If You Are Suited for the Villain's Secretary - Chapter 82

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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 82
Vito, startled, let out a sharp cry.
“How dare you speak such nonsense! If that comes to light, you’ll be finished too! I handled the deed, but it was you who destroyed the evidence…!”
“To be precise, I agreed to destroy the evidence for you. But you know how valuable leverage can be, don’t you? Especially leverage involving a marquis of the Central Region.”
Kaileb Crimson, who had been on the verge of grabbing Vito’s pant leg moments before, stepped forward abruptly.
Vito flinched involuntarily and retreated, his back slamming against the wall.
“Yes. I possess evidence that you, my lord, buried the previous Count and Countess Plivier in debt and ultimately murdered them—all because they dared to defy you.”
Kaileb Crimson seized Vito by the collar and whispered with chilling menace.
“So prepare your soldiers at once. I don’t have time to humor your negotiation games!”
Vito’s face drained of all color.
***
Vito ultimately surrendered his soldiers.
“It’s me. Dispatch everyone immediately to the warehouse on Parsent Street. There’s someone who needs rescuing….”
Vito, clutching the communicator like a lifeline, finally seemed to grasp the situation.
Who would suffer irreparable damage if the secret correspondence and ledgers exchanged with Crimson were exposed.
“I’ve dispatched all the soldiers. I’ve instructed them to rescue Odette Crimson without fail, so don’t worry….”
“How fortunate indeed.”
Crack—
Kaileb Crimson, speaking with icy coldness, snatched the communicator from Vito’s hands and crushed it.
“What are you doing!”
“I can’t have you changing orders midway.”
“But surely you’ll need to receive reports from the soldiers….”
“Don’t concern yourself. There’s someone else to receive reports, and you, my lord, won’t be the one receiving them.”
Ignoring the hollow-eyed Vito, Kaileb Crimson turned away and reflected.
Of course, he could have informed the Holy Knights that Odette Crimson had been kidnapped without mobilizing Vito’s soldiers.
-Chairman! The Director of La Mare escaped from the Investigation Bureau at dawn! Our informant heard the knights discussing it directly….
But immediately after receiving Odette’s photograph.
Upon hearing the communication from Crimson and confirming that Aden was behind the hostage situation, his thoughts shifted.
‘Entrust Odette’s life to incompetent Holy Knights? To those who let Aden slip away and caused this hostage crisis?’
That was impossible. So he had no choice but to leverage Vito’s soldiers.
The few guards of Plebiae County were occupied with the marquis’s unexpected poisoning incident.
‘But I can’t rely on Vito alone….’
He intended to mobilize his own Shadow operatives as well. They would stop at nothing to rescue Odette Crimson.
Kaileb Crimson had already dispatched his Shadow agents to the Parsent Street warehouse—the ones who had secured the Black Label documents and Iliana Grecia.
All except one.
-We’ve arrived, …Chairman.
The communicator’s audio quality was poor, perhaps because he’d dropped it upon seeing Odette’s photograph, but it was the news he’d been waiting for.
Kaileb Crimson moved forward. His destination was the Wine Storage, located in the deepest recesses of the Plibie County Estate.
As he opened the door and entered, he saw the Shadow operative bowing deeply, and—
“Tch.”
I saw Iliana Grecia lying collapsed on the ground.
Kaileb Crimson muttered as he received the document envelope from Shadow.
“It seems your Director wanted to trade you and my daughter for each other.”
This was information that Shadow had relayed after reconnoitering the area around the Warehouse before I met Vito.
-I didn’t dare approach too closely for fear of danger, but I heard the Countess shouting. She’s definitely here. However… the content was rather peculiar.
“What did she say?”
-‘I know nothing about Iliana Grecia!’ Something along those lines.
So Aden had indeed asked his daughter about this woman’s whereabouts.
Kaileb Crimson laughed bitterly.
“I cannot fathom it, but it appears Aden regards you quite specially.”
You’ve only just been hired, yet he takes you along on major operations, allows you to come and go from the Safe House as if it were his own residence.
Most tellingly, the secretary has managed to procure a top-secret classified document from La Mare that Crimson could not locate despite employing every conceivable method.
There is no way a twenty-year-old girl could have accomplished this alone—it was only possible because Aden showed a weakness.
Aden showed a weakness. That Aden!
“I, too, find you quite… agreeable. You have allowed me to witness Aden blinded by a woman, surrendering his own lifeline, making the miscalculation of attempting to use my daughter as a hostage.”
“…”
“However.”
Kaileb Crimson spoke coldly.
“How could I possibly place someone like you on the same level as my daughter?”
Kaileb Crimson kicked the secretary’s shoulder as she lay on the ground, making no effort to conceal his contempt.
