Let's Kidnap The Male Lead! (19 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 7
The interrogation by Dietrich began amid suffocating tension.
“Did you kidnap me knowing exactly who I am?”
“Do you think I’m insane enough to do something like that? I was so captivated by your face that I grabbed you without even realizing who you were. Sigh… If only I’d thought things through a bit more, I might’ve figured out who you were.”
If I had, I wouldn’t be in such mortal danger right now.
Of course, it was my own fault, but for some inexplicable reason, I felt oddly wronged and ended up rambling on with explanations.
But maybe it was just my imagination?
Dietrich’s lips seemed to twitch ever so slightly, as if amused.
“I’ll ask for more details about that later. For now, let’s move on to the next question. How many handsome men have you kidnapped so far?”
“Thirty-one… so including you, that makes thirty-two.”
Technically, I’d done it over forty times, but one guy had been captured nine times repeatedly. I gave my answer accounting for him.
“Hmm… thirty-two?”
“…Yes.”
Dietrich settled into the largest, plushest chair in the monitoring room and began firing off questions.
It was a bit absurd how brazenly he commandeered my chair as if he owned the place, but I didn’t bother mentioning it—doing so might just provoke him unnecessarily.
Yet perhaps my earlier answers had already sealed my fate?
He frowned as though something about my words displeased him.
“Um… is there a problem?”
“Not a problem, just a bit curious. Was that incident in the newspaper a few days ago your doing?”
“The newspaper a few days ago…? Oh, you mean the Times?”
Dietrich gave a slight nod confirming my guess.
“Yes, that was me. It hasn’t even been a few days yet, so that handsome man is still locked up in my room. I was planning to release him after a month, but…”
If I die today, I won’t even get the chance to do that.
I bit back the rest of that thought.
“If you include him, wouldn’t the total number of people you’ve kidnapped be thirty-one? Then why do you say thirty-two including me, not thirty-four?”
He sure had a lot of questions. You’d think he was a detective or something.
‘Was Dietrich always this talkative?’
Where had the original Dietrich Belvedus gone—the silent, cold-blooded killer who’d decapitate people without blinking?
‘Could it be that this is before that incident?’
The Belvedus tragedy.
In the original story, Dietrich first appeared in the scene where he brutally murdered the Duke and Duchess.
‘Did his personality flip 180 degrees before and after that event?’
Maybe the Dietrich before my eyes wasn’t the same person I knew from the original story.
After all, if he were the original version, my head would’ve been rolling on the floor the moment our eyes met.
A sliver of hope flickered within me. Perhaps if I handled Dietrich carefully, I might just survive.
I decided to stop being impatient and cooperate as much as possible.
“There are people I kidnapped who didn’t report it even after being released.”
“Two such people?”
“Yes, exactly two.”
“Then perhaps there’ll soon be three.”
“Huh? What do you mean by that…?”
I asked in confusion, unable to grasp his meaning, but Dietrich, lounging lazily in his chair, completely ignored my words.
He looked down at me with a strange expression as I sat huddled on the floor.
I tried my best to lift the corners of my mouth into a smile.
‘Harmless expression. Harmless expression! I must look as harmless as possible to stay alive.’
Despite my efforts, Dietrich, who had been staring at me with an arrogant gaze, suddenly stood up from his chair and approached me abruptly.
‘Eek! He’s going to kill me after all!’
I squeezed my eyes shut in fear, but surprisingly, nothing happened.
Cautiously, I opened my eyes again.
Right before my eyes, at breath’s distance, was his face wearing that uniquely villainous smile.
A smile so breathtakingly beautiful yet radiating an eerie, sinister aura.
If a demon capable of seducing humans smiled, it would probably look just like this.
I swallowed hard, my throat dry from tension.
“Now then, Lady Vivian.”
“Y-yes?”
I instinctively answered to the sound of my name on his lips, but only then did I realize something strange.
“Wait… how do you even know my name…?”
