If You Are Suited for the Villain's Secretary - Chapter 89

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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 89
With him came a slow tide of reality, washing away the haze.
I had nearly died.
“…I wanted to kill you right before Aden’s eyes….”
Just as Kaileb Crimson had said—before Aden’s eyes.
Separate from my belief that Aden would arrive in time, the remnants of shock still clung to me.
And that was probably….
“…Just… let me stay like this for a moment. Just a moment.”
It seemed to be the same for Aden.
The veins in Aden’s neck, visible from above, were straining.
***
Only when my skin touched Iliana’s did I finally breathe.
That I grasped her trembling hand was, yes, merely an excuse.
Even as I wrapped her in my large jacket, the rain-soaked Iliana seemed as though she might vanish somewhere, and a strange unease gripped me.
I needed to confirm her existence by any means. So I clenched my hand and pressed my forehead against it.
“…Just… let me stay like this for a moment. Just a moment.”
As the surrounding scenery closed in, familiar darkness arrived, yet my mind found no peace.
Because the scene I had witnessed moments before appeared vividly across my darkened vision.
A blade. Kaileb Crimson. When Iliana spoke that name through the communicator, I arrived at the Mansion and immediately drew my pistol from its holster. I ran toward a position where the Bell Tower would be visible.
And then I saw it. Through the scope, Iliana’s back and above it, a gleaming blue blade raised high.
I trust numbers. I believe in probability. Yet in that singular moment, no probability could save me.
‘What if I miss.’
The hypothetical gnawed at my mind like poison.
‘…What if I fail.’
When every terrible imagination overlapped with Iliana’s back,
Her back. Absurdly, it was that back that brought me to my senses.
Iliana never once looked behind her. She didn’t even glance back to confirm I had arrived.
…She was trusting. Trusting that ‘Aden’ had surely come.
Iliana Grecia was trusting in ‘Aden’—the one who couldn’t even trust himself.
“Left.”
That was how I didn’t miss my single chance.
Had I been my usual self, I would have first confirmed what happened to Kaileb Crimson.
I would have tried to erase the debt incurred when the Holy Knight Order let him slip through their fingers and caused this incident, and I would have demanded accountability.
Or I would have discussed Odette Crimson’s punishment, and with a few words that would remain forever in that woman’s mind, I would have made her live a life worse than death, forever regretting and dwelling on today.
But the moment I faced Iliana.
The moment I met those eyes like a summer sea, no thoughts came. Even the word ‘thank goodness’ occurred to me only later.
I simply… wanted to hold her. Wanted to remain touching her.
“Director.”
Iliana’s voice reached me from above my head.
Instead of answering, Aden buried his head deeper into her hand. It was a moment when he hadn’t even realized his lips had made contact.
“Pardon me for a moment….”
With those words, Iliana carefully placed her hand over Aden’s hair.
As she slowly brushed through his damp strands, she murmured softly.
“Your hair is remarkably silky.”
It was truly an incongruous thing to say in such a moment.
Yet Aden, who had frozen as if struck by lightning, found his tension melting away at her peculiar words.
It had been an eternity since anyone had touched his hair.
There was no one to place a hand upon the head of a dutiful son, a black sheep—but when had it been, and who had it been?
As I pondered this, I closed my eyes.
A soft rustling echoed at my ears. The sound of brushing through damp hair resembled the whisper of waves retreating through the sand of a beach.
The Sea was beside me.
The Sea that had swallowed me. That I had feared.
“Thank you.”
Yet even as I sank deeper, deeper down, I had found it beautiful….
“For trusting me and letting me go.”
The summer Sea.
Hesitating, Aden gripped Iliana’s hand with greater force.
Her small hand did not pull away.
“I was afraid too. I was afraid, but….”
She said “too.”
Aden realized that the emotion he had harbored was fear.
And that this fear was scattering away in an instant at Iliana’s words.
“Even if I fell from the Bell Tower, I thought the Director would catch me, so it wasn’t scary. I was startled, certainly, but in any case, I’m fine.”
The fingertips that had hovered over my hair gently touched my cheek.
My head lifted.
“What about you, Director?”
A radiant smile turned toward him.
“…I….”
My throat tightened.
At this strange emotion that surged forth unstoppably—something akin to thirst yet never thirst—Aden felt he could finally give it a name.
Iliana.
I, you….
“I, Iliana….”
But it was then. Footsteps sounded.
As Iliana turned her head, a smile appeared on her face—one similar to what she showed Odette Crimson.
“Ah, Paladin Commander.”
Aden’s gaze shifted.
Ezekiel stood in the distance.
Ezekiel, observing Aden kneeling and Iliana draped in what was presumably his large jacket, froze for a moment.
It wasn’t merely the strange composition and atmosphere.
“What is the matter?”
The gentle gleam in Aden’s eyes as he looked up at Iliana vanished, and as he slowly rose to his feet, his gaze… how should I put it.
To speak in rather crude terms, he looked absolutely furious. His presence was savage, like a beast whose territory had been invaded.
But having already stepped into this, there was no retreating now.
Ezekiel humbly acknowledged the poor timing and spoke briefly.
“I have information regarding your ‘conditions.'”
“Ah.”
What was amusing was how that ominous aura dissipated in an instant the moment Aden heard it was news about the ‘conditions’ he had mentioned when handing over the evidence.
“My demands are twofold. First, if you arrest Vargas, the leader of the Fang organization, grant me time to meet with him. Second, spare the Debt Collector named Thomas. I don’t believe these are unreasonable requests.”
The former was acceptable enough, but I wondered about the latter.
‘Is this related to that secretary?’
“….”
After whispering something to Iliana, Aden walked directly toward Ezekiel.
Whether he realized it or not, his gait made it obvious he was trying to block Ezekiel’s view.
“Let’s go.”
“…Very well.”
Ezekiel turned slowly.
***
Ezekiel and Aden moved away.
Left behind, I rubbed my ear slightly.
“Rest now, Iliana.”
My ear tingled at the whisper Aden had left behind.
No, was it only my ear that tingled?
I clenched my numb hand and released it, gazing down at my strangely flushed fingertips.
The antidote to the Delphi flower had long since worn off. So this was….
“Why did I do that?”
My heart ached seeing Aden unable to even grip my hand properly, only pressing his forehead against it.
So I reached out. I stroked his hair.
I wondered if this was appropriate, but as I continued stroking, I felt the tension drain from his body, which had been so taut. So I decided to postpone my thoughts for later.
But no matter how much I decided to postpone my thoughts, why did I stroke his cheek?
And why did Aden make such an expression for a moment,
“I am, Iliana….”
just then.
“Don’t think about it.”
Though it had already sunk deep into my mind, I shook my head.
“The Director… was very worried.”
“It seems Aden regards you quite specially.”
“Don’t think about it….”
I stopped mid-head shake at the sound of fabric rustling softly.
Aden’s coat, carrying the faint scent of gunpowder mingled with something pleasant, still draped across my shoulders.
“…This is maddening.”
The sudden quickening of my heart at this realization suggested I was in a state of mental and physical weakness.
It had to be.

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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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