If You Are Suited for the Villain's Secretary - Chapter 62

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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 62
***
Aden was in his Office.
His desk was cluttered with documents. As he absorbed the losses converted into numbers, he murmured to himself.
“One week.”
I had no intention of dragging out this exhausting conflict for more than a week.
I had spent three days thoroughly observing the movements of the Investigation Bureau and the Vito Marquis Territory, so now it was time to counterattack.
But there was something that troubled me. The very person who orchestrated this—Kaileb Crimson—had been suspiciously quiet, letting only Marquis Vito take the stage.
‘As if waiting for something, or perhaps….’
Holding another incident in reserve to pin on La Mar.
That’s why my thoughts had grown longer. More so than usual.
‘Is this excessive suspicion?’
I didn’t share my concerns with others. Only I could apply the brakes to my own thinking.
But just as I distrusted others, I couldn’t trust myself either. I continued to drive myself relentlessly forward.
Is this the best course? Can I be certain this is the optimal method? Have I overlooked anything?
Then suddenly, as I was tearing myself apart with doubt, someone’s past words echoed in my ears.
“Please don’t worry so much.”
I set down the pen I’d been gripping, my expression growing hollow.
These past three days had always been like this.
Thinking of Iliana made me anxious. Afraid that I might harm her. Terrified that this unstable, inexplicable heartbeat and the heat within me would pour out in twisted mana toward her.
Yet when she wasn’t in sight, the anxiety only deepened. Even with Luther watching over her, I found no peace.
“…Sigh.”
I couldn’t understand myself. With difficulty, I had finally identified the reason for this incomprehensible emotion.
Kaileb Crimson and Ezekiel Lask.
One had tried to bury her under rubble, the other had sold out a friend under the guise of serving God. They were dangerous individuals with no connection to Iliana, yet entangled with her simply because she was my secretary.
That’s why I was troubled. That’s why I developed a sense of ‘responsibility’ that resembled thirst. That’s all it was….
“But you can be honest with me too.”
Perhaps.
I was simply afraid of being exposed.
That I’m not normal. That I’m merely the ‘black sheep’ who should have drowned in The Sea ten years ago, concealing everything beneath a peaceful facade—and that Iliana, of all people, might uncover it all.
That Iliana might come to regret the words she had spoken to me.
“For now, let’s observe how the investigation progresses over the next few days. We can discuss it after that.”
“…Ah, I see. Understood.”
That expression, which had momentarily seemed to fear Crimson, might ultimately be directed at me.
Here I was, the one who had pushed Iliana away, yet I kept turning over every word she had said. A pathetic sight.
I splashed cold water on my face. I tried to shake off the ominous thoughts. My ‘bad premonitions’ had a habit of becoming reality.
That’s when it came. The awaited signal sounded.
“Yes. This is Aden.”
Before the first tone even finished, I realized I had smiled without thinking.
I had been reassured. It meant everything had ended without issue.
Soon, that soft voice would return, calling me “Director” once more.
It had to be that way.
“…Iliana Grecia?”
But the voice that came from the other end was not Iliana’s.
A dull scraping sound. The noise of shoes dragging across the ground. The kind of sound that only came when someone was being dragged away….
Screech—!
The moment the connection severed with that tearing sound, all light vanished from Aden’s eyes.
“Iliana Grecia!”
The relentless anxiety that had tormented him for four days—that which he had denied by insisting it was merely a sense of responsibility—finally took tangible form and seized Aden by the throat.
Aden ran urgently.
Crash!
All eyes turned toward the man under surveillance who burst through the front entrance of the Investigation Bureau as though shattering it. Among them was Ezekiel, who had been about to leave.
But without sparing the Holy Knight Order’s commander a glance, Aden rushed toward Oswald, the knight seated nearest the entrance.
“Where has Iliana Grecia gone?”
His usually composed and cold visage had vanished entirely. Beneath disheveled hair, Aden’s eyes gleamed with a feral intensity.
Oswald, momentarily flustered, stiffened and lifted his head.
“What insolence is this! I, I have no reason to answer…!”
“My secretary.”
But faced with Aden’s threatening tone—as though he might tear out a throat at any moment—Oswald lost his nerve.
“My secretary, who was being interrogated here until just now. I’m asking where she went.”
Oswald, shuffling his chair backward hesitantly, pointed frantically to the right.
“Th-that way. She went out through the door and walked down the Right Back Alley….”
