Let's Kidnap The Male Lead! (19 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 9
“What does this target look like?”
I asked Len after finishing my preparations to move out.
“Yes, Lady Vivian. This target has silver hair, blue eyes, and is about as tall as I am.”
Hearing Len’s description quietly, I felt uneasy and stopped in my tracks, lost in thought.
“So he’s got heterochromia. Heterochromia, huh… Hmm, something feels off.”
“Is there something bothering you?”
Forgetting to reply, I sank deeper into my thoughts—until I suddenly realized the source of my unease.
“Len.”
“Yes, Lady Vivian?”
“That guy… that guy. When was the last time he got kidnapped?”
“If you mean ‘that guy’… could you be referring to Melphis?”
I nodded vigorously, and after a brief pause, Len answered.
“Ah, it’s certainly about time he showed up again. The last kidnapping was two months ago.”
“No wonder I had that strange feeling.”
Throughout my career as a handsome-man kidnapper, I’d taken great care never to kidnap the same person twice.
I’d made a diligent effort to remember the faces of all my previous victims and always double-checked that any new target didn’t match someone I’d taken before.
Yet one person had repeatedly rendered all that effort worthless—and that was Melphis.
At first, I’d only kidnapped him because he was handsome. Things would’ve been fine if it had ended there…
But not long after, he’d shown up again on Hildes Street, disguised and clearly hoping to be kidnapped once more.
I fell for it completely, and sadly, the same scenario repeated itself multiple times.
I’d long since confirmed he wasn’t Calis in disguise.
So there was no reason to capture him—but just when I’d nearly forgotten about him, he’d reappear to flaunt his presence before vanishing again.
“The problem is… it’s probably about time for his ‘cooldown period’ to end again.”
I let out a deep sigh and spoke in a weary voice.
“This target… it couldn’t possibly be Melphis, could it?”
“It won’t be. Please don’t worry too much.”
Right—Len was correct. It won’t be. No, it *can’t* be.
Normally, I wouldn’t care, but right now Dietrich alone was already more than enough trouble.
If Melphis got added into the mix too, I wasn’t sure I could handle it.
“But more importantly, this isn’t the time to be worrying. At this rate, I’ll lose the target.”
Regardless of who the target actually was, one thing remained unchanged—I still had to kidnap him.
Suddenly feeling the urgency, I immediately headed toward the exit of our hideout—but abruptly stopped in my tracks.
Dietrich was standing right in front of the door.
“Excuse me? Could you please move aside a bit?”
“I’ll move aside—if you permit me to follow you, of course.”
What… what on earth was this nonsense?
His absurdly confident remark left me utterly speechless.
“Wait, weren’t you supposed to be imprisoned? Why are you acting so casually about following me around!”
“We could just say you temporarily released me, only to imprison me again later. Doesn’t that work?”
“Why don’t you just go back home instead?”
“That won’t do. I must respectfully decline.”
“Ugh…”
Sighing deeply, I smacked my forehead hard with my palm. I’d already endured as much as I could.
Villain or not, I needed to speak my mind.
Finally, with an irritated expression, I unleashed my frustration on him.
“No! Absolutely not! You yourself volunteered to be imprisoned, remember? I’ve got things to do today and can’t entertain you—so please stay quietly locked in your room. Understood?”
“Hmm.”
“Huh? What do you mean ‘hmm’? I asked if you understand—do you or don’t you?!”
I almost grabbed him by the collar to shake him, but his body didn’t budge an inch.
Instead, Dietrich merely shrugged his shoulders, the corners of his mouth turned slightly downward.
“Fine, fine. I get it.”
“You’re promising me, right?”
But before the words had even fully left my mouth, he suddenly held out his right pinky finger.
“What’s this?”
I glared at him suspiciously, but Dietrich didn’t withdraw his hand.
“You said it’s a promise—aren’t we supposed to link pinkies?”
“What?”
For a moment, I thought I’d misheard him—but Dietrich reached out and hooked his pinky around mine.
“There. Promise sealed.”
He even pressed his thumb to mine as if stamping it himself, wearing a self-satisfied expression.
Surprised by his unexpected gesture, I also sensed him paying attention to something behind me.
His gaze was fixed on Len.
After exchanging a strangely ominous look with Len, Dietrich suddenly broke into a soft chuckle.
Then, without another word, he turned and walked straight back to his room.
“What was that about? Why’s he acting like that?”
Though his behavior puzzled me, I decided not to dwell on it and turned toward Len.
But… was it just my imagination, or did his expression seem unusually gloomy?
“Len?”
As if to confirm my suspicion, the moment I called his name, his face immediately returned to normal.
“Yes, Lady Vivian? Did you call for me?”
“Yeah—I’m heading out. Prepare the room for his imprisonment in advance!”
As I stepped outside the hideout, I saw Len waving goodbye.
“Melphis or not—first, I’ve got to gather my strength and kidnap this handsome man!”
Activating my ability, I leaped directly onto the rooftop.
[This is the timeline separator]Following Len’s directions, Vivian soon arrived near the target.
Standing atop a building, she looked down at the street below.
Her eyes instantly locked onto a man with silver hair and beautiful blue eyes.
Quickly activating her earring-shaped communicator, Vivian called Len.
“Is that the guy? I’ll grab him right away.”
