If You Are Suited for the Villain's Secretary - Chapter 80

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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 80
Lenox turned away from the bustling Holy Knights and addressed Delilah.
“Thank you for helping today.”
“Don’t mention it—this isn’t charity work for me. Besides, I couldn’t pass up the chance to demonstrate my invention, could I?”
Delilah formed a small circle with her fingers, mimicking a gold coin, and chuckled before lowering her voice slightly.
“And we were bound to meet eventually anyway, weren’t we? To infuse it with mana. Give me the contract.”
Lenox held the blood contract that Delilah had created.
It required a mana infusion roughly once a month to maintain its efficacy, but he had been too occupied with dispatches here and there to find time to meet with Delilah.
Lenox nodded and handed over the faintly glowing paper.
“There… done.”
Delilah closed her eyes and made several sweeping motions with her hands before returning the paper.
The document was instantly suffused with brilliant blue light—a clear testament that her mana reserves were exceptionally high, even among mages.
‘She had sensed the blood contract binding me in an instant back then.’
As I reflected on this, Delilah’s tone became more measured.
“Well, this will likely be the last time we meet on account of this matter.”
“…Ah, yes. That would be the case.”
If things proceeded as planned, Crimson and Kaileb Crimson would vanish into the shadows of history.
Then I could finally recover the old blood contract that had fallen into Kaileb Crimson’s hands—the shackle that had tormented me for five long years would finally be severed.
But the problem lay with Siphron.
In this affair, Siphron’s only charge was manufacturing magical poison. Most of the evidence would likely have been destroyed anyway.
Siphron’s mages were contemptible creatures.
They might claim they had merely manufactured the poison under Kaileb’s coercion and receive minimal punishment, then seek out a new patron to repeat the same crimes—anyone but Kaileb.
In even more covert and cunning ways.
There was only one method to prevent that.
‘…Expose them.’
I would testify—someone who had once been Siphron’s slave.
But if I did that…
“…Say, even after destroying the contract at Crimson, will you keep it a secret from your sister forever?”
Lena would discover what price I had paid for the medicine.
Delilah gazed at me in silence for a moment, then let out a soft sigh.
“I’m not saying it’s my place to comment, but nothing in this world comes free.”
Was she saying that if I insisted on keeping the secret to the end, I would eventually pay the price?
Lenox laughed bitterly.
“Who doesn’t know that?”
“Exactly. I know it, you know it—it’s an obvious truth. Which means your sister probably knows it too by now.”
“…What do you mean?”
“She may not know where those expensive and rare medicines you sent every month came from, but she certainly knows by now that they didn’t fall from the sky.”
Lenox stared at Delilah blankly.
Delilah murmured something quietly.
“That day—the day I found out about Lenox’s affairs. The secretary told me this while we were having coffee when Lenox stepped away for a moment.”
Iliana had said so.
If one worked at La Mar and was Lenox’s sister, surely she must have had some inkling of it.
Perhaps she was simply waiting for him to tell her first, since she couldn’t bring herself to ask her brother directly.
Delilah agreed with that assessment.
She had deliberated whether to tell Lenox, who seemed not to have considered the possibility at all.
But seeing his reaction now….
“I see….”
It seemed she had done well to tell him.
Though his face had gone pale in an instant, instead of denying it outright, Lenox appeared to be seriously contemplating her words.
‘In the end, it’s Lenox’s choice to make.’
Having concluded her thoughts there, Delilah gave Lenox’s shoulder a light, reassuring tap.
“By the way, what about the secretary?”
“Oh.”
Lenox seemed to come to his senses at that question.
After shaking his head a few times, Lenox returned to his usual composure.
“The Protagonist is doing what she does best.”
“What she does best?”
“Persuasion and negotiation.”
“I see.”
Lenox thought that the title of La Mar’s ‘fixer’ would suit Iliana far better.
Luther would be a bit disappointed, though.
***
At that very moment.
Randolph, sprawled helplessly in the Prison, squeezed his eyes shut at the sound of footsteps.
Another investigator. Randolph, gripping his shoulders, cried out in a hoarse voice.
“Please, I already told you I can’t say anything…!”
It was enough to drive anyone mad.
The investigators kept pressing Randolph about who had commissioned the bombing attack.
Of course, Randolph wanted to talk. More than anything, he desperately wanted to spill everything and reduce his sentence even slightly.
