TEFGC CH 06

Chapter 6 – The Male Lead Is the Villain (5)

“You look perfectly fine for someone who never once contacted me.”

“No news is good news, isn’t it?”

The man called Lucian shrugged.

Edelene never imagined she would one day chat with him like an old friend.

‘He’s literally the boss of a crime syndicate.’

He looked like someone who would spend his life behind a desk holding nothing but a pen, yet he made a living killing people without blinking.

Anyone could tell he was a villain.

And yet, without him, Edelene’s exit would never have been perfect.

He was the one who provided the paralytic.

He was the one who got the drug that made her appear temporarily dead.

He was the one who secretly smuggled her unconscious body away and helped her escape overseas.

He even arranged for a corpse-like dummy to be placed inside her coffin.

‘He really did everything.’

Edelene had made the request, but Lucian had carried it out.

To her, he was like Cinderella’s fairy godmother.

‘Good thing I saved him when he was injured and put him in my debt.’

Edelene had carefully picked up key people according to the timeline and used them well.

‘Come to think of it, didn’t Lucian fall for the heroine in the original story?’

The crime boss who was supposed to lose all his charisma and become a lovesick fool for the saintess still seemed to have his full presence.

Edelene had already tied up loose ends to make sure the male and female leads’ romance went smoothly.

But she knew better than anyone how terrifying and absolute the novel’s force could be. It wouldn’t be strange if Lucian had gotten tangled up with the heroine somewhere along the way.

‘I’ll ask him later.’

He wouldn’t tell her for free, so she would have to pretend not to care and probe carefully.

Lucian was useful.

But he was expensive.

“You still sent messages through Lloyd once in a while,” she said.

“A message only has meaning when it goes both ways. You just sent what you needed, and that was it.”

Most of those messages had been requests for things.

Edelene smiled awkwardly.

“Sorry? But you weren’t that curious about me either.”

“…True.”

They weren’t close enough to report every detail of their lives, so her apology was light.

“Still, thank you. Because of you, I was able to hear about my mother’s obituary.”

“You really know how to talk.”

While she was hiding, she had vaguely believed her family would be fine. That as long as she disappeared, everyone would be happy.

Not long after celebrating the happy ending, she received news of her mother’s death.

It felt like her shallow hope had been mocked.

She didn’t regret faking her death.

But she had done something unforgivable to the family who loved her.

After realizing this world was a novel and being tormented by nightmares, she hadn’t allowed herself to grow too attached to her family.

She knew they worried about her, but she had no room to look back.

She had probably hurt them deeply.

“At least you gave me the chance to offer a flower. So thank you.”

“You’re just going to leave after that? You said you’d come back once the saintess got married.”

“Well… I’m officially dead in this city. I was planning to come and go quietly. It’s strange for a dead person to return.”

“If you say you want your status back, there are plenty of ways.”

“Why bother?”

She did want to see her family.

But she didn’t want to throw their lives into chaos.

It had already been five years.

They had probably learned to live without her.

“There’s no need to disturb them again.”

“So you’re going to meet no one and hide again?”

“Yes. I don’t want to cause confusion.”

“You could ask your former fiancé. He could sort things out cleanly without any confusion.”

“He’s already married. I’m sure he forgot his dead ex-fiancée a long time ago.”

Without meaning to, Edelene smiled faintly.

The last time she saw him, he had been crying.

Thinking that he must be happy now made her strangely satisfied.

“Hmm.”

Lucian smiled vaguely.

‘He always smiles like he knows something.’

Even after becoming close, she could never fully relax around him.

More than once, he had taken her out “to hang out” and then used her however it suited him.

Lucian was fundamentally unreadable.

If she didn’t pay him, he wouldn’t tell her everything he knew.

He wouldn’t hesitate to trap even a “friend” if it benefited him.

‘The crown prince was the same. None of the people I call friends are normal…’

What kind of social circle was this?

Still, as long as she paid the price, Lucian was a good partner.

He could even turn the living into the dead.

