I Just Needed Someone to Hate - Episode 8.2

“Then you shouldn’t have come to me, but to your fiancé, don’t you think? Did you expect a warm welcome from me?”

“I’m glad you and your mother seem to be doing well.”

“……”

“I met Watkins at the door. If you’ve gone to the trouble of inviting someone you despise so much into your home, there must be a good reason. Considering that he was Ludwig Rex’s lover, you were trying to use Watkins to find Ludwig’s weakness, weren’t you? Seeing that your mother went to see Congressman Eastwell, the answer is…”

“Ah, you’re the genius Vivianne Mergoville, as always. Did you come all the way here just to gloat?”

“Eastwell.”

“……”

“I came to offer you some useful help.”

“Are you going to start acting cute in your fiancé’s bed now? That’s wonderful news. Why didn’t you try it before you told me? Oh, right. You have to brag before you do that difficult work, don’t you?”

“Does your father happen to have any journalist friends?”

Vivianne’s voice was colder than before, and it had calmed down. Cynthia turned around to look at Vivianne, her eyes red.

She bit her lower lip tightly for a long time before opening her mouth.

“Yes.”

“Judging by your harsh words, you’re not recording, are you? Then listen carefully. I’m the aristocratic strategist that the press wants to know about.”

“What?”

“They’re saying things like, ‘Who is the aristocratic strategist who has grown the empire’s underworld forces to this extent?’ People think it’s my fiancé.”

Vivianne recalled the words the reporters shouted as she left the hotel with her fiancé.

“Mr. Ludwig Rex! Mr. Ludwig Rex! Please answer the question. Who do you think is the aristocratic strategist who has made Daatro’s underworld so prosperous in just six years?”

People think Ludwig Rex is the main character of this story. But Ludwig Rex is just a nobody. If he had contributed greatly to the expansion of the forces, Freddie, whom she met in the alley, would have no reason to be hostile to Ludwig. The trust between the two would have been thicker than that.

‘So, there’s a real underworld strategist of aristocratic descent hiding behind Ludwig Rex’s notoriety and reaping the benefits.’

It’s about winning his favor.

Ludwig can betray them at any time and is friendly with the police, but Vivianne is flawless and confident that she can give them absolute trust.

The ‘real’ strategist would want to use her rather than someone as unpredictable as Ludwig. As a disguise to hide his identity from the outside world.

This was the ‘offer’ she had always had in mind.

“Really? Did you receive training to become an underworld strategist while surrounded by tutors? Do you have any proof?”

Cynthia asked in a shrill voice. Vivianne shook her head.

“No. Not here.”

“Then.”

“Instead, I can guarantee that I’ve been constantly signing important documents as a role that guarantees their trust. Do you understand? My name, not Ludwig’s, is written at the end of the document. Even the Speaker of the Aristocratic Assembly knows this, so if you release this to the press, the Speaker will really think you know something.”

“……”

“Whether the information turns out to be true or not, there will be noise. If you act like you know something, the Prime Minister’s office will demand information.”

“……”

“Then just stay still. Then the Speaker won’t bother your people for no reason. You might be able to ask the Prime Minister for protection while testing the waters.”

After listening to Vivianne’s words, Cynthia rolled her eyes. She stammered.

“So, you’re really the ‘real’ one that the press is talking about.”

I don’t even know who that ‘real’ one is.

Vivianne repeated inwardly, smiling somewhere between affirmation and denial.

“So that’s why you were wearing inconspicuous clothes in that backward alley near Mirabolta Street because you have to be active.”

Thankfully, Cynthia was adding her own details to the story.

“That intelligence agent approached you, not your fiancé, for that reason too.”

That’s simply because I’m easier to target.

Vivianne waited patiently for Cynthia to calm down.

“How about it? Isn’t it more useful than the information Janet Watkins gave you?”

“Wh-Why are you telling me this?”

Cynthia, who had become overly polite again, said. Vivianne replied with a calm face.

“Because you looked desperate.”

“……”

“Besides, I’m worried about your family, just as your mother is.”

That wasn’t the only reason.

If she didn’t have the courage to convey the ‘offer’ she had in mind directly to the head of the underworld, she had to use someone around her. Preferably in a way that would benefit the other party as well.

“You decide how to use this information. If I were you, I’d start by targeting the tabloid reporters who would move quickly and loudly, even without accurate evidence. I’ll be going.”

With those words, Vivianne turned around and left the drawing room. The hand holding the clutch was trembling slightly.

If she just became Ludwig Rex’s wife, she wouldn’t have to take these risks. But she didn’t want to. If what she learned from her parents was how to use the family name, if she knew the value of the trust and topicality that the name gave, then she should use it.

She was also a Mergoville who resembled her parents.

❖ ❖ ❖

Janet Watkins silently stared at the pill in her hand. The birth control pill that was the root of all this. She popped it into her mouth and swallowed it. The look on the noble lady’s face when she handed it to her lingered in her mind, making her feel suffocated.