—Lady Vivian, wait!
Startled by the suddenly loud volume from the communicator, she froze in place.
—There are six people positioned around the target. They seem to be undercover investigators.
Investigators?
That word, absent from her original plan, made Vivian swiftly scan the area around the target.
Several seemingly ordinary people were scattered nearby—someone reading a newspaper on a bench, another carrying luggage, yet another standing by the roadside eating bread.
Yet strangely, all their gazes appeared subtly focused on the target.
Their behavior was so suspicious that, just as Len had said, they were very likely investigators.
“A sting operation?”
—It doesn’t seem so. They probably just spotted a handsome man and started intense surveillance.
Hmm.
The situation didn’t look promising.
Multiple investigators glaring intently, hoping to catch Vivian—
And right in the middle stood a man whose appearance perfectly fit that of a tragic male lead.
“Either way, I can’t afford to give up on the target.”
Then there was only one thing left to do.
“I’ll just go straight through the front.”
—What? Lady Vivian! Please wait a moment!
Ignoring Len’s protest, Vivian leaped fearlessly into the air.
From behind the mask covering her petite face, her golden eyes gleamed with fierce determination.
She paid no attention whatsoever to the surrounding investigators—her focus was entirely on the target.
Landing lightly on the ground, she wrapped her arms around the man from behind—covering his eyes with one hand and hoisting him up effortlessly with the other.
Everything happened in an instant so brief the man couldn’t even grasp what was occurring.
He offered no resistance and surrendered his body to Vivian without a struggle.
Cradling him securely, she sprang upward into the air—
Then gracefully vaulted across rooftops until she vanished far into the distance.
All of this unfolded in less time than it takes to blink.
The investigators, who had been closely watching the handsome man, stood frozen in shock—completely forgetting to maintain their civilian disguises.
They’d never once taken their eyes off him, yet somehow… he was gone.
Exchanging bewildered glances, the investigators shook their heads in shared frustration.
Not a single one of them had caught even a glimpse of the kidnapper.
Even Bain—the knight-turned-investigator, famed for his exceptional dynamic vision—was no exception.
Despairingly, he stared at the ground, unable to stop biting his lip in anxiety.
“Damn it… this is a disaster. I boldly promised Her Highness the Princess I’d find a clue to the culprit…”
Princess Veronica von Agrion.
It had already been twelve months since she took command of the investigation into the serial handsome-man kidnappings on Hildes Street.
Once synonymous with competence, Princess Veronica had gradually lost her standing ever since taking on this case.
The woman once regarded as closest to the throne had now been surpassed by the First Prince.
To reclaim her former glory, she absolutely had to catch the kidnapper.
She’d even attempted a sting operation using a handsome decoy—but the kidnapper never appeared.
As a last resort, the Princess deployed knights known for their keen dynamic vision and physical prowess into the investigative unit.
Yet once again, despite their presence, another civilian was kidnapped—and not a single knight managed to obtain even the slightest lead.
Bain wasn’t happy about the situation, but he had no choice—he had to report back to the Princess.
With heavy steps, he made his way to her office.
“I present myself before Her Highness.”
Bain bowed respectfully to Veronica, doing his best to conceal his troubled expression.
But no matter how natural his face appeared, he couldn’t hide the tension stiffening his entire body.
The Princess, skilled in reading people, immediately understood everything from his posture.
“You failed.”
Her voice—sharp and cold as ice—draped the previously tranquil office in a glacial silence.
Bain swallowed hard, his throat dry with tension.
Though he’d faced countless battles, her aristocratic, domineering demeanor—innate to one born of royal blood—instilled in him a peculiar, unsettling fear.
“My apologies, Your Highness.”
The Princess exhaled audibly at his predictable response.
“Hmph. So you didn’t even catch a glimpse of the culprit’s face? Even the smallest clue would suffice.”
“…My deepest apologies.”
Bain bowed his head deeply and squeezed his eyes shut.
Though he couldn’t see her face, he could vividly imagine the Princess’s furious expression.
He didn’t have the courage to face it.
Fortunately, contrary to his fears, her expression remained calm.
Yet beneath the desk, her tightly clenched fist betrayed her raw emotions.
First she deployed mages; this time, knights.
Yet not one had uncovered a single clue about the kidnapper.
Worse still, another civilian had been snatched right under the investigators’ noses.
Repeated failure was an unfamiliar and bitter taste for her.
“Have you confirmed the victim’s identity?”
“We looked into it, but he appears to be an unknown individual.”
“…That’s at least somewhat fortunate. Cover up this incident.”
“B-but, Your Highness!”
“Do you not realize the upcoming Noble Assembly is near? Do you intend to proudly announce that you let the kidnapper slip away despite having them right in front of you during such a critical period?”
Bain pressed his lips tightly shut and lowered his head.
“My apologies, Your Highness. I shall ensure strict confidentiality.”
Veronica fixed Bain with a cold stare, then quietly composed her emotions.
With icy grace, she murmured under her breath,
“We’ll need to devise a different strategy.”
Today, more than ever, the crushing weight of her title as Princess pressed heavily upon her.
But as one destined to become Empress someday, failure here meant there would be no tomorrow.
Her teal eyes burned with renewed resolve.
Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me
One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.
Synopsis:
Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.
But this is still far from enough.
He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.
_____
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