I Just Needed Someone to Hate - Episode 10.2

“Langston, huh? I heard it’s something people who live hand-to-mouth dream of owning. Indeed. They say even among classic limousines, Langston is different.”

He was different from the underworld figures Vivianne dealt with for business. For one, he was older, and he had the knack for putting her at ease.

His driving was as rough as his accent. Vivianne glanced at his eyes again in the rearview mirror.

She thought they were blue, but upon closer inspection, the irises had shimmering yellow flecks. It was a unique impression, the kind you wouldn’t forget once you saw it.

She couldn’t recall exactly, but it felt like she’d seen that glint in a wanted poster or a photo capturing his gaze from behind bars.

It took a while for Vivianne to speak. She usually disliked having separate bodyguards and drivers. And now, two men, their presence looming large and blocking her view through the front windshield, sat before her.

“The Boss liked your proposal,” the man in the driver’s seat finally said, still looking ahead.

The Mergoville family’s driver, who was also her bodyguard, sat in the passenger seat, as silent as death.

The man’s voice continued.

“As you can see, he even brought you a gift.”

He gripped the steering wheel with one hand and rummaged inside his suit jacket with the other. The car shook as his movements became increasingly agitated, as if he couldn’t find what he was looking for easily.

“Ah, here it is. This damn thing… It got a little crumpled in transit, but you can still tell what it is.”

There was a hint of amusement in his voice. A small stack of photos moved from his hand to the passenger seat, and the bodyguard handed them to Vivianne with both hands.

Vivianne carefully took them.

The first crumpled black-and-white photo was of herself. Specifically, tumbling down the stairs of her fiancé’s mistress’s villa and collapsing in the mansion’s hall. A face wearing a sly grin next to her completed the exquisite composition.

It was the culprit who had put her in this state, a follower of Carolina Russella – her fiancé’s mistress.

‘He must have snatched these directly from Carolina, who was trying to sell them.’

The next photo featured two women.

They were familiar faces. One was Carolina Russella, and the other was…

‘Janet Watkins.’

The two were talking outdoors. Janet looked utterly relaxed, but Carolina did not. Her complexion was so pale, almost blue, that Vivianne couldn’t bring herself to turn the photo for a long time.

‘What did Watkins say to Carolina?’

The next photo.

The man from the first photo – Carolina’s follower – was smiling triumphantly. One hand was holding a head of hair in a grotesque grip, the arms bound. A corner of the photo captured an arm holding a cigarette.

When she turned to the next page, the follower was no longer smiling. Men in suits who had finished their work were bowing before a pale-faced Carolina. Carolina looked just like a mafia boss who had ordered that annoying man to be removed from her presence.

It was easy to guess the reason for the follower’s despairing expression.

‘Carolina’s clothes and hairstyle are the same as in the second photo. If the second and third photos were taken on the same day, it means it was after I was injured. Then the only thing Watkins in the second photo could have told Carolina was about Ludwig.’

And Ludwig hated her. She couldn’t understand why that would make Carolina turn pale.

The last page. Carolina was trembling next to her follower’s corpse. A bullet was embedded in the wall next to her. Heat haze shimmered from the pool of blood flowing from the follower’s body. At the end of that discoloration, Carolina was sitting in another pool with a shocked expression.

“They didn’t kill the woman.”

“…”

“Wasn’t your wish to become the most famous woman in the system? The Boss said it would be difficult if an actress as great as her died.”

“…”

“Besides, wouldn’t it be quite a headache if the Lady were suspected of murdering a famous actress? In that sense, we needed someone to pin the blame for killing that follower lying on the floor, so we had no choice. Her name was Carolina something, that woman won’t even remember what happened today. He says don’t worry, he’ll make sure she rots in prison from now until she dies, right when her screen career is taking off.”

“…”

“Anyway, she’s from a superpower across the ocean, so the process was a bit complicated, but as you know, our Boss has good useful friends. Sorry. The Boss’s lawyer usually handles this kind of thing well.”

“…”

“Did you know? What’s truly terrible isn’t the bullet. It’s the law, the law. It might not seem like it, but the guy who died instantly when he whined that he was betrayed by the actress he was following is much better off than the punishment the surviving woman will receive. The Boss isn’t usually this emotional when handling things, but anyway.”

The man muttered something to himself, but Vivianne silently flipped through the photos, over and over.

The photos from different times, taken as if in a continuous sequence, were telling a story. The mafia boss had carried out her instructions written in the letter. And Vivianne suppressed her nausea and slowly lowered her creaking arm.

The photos stopped at the third page, the one she had been watching closely.

“Anyway, he said to feel free to ask if you need any help, in such cases.”

