If You Are Suited for the Villain's Secretary - Chapter 29

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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 29
‘Again.’
It wasn’t judgment—it was curiosity.
Rather than holding up a measuring stick to assess and gauge, a genuine sense of wonder had surfaced instead.
Strange. Aden furrowed his brow and turned his attention back to the documents.
Yet moments later, Aden realized he was still holding Iliana Grecia’s pen cap in his hand.
“It’s nothing the CEO needs to concern himself with.”
With disheveled hair and her entire body covered in scratches, she had said exactly that.
“Then what would you have done if I hadn’t arrived, Miss Grecia?”
“I did rack my brain in that moment, but nothing came to mind.”
“….”
“Still, I probably would have found some opportunity to escape, adapting to the situation as it unfolded.”
That perilously dangerous moment, which could have ended in catastrophe, she recounted as though it were merely an ordinary occurrence.
It wasn’t a calculated ploy designed to evoke sympathy.
It was Iliana Grecia’s genuine truth.
The sincere words of someone who had never asked others for help, and thus had grown accustomed to bearing everything alone.
Aden understood. He couldn’t help but understand. He didn’t even need time to comprehend it.
‘Because I’m the same way.’
That’s why he had spoken those words.
“Now I think I understand Miss Grecia a bit better.”
Yet Iliana Grecia, who seemed to resemble me, was also fundamentally different.
For instance, even when her ‘deficiencies’ and ‘weaknesses’—as the world called them—were exposed, she showed no disturbance whatsoever.
Instead, she seized that very exposure as an opportunity and obtained what she desired. Truly, adapting to each moment as it came.
Recalling her asking him to fix the door panel now that the Debt Collector had been dealt with, a faint smile played at the corner of Aden’s lips.
He rose and moved to sit across from the dozing new secretary.
“….”
The business proposal and map on the table were covered in notes.
After observing them for a moment, Aden slowly withdrew the pen that was precariously balanced at her fingertips and capped it for her.
Then, rather than standing again, he merely lifted his gaze upward. He regarded her pale face in silence.
The questions he harbored about Iliana Grecia quietly layered themselves over that silent observation.
‘How did you accumulate such debt, and what became of your father, who’s been missing for years?’
Lenox, who had been reluctant about conducting a background check on the new hire, immediately changed his expression upon hearing news of the attack.
‘This isn’t for verification! It’s to clear up misunderstandings about the new secretary!’ he had declared, rushing off—so information from Lenox should arrive soon.
Thus that question was quickly set aside.
‘And who sent that first telegram, the one that found you by describing your appearance?’
He had learned that the other telegram was a trap laid by Fang to locate the debtor, but he still couldn’t identify who had sent the first one.
However, since Luther was keeping a keen eye on it, that too would likely be uncovered.
So that question was also quickly set aside.
‘…Why do you wear glasses?’
I had no intention of prying into medical records. The employees’ medical charts were the Doctor’s domain anyway.
Yet the Doctor, while reporting his visit to the Company Residence, had felt compelled to add a remark—that the new secretary’s eyesight was remarkably sharp.
Aden already knew this. He had witnessed it himself: the Protagonist catching a spider while dodging glass shards, all without wearing glasses.
But unlike the previous mysteries, this peculiarly trivial question refused to fade away.
“Thank goodness. Everyone made it through safely.”
As she spoke, her teal eyes narrowed with a luminescence that mirrored the brilliant summer sea, brimming with sunlight.
Aden did not care for the sea.
It was an odd preference for the head of the Merchant Guild that traversed the waters, yet it was what he felt nonetheless.
But the summer sea was different. The summer sea alone… he found it rather beautiful, truth be told.
“Noel Marquis himself is the problem…”
Aden turned over her words in his mind. They held merit in many respects.
He had not forgotten the [Marriage Agreement] that had rolled across the floor alongside the spider.
Though it was blank save for its title, Aden could discern the sender’s identity from the title alone.
It bore the handwriting he had seen in the negotiation documents sent by the Noel Marquis Estate.
‘Insufficient compensation for a lost letter, perhaps.’
Aden shook his head, recalling the Protagonist’s own letter—equally blank.
If that letter had truly been sent to notify the Debt Collector of an address, then Lenox and he himself bore responsibility for what had transpired days ago, when it was mistaken for a cipher and taken away.