Ludwig Rex was really kind to her when she was his lover. The affection was so addictive and sweet that it made her believe that she was different from the women he had abandoned. He was generous even when she crossed certain lines.

She thought it would be the same on the day she saw his fiancée at the Salenner Hotel. Janet hugged his arm as she walked out of the hotel and whispered.

“…So, do you know what I said when I threw the birth control pill on that poor noble lady’s stomach?”

Ah, what did I say?

“I thought she might need it more than I do.”

Yes, she mocked her like that.

Ludwig Rex’s expression hardened when he heard those words and after that, it was as the media said.

As if he could only get hard by touching that noble lady’s body, he vented his lust by moving to my room, even engraving his anger on my body as if I was just that much. And as time passed, she slowly realized.

His kindness was only because she was nothing to him, because she was less than a person, so he could lavish it on her like the overflowing money he had. So, it was payment for services rendered.

Janet Watkins lit a cigarette with hazy eyes. It was a smooth and skillful movement.

As the faint smoke spread over the old rooftop room, Watkins looked at it and started laughing. Besides the wide single window that gleamed in the winter sunlight, the old walls covered in graffiti and the creaking floorboards and cheap furniture were covered in the room’s gray shadows.

She got up and picked up the phone. And after a long time, she told the telephone operator a familiar number.

When someone answered, Janet opened her mouth.

“Tell them Janet Watkins is calling.”

Various words poured out from the receiver. Janet took another deep breath, regardless, and said.

“Yes. To sum it up, we ended on bad terms, and the person who pays you won’t be seeing me. I understand, so just tell him one thing. His fiancée mentioned him today, and I wonder if he’s curious about what she said.”

With those words, Janet hung up the phone. She glanced at the old, unpleasant-sounding bed mattress and then shifted her gaze back to the phone.

As expected.

The phone rang quickly.

“Ludwig Rex is holding Lady Vivianne Mergoville captive.”

It snowed that evening. The ground in the vacant lot where they were standing was freezing, but no one was shivering from the cold.

The vacant lot, where the sun had almost set, was dyed in the same color but with different saturations, and from the pale ground to the cool sky, it was trapped in the same shadowy curtain. Edmund, who was looking down at the intelligence agent buried in the ground with only his face exposed, turned his head to look at the organization’s legal advisor. He understood it as an indication that he could say more.

“Someone on our side who works in Ludwig Rex’s office said that Ludwig Rex’s ex-lover called him around early afternoon, and he hasn’t looked good since. You don’t have to worry about Lady Mergoville’s disposal.”

“……”

“Speaking of the Lex family, Speaker Lex also sent someone directly to our side. He knows that the Boss concealed the Prime Minister’s intelligence operation.”

He must have been talking about the retrieval of his photo with Vivianne. It seemed that the Speaker had connections with the CEOs who were at that meeting. Edmund nodded. The organization’s legal advisor continued.

“The Speaker said that since the mutual interests in the change of government are aligned, the conversation will go well. If you ask my opinion, the Speaker is a useful person. He’s been in the game for so long that he has as many connections in the political world as the Emperor. He said let’s work together.”

“What are the requirements?”

He must be saying sweet words because he wants to get something. Edmund could read the inner thoughts of the old ambitious man. The organization’s legal advisor continued as if he had been waiting for it.

“You know that at least the officers of the Metropolitan Police Agency, if not the local police stations, were the Prime Minister’s people.”

“They were the people of the former Prime Minister.”

“That’s right. But after the clean Prime Minister took office after the war, the situation changed a bit. As you know, the Superintendent General of the Metropolitan Police Agency was a terrible elitist. He was known for being kind to the rich and powerful, and he took a lot of bribes thanks to that.”

“……”

“When the new clean Prime Minister took office two years ago, he must have thought he was doing the right thing and arrested Don Becallone, the head of the underworld, and offered him to the higher-ups. Then, Boss was really lucky.”

At those words, Edmund laughed lowly. Lucky. He repeated. The organization’s legal advisor said calmly with a sinister look.

“Didn’t his son beat someone to death in Mirabolta Street?”

“We have the evidence, so hand it over to take control of the Metropolitan Police Agency.”

“Yes, that’s it. When his son caused such a big accident, wasn’t the lifeline that the Superintendent General grabbed onto the Speaker of the Aristocratic Assembly? Since then, the Superintendent General has personally taken care of all the problems that Speaker Lex has had. He does everything he’s told, but he doesn’t bow his head, and now he wants us to hand over the evidence.”

“Okay. What’s next?”

“He mentioned what happened during the short period that Lady Vivianne Mergoville left home.”

“It seems that the person the Speaker sent directly was that brat’s aide.”

At the mention of Ludwig Rex’s aide, the organization’s legal advisor nodded.

