the employee—a one-person merchant guild. Lenox hiring Lenox. Then there wouldn’t be any problem, would there?”
“Ah… that’s right! The contractor doesn’t have to be a mage! The mage just needs to pour in their magical power!”
Delilah, her spirits restored, drew several sheets of paper glowing blue from thin air and infused them with magical power.
Iliana, gazing down at the blank contracts, accepted a blue pen and began drafting the terms.
Contractor: Lenox. Contracted party: Lenox.
There was only a single clause to the contract.
[1. To live freely, bound by no one]
Lenox, staring down at the contract extended before her, accepted a small blade from Delilah with trembling hands.
She cut her fingertip, let the blood flow, and stained her name written across all the contract sheets, then rolled up her sleeve.
The grotesque crimson mark that had glowed so harshly vanished…
“…”
A small, blue flower-shaped mark slowly bloomed across Lenox’s shoulder.
Literally, a mark proving she had become the master of her own life.
Lenox bowed her head deeply.
The table before her gradually grew wet with moisture.
Delilah, uncertain what to do, whispered to Iliana.
“Um, um… what should we do? She seems to be crying…”
“In times like this, wouldn’t it be best to leave her alone to compose herself?”
“Ah, I see! I don’t have many friends, so I didn’t know about these things.”
“I don’t have many friends either, so I was just speaking from what I’ve observed. That’s what others seem to do.”
“The tears are really flowing…”
Lenox wiped her eyes vigorously and laughed.
“…Thank you. All of you.”
Iliana smiled back at her with a light nod.
“Then shall we go have some coffee now?”
“Yes!”
The three rose from the bench and made their way toward La Mare with noticeably lighter steps.
***
Late into the night.
Aden returned from his fieldwork and handed over a report along with an introductory document from the Eastern Magic Tower, which would soon become a new business partner.
It was meticulous and thorough—even photographic evidence was attached in full.
Neither Lenox nor Luther prepared reports in this manner.
Then that meant.
“Iliana Grecia.”
Shifting his gaze, Aden opened a drawer.
Inside lay photographs of the harbor city of Sirena that Lenox had taken.
It was merely an ordinary seascape, yet something about those images nagged at him—much like the new secretary who had once lived in that port city.
That’s why he’d kept them instead of discarding them.
“Director, I never thought I’d say this either… The new secretary is certainly peculiar, but I don’t believe she’s a spy. And even if she were! Perhaps she had unavoidable circumstances.”
Iliana Grecia.
Aden paused, considering how to reconcile his two closest aides’ identical assessment of her.
What could have caused Lenox to shift his thinking like Luther’s in merely a single day?
“I need to see for myself.”
He was the type who only believed what he witnessed directly.
Aden rose to his feet and made his way toward the “old house” of the new secretary listed on her resume.

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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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