The Villain's Sister - Chapter 57

Giselle Deva Moltke.

The hero who saved Heinrich von Valkenstein, the fairy godmother of Cinderella, the origin of Red Shadow.

She confessed to him.

That she had approached the police in order to rehabilitate Raphael.

“The one who changed was me.”

Johan clenched his teeth.

He was displeased with Giselle’s attitude.

No, it wasn’t her he found displeasing.

He was upset with himself for being hurt by Giselle looking lost.

‘It must be because he owes her.’

Right. Thanks to the White Hands, he had been saved.

So he should only feel grateful, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Giselle’s feelings.

He hoped she wouldn’t change because of Tristan Lindbergh.

He had been relieved that she didn’t love that cop… but now he felt anxious again.

“Wait here.”

Giselle walked up to Tristan.

He didn’t like seeing her stand there like a criminal.

With her head hung low, looking lost, and her skirt getting wet from the raindrops splashing under the umbrella—everything.

He wanted to run over and properly hold the umbrella over her and tell her to lift her head.

‘You’re not a villain like Raphael.’

She had tried to use Detective Tristan Lindbergh, but so what?

In this city, lies of that level were nothing.

In a world of deceiving and being deceived, it was the deceived who were at fault.

No, that wasn’t right.

It was his thinking that was wrong.

‘What a pathetic thought. I’m making excuses like this.’

If he had been the one Giselle approached to use, he would have deemed her a villain and dealt with her immediately.

Tristan Lindbergh’s reaction was entirely normal.

He wanted to defend Giselle so badly that he was thinking things he usually wouldn’t.

Johan furrowed his brow, his head spinning.

“I told you to look me in the eye!”

At Tristan Lindbergh’s shout, Giselle’s shoulders flinched.

His teeth clenched on their own.

His breath grew ragged.

He wanted to drag Giselle away and take her home right now.

Just as he was trying to suppress his rising anger, Tristan Lindbergh stepped into Giselle’s umbrella.

Their gazes locked, the umbrella tilted.

And Giselle disappeared from view.

The last thing he saw before Giselle vanished was Tristan Lindbergh grabbing her.

What the two of them were doing under that umbrella was now a matter of imagination.

And in Johan’s imagination, the two of them…

“Damn it.”

The umbrella in his hand snapped.

Feeling his emotions spiral out of control, he had to admit it.

Giselle wasn’t the only one who had changed.

Just as Giselle had changed after meeting Tristan, he too had changed after meeting her.

***

After holding the funeral and spending a few days regaining his composure, Tristan returned to work.

Losing his mother was painful, but it wasn’t an unexpected farewell.

What weighed on his heart was the unexpected gift she had left behind.

‘If I had known, I would’ve told her everything from the start.’

He had only worried her because he’d been a lousy son.

“Why are you back to work already? I told you to rest more.”

“I’m fine. If not me, who’s going to take responsibility for Organized Crime?”

“Damn it. Yeah, like you’re the only one working on our team.”

With a light chuckle, Tristan glanced at the envelope delivered to his desk and checked the front and back.

There was a recipient, but no sender.

Flick. Flick.

He tapped the envelope with his fingers to check inside.

No strange powder or bombs.

It seemed to contain only documents, but something about it was suspicious.

“It arrived a while ago, but you didn’t pick it up, so the mailroom staff left it. Check it.”

“You don’t know who sent it?”

“Wouldn’t it be Jane Doe?”

“Ah, that whistleblower.”

A few months ago, the economic team received a flood of evidence of corporate crimes.

Turned out the companies were established by underground organizations, so they locked up the CEOs and threw a party that day.

Of course, that CEO escaped prison after only a week.

‘That bastard was Raphael.’

I cursed the idiotic prison security, only to find out that the escaped bastard was Raphael Kapuzen. I couldn’t believe it.

Since the company had been directly run by Raphael, I figured it had to hold something solid, so I dug a little deeper behind the economic team’s back.

In the process, I uncovered evidence related to O’Connell’s gambling scandal, which led to a series of further exposés.

Of course, Raphael had anonymously pushed some of that evidence from behind the scenes.

‘Damned bastards.’

They think the police are their personal service center. Next time I see them, I’ll break their ribs.

“Then this must’ve been sent by the same person.”

It probably wasn’t Liam Fabian betraying him. So who else was below him again?

Raphael drowns everyone who betrays him in the sea.

If this guy reported him back then and is still leaking documents, he must have earned a lot of trust.

Just as Tristan was about to open the envelope—

― Shootout in progress! Big Bear’s subordinates sighted. Shootout in progress!

This damn city didn’t even give him time to open an envelope.

Tristan and his colleague floored the accelerator and arrived at a residential area.

It was a wealthy neighborhood far from Big Bear’s usual territory.

The shootout was happening outside the building.

The people involved were members of a gang under Big Bear.

“Johan?”

It was Giselle’s bodyguard, Johan.

He entered the scene, crouched low.

Tristan bit his lip without realizing it.

Bang!

Tristan’s bullet hit a gang member’s hand.

Johan turned to look this way.

Once he saw who it was, he made a subtle expression and moved his gun.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Johan’s bullets struck the gangsters right in the head.

Familiar.

The way he absorbed the recoil when firing, the way his muscles tensed and made shapes under his clothes when he took position—those small things were… annoyingly familiar.

But there was no time to think deeply.

“That crazy bastard…!”

As something broke with a crash from inside, Johan charged in despite bullets flying.

“Cover him!”

“Hey, Tristan! Hey!”

Tristan rushed in after Johan.

Bullets grazed dangerously close to him.

Damn, that was close.

If Johan was here, then Giselle was likely inside.

As expected of Raphael Kapuzen’s sister, no sooner had he told her to get lost than she got herself thoroughly entangled.

‘I really didn’t want to see her like this.’

He muttered curses as he went inside and saw the place wrecked.

The shattered height and shape of the debris—it screamed Big Bear.

Crash! Thud-thud.

One side of the wall far off collapsed. Bang! Bang! Johan’s gunfire followed.

“Where the hell did you come from, you bastard—!”

Came Big Bear’s enraged voice.

Crack. Snap!

Maybe from a punch, part of the ceiling caved in and Johan and Big Bear fell down.

Johan quickly regained balance and swung a sword made of moonstone.

Big Bear ducked low to dodge the blade. Johan shouted, “Get Giselle out of here!”

No sooner had he spoken than Big Bear slammed the floor with her knuckled fist.

The ground instantly collapsed, sending them down into the basement.

As Tristan entered through the hole in the floor, heavy footsteps echoed from another corridor.

Tristan instinctively aimed his gun, then grimaced when he saw who it was.

“You…”

It was Giselle.

Her clothes and face were covered in blood, and on closer look, she was carrying someone on her back.

Giselle gasped when she saw him. “I know you hate me, but please take care of Maria. Maria…”

She staggered toward him.

Tristan took Maria from her back.

Boom!

An explosion rumbled from below, shaking the floor.

In that moment, Big Bear burst up through the floor and slammed Giselle down.

“Ack!”

As Tristan fired and Johan pierced Big Bear’s shoulder, Big Bear stabbed Giselle in the neck with a golden drug.

“Hhk!”

Giselle let out a deathly scream and collapsed limp.

Big Bear grinned like a demon, her torn, blood-covered face twisted.

“Ha, ha, hahahaha!”