I Decided to Kidnap the Male Lead

Ophelia pointed to her chest with an expression of ‘I can’t believe it’, and Catherine blushed, nodding her head, perhaps embarrassed.

It was ridiculous to Ophelia.

The problem was not the huge gap between the Lady Sheffield that Iris and Cooper had described and the Catherine in front of her, or the lifelong determination sparked by her childhood innocence.

Ophelia just couldn’t understand why she was the fateful person featured in the story, that is, the person who ‘subdued her with a single blow’.

“Even if you laugh at me for believing in such a fairytale-like fateful encounter and risking my whole life for it like a fool, I have nothing to say. I know that too.”

Catherine shrugged her shoulders, her huge jeweled earrings rattling and her eyes glowing sorely.

But Ophelia didn’t squint or frown like before.

“It’s not funny. Just…”

She asked, staring directly at Catherine.

“You said I am the person of destiny.”

“Yes. That’s what you are to me.”

Catherine’s cheeks flushed slightly, but she did not avoid Ophelia’s eyes.

“You’re serious.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“It’s destiny.”

Wasn’t it a silly question and answer?

For a person to like another person, one probably didn’t need a reason, so what reason did fate need?

Ophelia closed her mouth and gazed at Catherine again.

‘It’s said the eyes are the windows to the soul.’

Ophelia dug into Catherine’s eyes and could not find a single bit of falsehood in them.

She was by no means an idiot who lacked common sense.

Subtly quivering voice, confident expression… but anxiety reflected in it.

And even the fingers that couldn’t remain still for a moment.

That look belonged to someone who confessed something.

Something hidden in one’s private space.

Of course, Ophelia couldn’t grasp everybody’s lies.

‘But if she’s that good at lying, wouldn’t that also have a high value?’

Well, if the story she told was not true, then why would she call a new aide, who didn’t have a strong family backing her, and tell her childhood stories instead of making a request?

Plus, the story was absurd and unsophisticated enough to be ridiculed by others when they heard it.

Lastly… Ophelia glanced down at her teacup, which was still half full.

“This tea.”

“It’s chamomile. Does it suit your taste?”

Ophelia slowly nodded at the question uttered in a nervous, shrill voice.

“You prepared this on purpose.”

Catherine didn’t answer, but even if she didn’t, Ophelia knew the answer.

It was trivial, it was very trivial.

‘This is how I knew.’

That Catherine cared very much about this visit.

“I heard you enjoy chamomile.”

How many people know the tea Lady Bolsheik enjoyed?

The actual number was unknown, but those who knew even in the Bolsheik residence could be counted on one hand.

Nevertheless, Catherine carefully researched and prepared a cup of tea for Ophelia.

How… burdensome.

It would have been better if she had a suspicious liking for no reason.

If so, Ophelia could have ignored that one-sided favor, expecting that Catherine would have an ulterior motive.

What destiny.

‘This is difficult. This is really troublesome.’

“…Shouldn’t we just return until it’s done?”

Richard’s voice rolled through Ophelia’s ears.

‘Building a relationship with someone in a situation where you don’t know when or how you will regress is probably terribly difficult.’

‘The memories, time and emotions with them that they do not remember.’

‘I’ll have to start over from the beginning with people who are unfamiliar with me, while it’s not the same for me.’

Actually, it wasn’t to the extent that it was difficult, but Ophelia didn’t even want to start.

Catherine and Iris were different.

She worked with Iris every day, almost every hour, so it was much less of a burden.

Even if Iris didn’t remember, she made a shallow calculation that the time only she remembered wouldn’t be too long.

Back when she stepped out for Iris, she was outside of her state of reason, but when she asked to shake her hand, she hugged her because she instinctively considered all of that.

Ophelia, having thought so far, laughed at herself.

She said she would not give up on Richard, and that she would do what she could, but in the end, she was just afraid of becoming like him.

‘But it is.’

Like she said to him, how could she maintain her sanity in this gutter if she didn’t have groundless confidence?

Ophelia held the empty but still warm teacup with both hands.

‘Catherine Sheffield.’

‘Drawn towards me by fate.’

It was heavy, cumbersome, and burdensome, which was why reason was shouting to run right away.

But…

Ophelia couldn’t be so cold to the point of ignoring the person appealing to her with all her heart.

‘Am I saying I’ll dig my own grave?’

