If You Are Suited for the Villain's Secretary - Chapter 77

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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 77
8. A Good Day
Basil gazed down at the wedding band encircling the ring finger of his left hand.
He recalled the time before the marriage—specifically, the day he had drafted an agreement just before the arranged marriage.
No one could rejoice in a loveless marriage.
Yet Basil possessed the self-awareness that he must accept his circumstances with gratitude, even if he could not be happy about them.
His parents had been good people, but they lacked any sense of reality.
Having placed excessive trust in those around them, they had failed repeatedly in their investments and descended into ruin. In the end, they left their son with a staggering debt and died senselessly in a carriage accident mere months ago.
With no time to grieve, Basil had been rushing about when Marquis Vito, a prominent figure in the Central Region, condescendingly introduced him to a prospective bride.
“Do you know of the Crimson Trading Company? The chairman has a beloved daughter, and he wishes to marry her to a young nobleman of high standing. He would give anything for his daughter’s happiness. …Do you understand what I’m saying?”
It was only later that Basil learned the Marquis had been one of his parents’ ‘acquaintances.’
In any case, Basil had accepted the marriage proposal. Or perhaps he had been accepted. After all, he was the one in need.
And so Basil had set out for the Crimson Trading Company.
“I won’t speak in roundabout terms. I am interested in your title, Count. The title of Count Plivier that my grandson will inherit.”
In the Medior Empire, marriages between nobility and commoners were not commonplace.
Titles were that precious. Yet Basil found himself grateful that his own title possessed enough value to exchange for money, and he nodded at Kaileb Crimson’s blunt words.
Then Kaileb went further still.
“Therefore, I shall speak plainly. No matter how loveless the marriage, if you were to father illegitimate children or take another lover, that would be most troublesome.”
“Such a thing… will not happen.”
“Are you sincere?”
“I am a man who understands honor. At the very least, I know I must take responsibility for the choices I make.”
“Ah, honor, you say…”
Kaileb Crimson’s sharp lips curled upward as if they might tear. It was a cutting sneer.
Just as Basil was taken aback by his rudeness, Kaileb placed a hand over his chest as though he had never done such a thing.
“You must think me vulgar. I apologize. It’s simply that a father’s concern—that his beloved daughter might be cast aside, that she might suffer hardship in the unfamiliar world of the nobility—got the better of me.”
Kaileb Crimson continued, his face arranged into an expression of contrived sorrow.
“They will surely point fingers and say I bought a title through an arranged marriage. It matters not that I am scorned, but my daughter—my wife, whom I raised alone after her mother’s death, struggling all the while—I cannot help but worry whether she might suffer heartache…”
Kaileb Crimson’s tone was decidedly theatrical.
After all, wasn’t he the one arranging this marriage with full knowledge of the consequences? If he truly feared for his daughter’s wellbeing and worried about her future, he should never have married her to someone like Basil.
Even as these thoughts crossed his mind, Basil reflexively demurred. For all his circumstances, he had been instilled with aristocratic courtesy and the propriety of discourse.
“Say no more. Your daughter… yes, though I may not love her, I shall never betray her. I swear it upon my honor.”
“Then.”
But as if he had been waiting for precisely those words, Kaileb Crimson lifted his head.
“It should not be so difficult for you to put this in writing, should it?”
“…What?”
“After all, this is a contractual marriage. It’s merely a matter of adding a few clauses to the agreement regarding my purchase of your debts. Surely this would set your mind at ease, would it not?”
Basil stared at him blankly as Kaileb Crimson drove the point home.
“You said you could swear an oath, did you not? I do not trust oaths spoken in mere words, I’m afraid. I am a businessman, after all.”
With that, Kaileb Crimson produced a sheet of paper that gleamed with a crimson hue.
“Are you aware of blood contracts, Count?”
That day, Basil finally drew blood and pressed his seal.
A pine seed grows into a pine tree. Like his parents, he too would pay the price for his foolishness and naivety.
[By mutual agreement, the true nature of this marriage cannot be disclosed to anyone except Kaileb Crimson]
A leash had been fastened around his neck.
Yet what Basil truly regretted was, absurdly enough, not that clause.
