The Male Lead’s Fake Sister - Chapter 61

Chapter 61

After Herod received the message, he thought to himself.

‘It seems this woman has figured out everything.’

What Ravia meant to say had been perfectly conveyed.

Her message was meant to humble him.

Herod thought he had the upper hand in this sticky situation. He happened to overhear Ravia and Tidwell’s conversation, whereas they had had no idea at all.

After him would be Tidwell, and the one with the greatest disadvantage would be Ravia.

But Ravia successfully turned the game around. If Ravia knew everything, then she would never lose.

So Herod was lost in thought for a moment.

‘Should I talk to Tidwell? Why does he need to pretend to be someone else, anyway?’

Of course, had he been in that situation, Herod would have done the same thing without a second thought.

But Herod wanted to take advantage of this situation without directly getting involved and was now facing a dilemma.

‘I really don’t want to get on Tidwell’s bad side, though.’

The problem was, Tidwell was really into his sister more than he imagined.

It would have been a different story if Ravia was just an obstacle for Tidwell to take over Leontine. It would be possible to negotiate with Tidwell and rescue Ravia.

But Ravia had become an object that Tidwell sought.

Of course, Tidwell denied it so far, but Herod wasn’t someone who was easily convinced by such denial.

It was clear Tidwell would bare his fangs the second Herod approached Ravia.

Therefore, talking to Tidwell about this matter seemed the better solution.

‘In the end, it’s either Tidwell or Ravia Leontine. Do I need to give up one of them?’

Either teamed up with Tidwell or made a deal with Ravia Leontine.

He hoped to meet Ravia in person to gauge how much she knew. Because of Tidwell, he was unable to approach her carelessly.

But Rette came into the picture just when Herod was stuck between two difficult choices. Rette happened to bump into Ravia Leontine and wanted to meet her again.

‘I was thinking about how to win over Ravia Leontine without getting on Tidwell’s bad side.’

He didn’t expect the help from Rette. Thus, a very interesting picture emerged in Herod’s mind.

As always, he took a step back and smiled at the chess pieces arranged on his board.

There was the most brilliant Queen among the chess pieces. Today as well, his Chunhee didn’t disappoint him.

Clever and elegant, as always.

When she discerned Rette’s secret just by exchanging a few words, or when she noticed he sneaked behind Rette, he couldn’t help but feel a thrill.

But she was still the same woman who got lost on the road.

A pitiful La Traviata.

Herod inferred something from their conversation.

The real reason Ravia returned his earring and deliberately exposed herself was to hide her weak spot.

“You couldn’t have discovered the truth if it weren’t for me, Chunhee.”

She forced him to confess so confidently, that it made him forget a very obvious fact.

She knew everything.

But if he thought about it a little more, he could see very clearly.

The fact that she returned the earring to him only meant that she wanted to understand the meaning of the earring, in other words, she knew nothing.

‘It seems that you only know up to the point that the man you’ve been seeing is my substitute.’

She didn’t seem to know the most crucial part- which was Tidwell’s lies.

If Ravia knew everything, she would have used her knowledge to shoot both of them down or revealed what she knew and gained the upper hand.

Even though there were many ways to use the earring, sending it back to Herod only meant that she didn’t really know anything about the true story.

After arriving at that conclusion, Herod asked gracefully.

“What do you think? Do you think my hypothesis is right?”

“….It’s better than I thought.”

Ravia, who had been listening quietly, slowly opened her mouth.

“On the front page of my favorite book, there is a proverb written instead of a tribute.”

Usually, books are written in honor of someone, so it was common to have a tribute written on the front page.

For example, to readers who read this book, or to someone who motivates the author to write the book, etc.

However, this is how the first chapter of 〈The Sophistry of Hypocrisy〉 began.

“Appearances are often deceptive.”

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[We all need to know that every deception is dangerous in itself. Because it is impossible to predict the outcome of that deception just by seeing through the lies that cover up the truth.]

Ravia caught the hand that circled her arm. Her hand slowly climbed up over his clothes before it reached his shoulder.

“Your hypothesis was excellent. It’s just that you still miss something.”

“So can I assume that my hypothesis was right?”

“I must say your answer is half right. After all, even if you come up with hypotheses, no one knows the truth except me.”

She leaned closer with a smile. Due to that sensual yet elegant line, Herod unknowingly narrowed his brows.

He was hit by a sudden realization.

He couldn’t really tell who had the upper hand in this strange confrontation.

So Herod’s lips parted in a dry laughter.

“Chunhee, you…..don’t tell me you planned to meet me ‘coincidentally’?”

“There is no sin in all coincidences.”

Ravia closed her eyes for a moment and opened them lightly.

It was her confirmation.

It wasn’t only Herod who had to avoid Tidwell’s surveillance. Ravia was also in the same boat.

So she drew attention, threw some hints, and diverted Tidwell’s attention.

She knew that while Tidwell was completely occupied, her other opponent was certain to definitely take this chance to approach her.

Ravia erased her smile as if she never smiled before and turned her indifferent gaze downstairs.

And she lifted her chin lightly. Arrogance and indifference were following her every little gesture.

“Let’s move places.”

Even her monotonous voice flowed out elegantly like that, and those characteristics reminded him of something.

A white queen that can move in any direction.

(TL/N: A queen is the most powerful piece on the chessboard as it may move any number of unoccupied squares in any direction.)

Elegant but destructive.

***
“First of all, I apologize for the substitute matter.”

That was the first thing Herod said after they moved to the balcony.

“I’m telling you in advance, but I don’t mean to keep fooling you.”

“That’s what scammers say when they try to be innocent.”

But scammers are scammers because they are not innocent, so his confession meant nothing to her.

Her sharp answer pricked his conscience, so Herod finally admitted.

“That’s right. I know that these words don’t mean much now. But there’s definitely a difference between apologizing and staying silent.”

“I don’t mean to reject it, but I simply don’t accept an apology without a price.”

In short, if you do something wrong, pay the price accordingly.

Herod smiled bitterly at Ravia’s cheeky demand.

He had expected her to be this bold, but then again, Herod knew that what Ravia wanted was also in his hand.

From the conversation he overheard at Velocio Theater, he knew that Ravia tried to escape Tidwell by marrying him, so Herod blurted out lightly.

“Of course, I was going to pay you a fair price. How about adding a clause in our contract? Or shall we increase the alimony by twofold ?”

Herod was already willing to consider positively even if Ravia added a clause where it allowed her to have a big portion of the shares or position in his organization.

“No.”

However, what Ravia said was far from what he offered.

“I’m afraid I’ve changed my mind during the time I haven’t seen you.”

Ravia smiled lightly.

Why does her smile feel like a predator when both of her tone and expression are so gentle?

Is it because she already calculated everything? Or because she knew she would never lose in any situation?

Herod’s mind was filled with various questions, but no right answer could be found.

Maybe it’s because we were under the moonlight? Hasn’t moonlight been a symbol of danger since ancient times?

Women who went crazy because they were exposed to too much moonlight, or the wolves who hid their madness under the moonlight.

Simply looking at the folklore about moonlight, he could quickly tell that it wasn’t as romantic as people made it out to be.

In the creeping darkness, the woman with her back against the silver moonlight uttered.

“I’m not marrying you, Herod.”

It was completely beyond Herod’s expectations.

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