‘Well, it’ll work out somehow!’

She decided not to think too much.

Bit by bit… she was not smart enough to weigh everything that would happen if she became friends with Catherine.

And even if she argued that, she was not cold enough to cut off the person that stared at her with eyes filled with anxiety, hope and earnestness.

Ophelia slowly lifted her gaze, which had been fixed on the teacup, and looked at Catherine.

“Thank you for your consideration.”

Catherine pressed her lips a few times before saying,

“I’ve prepared tea… but actually, this drawing room is also redecorated.”

Ophelia had to suppress a laugh because the concealed words of ‘praise me!’ were so loud, but she asked back shyly.

“Even this huge jewel-studded sofa?”

“Yes! Not just the sofa, but the entire wall and ceiling! I filled it up with only the best!”

The abbreviated ‘for you!’ seemed to resonate loudly in the ears.

Suddenly, Catherine’s outstanding prestige, or notoriety, came to mind.

—A social hive.

Bee… Home. A place where everything revolved around the queen bee.

‘Could this be that I am Catherine’s queen bee?’

Ophelia wished someone would grab her by the collar so she wouldn’t make a bad joke, but it was only Catherine and herself here.

For now, she calmly said,

“Catherine.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

“Yes!”

Ophelia, leaning slightly towards Catherine, added very firmly.

“But it’s too much.”

“Yes…”

Seeing Catherine blooming and withering away at her words, Ophelia swallowed a light sigh and raised her body.

Even if this time disappeared due to regression, or even if she and her future time become nothing.

“I didn’t expect that I would say this.”

Sitting next to Catherine, Ophelia hugged her close.

“Okay, my friend.”

The eyes of Catherine were opened wide, and they caught sight of Ophelia’s ears that were stained red.

“Don’t laugh. I know it’s childish. But I don’t know how else to say it.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s childish.”

Smiling happily, Catherine hugged Ophelia back.

And she firmly shut her itchy mouth and swallowed her true feelings, recalling what her stupid brother said back then.

“Say you meet the one of your destiny, you meet the one. ‘My fated one! I won’t miss it!’ If you’re going to say this, please don’t. Those are words that would make him kick and run away even if you grabbed him by the hem of his pants and hang on to him.”

.

Around the time Ophelia’s back was sore from the jewels in Catherine’s newly renovated drawing room.

Richard listened to Iris’ report, expressionlessly resting his chin on his hand.

“…there is…”

And Iris’ voice didn’t reach his ears, flowing past.

For Richard, it was enough to just glance at the state administration; there wasn’t a need to examine it one by one.

The more one repeated something, the more one would get used to it, and the more proficient one would become.

Needless to say, this was the case for the state affairs he cared about for the longest time before he regarded everything as meaningless.

Suddenly, a small but sure smile spread across his lips.

“Do you have nothing to do?”

Perhaps Ophelia is the only one who could, and did, say that to him.

She said that today she was going to meet Lady Sheffield, so when she came back, she would probably talk about something new again.

A new story. Really, those were words he hadn’t thought of in a very long time.

Having repeatedly regressed, Richard always saw, heard, felt and experienced the same things.

Back in the past, although there were minor changes, the people around him did not change dramatically.

So almost everything was not very new to him.

But getting pulled by the collar, being kidnapped, or having the ground shake and tip over and collapse were quite new.

And those were all experiences after meeting Ophelia.

A faint smile lingered on the closed mouth of Richard, who had completely closed his eyes.

With only Iris’s calm voice ringing.

“…so they say they’re still figuring out the situation.”

Richard suddenly raised a hand, and Iris immediately ceased speaking.

Ame: Catherine’s brother isn’t wrong, cause if I were Ophelia, I’d be running for the hills. I don’t doubt that Catherine will be a great addition to the… team… (if you can call Richard and Ophelia + the other aides a team) but I do wonder if there’s more to this speedy proposal of friendship besides the fairytale dream. Thinking back to the author’s most popular work, probably not. Then again… does someone need a ‘valid reason’ to like someone? #3am_musingswithame #not_recommended #sleep_is_better

Dea:Novels and manhwas have conditioned us to not trust overly friendly female characters that try to get close to the fl….but i will give this one a try since i’m really enjoying their dynamic. We’ve got love at first sight for Catherine and a headache at first sight for Ophelia haha, it’s the beginning of a beautiful friendship!