Chapter 20: Side Character x Mafia Boss (20)

Elena struggled fiercely against her captors as they began leading her up the grand staircase toward the upper wings.

"Lyra!" Elena cried out, her eyes full of worry. "Don’t worry about me! I’ll find a way to get us both out of here!"

Before she disappeared around the marble corner, Elena looked back at her one last time with deep concern.

Lyra gave her a tiny, reassuring nod, mouthing the words ’I’m okay’.

At least Elena was safe in a comfortable guest room instead of freezing to death in a dark basement dungeon...

When the hallway finally became quiet again...

Only Lyra and Alastair remained standing in the middle of the sunlit foyer.

Lyra slowly, nervously turned her face up toward his sharp jawline.

"...Um..."

She pointed a small, trembling index finger down at his large hand, which was still resting possessively around her waist.

"So..." she squeaked out, her voice pitching high. "...could you please let me go now?"

She forced the most polite, awkward, smile onto her face. "...Please?"

Alastair slowly looked down at her. Instead of answering her request or opening his hand, he simply studied her expression with intense fascination.

Her nervous, twitching smile. Her restless, darting eyes. The exact way her tiny mind was clearly spinning at a hundred miles an hour trying to invent another ridiculous escape plan.

"...What..."

He spoke after a long silence, his voice low against her ear. "...should I do with you?"

Lyra swallowed hard, a lump forming in her throat. In less than three seconds, a dozen terrifying dark-romance web novel tropes flashed violently through her hyperactive brain.

He’s going to lock me in a golden cage!

No... he’s going to throw me into the dungeon anyway because I touched his gun!

No... worse... he’s going to bury me alive in his private garden like a stray flower! She forced another deeply shaky, desperate smile, her hands coming up to gently pat his lapels.

"I-I think..." she stammered out, her heart pounding loudly "...that letting me go home to my tiny apartment would be a truly wonderful, top-tier idea!" The entire room fell into dead silence once again.

Outside the glass doors, the guards who were standing watch silently prayed for the soul of the brave, absurd girl inside.

No one...

Absolutely no one in the entire underworld...Had ever dared to negotiate with Alastair Voss like this and lived to see the sunrise.

Alastair looked down at her, his icy grey eyes dark and unreadable.

"...Until I decide what to do with you..."

He leaned down slightly, his voice dropping into a smooth thread against her ear. "...You’ll serve me."

Lyra blinked, tilting her head in absolute bewilderment. "...Huh?"

"You’ll be my personal maid."

Silence... A cold breeze seemed to pass through the hallway.

Inside her head, Lyra’s brain was practically short-circuiting.

The multi-billionaire syndicate Mafia Boss wants a humble diner waitress as his personal maid?! Is he secretly broke?! Doesn’t this absurdly giant mansion already have, like... fifty highly trained maids walking around in pristine uniforms?! Why pick ME?!

The System immediately interrupted her spiraling thoughts, its interface pulsing blue.

[ Host. ]

[ Isn’t this outcome astronomically better than having your throat sliced open or being locked in a basement dungeon? ]

Lyra gulped hard, the lump in her throat practically choking her. "...You make a very valid point."

She slowly, hesitantly looked back up into Alastair’s handsome, cold face.

"Um..."

She cleared her throat, rubbing her small hands together nervously. "...Will I get paid? What’s the hourly rate?"

The entire hallway fell dead silent. Every single armed guard in the vicinity stared at her in utter disbelief.

She...She was actually asking the most ruthless ruler of the entire underworld for a competitive monthly salary and employee benefits?!

Even the senior head servants lined up near the archway looked completely horrified, silently praying for her soul. Alastair looked at her for a long, quiet moment, his expression completely unreadable.

Then...

A low, deep chuckle escaped his lips.

It was soft and smooth. But somehow... the dark, thrilling resonance in his chest sent a violent shiver shooting straight down Lyra’s spine.

"...We’ll see," he answered calmly, his thumb brushing against her waist one last time. "We’ll think about your... payment later."

Lyra forced a wildly awkward, twitching smile onto her face. "...Haha... okay... awesome..."

Why do I suddenly feel like the ’payment’ he’s talking about isn’t money at all...?

That single dark-romance realization made every single tiny hair on her body stand straight on end.

At last...Alastair finally released his firm hold on her waist.

The intense warmth surrounding her tiny frame suddenly disappeared, leaving her feeling strangely cold in the drafty hall.

