Let's Kidnap The Male Lead! - Chapter 26

The place Vivian headed after leaving the banquet hall was the garden outside.

She sat down on a bench in a corner where there were hardly any people and let out a deep sigh.

With so many events happening in such a short time, she really felt like her head was about to burst.

There were more than a few serious problems right now.

Leonie. For the first time, she had slapped Leonie’s cheek.

No, not just slapped, but gave her a good, hard smack.

In fact, it wasn’t that Vivian had never rebelled during the long period of harassment.

When she was younger, she tried to appease Leonie when she was being mean, and even got angry at times.

However, the more she did so, Leonie started to behave even more excessively.

In the end, she nearly lost her life due to her sister’s sinister pranks, which says it all.

Because of that incident, Vivian was still afraid of magical beasts to this day.

All the things Leonie did in their younger days were firmly etched in Vivian’s memory.

So Vivian decided not to go against Leonie’s wishes anymore.

She only lowered her posture to avoid provoking Leonie, who was obsessively fixated on subjugating her.

She knew it was cowardly. But that was the best way to protect herself.

But today, a huge stone was suddenly thrown into that barely maintained peace.

She should have felt only anxious and afraid.

‘Honestly, it feels quite satisfying…’

At first, she didn’t know what to do out of fear of future consequences, but now that she had calmed down a bit, her feelings were different.

Vivian could forgive all the dangerous pranks Leonie had played on her until now.

However, she could never forgive ruining the dress her mother had left her, and on top of that, trying to spill wine on it today.

However, having suppressed her emotions for such a long time, she had almost forgotten how to express her anger.

It was then that Ruby took her hand.

She helped her get revenge by guiding her hand that was unable to do anything.

If it weren’t for Ruby, Vivian would have continued to be unable to say a single word properly.

And it didn’t stop there.

‘At first I wondered what she meant by going to wash her hands… but she must have been trying to help me.’

When Vivian was scared, not confident in handling the situation, Ruby sent her outside with a strange excuse.

The way Ruby smiled, saying she would take care of the aftermath, was really…

‘As expected of the female protagonist…’

The Ludovica she actually experienced was much cooler than she had thought while reading the novel.

To be honest, they hadn’t known each other for long. The circumstances of their meeting were also strange, involving kidnapping.

But for some reason, Ludovica showed her strong favor.

She scolded her rude half-sister on her behalf and personally took care of the aftermath.

From the original work, Ruby was described as having a stronger sense of justice than others.

There were scenes where she would help those in crisis even if it meant being misunderstood by others.

However, that didn’t mean it was natural for her to show such kindness.

Vivian suddenly felt ashamed of herself.

When she realized she was involved with the original female protagonist, her mind was full of plans to somehow fix the flow of the original story and distance herself from her.

But to think she would do such things for someone who only had such unworthy thoughts.

‘At this rate, there’s no way I can distance myself, plans or not.’

It seemed she would have to revise her foolish plans from the past.

There must be a way to maintain a friendly relationship with Ruby while restoring the flow of the original story.

‘Although the beginning has been a bit distorted, if I fix it well and somehow naturally connect it to the mid-story content, it should flow back to the original, right?’

In the current situation, it would be right to consider Ludovica and Callys’s fateful first meeting as ruined, so she just needed to fix this part.

‘First meeting… first meeting…’

She thought hard about how to make their first meeting happen. And after a while.

“Right, come to think of it, the first meeting doesn’t necessarily have to be fateful. They just need to meet!”

Both Ludovica and Callys were characters created to love each other.

If they just met, they would be able to recognize their fate at once.

Then the answer was…

“A blind date! Yes, a blind date!”

She decided to arrange a meeting between Ludovica and him when she found Callys while kidnapping handsome men.

It wouldn’t be unnatural for a friend to set up a blind date.

At this sudden brilliant idea that struck like lightning, Vivian opened her eyes wide and spoke loudly to herself.

But then a male voice came from the side where no one should have been.

“A blind date? Are you talking about yourself, Miss Vivian?”

“Eek! A, a ghost!”

Vivian screamed in surprise as if she had really seen a ghost and fell over in the opposite direction of the voice.

“A ghost… Ah, I see. It’s understandable to mistake me for one, given my beauty that’s difficult to exist in the real world. Don’t worry, Miss Vivian. I’m a perfectly alive person.”

A blatantly unpleasant but strangely familiar way of speaking.

Vivian, who had been trembling in fear, looked at the man with a ‘could it be’ feeling.

And as she expected, the man was Dietrich Belvedere.

“Why are you here?”

“Hmm? Is there any reason I shouldn’t be at a party I was invited to?”

Dietrich shrugged, leaning comfortably on a nearby bench.

“Ah, right. You must have been invited. You’re right, I was being shortsighted.”

Thinking about it calmly, there was no reason for Dietrich not to be at an event that Ludovica was attending.

