Let's Kidnap The Male Lead! (19 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 11
On the walls of the hideout’s surveillance room, dozens of scrying orbs had been installed, divided into two categories.
The ones on the left were connected to monitoring devices showing panoramic views of Hildes Street.
They were meant to check whether any new targets had appeared on the street.
The scrying orbs on the right displayed the interior of the hideout.
They allowed a quick glance into the rooms where each target was held captive, as well as the hideout’s corridors.
‘But… why is this happening?’
Faced with this unexpected situation, I could only blink my eyes repeatedly.
Unlike the orbs on the left, several on the right appeared broken, their screens turned pitch black.
‘Fortunately, Dietrich’s room is still visible, but I can’t see Melphis’s room or the corridors at all.’
I immediately understood why even calm Len had called this a serious matter.
In this state, we couldn’t prepare for intruders, nor could we monitor the actions of the captured handsome men.
Frustrated by this troublesome predicament, I clutched my head.
I first tried inspecting the place here and there as best I could, but there was no way a technophobe like me, who barely knew magic, could fix a magical artifact just by fiddling with it.
‘If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve studied magic at least a little.’
There was no one to ask for help.
The magic-engineer who had helped build this hideout had unfortunately fled into exile overseas.
‘But I can’t exactly bring someone new in either.’
If I slipped up, the whole world might discover I was the serial kidnapper of handsome men.
“Sigh… I’ll have to fix this alone somehow.”
Out of sheer desperation, I even tried hitting the artifact—but no miracle occurred.
“It was working perfectly just a moment ago! Why is it acting up all of a sudden? Snap out of it!”
I even attempted to reason with the broken scrying orb, though of course an inanimate object couldn’t understand my words.
“Ugh, how am I supposed to fix this?”
I glared pointlessly at the orb, sinking into deep contemplation.
[This is the timeline separator]After Vivian left, the air in the room instantly turned sharp and heavy.
Once certain she was far enough away, Len firmly shut the door—
as if refusing to let even the faintest sound escape.
Len’s face reflected on the silver surface of the metal doorknob.
From his usually gentle eyes now leaked a piercing, dagger-like sharpness.
Melphis watched this transformation with evident curiosity.
The moment Vivian vanished, Len dropped his mask, and Melphis’s lips curled into a crooked smile.
“Aren’t you being a bit too obvious with your scheming?”
“…”
“Of all times for the device to break down—just when the mood was getting good… It’s clearly deliberate, no matter how you look at it.”
Melphis teased Len with a sly smirk, yet Len remained unnervingly calm, radiating only a chilling aura.
“It seems you’re the one playing tricks.”
In one swift motion, Len closed the distance and growled low like a beast.
“They say no information about you exists anywhere in the Empire. Where have you crawled out from?”
His emerald eyes brimmed with menacing intent.
Ever since Melphis’s initial abduction, the Gerald Intelligence Guild, acting on Len’s orders, had tried to uncover his background.
Yet their investigation yielded absolutely nothing.
There was no trace or record anywhere of a person named ‘Melphis.’
An ordinary person would leave behind some evidence—but Melphis’s past was utterly blank,
as if he’d abruptly materialized out of thin air one day.
His disguise skills, his history—everything about him was suspicious.
Len’s rule was to eliminate anyone posing a threat, but there was one problem:
Vivian already knew of his existence.
If he carelessly killed Melphis, she might eventually discover his actions.
Yet he couldn’t just stand by and let this man get close to Vivian.
“Wow, looks like you’ve been digging into my past with such passion. Now that I think about it—was it me you were interested in all along, not Vivian? Too bad; I’m not your type.”
“If you have no intention of answering, then I won’t bother listening.”
Without hesitation, Len grabbed Melphis by the collar.
Melphis merely chuckled and pointed toward a corner of the ceiling.
“Are you sure that’s okay? What if your precious master sees this situation?”
“Unfortunately, the surveillance feed happened to disconnect by pure chance, so you needn’t worry. Is that all you wanted to say?”
Still gripped by the collar, Melphis clicked his tongue.
So that’s what ‘broken’ really meant. Clever bastard, he muttered inwardly.
At this rate, Vivian would never learn what was happening here.
“You’ve pulled off quite the cunning trick. Does Vivian even know you’re this underhanded?”
Finally, a crack appeared in Len’s otherwise composed expression.
“Don’t you dare utter Lady Vivian’s name with that filthy mouth of yours.”
His grip tightened instinctively around Melphis’s collar.
Len dragged him roughly through the corridor and hurled him out the hideout’s back door.
Melphis collapsed onto the ground from the rough treatment.
Len glared down at him with chilling eyes and issued a cold warning.
“Get lost. Next time, I’ll kill you.”
Bang!
The hideout’s back door slammed shut with a deafening crash.
“Tch, seriously. What a foul temper.”
Melphis brushed off his hands as he stared at the firmly closed door.
As he rose to his feet, the back door seamlessly blended into its surroundings and vanished without a trace.
Melphis watched this vanish through his deep blue eyes, then snapped his thumb and forefinger together with a crisp click.
At that moment, his appearance began transforming as if by magic.
The rich hue of his eyes gradually faded into a sky-blue color.
His sharply upturned eyes softened as their corners lowered, giving his expression a gentler look.
His silvery hair slowly took on a reddish tint, eventually turning a pink shade resembling cotton candy.
Some strands shifted to sky-blue.
Simultaneously, his short hair lengthened rapidly, growing down to his nape.
Now completely changed in appearance, he hummed idly as he strolled out of the alley.