“What’s happened?”
Ezekiel asked, but Aden did not answer.
It seemed he might not even have heard.
Aden left the building and immediately headed right. It was a path lined with tall shrubs—dense enough to conceal one or two people.
As Aden walked, he soon began to run. Then, he stopped at one spot.
“….”
The small portable communicator he had given her.
Half-destroyed and covered in dirt, Iliana’s communicator lay before him—bearing unmistakable signs of struggle.
“…Surely not.”
Ezekiel’s voice came from behind him.
He too seemed to have grasped the situation from Aden’s demeanor and the state of the abandoned communicator.
“Summon the knights at once! A witness has been abducted right beside the Investigation Bureau….”
As Ezekiel’s voice grew distant, the intermittent beeping of a communicator belatedly cut through the noise.
Aden picked up his communicator. When he pressed the button with trembling hands and raised it to his ear—
-Director! It’s Lenox! I found Fang’s Secret Labor Camp. The Protagonist’s Father is listed here, but….
At the words that followed, Aden clenched his teeth.
-He’s not here now. He disappeared some time ago!
***
My head throbbed with a dull, persistent ache.
‘Where am I?’
Even with my eyes open, darkness consumed my vision.
A burlap sack had been pulled over my head, and the coarse fabric alternated with my askew spectacles to scrape painfully across my face.
I clenched my lips and struggled to make sense of the situation.
‘Someone suddenly pressed a damp cloth over my mouth, and when that strange smell hit me, everything went black.’
There was only one word to describe what had happened.
I had been kidnapped.
And in an alley mere steps from the Investigation Bureau, no less.
‘As late as it was, only someone with audacious disregard would dare abduct a person so close to the Investigation Bureau….’
As far as I knew, there were only two possibilities.
‘Fang’, or.
“Remove the sack.”
【Crimson】.
The sack and spectacles were torn away and hurled into the distance, and the first thing that came into focus was a dimly lit room.
Judging by the dilapidated state and the cobwebs strung throughout, it resembled an abandoned cabin once used by fishermen or woodcutters—yet oddly, a translucent glass partition divided the center of the room, much like an Interrogation Room where the opposite side becomes invisible once the lights are extinguished.
The person who had ordered the sack removed wore a mask. But the moment I glimpsed the uncovered eyes, I knew.
‘It’s Norbert.’
I had studied his photograph in detail through Lenox, so I recognized him.
So it truly was Crimson who had abducted me.
But before I could speak, someone standing behind me seized my jaw with a brutal grip.
“Ugh!”
“Open your mouth. Unless you want all your teeth pulled out.”
At that same moment, something cold and viscous poured into my mouth.
I thrashed and writhed, but bound to the chair as I was, resistance proved futile.
Only after they had forced every drop of the green liquid from the flask down my throat did the hand gripping my jaw finally release its pressure.
“Ugh, haa….”
“So you’re the secretary from all those rumors.”
Norbert’s voice sounded grotesque—as though he were using some kind of voice modulator.
Seeing that he wore a full-face mask as well, it seemed Crimson wanted to keep this abduction a secret.
‘All for nothing. I can see right through it anyway.’
Still, I would have to play along. Pretend ignorance, feign obliviousness.
My heart hammered wildly, but I forced myself to remain composed.
Yet given the circumstances, my voice emerged trembling.
“What did you, ugh, make me drink?”
“What else? Poison.”
“…Poison?”
“Yes. The very poison that the poor Marquis Vito’s attendant drank.”
My heart plummeted, sinking like a stone into an abyss.
Norbert, who had been watching my pale face with apparent amusement, added with deliberate nonchalance.
“But don’t worry too much. I can provide you with as much of this antidote as you need. It all depends on what you’re willing to do.”
“…What exactly do you want me to do?”
“It’s quite simple.”
Norbert interlaced his fingers.
“It’s past midnight now? I’m giving you 72 hours from this moment. Steal the ‘Black Label Documents’ from La Mar.”
“….”
“I promise you. If you succeed in this task, not only will you have this antidote here….”
At that very moment, a blinding light suddenly flared on behind Norbert, who had been holding the pink flask.
Through the translucent glass barrier, a silhouette became visible.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
I was attempting to discern the identity of that muffled figure.
When words far more devastating than the revelation that I had consumed an entire flask of poison reached my ears.
“Your father too—I’ll return him to you.”
I froze entirely.

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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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