However, Vivian was still a bit dazed by the sudden encounter.

“…By the way, Miss Vivian.”

“Yes?”

“I’m very disappointed.”

“Huh?”

Dietrich made an expression very different from his sharp and indifferent atmosphere.

‘No, why are you sulking? This isn’t your character!’

It was so terrible that Vivian frowned.

“A lady not keeping her promise.”

“What promise did I make with you… oh.”

Suddenly, a memory that had been pushed far away to some distant corner of her mind resurfaced.

Could he be talking about that? His memory is quite good.

Vivian frowned slightly and hesitantly opened her mouth, just in case.

“…Dietrich?”

At the corrected form of address, the villain before her burst into laughter.

“Yes, now you’re calling me properly.”

Vivian was momentarily dazed by Dietrich’s bright smile, which she was seeing for the first time.

‘Now that I look at him like this, he’s quite…’

She knew it already, but he was handsome. How annoying.

Gone was the usual wicked upturned corners of his mouth, and Vivian was surprised to see Dietrich wearing an unexpectedly innocent expression like a child.

“Why does something like a form of address matter…”

Vivian spoke with a hint of irritation, feeling somewhat embarrassed for some reason. Then Dietrich, sitting next to her, reached out his hand and lifted her chin as he spoke.

“Miss Vivian may not know, but forms of address are very important.”

“…?”

Vivian swallowed hard at the suddenly shortened distance.

“Forms of address are a very simple and convenient means to display the relationship between you and me. For example, to that fellow over there.”

Dietrich, who had been looking at Vivian with languid eyes, suddenly glanced to the side.

Naturally following his gaze, she saw an unexpected scene unfolding there.

Ludovica was standing there, looking shocked.

Crash!

The glass in Ludovica’s hand suddenly fell onto the stone floor, breaking with a sharp sound.

“What are you two doing…?”

A fierce aura seeped into her red eyes.

The corners of her mouth curved into a chilly smile as if imbued with cold air. An ominous expression as if she had been betrayed.

Vivian somehow felt like a piece of trash caught secretly cheating with another man after leaving work to her lover.

However, this was absolutely not a situation she had intended.

It was too late to say it now, but Vivian had originally planned to return to the banquet hall as soon as her thoughts were sorted out.

She quickly pushed Dietrich’s shoulder hard and began to ramble out excuses.

“Ru-Ruby? No, um, are you not hurt?”

“…”

“Th-this person is someone I don’t know well!”

Vivian stuttered even in her words as she tried to profess her innocence with exaggerated gestures.

She knew this lack of composure would make her less convincing, but it wasn’t easy to stay calm.

On the other hand, Dietrich, who had been pushed away by Vivian, leaned back on the bench with a languid face.

Crossing his long legs arrogantly, he spoke in a low voice.

“It’s a bit disappointing that you pretend not to know me, Miss Vivian. How many nights did we spend together in the same building?”

“…Pardon?”

To Vivian’s questioning response, Dietrich merely smiled leisurely, his eyes crinkling.

So it was an unexpected moment.

When Dietrich realized the relationship between Vivian and Ludovica.

“I have someone to meet. Brother, do your own business.”

As soon as they arrived at the banquet hall, Ludovica looked around as if she had an appointment and then quickly left.

‘Strange. There’s no way that kid has someone to meet.’

He didn’t mean to insult his sister, but Ludovica had no friends.

This was a fact that hadn’t changed from a very young age until now.

She was the owner of a cynical personality who didn’t particularly like people.

A person who expressed little emotion and was generally expressionless.

At most, only their parents and Dietrich could be called close to her.

It was natural.

Ludovica always devoted herself to training in the practice field, so she had no time to build friendships or socialize with anyone.

Moreover, after that incident, even the nobles who had been chasing after her so persistently avoided her, which said it all.

‘Surely not to meet that cute lover?’

The image of his sister in a lovey-dovey relationship flashed through Dietrich’s mind, and he shook his head in disgust.

‘I shouldn’t go that way. Besides, Miss Vivian should be here at this event today.’

While thinking this, Count Schmidt approached him and spouted nonsense, which he dealt with appropriately before proceeding with his original plan to find Vivian.

In the end, as he wandered inside the banquet hall looking for Vivian, he encountered an unexpected situation.

Ludovica and Vivian were together. And they looked quite intimate.

“I see… So that’s how it is.”

For Dietrich, who had already grasped the personalities of both Vivian and Ludovica, it wasn’t difficult to deduce what had happened between them.

“Miss Vivian certainly has a lot of charm. Even seducing my stone-like sister.”

Not wanting to witness such an unsightly scene, Dietrich went out to the rear garden first.

But a little while later, he encountered Vivian, who had come out alone.

At that moment, a good idea to tease Ludovica flashed in his mind.

At the thought of seeing his expressionless sister’s face contort, Dietrich followed Vivian with light steps.