Playing the Villainess, He Fell for Me

Simon Lockwood gave a knowing smile. When Joanna Kennedy realized what he was doing, her cheeks burned bright red. ’Was he just making fun of me?!’

’Okay, so she had been gawking, but he was being a rogue, too. It’s not like he had the moral high ground.’

”Let me go!” Joanna Kennedy, mortified and furious, glared with her beautiful eyes wide. From their recent struggle, a few strands of her hair had fallen messily around her ears.

She looked so pitiful, just begging to be bullied...

Simon Lockwood’s Adam’s apple bobbed. His eyes narrowed into an attractive curve.

”Got everything you came for?” he asked, his tone unreadable.

Joanna Kennedy: ”...”

”Oh. Lying again, I see.”

Simon’s use of the word ”again” was a clear jab at her ”long history” of offenses.

Joanna Kennedy felt a pang of guilt, but also a sense of grievance she couldn’t quite put into words.

’So she’d lied to Simon Lockwood. Hadn’t he lied to her, too?’

Joanna Kennedy lowered her head, silent. From Simon Lockwood’s perspective, all he could see were her trembling eyelashes and the delicate bridge of her nose.

Because of his ”bullying,” a clear red bite mark stood out on her fair, delicate neck. Simon Lockwood felt his own teeth begin to itch.

He turned his head to look at the neat, clean room, his tone flat. ”Speak.”

”...I didn’t leave anything here. I remembered wrong.”

The girl’s voice was muffled and sullen. Simon Lockwood let out an exasperated laugh. ”That’s it?”

Joanna Kennedy looked at him in confusion. ’What else is there supposed to be?’

Seeing she had no intention of telling the truth, Simon Lockwood’s eyes darkened. He turned to open the door.

Joanna Kennedy knew that if she let him leave now, she’d lose her chance to talk about leaving Mimi here.

She shot out a hand to grab his sleeve, but in her haste, she missed and grabbed his well-defined fingers instead.

Simon Lockwood: ”...”

Skin to skin, she could feel the warmth of his fingertips. Joanna Kennedy froze for a second but didn’t pull her hand away.

Meeting Simon Lockwood’s scrutinizing gaze, a flash of hesitation crossed her eyes, but she spoke up. ”...Simon Lockwood, can I ask you for a favor?”

Simon Lockwood said nothing.

Joanna Kennedy took a deep breath. ”I—I’m joining my film crew in a couple of days, and I won’t have time to take care of Mimi. Can I leave her here with you? I can pay you...”

Her voice trailed off, becoming so quiet she could barely hear herself. Even she thought it sounded ridiculous.

’With Simon Lockwood’s net worth, was he really hurting for the pocket change she could offer?’

It was like a beggar telling a billionaire, ”Help me collect bottles, and I’ll pay you a salary.”

As expected, Simon Lockwood fell silent.

’But the situation didn’t leave room for his approval. Even if she had to force it, she was going to leave Mimi here.’

Joanna Kennedy braced herself. ”So, is that a yes?”

’For Mimi’s sake, she was willing to throw all her pride away. She was even prepared to pester him endlessly if he refused.’

The next second, the man’s cool, deep voice came from above. ”Fine. But...”

Joanna Kennedy hadn’t even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief. Hearing that single word, ”but,” made her heart leap back into her throat. ”But what?”

”I have one condition.”

”...What condition?”

Joanna Kennedy had a gut feeling this wouldn’t be a good condition. ’Has he thought of a way to get back at me?’

”Every week... no, every three days,” Simon Lockwood said. ”You have to come to the villa and clean it every three days.”

Simon Lockwood’s reasoning was perfectly laid out. ”You know how messy small animals are. The housekeeper I employ is only responsible for cooking. Cleaning up after a cat would be an extra charge. Southland isn’t profitable enough for me to hire two housekeepers.”

Joanna Kennedy: ”...”

Joanna Kennedy’s face went completely blank.