“How dare you attempt to trade my daughter—who shall become a Countess, Odette Crimson—for some common-born wretch of unknown origins!”
This was what Kaileb Crimson could not tolerate.
Aden’s suspicion had been correct. Crimson held Iliana Grecia’s lifeline in their grasp.
Therefore, exchanging Odette and the secretary as hostages was theoretically possible.
Yet Kaileb Crimson could not accept this seemingly rational transaction.
The very notion that a worthless commoner could be treated as possessing equal weight to the absolute value that was “Crimson” was an unbearable insult to him.
Kaileb Crimson’s boot was about to drive into Iliana.
“Chairman.”
Shadow stepped in. It was the moment Vito’s eyes snapped open.
“Visible signs of assault would be problematic.”
“What?”
“Wasn’t the original plan to fabricate that she was shot while attempting to flee after administering poison? If unnecessary wounds or scars appear, the Holy Knight Order might come rushing in with their forensic examinations and whatnot.”
Irritation surged, but Shadow’s words were sound.
Vito, who had been staring intently at the masked Shadow, steadied his breathing.
“Are you daring to instruct me?”
Kaileb Crimson’s boot redirected toward Shadow’s shin.
With a grunt, Shadow crumpled, and only then did Kaileb Crimson regard him with a satisfied expression.
“Yes, good. One must not be swayed by personal sentiment, lest the greater scheme be compromised. I cannot conduct myself like that fool Aden.”
Aden would be disposed of by the soldiers and Shadow’s hands, and Odette would ultimately return to me.
Thus, I needed to prepare for what would come next.
‘Nothing will change.’
Though Aden had tried to ensnare me until the very end, ultimately I would be the one laughing.
Kaileb Crimson withdrew a vial from his breast pocket.
He had destroyed most of the evidence. The magical poison was no exception. Yet he had deliberately preserved a single bottle.
“The poisoned wine I prepared beforehand is already in Basil’s study, so I simply need to slip this into the girl’s possession.”
It was poison meant to pin Basil’s death on La Mare.
Originally, he had intended to make it appear as though Basil had consumed it during the banquet, but now he would frame it as an accident—that Basil, nervous before the event, had drunk it prematurely by chance and met his demise. In truth, there was no other way to explain it.
And Iliana Grecia would be disposed of as having discovered Basil’s poisoning and been shot while attempting to flee.
“Handle the timing precisely.”
“…As for the timing.”
Shadow inquired.
“Do you intend to proceed with the banquet?”
Kaileb was about to respond when—
The communicator chimed. A message from Shadow.
-Chairman, reporting in. We have successfully rescued the Countess.
As Kaileb listened to what followed, his lips curled upward in a grin so wide it seemed they might tear.
-And The Director is dead.
“….”
-In his final throes, The Director set fire to the warehouse, so the corpse is in poor condition….
Ah.
That bastard was dead.
Yes, had it been this way from the start, everything would have been so much easier. His voice brimmed with exhilaration as Kaileb spoke.
“Leave him for now. Return immediately to Plebiae County Estate with Odette.”
-Understood.
After ending the transmission, Kaileb ascended the staircase leading upward.
As he did, he looked down at Shadow, who was watching him quietly, and spoke.
“The banquet must certainly be cancelled, of course.”
“….”
“However, the guests will still arrive. Are there not other occasions besides banquets where people gather?”
Ha ha. Ha.
Laughter he could scarcely suppress cut through the frigid air of the Wine Storage.
Thus Kaileb turned away. The door closed, and his laughter faded into the distance.
“Damn it. That lunatic is absolutely insane.”
Lenox, having torn off his mask, muttered in frustration.
He ran his disheveled hair through his fingers in a cursory manner before extending his hand.
“You alright, Protagonist?”
“Of course. But what about you, Lenox? You must be hurt.”
“That bastard couldn’t land a proper kick to save his life. He had no idea how to put any force behind it, though Norbert apparently decided to play dead from a kick like that.”
Iliana, who had been lying motionless, grasped Lenox’s hand with a soft touch.
She rose to her feet with a swift motion, brushing the dust from her clothes with quick, decisive pats. Lenox posed his question to her.
“So now we’re supposed to entrust this to Crimson’s princess? …Hmm, I’m not entirely convinced.”
“Neither was I.”
“What?! Then it won’t work… Wait, ‘neither was I’?”
“That was the case until yesterday. Separate from how well Odette Crimson acts, her fear of her father seemed far more profound than I initially assessed.”
Iliana furrowed her brow slightly.
“But that’s not the case now. Rather….”
“Rather?”
“…Never mind. Shall we set up the magical artifacts first?”
“…Is that really true?”
Recalling Odette Crimson’s trembling voice from this morning when she had asked that question, Iliana retrieved the magical artifacts she had hidden behind the wine barrels beforehand.

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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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