But whenever he tried to utter that it was Crimson—that Kaileb Crimson’s secretary Norbert Galley had ordered him to do it—excruciating pain seized him, making it impossible to open his mouth.
He couldn’t write it by hand, couldn’t type it. Gesturing only provoked the investigators’ anger.
“I told you, I can’t say anything to you people. So just leave me alone…!”
The investigators even tried hypnosis and truth serums, but the cursed magic seemed to activate even in his unconscious state—he’d woken up convulsing several times.
So Randolph chose to keep silent instead. For someone with no tolerance for pain, it was the best option.
It was when Randolph, having completely turned his back to the sound of footsteps, began to whimper.
“I think you’ll be able to talk this time, Uncle.”
Randolph went rigid.
‘Uncle’? Could it be….
“…Iliana?”
Randolph spun around, his mouth falling open in shock.
Iliana stood before him. His surprise was brief, replaced by anger and indignation.
“Ha. Why, regardless of what you say, you’re still my niece, aren’t you? …Did you think I’d confess the truth out of guilt because you nearly died because of me?”
To be precise, his anger wasn’t directed at Iliana.
It was despair at his own situation, frustration with the investigators who had misunderstood his words about being unable to speak “to you people” and brought Iliana here—all of it mixed together, though Randolph made no effort to distinguish between them.
“I’m not sorry to you. If you hadn’t existed, I wouldn’t have done something like this! This is all because of you…!”
“No, I didn’t come here expecting you to have reflected or to listen to your resentment. You may not realize it, locked away in here, but things outside are rather busy. Shall we get straight to the point?”
“What?!”
It was when Randolph suddenly pushed himself up.
“Not being able to tell just anyone means there are specific people you can tell, doesn’t it? That’s why I brought someone.”
As Iliana answered matter-of-factly and glanced toward the door, heavy footsteps echoed.
“The person most likely to be that ‘target.'”
Someone entered with the investigators. Randolph saw a tall man with silver hair he’d never seen before.
But Randolph’s gaze didn’t fix on that man. It fixed on the person the man had dragged in and seated in a chair.
Randolph, clawing at the bars like a beast, screamed.
“N-Norbert!”
Though slumped, it was unmistakable.
The person now wrapped in bandages, standing before his eyes, was Norbert Galley.
“You! You ordered me to do it! You gave me the bomb and…!”
Randolph, who had been shouting at the top of his lungs, suddenly realized what he’d just said and reflexively wrapped his arms around his shoulders.
But… his shoulders didn’t hurt.
[1. Randolph Maurel cannot disclose the existence of this contract or the details of its execution plan to anyone except Norbert Galley, the plenipotentiary representative of Crimson.]
Randolph’s eyes gleamed as he recalled the contract clause.
“Yes… I can tell you. Now that you’re standing before me, I can finally say it all…!”
From Randolph’s lips poured forth a torrent of confessions that had been held back until now.
While the investigators hastily transcribed his words, Iliana glanced up at the person standing beside her.
It was Ezekiel Lask, his face frozen in a terrifying grimace.
When Randolph finally exhausted himself and collapsed in fatigue, Iliana opened her mouth.
“As you’ve just heard, Crimson orchestrated a terrorist attack on La Mar under the guise of an accident, and used the ‘Blood Pact’ to silence witnesses.”
Her negotiating partner was not Randolph.
“They spread rumors about the ‘Black Label Documents’ to create confusion in the investigation and even kidnapped me to obtain those files. You’ve likely already heard statements from Crimson’s subordinates who consumed the antidote we provided.”
Nor was it Ezekiel Lask.
“The test results for Count Basil Plivier, my own test results, and the toxicology report on the poison found in the drink consumed by Marquis Vito’s attendant are all identical.”
The person Iliana calmly sought to negotiate with was,
“If His Majesty the Regent King would withdraw the surveillance order on La Mar and instead issue a surveillance order on Crimson, would you require any additional evidence?”
Crown Prince Helios.
Ezekiel Lask stared at Iliana for a long moment before picking up his communication device.
“This is Paladin Commander Ezekiel Lask. I need an emergency line opened. …Yes. I have a report that must be delivered to His Majesty the Regent King.”
It was done.
Iliana’s eyes gleamed with triumph.

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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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