“I pride myself on a memory as flawless as my appearance. I remember the names and faces of every imperial noble.”
“Oh… I see.”
What’s with that arrogance?
But since that wasn’t important right now, I chose not to argue.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the infamous serial kidnapper of handsome men would be among them.”
Hahaha.
I scratched my cheek and gave a forced laugh.
I already knew perfectly well that I was the serial kidnapper—there was no need to keep reminding me. It was making me utterly embarrassed.
“Now, I’ll ask my final question, my lady.”
“Y-yes…?”
Inwardly, I prayed fervently.
Please, please don’t ask me how you’re going to kill me!
And perhaps my prayer reached the heavens?
Dietrich’s question was vastly different from anything the main villain of the original story would ever ask.
“Do you recall your answer to my first question?”
“You mean that I kidnapped you without knowing your identity?”
“No, not that part. I mean the part where you said my face was so dazzling it drove you into a frenzy, causing you to accidentally kidnap me.”
I never said it quite like that.
Though he’d embellished the details himself, I didn’t bother correcting him and simply nodded.
“You claim to have kidnapped no less than thirty-two handsome men so far.”
“That’s right?”
“Then, if you were to rank all the handsome men you’ve kidnapped by looks, where would I place?”
“…Huh?”
What on earth was this man saying?
I tilted my head in disbelief, unable to trust my own ears.
“Tell me—just how handsome am I?”
Frozen in place with a dumbfounded expression, I saw Dietrich add impatiently,
Finally snapping out of it, I still didn’t fully understand the situation, but I decided to speak up immediately if it meant staying alive.
“Y-you’re absolutely number one! Undeniably, overwhelmingly number one!”
But apparently, that wasn’t the right answer—the faint crease forming between Dietrich’s brows made that clear.
“Lady Vivian.”
“…Y-you called?”
“As a viscount, I’ve met countless people. So I can tell just by looking at someone’s face whether they’re being sincere or not.”
“…”
“Let me give you one piece of advice: in this particular matter, I despise flattery and pretense.”
“…Yes.”
Dietrich summoned a sword forged from obsidian-like magical energy.
Then, exuding an ominous aura, he ran his index finger lightly along the blade.
The finely honed edge glinted under the overhead light.
A cold sweat trickled down my spine.
“I’ll give you one last chance. This time, you’d best answer honestly.”
Terrified by Dietrich’s menacing glare as he loomed over me with sword in hand, I bit my lip.
‘What do I do? Seriously, what do I do? I’m doomed.’
He’s a villain, for goodness’ sake!
What kind of villain kills someone just because they praised his good looks?!
Even if this was before his descent into darkness, his personality was just too bizarre—completely absurd.
‘He’s not a villain—he’s just insane.’
The problem was that my life now depended entirely on this lunatic.
I nearly burst into tears from sheer despair but held them back. Crying would only weaken the persuasiveness of my words.
Frantically racking my brain, I scrambled to come up with an answer.
Meanwhile, Dietrich was flipping the sword dangerously in his hands, grinning eerily.
It was clearly a prompt to hurry up.
“From the way you’re taking so long to answer, I suppose my face must look utterly unimpressive to you, Lady?”
His words, brimming with resentment, almost slipped out before I swallowed them back.
‘Screw it. Whatever happens, happens.’
I decided to just blurt out exactly what I felt.
“Your face is so beautiful it defies words—but since you seem to want an answer, I’ll give it a try.”
Taking a brief breath, I launched into a rapid-fire, rap-like praise of Dietrich’s appearance.
“You, sir, are the perfect among handsome men. Let me break it down for you. First, look at that hair. What kind of oil do you use? If you sold that oil, you’d become the richest person in the empire. How flawlessly lustrous it is! Even the fur of mythical creatures couldn’t possibly be this soft, springy, and radiant. And that color—so black it seems to devour all the light in the world. But here’s the twist! Your face shines so brilliantly that not even that magnificent hair can obscure it. Your face is literally glowing—glowing! Are you even human, or are you a lightbulb? And that’s not even the end! Those long, languid eyes exude an air of elegant boredom, and beneath them—your nose! Words fail me. And is that center part intentional? Your masculine forehead flows seamlessly into that noble, straight nose—more perfect than any sculpture crafted by ancient master artisans.”