Thus, he intended to compensate Iliana Grecia, who had suffered unintended harm.
‘If that marriage is ‘coercion’ being inflicted upon you.’
Aden overlaid the tactics of the disreputable Debt Collectors he knew with Iliana Grecia’s circumstances.
She carried a debt. And should she fail to repay it, she would be sold into ‘marriage’ to some nameless entity.
Someone approached her in such straits, offering a proposal with apparent benevolence: perform espionage, and the situation would be resolved.
Yet the ‘someone’ who approaches a debtor in this manner is typically in league with the ‘creditor.’ They orchestrate circumstances to corner a person, compelling them to move as desired.
‘But if you had performed your espionage well, there would be no reason to brandish the Marriage Agreement and threaten again.’
Aden possessed a habit of contemplating the worst scenarios, and by coincidence, his limited information regarding Iliana Grecia fit together with unsettling precision.
His secretary appeared to be resisting as much as possible. As she had said—watching for her chance.
‘So if you wish it.’
To his secretary, who still dozed fitfully, Aden whispered softly.
“I will handle it. Gladly.”
Had his secretary heard, she would have clutched the back of her neck.
***
I jolted awake at the whistle announcing our arrival.
‘When did I fall asleep? I must have been out for at least thirty minutes.’
The first-class seat was so plush that I’d dozed off without a care in the world.
I carefully rolled my eyes to glance at Aden across from me. He was organizing documents into his briefcase.
In other words, he appeared utterly indifferent to me, as usual.
Had he not noticed me sleeping? I exhaled a sigh of relief and quickly gathered my belongings.
‘At least I must have closed the pen cap before falling asleep.’
It seemed I’d dozed off while taking notes, but thankfully the pen was capped.
The CEO, indifferent to me and cursed with excessively long legs, had already exited the carriage and was walking across the platform.
I hurried after him, and Aden glanced back at me.
“Ah.”
Then he slowed his pace.
Had he finally noticed that my legs were of average length, unlike his?
“Let’s walk slowly.”
“Pardon?”
“Your ankle.”
I realized he was being considerate of my injured ankle.
What? I was actually touched by that…
“I’m fine! It’s completely healed and I’ve removed the brace. If I’m being generous, I could even tap dance at this point.”
“I see. So you didn’t fall asleep due to side effects from painkillers or similar reasons.”
But Aden, as always, gave me no time to savor the moment of gratitude.
There was no way he hadn’t noticed me sleeping beside him. I squeezed my eyes shut and bowed my head.
“I apologize…”
“Were you lacking in vacation time?”
“No, that’s not it.”
In truth, I’d used vacation time for the first time thanks to Aden.
When I worked at the Mason Trading Company, there was no real reason to use it. The guild was practically on my doorstep from my home.
“I received a diagnosis to remove the brace today, so I was a bit tired from stopping by my place before reporting to La Mare to clean and explain the situation to my Landlady Grandmother. I apologize…”
“The door panel too?”
Why did he keep emphasizing the door panel? Honestly.
He was really calling me out! After deliberating, I just threw caution to the wind and answered.
“Yes. Thanks to you, sir, I prevented my deposit from being deducted.”
“Ha.”
Again, that deflating sound came from above my head.
“Removing the brace doesn’t mean you can use your ankle as you did before. Be careful.”
“…Ah, yes. I understand.”
Unexpectedly, Aden didn’t press the matter of me sleeping and let it pass.
As I stood there bewildered, a carriage that had been called ahead pulled up in front of us.
“From now on, we’ll be conducting field inspections together with the branch staff.”
After boarding the carriage, Aden explained the rest of the schedule in his usual businesslike tone.
“It’s impossible to cover everything in just a few hours, so Iliana Grecia will inspect the Cassis Bay District while I handle the Flatland District. We can photograph the Cassis Bay District for documentation. Any questions?”
“I don’t have questions about what you just explained, but could I ask you something else?”
“Go ahead.”
I cleared my throat slightly.
This was the moment to voice what I’d been contemplating all along.
“CEO, would it be possible for you to share your business trip schedule with me as well?”
“That’s not possible.”
My primary objective of gaining access to Aden’s schedule shattered completely.

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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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