“Yes.”

“Continue.”

“He asked that the Lex family not be excluded from the organization’s affairs in the future. In particular, he wants to be delegated full authority over the disposal of the Mergoville family. You know that Ludwig Rex always brought his fiancée to the negotiating table when he was conducting business, considering that the other party was a high-ranking official.”

“……”

“I understand that he also had the daughter of the Mergoville family sign the documents. It seems that he regards the names of his future in-laws as assets or escape routes. He must have been upset that he was about to lose that.”

“What’s next?”

“He asked that the photo of the agent who was with that lady not be released to the press in the future. He also dislikes the scenario in which the Prime Minister’s intelligence operation inspires people. That’s all.”

Edmund nodded and looked ahead. The agent, who was buried in the snowfield with only his head exposed, was looking at him with bloodshot eyes, as if he had heard everything so far. He didn’t open his mouth, as if he didn’t want to provoke him.

Smart. Edmund gave a nice smile to the agent who had remembered his words well.

“There’s also a mild option that only erases his memory.”

The organization’s legal advisor suggested cautiously. Edmund chuckled and moved to take the head of the branch’s gun.

He pressed the hammer of the pistol and put his finger on the trigger of the taut gun. The muzzle was aimed at the agent’s head buried in the ground.

“Speaker Rex didn’t seem to want any noise either.”

“Icarus.”

Edmund said in a low voice. He called the organization’s legal advisor Icarus when he was blaming him. It was a nickname that the other party didn’t like very much.

“Who do you work for? Do you work for me, or do you work for Speaker Rex?”

Icarus silently took a step back.

Soon, a gunshot like an explosion echoed in the vast outskirts of the capital. Only the dry winter trees were the witnesses. Edmund returned the gun to the head of the branch and turned around. His action member Freddie took a picture of the corpse.

After checking the photo, Edmund instructed the head of the branch to do something. The head of the branch nodded and moved in another direction. Icarus guessed that it didn’t seem like he was going to discard it as the Speaker of the Aristocratic Assembly had said. As he was estimating where he was taking the photos, Edmund, who was in the lead, moved and said.

“Rex’s brat said he was holding his fiancée captive?”

“…Yes.”

“We don’t know where that is.”

“I don’t think it’s something we should get involved in.”

With Icarus’s answer, Edmund got into the car. Judging from the fact that he didn’t allow him to ride with him, it seemed that he wouldn’t listen to any more words that had been thought through once. Edmund smoked a cigarette.

Icarus said to the open car window.

“The Boss set conditions, and that noble lady left home. I think you should make a decision according to the plan without being swayed by emotions.”

“……”

“The testimony of that lady, who is in her right mind, is more likely to harm the organization than the mouth of that agent, whose memory has been erased. But I can’t understand why you’re killing the agent and saving the woman.”

“……”

“I thought that Rex the Second was unpredictable, but if I gave him what he wanted, he would be a person I could control. Didn’t he even bring my father in like this?”

Edmund, who was sitting behind the car window, didn’t even turn his head in that direction and started the car as it was.

Icarus looked at the snowfield where his car had disappeared, as if he couldn’t understand. It was unexpected because he was a person who thought that he would give everything to the other party except his heart.

‘It’s either the police station or the Salenner Hotel.’

It was also a conclusion that he couldn’t come up with in his head that he would show up in such a crowded place and attract attention.

❖ ❖ ❖

Hotel Salenner.

“Drink.”

A whiskey glass was placed in front of Vivianne. Less than half of the brown, top-quality liquor was filled. Ludwig Rex said, looking into Vivianne’s eyes.

“Wouldn’t it be better for both of us if you didn’t have any memories?”

When Vivianne pushed the glass off the table, the whiskey spilled and the glass shattered. The shoes of the man standing behind Ludwig, who was sitting across from her, got dirty. Ludwig continued to speak calmly without even raising an eyebrow.

“I heard the police called me.”

He was talking about when Vivianne was arrested by the police before she came here.

“Why don’t you call your agent instead of me? He’s going to be unfairly investigated just for being in that bastard’s villa near Mirabolta Street, so come and testify that nothing happened. Then you don’t have to see that dirty bastard like this, and it’s good, isn’t it?”

Ludwig, who carelessly stubbed out the cigarette he was smoking in the ashtray, said with a smile. He must have heard the story I told Janet at Eastwell Manor.

“Since you told me an interesting story, I have to tell you one too.”

Vivianne flinched her shoulders when Ludwig got up from his seat. His voice was calm and relaxed, so it didn’t sound threatening at all, but that’s why it was even scarier.

“Did you know that my father was trying to make me a Senator?”

His jacket was placed on the bed.

“He thought I was more suitable for that position than my upright brother. Whether he was good at calculating or cherished his firstborn. He brought me into the family even though he knew I would be a flaw in his great bloodline.”

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