“Next time, maybe I’ll appear as a dazzlingly handsome hero with golden eyes? Or perhaps blue hair and red eyes?”
He giggled softly, his tone as light as if ready to float away.
An odd glint flickered in his eyes.
[This is the timeline separator]“Ugh, I’m going crazy.”
Vivian, who had been frantically fiddling with the scrying orbs trying to fix them, slumped face-down onto her desk in exhaustion.
She’d tried every method she could think of, yet the orbs stubbornly displayed only black screens.
Tears welled up in Vivian’s eyes from sheer helplessness.
“I just wanted to capture the male lead—why is everything so complicated?”
She sighed heavily, lamenting her fate.
Being a serial kidnapper of handsome men was truly no easy task.
Just managing daily chores was tiring enough—on top of that, weirdos like Dietrich and Melphis kept showing up, leaving her no time to rest.
‘And now even these scrying orbs have gone haywire.’
Even though she and Len split the work, she was finally reaching her limit—
both physically and mentally.
Vivian felt her eyelids growing heavier.
‘Not now…’
She tried clinging to consciousness, but the hard desk already felt like a plush cushion.
If she closed her eyes even for a second, she’d surely fall fast asleep.
‘Stay awake. Stay alert.’
She forced her eyes wide open, lost in thought.
“If there really is a god, please take pity on my wretched state and send down the male lead himself.”
Her bleary eyes barely managed to focus on the monitoring room door.
‘It’d be wonderful if Calis just came to me on his own… Yes, through that very door.’
But she now understood that life rarely went as one wished.
Despite her will to stay awake, Vivian ultimately couldn’t resist the overwhelming drowsiness.
Just then, the motionless door quietly opened.
Contrary to her hopes, the one who entered wasn’t Calis—but Len.
After all, only Vivian and Len could freely come and go from the hideout.
He silently approached Vivian, who lay asleep face-down on the desk.
The desk was cluttered with various tools—evidently, she’d pulled them out trying to fix the orbs.
Len crouched down and stared blankly at her sleeping face.
His gaze, starting from her rounded forehead, trailed down her long eyelashes and finally settled on her soft pink lips.
“Lady Vivian… are you really going to keep sleeping there?”
Though his words suggested concern, his whispering tone revealed no intention of waking her.
“…Is this unguarded state something you show only to me?”
His shadow, cast by the ceiling light, crawled up onto the desk.
It moved less like a shadow and more like a separate living entity.
The pitch-black shadow split into two, each beginning its assigned task.
One tidied the scattered tools, while the other busily circled the broken scrying orb.
After a brief moment, the orb flickered back to life, functioning normally once more.
Len showed no visible reaction, even though the broken device had been repaired.
Perhaps it was only natural—after all, he’d deliberately sabotaged it in the first place.
Soon, the shadows finished their tasks and merged back into one.
The shadow fetched a blanket hanging on a chair and returned to Len.
Unfazed by the shadow’s unnatural behavior, he accepted the blanket as if it were perfectly ordinary.
The soft, lilac-colored blanket, knitted from plush yarn, was something he’d personally made for Vivian long ago.
He gently wrapped the sleeping Vivian in it, then carefully lifted her into his arms.
The sweet scent emanating from her teased his nose—
somewhere between fruit and flowers, a fragrance that always made his heart race.
Thus, cradling Vivian protectively, Len headed toward his own room.
The shadow, which by rights should have trailed behind him, instead walked ahead to open the door.
Inside the room, he laid Vivian onto his bed with utmost care so as not to wake her.
After tucking the blanket up to her shoulders, she burrowed deeper into the mattress.
Len watched her, entranced.
No matter how many times he saw Vivian sleeping in his bed, he could never grow accustomed to it.
Unconsciously, his cheeks flushed faintly as his fingers absentmindedly brushed the tips of her hand protruding from under the blanket.
Realizing what he’d done, he hastily pulled his hand back, flustered.
His cheeks burned so fiercely they almost hurt.
The thrill and guilt of having dared to touch her tugged precariously at his heart.
But then his conversation with Melphis suddenly resurfaced, quickly calming his turbulent emotions.
“…Lady Vivian.”
“…”
She, fast asleep, offered no reply. Len continued speaking, almost relieved by her silence.
“Even if you discovered the filthy feelings I harbor for you… would you still allow me to stay by your side?”
“…”
“…Or would you cast me away?”
His unanswered question echoed back to him like a hollow reverberation.
With a complex expression, Len turned to leave—but not before extinguishing the light for Vivian’s sake.
Walking down the dark corridor, he sank into deep contemplation.
He doubted he’d be able to sleep easily tonight.
Male lead first thought she played hard to get, only to realize she
really disliked him
Short intro:
What she can’t stand the most is the streets full of effeminate men, especially that so-called top beauty whom she avoids at all costs.
Shen Yaoxing looks at Jiang Mingyue, who keeps approaching her with coy shyness.
Shen Yaoxing: Bro, don’t be like this, I’m really about to throw up!
She fears nothing in heaven or earth, except for him getting close to her.
*
At first he thought she was just using the trick of feigning indifference to attract his attention. Later, he learned that she truly despised him.
This dealt a heavy blow to Jiang Mingyue, and he vowed to make her, like everyone else, fall at his feet in worship!
***
Synopsis:
Before transmigrating, Shen Yaoxing only wanted to find a reliable man to spend her life with. Who knew that after transmigrating, she would become a reliable woman herself…
A forced misandrist, highly skilled, and reliable female lead
vs.
An initially aloof and arrogant, later morbid, obsessed male lead
_____
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