“Why are you smiling like that?” she asked.

“And why are your eyes like that?”

“No reason. I was just thinking how you truly know nothing.”

“About what?”

“What happened after you disappeared?”

“Everything turned out well.”

“You really think that.”

“The saintess married the man she loved safely… Everyone’s happy, right?”

“Pfft!”

Lucian burst out laughing as if she had told the funniest joke in the world.

Edelene stared at him in shock.

“Hey—did you just laugh?”

She had seen him fake smiles countless times.

But she had never seen him genuinely laugh.

It gave her chills.

“Stop laughing! It’s terrifying! What are you plotting?!”

“I’m not plotting anything.”

“…”

“I’m not. You really have no idea.”

She didn’t like the way he kept telling her she knew nothing.

“If you’re just going to tease me, leave. I’m tired.”

“I was about to go anyway. Unlike someone, I’m busy.”

Busy killing people, more like.

Edelene snorted.

Lucian said casually,

“Hang in there, Edelene. A lot has changed while you were gone. It’ll be interesting.”

“It won’t be interesting at all. My mother just died, and you’re saying that?”

“Oh, right. That was the topic. Sorry. Forget I said anything.”

“…?”

That warm smile was unsettling.

After whispering something to Lloyd, Lucian left without hesitation.

“What did he say?”

“He said if I ever get tired of serving you, I should come to him.”

“…Are you going?”

“You said you’d die within a day without me.”

“I’m like a fragile fish.”

“I don’t know what that is, but I’d rather not watch you die because of me, so I’ll decline.”

“I really love you, you know.”

“Yes, yes.”

Lloyd brushed off her habitual confession just as casually as Lucian’s habitual recruitment attempts.

“That man is terrible in that way,” he muttered.

“Come here, let me hug my little brother!”

“Try it and see what happens.”

Edelene laughed at Lloyd’s horrified expression. He really did feel like a moody younger brother.

“Are you truly not returning to House Bertrand?” Lloyd asked.

“Now?”

“I still don’t understand why you had to do what you did.”

“You didn’t ask when you helped me.”

“I was carrying out orders. But as you said, if everything ended when the saintess got married, then you didn’t need to throw away what was rightfully yours.”

“With what face would I go back? I cut those ties with my own hands.”

She smiled bitterly.

Even if she hadn’t allowed herself to grow deeply attached, she wasn’t heartless enough to feel no guilt.

‘Back then, I was so focused on surviving that I couldn’t think about my family’s perspective.’

It was only after leaving Delmez that she realized how mentally cornered she had been.

When people don’t sleep properly, they lose their sanity.

Half the days she spent trapped in nightmares were blurry in her memory.

“Pride doesn’t help you survive,” Lloyd said. “Swallow it once and go claim your share of the Bertrand fortune. We’re running low on living expenses, aren’t we?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever underfunded you…”

“How long do you think we can live like this?”

“We still have plenty of money.”

Thankfully, they did.

Every time she let the crown prince and Lucian use her, she had made sure to take tangible payment.

“Then how do you plan to offer flowers? It’s House Bertrand. They won’t let just anyone in.”

“Lucian said he’d help me sneak in at night. He even gave me theater tickets so I’d have something to do in the meantime.”

“How much did this cost?”

Lloyd had become obsessed with money over the past five years.

Edelene felt a pang and silently vowed to become rich enough that he’d never have to worry about money again.

‘Now that I’m free, maybe I should ask Lucian to create a new identity for me and start a business.’

“It’s a welcome-back gift,” she said.

“You don’t actually believe that, do you?”

“Of course not. He’s probably plotting something to mess with me. That’s his hobby.”

Lloyd let out a short laugh.

Edelene shrugged.

“I’m not that useful to him anymore.”

“That may be true.”

“…”

“If you feel that wronged, reclaim your status.”

“No.”

She wasn’t about to burn down the whole house just to kill a single bedbug.

Once she placed the flowers, she would leave Delmez immediately.