After a long silence, the man in the driver’s seat turned around, as if he had forgotten something, and said, “Oh, right. If you’re really cold, there’s a small box next to you, where you put your feet, you can wrap yourself in what’s inside. He said to deliver that too.”

Vivianne shifted her gaze from her knees and looked under the seat next to her. There was nothing there. As if noticing her gaze, the man in the driver’s seat said, “Oh, it seems to be on the side you’re sitting on.”

When she lifted her feet, she saw a crushed, bulky box. “That’s it, that’s the one,” he said, finally looking ahead and starting to drive again.

An alien whistling sound filled the car amidst the chilling silence.

The whistling stopped a long time later. The man in the driver’s seat, who had been humming a popular tune but kept forgetting the next part and repeating the chorus, stiffened and his expression disappeared. And the voice…

He vividly remembered the voice he had heard before coming here.

“Kill her.”

Strictly speaking, it was a very unusual order.

Even for him, who was used to counting people as units like objects when making deals.

Perhaps that was why he couldn’t concentrate, even though he was driving this amazing Langston limousine that wasn’t sold to thugs like him. The memory continued.

“Sir, are you sure you haven’t confused the name of the dame you want taken care of? I know you’re not interested in women, but please review it one more time.”

There was no answer. Nothing changed. It was as ordered.

He had been the head of the organization’s branch in the system for quite some time, but he still couldn’t keep up with the young Boss’s calculations.

Harvey Kane Cole had babbled to the Boss.

“That Mergoville woman, she’s been a useful tool. And that quasi-member Ludwig Rex is a talented individual. There’s no reason to take the toy he’s been playing with out of his hands and deepen the resentment.”

The letter suddenly handed to the Boss today was truly a game-changer.

Show the actress who had offended him a lesson without killing her, and neatly kill the woman with great value in a car accident.

‘How can you get rid of someone essential to the organization and save someone who isn’t?’

It wasn’t just for fun, the Boss, who had never shown his face and had been thorough with security even when delivering instructions, had come forward and ordered it. Therefore, this matter must be truly important.

He didn’t know. Could someone like him ever follow the Boss’s thoughts in the first place?

He hated complicated things. Shooting was all he was good at and liked.

The Boss seemed to be thinking about something for a long time, then spat out one word.

“Expression.”

“Yes?”

“I want you to know the expression, what kind of face that woman who received my gift had before she died.”

Snapping out of his thoughts, the man glanced at the rearview mirror. His gaze, which had been lingering there for a while, returned to the front. All he had to do was drive along the well-paved road, so there were no problems on the way to his area.

“…Put on a coat if you’re cold. Don’t be stubborn. It’s something that would suit a noble lady’s taste.”

The lady in the back seat, reflected in the rearview mirror, had her head down, so he couldn’t see her expression. The box was neatly placed on the seat next to her. It was then.

“Later.”

The voice, which he was hearing for the first time, was indeed as beautiful as she looked.

However, the voice was so calm that he was honestly a little surprised. He had repeatedly told her to put on a coat, but he could distinguish between cold and fear. The woman had been trembling the whole time.

“May I ask your name?”

“Harvey.”

“Harvey, huh? Freddie said you were the head of the branch in the system. Are you the person I know?”

She was holding a photo left on her lap as if it were something precious, leaning slightly towards it as if protecting it from something.

There was no expectation in her expression. The lady’s lips were curved in a gentle smile, as if she had understood his silence as affirmation.

“Then, Harvey. Have you seen these photos too?”

“I have.”

“Do you remember them?”

“Yes, of course. I reviewed the photos twice when I received them, as it was the Boss’s order that I directly conveyed to my subordinates. I saw them again just now when I got them back from the Salenner Hotel. I thought I was lucky to run into you like this when the Lady was walking into the lobby.”

“That’s a relief.”

Harvey’s voice, which had been mixed with deliberate friendliness, was blocked by Vivianne’s monotonous voice.

“Then there’s no need to talk for long. The third one. I mean, the arm in the photo of the man being taken care of. The only man standing there wearing expensive cufflinks. Do you remember whose arm it is?”

“…”

Harvey’s hand on the steering wheel faltered.

He lied as the Boss had ordered.

“It’s the Boss’s.”

“Not the fake ones in the media?”

“…Yes.”

“It seems the letter was delivered properly.”

There were many things in this world that could be called a letter, but in this situation, the word indicated only one thing.

That letter. That piece of paper that Vivianne Mergoville had sent to their Boss this morning through her maid.

Because of that, this troublesome thing was Harvey swallowed the words that were about to rise to his throat.

“It was.”

“So your Boss likes to collect trophies?”

“Yes?”

“Those cufflinks look quite nice.”