For over twenty minutes, I praised Dietrich’s face without a single pause.
Thankfully, merely looking at him kept inspiring new compliments—aside from my sore throat, it was surprisingly manageable.
Dietrich listened to my long-winded speech with his eyes closed, nodding occasionally.
Satisfaction and delight were clearly evident on his face.
Though I couldn’t read his inner thoughts precisely, his expression seemed to say, ‘Every single word is absolutely correct.’
‘The mood seems good, right?’
Carefully gauging Dietrich’s reaction, I cautiously broached the main point.
I still had to give him a proper answer to his question.
“…Anyway, what I said about you being overwhelmingly number one—that wasn’t a lie.”
But at that exact moment, he—who had been nodding contentedly—suddenly opened his eyes wide.
Those pitch-black pupils, deep enough to suck you in, instantly filled with disappointment and anger.
“Lady, you must not value your life very much, continuing that insincere flattery from earlier.”
Dietrich rose from his seat and slowly stepped closer to my face.
Dark magical energy ominously seeped from his sword.
‘For fuck’s sake. Please spare me.’
At least hear me out to the end!
His threatening demeanor made it clear he was ready to kill me any second, and inwardly, I swallowed my tears.
My Arch-enemy Sealed My Memory and Said That He is My Husband
This is an incredibly captivating story that you absolutely shouldn’t miss! I’ll give a brief introduction here, and below you’ll find a detailed synopsis of the plot.
The female lead is a fierce and powerful demon king. The male lead is a once-in-a-millennium celestial lord, admired by the entire cultivation world.
They are equally matched, legendary rivals who have battled for centuries.
In the final duel, the female lead is gravely injured. The male lead saves her, seals her memories, and hides her true identity. He tells her that he is her fiancé. His entire life has been flawless—except for the one thing he never expected, never controlled, and never wanted to control: falling for his greatest enemy. She is his inner demon, his obsession.
When the female lead regains her memories, she is furious at his deception.
She makes his life a living hell.
And somehow, the male lead—possibly a total masochist—doesn’t mind at all. In fact, he’s happy she’s paying attention to him.
Yep, we’re back to my favorite trope: male lead suffering. If you love this kind of story, jump into the pit with me now!!!
Intro
Dong Xia lost her memory.
Her handsome and extremely powerful fiancé Li Qing comforted her: “It’s okay if you can’t remember. I’ll always be with you.”
Everyone thought Dong Xia’s ancestors must have burned incense to get such a perfect fiancé. He was the number one person in the immortal realm, yet he remained chaste and only loved her.
…
The day before marrying her fiancé, Dong Xia finally remembered everything.
She wasn’t suffering from memory loss at all.
Her arch-enemy had made her fake her death, destroyed her cultivation, replaced her memories, and pretended to be her deeply in love fiancé.
No wonder he said, “It’s okay if you can’t remember”!
Dong Xia laughed coldly as she pulled out her long knife: Li Qing, prepare to die 🙂
*
Li Qing, as the supreme being of the immortal realm, was the people’s shining beacon.
The only unknown stain in his life was his affection for Dong Xia, the ruler of the demon realm.
In the final battle of the war between immortals and demons, the sky collapsed and the earth shattered. The ruler of the demon realm was finally slain under the sword of the supreme being of the immortal realm, and everyone in the immortal realm applauded.
The cultivation world lost a ruler of the demon realm.
And in the back mountain of Li Qing’s cave dwelling, he secretly hid away a fiancée.
Notes:
1. The female lead is white on the outside, black on the inside, and the queen of flattery; the male lead repeatedly tests the edge of darkness, a VIP guest at the crematorium.
2. Fantasy cultivation world setting.
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