’She seriously wondered if she had misheard him, or if Simon Lockwood had simply lost his mind.’

’Simon Maximus Lockwood, have you heard the words coming out of your own mouth?’

’Southland Group was one of the ten wealthiest companies in the world, with a cash flow in the hundreds of millions per hour. As the majority shareholder, Simon Lockwood spent enough on his garden maintenance alone to hire several more housekeepers, for crying out loud!’

’The man who once would have spent two hundred dollars on her when he only had one hundred had become this stingy now that he was rich.’

’The old saying really is true: for a man, where his money is, there his heart is!’

Joanna Kennedy suppressed her frustration. ”Once I join the crew, I can’t just leave whenever I want. I can hire a part-time cleaner at my own expense.”

”No,” Simon Lockwood refused, his brow furrowed.

Joanna Kennedy forced a smile. ”And why is that?”

Simon Lockwood: ”I don’t like strangers coming in and out of the villa.”

Joanna Kennedy: ”...”

’Great. Just great. What a damn good reason. Should she thank him for not considering her a stranger?!’

”So what, I’m supposed to film all day and then rush back here at night to clean?” Joanna Kennedy asked, throwing caution to the wind.

After a moment of silence, Simon Lockwood magnanimously proposed a compromise: ”If you really can’t guarantee every three days, you can let it accumulate. Just make it all up next time you’re free.”

This was the best she was going to get if she wanted Mimi to stay here. Joanna Kennedy had to agree, whether she liked it or not.

But she felt inexplicably stifled, unable to understand how things had turned out this way.

Joanna Kennedy was beyond frustrated. ’It was all that system-kitten’s fault. What kind of problem was this, that it couldn’t survive if it wasn’t on the male lead’s territory? It hadn’t been like this for the past six years.’

Back at her apartment, she was still fuming. She wanted to ask 166 what was going on, but after calling out in her mind several times, she got no response.

She threw herself back onto the sofa in a huff.

「In the villa.」

The housekeeper, who was changing the dressing on Mimi’s injured leg, saw Mr. Lockwood come downstairs for a file. ”Still working so late, Mr. Lockwood?” she asked with concern.

”Mm,” Simon Lockwood nodded.

His reply was brief, but for some reason, the housekeeper detected an almost imperceptible note of pleasure in it.

As it turned out, the housekeeper’s perception was sharp. Simon Lockwood was indeed in a good mood. After grabbing the file, he didn’t immediately return to his study.

Mimi had been with them for several days, but aside from the time he took her for her shots, this was the first time he had ever voluntarily picked her up.

The housekeeper glanced in surprise at the young man who was usually so cold and taciturn, not daring to say another word.

The little kitten wasn’t shy. It nestled in his palm, gave him a single glance, let out a lazy ”meow,” and then went about licking its paws.

’Much more obedient than a certain someone,’ he thought.

Simon Lockwood didn’t actually like cats. He always felt they were the kind of animal you could never truly tame, and they were a real pain to raise.

Spoiled, arrogant, fragile, and heartless.

Give them a bit of food, and they’ll meow coquettishly and wrap themselves around your legs. The second they’re done eating, they leave without a hint of affection.

They don’t care who it is. As long as there’s food, anyone can be the recipient of their cloying meows.

In that respect, it was just like a certain someone.

Simon Lockwood was a greedy man. Anything he fed became his. Time had passed. What he held in his hand now was no longer a useless pen, but the key to a cage that could imprison a certain ”cat.”

*

The day Joanna Kennedy joined the cast, the sun was shining brightly. But when she arrived on location, a light rain suddenly began to fall. It was natural rain, so the crew seized the opportunity to film a few rainy-day scenes.

Three of those scenes belonged to Joanna Kennedy, the second female lead.

Because of the incident with that psycho, she had joined the production a few days late. The director and her co-stars had initially been quite unhappy with her, assuming she was just some popular starlet forced on them by the investors.

But now, seeing her nail her scenes in a single take, their impression of her changed instantly.