[Do not display personal feelings toward the strategic marriage partner, ‘Odette Crimson’]
The day he met his future wife for the first time—the wedding day.
The day he first saw Odette Crimson, her expression petulant as she tugged at her skirts, uncertain whether the wedding dress was uncomfortable or the situation itself was.
And the day he understood the weight of the ‘contract’ Kaileb had spoken of.
It was at the wedding feast.
Basil had asked what exactly it meant not to display personal feelings.
Then Kaileb laughed softly and called for Odette.
“What do you think? My daughter.”
“…Beautiful, ugh!”
Basil couldn’t answer and collapsed. He’d spoken only one word, yet a terrible, searing pain flooded his shoulders.
Odette was flustered.
“What, what is it? Why are you like that?”
“Why indeed—he was so startled by your beauty that he stumbled. He must be embarrassed, so turn away for a moment while I help him up, Odette.”
Kaileb, speaking with casual charm, helped Basil to his feet and whispered calmly.
“Now do you understand?”
Basil laughed hollowly and thought: this marriage should never have happened. Starting like this… it was wrong.
On the day he met his bride—the woman who had captured his heart at first sight—Basil ironically had to end his love.
But it didn’t work.
Basil constantly followed Odette with his eyes, tormented by self-loathing.
A pine seed grows into a pine tree.
Kaileb Crimson’s daughter would be no different from Kaileb. So why…?
“What do you mean? My father paid off all your debts.”
Was she angry on my behalf?
Perhaps it was because she was a Plivier. Still, he was her husband. The fact was pitiable, yet simultaneously joyful.
After the marriage, Kaileb became increasingly ruthless. When Basil refused to follow the pressure to ‘produce’ an heir, Kaileb sold off the bonds he’d purchased, strangling him financially.
Many couples bore children for succession without personal affection, but Basil was not such a man. He couldn’t bring himself to force Odette into his arms under the guise of duty when he couldn’t even speak the words of love.
Basil thought he didn’t mind if his own neck was wrung.
Then he heard the news that Odette was pregnant.
His heart plummeted.
True, the promise not to betray applied only to him, not to Odette. When he faced her, feeling as though his limbs were being torn away.
“…Basil.”
If his eyes weren’t deceiving him, tears glistened at the corners of Odette’s eyes as she spoke only those words and turned her head away sharply.
In that moment, all thought vanished and nothing else seemed to matter.
If she carried another man’s child, he would become, however inadequately, her shadow.
…Still, he was her husband. There was at least one thing only he could do for her.
“I do not dislike you, madam.”
Though that was all he could say.
But then….
“Listen carefully to what I say, Count.”
It seemed there was more than one thing Basil could do for Odette.
Recalling what ‘Anne’—no, ‘Iliana’—had said yesterday, Basil picked up a small vial from the nightstand.
He was in the bedroom. And in that bedroom stood someone wearing a hood pulled over their head.
“Then I’m counting on you.”
Someone nodded. Basil smiled faintly.
“Not me. My wife.”
Someone let out a heavy sigh and nodded again.
Basil smiled and swallowed all the viscous liquid inside the vial.
His insides grew warm and his breathing quickened. Soon enough, convulsive coughing erupted from his throat.
The last thing Basil saw before his eyes closed was his clothes, drenched in the crimson hue of blood.
***
“You seem to be in good spirits, Chairman.”
About to leave the Crimson office, Kaileb Crimson turned around.
When their eyes met, the employee flinched. It was flattery, and they seemed anxious, wondering if they’d offended him.
Kaileb Crimson burst into hearty laughter.
“Of course. How could I not be delighted? Today is the day my grandson becomes the heir to the County.”
“Ah… ah yes, of course! Congratulations!”
Normally, he would have scolded an employee clapping so exaggeratedly.
How could someone who didn’t even know his own schedule be manning the information desk?
But as the employee had said, Kaileb Crimson was in a good mood. So he decided to overlook such a foolish slip of the tongue.
“Safe travels, Chairman!”
“Yes.”
Boarding his carriage while receiving farewells from the Crimson employees, their smiles as stiff as woodblock prints, Kaileb Crimson settled in.
A banquet would be held this evening.
The long-awaited ceremony to designate the heir.

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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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