If You Are Suited for the Villain's Secretary - Chapter 92

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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 92
***
Aden stood before the Investigation Bureau Main Gate.
Holy Knights hurrying past glanced at him. The temperature of their gazes had shifted unmistakably from before.
Their eyes held a mixture of admiration, wonder, and goodwill, yet Aden paid them no mind.
Those who had once been wary and suspicious, only to flip their attitudes like turning a hand over because he’d aided the investigation—they were the ones he despised.
Worthless. Like most people.
But,
“Ah, Director.”
This voice belonged to someone different.
The moment Aden saw Iliana approaching after spotting him, his lips curved upward without his consent, and he reflexively clenched his fists tight.
It was because the mad thing he’d done last night came flooding back.
“I… Iliana…”
It was almost fortunate that Ezekiel Lask had thrown cold water on him.
What on earth had he been about to say to someone already startled and exhausted just hours ago?
The moment he retraced his steps, he felt a chill run through him. It wasn’t merely the realization that he’d failed to consider time and place.
It was as if… reason had been devoured by emotion.
It was the very situation he’d been most wary of. What made it even more incomprehensible was that the moment he saw Iliana’s smile, all thoughts scattered and his heart churned so violently he could barely breathe, and yet…
The mana detector remained silent. This was the third time.
The first time could have been coincidence.
But when the same phenomenon repeated beyond mere chance—three times in succession—people call it not coincidence but a pattern, a rule.
‘Is it possible for a rule to apply only to Iliana?’
Either Iliana possessed something special, or a variable had emerged in his own mana. It had to be one or the other.
Aden, accustomed to finding answers within himself, believed it was likely the latter, but simultaneously he recalled how he had always handled ‘variables’ before.
Until he could understand it precisely, he needed to maintain distance.
The problem was, he didn’t want to.
Hadn’t Iliana been kidnapped and poisoned precisely because of that last ‘distancing’?
But even setting that aside… he wanted to keep Iliana by his side.
‘Selfish bastard.’
As Aden coldly reproached himself, he finally realized there was only one thing he could do.
Suppress his emotions as much as possible and treat Iliana with professional detachment. As he always did.
As Aden renewed this resolve, Iliana approached and stood before him. For some reason, she cleared her throat before speaking.
“Shall we take a walk, Director?”
“…Very well.”
Aden deliberately averted his gaze from Iliana’s face and clenched his fists once more.
Deep enough for his nails to bite into his palms.
***
-Iliana, your Father….
The communication with Aden, which had ended so abruptly when I witnessed Odette smoking, resumed a few hours later.
It was after we had established a plan to draw her in.
-He has apparently escaped from Fang’s Labor Camp.
When I heard that news, my first thought was.
-…Iliana? Are you alright?
“Oh, no. It’s just… it felt so like Father.”
Yes, this was truly Ruben Grecia—that’s what I thought.
He was always the type to deliberately take the harder path when an easier one lay before him.
If he had simply remained in the Labor Camp, he could have been rescued along with everyone else by now.
Then I could have finally received the necklace and Mother’s final words from him….
Once again, Father had slipped far from my reach. How could the timing be so consistently wrong?
‘At this point, it feels like the whole world is pushing me to give up, to forget about the will and the necklace and just move on.’
Beyond despair, I found myself laughing slightly.
Until Aden, who had been listening quietly to my laughter, spoke softly.
-What would you like me to do?
Having asked only that, Aden did not press me for an answer.
Nor did he end the call, telling me to take my time thinking it over.
Aden simply waited quietly for my response, as if whatever answer came back, he would honor it.
It felt like a question posed by God itself. Lost in thought, turning his words over in my mind, I opened my mouth as if making a confession.
“…The reason I wanted to find Father in the first place….”
I had spoken of my family circumstances lightly enough until now.
But the ‘why’ behind my desperate search for Father—I had never voiced that to anyone.
…Because I knew how foolish it would appear to others.
They would all say: You went through all that suffering for just that? Why don’t you simply forget it all and move on?
Yet with Aden, somehow it felt safe to speak. In truth, perhaps I had always wanted to tell someone.
Aden, who had not interrupted once as I continued, began with a tone that sounded somewhat businesslike.
-You are not me. So it would be presumptuous of me to claim I understand.
But those dry words were woven together with surprising tenderness.
-However, Iliana, whether it is your stubbornness or your driving force, it is a fact that it has sustained you through all this time.
“….”
-If it were me, I would not discard the past. Even if it appears worthless in the eyes of others.
Though our burdens differed in weight, these were words from a man who likewise could not simply brush away his own past.
And so I….
“Then, would it be alright if I thought it over and told you when we meet?”
Aden laughed softly.
-Yes.
And now, at last, the time had come to speak.
The dawn air was cool. Walking toward the Plaza with Aden, I began my report.
“It’s about Vargas.”
Vargas’s disposition had already been discussed with Aden, so it was omitted from the report.
That left only my feelings to address. I wasn’t sure if what I’d witnessed could even be called that.
“To be honest, I was a bit frightened before meeting him.”
I had never met Vargas before.
“The Fang debt collectors intimidated me so much that I naturally assumed their leader, Vargas, must be an even more terrifying person.”
Vargas didn’t know it, but I had taken several deep breaths before opening the Interrogation Room door.
“But when I actually sat across from him, I couldn’t help but laugh. Watching him tremble in fear of the subordinates he’d abandoned, begging in solitary confinement… how do I put it? It felt similar to when I see my Uncle.”
“Is that so.”
“Yes. It was nothing special. I even got another recording to feel proud of replaying later.”
I waved the recording pen I’d tucked in my pocket and chuckled.
“I even thought he looked rather innocent. Have I grown bolder from seeing so many La Mare people lately?”
“Luther would be disappointed to hear that.”
“Wait, I never said a single word about Luther looking scary?”
Aden let out a hollow laugh, glanced at me sideways, then quickly turned his head away.
“…Besides, isn’t there something else you wanted to discuss?”
“Ah, yes. I was just about to bring it up.”
Aden had come to the Capital City first with Ezekiel.
Thanks to that, while I made my way to the Capital City alone, I had time to organize my thoughts.
I walked briskly to stand before Aden, took a deep breath, and opened my mouth.
“Please find my father, Ruben Grecia.”
“There’s no need to sound so resolute about it. In any case, I already—”
“I’m making a formal request to the Empire’s Top Information Guild, La Mare.”
Aden seemed to doubt whether he’d heard correctly for a moment.
He asked again.
“Not a favor?”
“No. A formal request.”
“…Don’t you know how much La Mare charges per request? Why would you insist on doing it that way?”
“Actually, there’s one more thing I wanted to ask.”
“…”
“Is there perhaps an employee discount or some kind of welfare benefit?”
A moment of silence hung in the air.
“…Ha…”
It was the first time I’d seen Aden laugh so heartily.
I was being completely serious!

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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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