If You Are Suited for the Villain's Secretary - Chapter 36

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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 36
Iliana tilted her head in confusion.
“I’m twenty years old now. Legally, I’m an adult and of marriageable age.”
“No, that’s not—! There was no word of you getting married…!”
Randolph, who had been muttering absently, clamped his mouth shut.
Iliana, who had been staring at him with his mind gone blank, tilted her head.
“Since I didn’t have your contact information, of course you wouldn’t know.”
“You’re saying you held a wedding ceremony without your father present?”
“We kept it small, just close friends. Besides, I don’t have a mother either, so what does it matter? But you seem to know that Father wasn’t by my side. How did you know that?”
“Who is your husband? How did you meet him? What does he do?!”
“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t know… I’ve had plenty of men chasing after me.”
“A, a ring? You don’t even have a wedding ring!”
“I don’t wear accessories much anyway, and if I had money for a ring, it would be better to put it toward paying off my debts.”
The rapid-fire answers made the world spin before his eyes.
Iliana, watching Randolph stumble over his words, smiled brightly and rested her chin in her hand.
“Oh, or that thing you mentioned this morning—about arranging a way for me to earn money. What kind of work is that?”
“That is…”
“Since you’re here and all, working in the Noel Marquis Territory wouldn’t be bad. Could my husband work there too? Since you’re the Marquis’s aide, you’d have that much authority over personnel, wouldn’t you?”
“I, Iliana, wait a moment…”
“How much is the salary? I could sign a contract right now. I’ll just contact the Merchant Guild master immediately and tell them I’m quitting.”
Randolph pressed his throbbing temples.
The plan had completely fallen apart.
That madman Jack would scratch at his nerves by mentioning Iliana’s name whenever he was bored—so why didn’t he know she was married?
Could he have known and said nothing? Was he trying to make a fool of him and pocket the advance payment?
His head was about to explode when Iliana casually brought up another topic.
“Julius mentioned that the Noel Marquis House has so much money they could easily spare ten billion Gold. No wonder the mansion looked so grand… Can I get my hopes up?”
“Did the old man’s speech habits rub off on you? Stop with the money, money, money talk! Just be quiet for a moment.”
“Hmm? But you were the one who offered to arrange a way for me to earn money. And ten billion Gold is…”
“If there were ten billion Gold, I would have bribed the elders long ago and made Victor the Marquis! Did you naively believe that old man’s words too? …Damn it, I have someone to contact. Wait a moment.”
“Okay.”
Click—
Didn’t I just hear the sound of something being pressed?
But Randolph, whose face had flushed with heat enough to make the back of his neck ache, wasn’t sharp enough to pay attention to that odd sound.
“Damn it!”
Once outside, Randolph roughly called for Jack, but the communicator remained silent.
Irritably running his hand through his hair, Randolph instead pressed Tessa’s contact information.
—Yeah, honey.
“Dear, we have a problem! That girl Iliana got married, ugh.”
—That girl got married? I thought she was being stubborn about not getting married?
“That’s not the issue! A marriage agreement was useless from the start because marriage itself couldn’t… ugh.”
—Honey? Honey?!
Through the communication device, Tessa called out to Randolph desperately, but he couldn’t respond.
The faint light above Randolph’s head dimmed, and a massive shadow fell as if to swallow him whole in an instant.
Turning around in the darkness that descended so suddenly, what he faced was Aden once again.
However, if what he’d felt from Aden at the negotiation venue earlier was pressure, what now prickled across Randolph’s skin was murderous intent.
His throat constricted as if being strangled. No, something was wrong. Aden wasn’t even touching him with a fingertip, yet it truly felt as though his throat was being throttled.
From behind Aden’s back, something darker and blacker than the night shadows rippled forward, slowly coiling around Randolph’s neck. It was when Randolph, seized by terror, collapsed against the wall.
“…Director?”
That was when.
The moment Iliana’s voice reached his ears, the dark shadow constricting around Randolph’s neck vanished in an instant.
Aden, blinking slowly, gazed at her as she opened the door and stepped out. As if he’d only just regained his senses.
“Why are you here… huh? Uncle, what are you doing?”
A pale hand settled upon Iliana’s shoulders as she looked between the two men in confusion.
“Let’s go.”
“Director, my bag is still inside… wait, Director?”
Watching Aden and Iliana’s retreating figures, Randolph collapsed to the ground.
With trembling hands, he touched his throat, which still throbbed with pain, and lost consciousness.
***
A lodging prepared at one corner of Branch 3.
Left alone in the empty reception room, I blinked my eyes.
‘What just happened?’
Aden, who had brought me here from the tea house, stared at me intently for a long while before turning and leaving.
If he’d completely left the lodging, I would have gone to my room, but the intermittent sounds coming from outside suggested he was somewhere within the lodging as well.
So I found myself waiting like a sack of grain placed where Aden had sat me, only rolling my eyes.
‘I feel a chill, but I can’t tell if it’s from the cold or from fear…!’
One thing was certain.
When I encountered Aden at the tea house, he was furious.
His expression was as expressionless as always, yet I found it oddly striking that I could discern his emotion; but that feeling didn’t last long. There was only one reason Aden would be this angry.
‘It’s because of me. Because I met separately with someone from Victor Noel’s side, who was the negotiation counterparty.’
That was the most logical conclusion.
From Aden’s perspective, even being generous, it was collusion. He would think I was trying to extract information from Randolph.
But I had my own grievances.
‘I explained my plan in detail to Branch Manager Laklan, who was right beside me. Didn’t Aden meet with the Branch Manager?’
Meeting Randolph certainly wasn’t to collude with him.
‘Just seeing his face made my stomach turn; I couldn’t even drink my tea. There’s no way I could become his ally.’
It was to extract a confession. His own voice admitting there was no such thing as ten billion for Julius.
Like those around Julius who suffered from him, Randolph too would be on edge with a ten-billion-won neurosis.
So I repeatedly brought up money to provoke him, and simultaneously threw only words sharp enough to strike his weakness.
It was something only I could do. Though Randolph looked down on me, only I truly saw through his inner thoughts.
I hadn’t gone alone or empty-handed. I had a recording device, and a witness stationed not far away.
‘Selby, that is.’
Selby, a former ship captain, had spent more years at sea than I had spent in this world.
She was someone capable of subduing over a dozen frail office workers like me or Randolph in succession.
She knew my circumstances, possessed considerable strength, and as a member of Branch 3, her credentials were unquestionable—the ideal witness I could ask for.
‘I can only hope she remembered to grab my bag.’
As I pondered this, the reception room door swung open.
I flinched upright, and a teacup clattered softly onto the table before me.
Aden, who had set down the steaming cup with wisps of fragrant steam rising from it, settled into the seat across from me and gestured with his eyes.
“Drink.”
I stared blankly ahead.
If I’d known today would be my last, I wouldn’t have wasted time meeting with someone like Randolph.
Watching my reflection shimmer across the crimson surface of the tea, I barely managed to open my mouth.
“Um, Director.”
“Drink first, then we’ll talk.”
“….”
“What is it? Worried there’s poison in it?”
But what if there’s something else in it instead of poison…?
Normally such remarks would be a jest, mere banter—but coming from Aden, they left me thoroughly unsettled.
I rolled my lips nervously several times before carefully lifting the teacup to my mouth.
“….”
The tea was remarkably fragrant and sweet.
“It’s delicious…”
“….”
“…Thank you.”
Aden nodded silently, a slight tilt of his head.
He handed me the fragrant tea while he himself sipped from a hip flask, and then he spoke in a low, measured voice.
“Iliana Grecia. Let’s discuss your debt.”

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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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