The lady in the rearview mirror was staring at the part where that arm was photographed, as if she was no longer interested in the actress in question.

Her slender fingertips were tracing the place where her own gaze was directed.

“A master craftsman meticulously crafted royal blue sapphires, and carved ivory on top of them, one of the few in the Empire. Pure silver was used for the plate.”

“Is that so.”

That’s what noble ladies would say. Was she trying to say that your Boss doesn’t deserve to have such jewels?

Strictly speaking, no.

He was treated like a noble, and he was the son of a family whose father was a minister, so it wouldn’t be strange for such cufflinks to be lying around on his desk.

…Ah, I feel like I’m getting caught up in something?

It seemed like it was only a matter of time before their Boss’s identity was revealed.

There was no aristocratic strategist that the media idiots were talking about, and it would be quite fatal if it was revealed that he was their Boss. The woman said she met the Boss on Mirabolta Street.

Why did the Boss have one of his subordinates wear those cufflinks?

And why did he tell him to lie that it was him?

Harvey quickly changed the subject.

“Does it belong to someone you know?”

“It was my father’s. He ran away with everything valuable from the house, a year ago.”

Harvey was relieved that the topic of conversation hadn’t jumped to a strange place, no matter what the noble lady said.

He didn’t need to know about that woman’s circumstances. Whether she ran away or did something else. Of course she would want to run away.

Would those damn nobles, who even marry cousins to preserve their bloodline, want to mix with the ill-tempered bastard of the chairman?

“You must have lost it then. Or sold it.”

“No. He used it to pay the price instead of money.”

“…”

“It was the price of a life.”

He should be saying things like, ‘Whatever it was, it’s a shame, should I have killed that bastard who took the jewel for the price of a life? Is that it?’ but his gaze couldn’t leave the rearview mirror.

Harvey hadn’t understood the Boss’s order.

“I want you to know the expression, what kind of face that woman who received my gift had before she died.”

That’s right. That wasn’t all. The Boss in his memory continued.

“And remember exactly the expression on her face when she sees the photo with these cufflinks.”

The woman in the small rearview mirror was expressionless. As she had been all along. But still, clearly.

It was then that he heard a loud honking sound. ‘Damn it, why are you driving like that?’ Harvey muttered inwardly and corrected the steering wheel. When he came to his senses, the sky was all red with sunset. Seeing that the area was becoming increasingly deserted, it seemed that they were approaching their destination.

“We’re heading towards Mirabolta Street.”

“I’m not a very diligent driver, so I’ll have to drop you off at my workplace. This friend in the passenger seat can take you to the mansion.”

Harvey soon parked the Langston in front of his familiar casino building.

Since the topic of photos had come up, he pondered the words that Janet Watkins in the second photo had said to Ludwig Rex’s new mistress.

Watkins had apparently told Carolina about the punishment she received after throwing birth control pills on Vivianne’s stomach. And she even taunted Carolina, who had pushed Vivianne, to guess what kind of punishment she would receive.

Harvey looked at Vivianne in the back seat and thought.

Since he was sending her off like this anyway, should he tell her that Ludwig Rex was horny for his fiancée, or not?

Such trivial love quarrels between little blood clots. Whatever.

Harvey got out of the stopped car and knocked on the back seat window. When Vivianne lowered the window, Harvey made eye contact with her and said, “If you need to come again in the future, come here. You’ll have to come often. Because from then on, you won’t be able to look at this street with such a foolish look.”

“…”

“Aren’t you known in the media as the organization’s aristocratic strategist? You’ll have to be more useful than this complexion.”

Of course, that day would never come.

Tomorrow morning’s newspaper article would read: ‘Vivianne Mergoville. A woman known as the hidden intellect of the Daatro underworld, dies in a car explosion.’

And also.

After being quiet for a while, they would all start digging again to find the real aristocratic strategist.

‘I guess the Boss didn’t hate you that much. He keeps the useful ones alive.’

He had heard that she had been living for the past year in a way that he didn’t know how she could endure, being talked about by the world.

Only her fiancé was quiet, and she had been living while receiving the hatred, resentment, and wariness of the entire Empire.

Even so, if she had been useful, the Boss would have kept her alive. He would have made her live a miserable life, even by catching her weaknesses.

But his choice was ruthless.

‘The Boss’s lawyer seems to know something, but he’s not trying to say anything, and he’s not even trying to take on this job. He would have handled the work more cleanly.’

Turning around, Harvey looked at the woman’s face one last time. Vivianne was looking at the cufflinks in the photo that someone who was dead or alive had taken as the price of a life.

“See you next time.”

At Harvey’s words, the woman smiled brightly. Meanwhile, the Mergoville family’s bodyguard took over the steering wheel, and the departing car gradually moved away.

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