He turned toward one of the senior head maids standing near the grand staircase.

"Take her to the VIP bedroom directly beside mine," Alastair commanded, his voice cold and authoritative once more. "Give her my complete schedule. From today onward..."

He cast one last, possessive glance back over his shoulder at Lyra’s small figure.

"...she will be my personal maid."

"Yes, Boss." The maid bowed respectfully with absolute precision. "Miss, please follow this way."

Lyra obediently scampered behind her like a timid duckling.

As she passed the rows of elite guards, several of them secretly glanced at her out of the corners of their eyes. None of them could wrap their heads around what had just happened.

Why on earth would their Boss... a ruthless man who notoriously despised people invading his personal space and usually executed intruders... keep a completely unknown, chaotic girl so close to his master suite?

A short while later...

Lyra arrived inside a luxurious, sprawling bedroom complete with a plush king-sized bed. The head maid handed her a surprisingly thick notebook with a heavy thud. "This contains the Boss’s exact daily routine and schedule," the maid explained politely.

"Morning tea."

"Breakfast."

"Executive syndicate meetings."

"Workout routine."

"Underworld business discussions."

"Dinner."

"Night tea."

"There are also twenty pages of detailed notes regarding his strict personal preferences and dislikings."

Lyra flipped through the densely packed pages, her hands trembling. Her optimistic smile slowly, completely disappeared.

"..."

"..."

"...Is this an actual daily schedule..." she squeaked out, "...or a multi-page full-time corporate job application?" The maid offered a polite smile. "Please memorize every single detail by tomorrow morning."

With that, she turned and quietly left the room, closing the heavy doors behind her.

The lavish room fell completely silent. Lyra stared blankly at the thick notebook in her hands for three seconds... and then dramatically fell backward onto the plush mattress, arms flailing.

"Ughhh..."

She groaned clutching a pillow tightly to her chest. "He’s literally forcing me into doing unpaid slave labor just because I had the bad luck of getting kidnapped!"

She hugged the pillow even more dramatically, kicking her feet in the air.

"This is literally the definition of a buy-one-get-one-free promotion! Elena was the main item, and I was the free extra tossed into the bag!"

"No one ever respects or cares about the free item!"

The System couldn’t help but let out a digital chuckle inside her head.

[ Host. ]

[ Please do not be so endlessly negative. ]

[ Look on the bright side- maybe this is actually a fantastic strategic opportunity! ]

Lyra raised a single eyebrow, glaring up at the ceiling. "...How on earth is being a mafia lord’s coffee-fetcher a good opportunity?"

[ You will be directly beside the Male Lead every single day! ]

[ That means you can easily manipulate scenarios to create romantic opportunities for him and the Female Lead! ]

[ As long as his obsession level with the Female Lead reaches 100%, we will successfully complete this world’s narrative and escape! ]

Lyra slowly sat up on the bed, her dark eyes blinking as the logic sank in.

"...You’re actually right," she murmured, her expression turning resolute. She clenched her tiny fist in front of her chest with renewed energy.

"I can do this! I will survive this web novel! I will bridge their dark romance!"

"And I will get paid my salary..."

She paused, her confidence faltering slightly. "...Hopefully."

The System replied without a single second of hesitation:

[ Host... I wouldn’t count on receiving a monetary salary from that man just yet. ]

Lyra let out a long sigh, flopping back into her pillows like a defeated hero.

"My future is so pitch-black dark..."

--------------------------

Alastair was working at his desk, his mind focused on a stack of urgent documents, when a soft sound broke the quiet of his study.

Click.

His grey eyes instantly narrowed, turning icy cold. Who on earth dared to enter his private office without knocking first?

The door opened just an inch, and Lyra poked her head inside, her eyes scanning the room. But the moment her gaze locked onto Alastair’s cold face, realization hit her like a splash of cold water.

"Oh! Sorry! I forgot I was supposed to knock!"

Without waiting for a response, she quickly pulled her head back, closed the door, and frantically knocked three times.

Knock, knock, knock.

Looking at her chaotic, adorable reaction, Alastair felt a sudden unfamiliar flutter deep in his chest. Just like that, all the cold anger that had built up inside him vanished without a trace.

"Come in," he called out, his voice remaining quiet and calm.

The door opened once more, and Lyra stepped inside, holding a small wooden tray.

"It was written in your daily schedule that you take tea at this exact time," she murmured, walking toward his large mahogany desk.

"Hm," Alastair muttered softly.