The Male Lead isn� Chapter 328: Definitely Not Layla

Chapter 328: Definitely Not Layla

Adeline slipped out of the room the second the guards turned the corner. This ti, she moved slower, careful with every step. She didn’t want another close call. The halls were quiet, too quiet, and every little sound made her tense up.

She decided to be extra careful as she moved to the different wings of the lair.

She turned a corner, walking backwards to make sure no one was following her—bad idea. She bumped into sothing solid. Her heart shot up into her throat, and she instantly spun around with the knife in her hand, ready to stab.

Before she could strike, soone caught her wrist in a firm grip and clamped a hand over her mouth.

"It’s , dummy," a familiar voice whispered.

Adeline’s eyes widened. Of course. It was Aaron. She imdiately bit his hand.

"Ptuuh!" She spat, making a disgusted face. "What did you touch with your hands? It tastes disgusting!"

Aaron just shrugged casually. "You don’t wanna know."

Adeline flinched. "Oh god—" She gagged a little, actually making choking noises while holding her neck.

Aaron rolled his eyes. "You’re going to get us caught. Shut up."

After wiping her mouth on her sleeve like a child, Adeline glared at him. "I almost stabbed you. If you hadn’t said anything, I could’ve gutted you."

Aaron snorted. "Yeah, sure. That’s your little fantasy. Might as well say you can fly too."

Her mouth twitched. She was this close to punching him.

Aaron crossed his arms. "This is exactly why I didn’t want to bring you down here. You walk backwards in enemy territory—who even does that?"

She jabbed a finger at him. "Well, maybe if soone actually ca up with a plan, I wouldn’t have to improvise!"

"Plan or not, you’d still get lost," he shot back with a grin.

"Ugh! What happened to the sweet brother I used to have?" Adeline asked, feigning so pain.

"He disappeared after being dragged into your sches for the thousandth ti.

Ignoring that comnt, she quickly explained what she found: the prisoner, the eting room, almost getting caught, and the strange room she investigated. Aaron listened with his usual blank face, but at the end, he just said, "Of course, you almost got caught. Classic you."

She smacked his arm.

"Alright," he said, rubbing the spot, "let’s find Layla and figure out what to do. We need to coordinate if we’re going to hit them properly."

"We need to find Layla and inform her too," Adeline added.

He nodded in agreent.

Aaron and Adeline split up to cover more ground, agreeing to et back if anything went wrong. Adeline went left, Aaron went right. She muttered sothing about "being perfectly capable of finding Layla," while Aaron rolled his eyes and muttered sothing about "babysitting a child."

He moved quietly through the halls, checking each corner like he’d done this a hundred tis. He was worried—Layla could handle herself, sure, but this place was still dangerous, his sister had a close call, and he hoped it did not repeat. He tightened his grip on his dagger and pushed forward.

He wouldn’t have agreed to split up, he would’ve stayed right next to Adeline, making sure she didn’t do anything stupid again, but finding Layla was important if they were going to formulate a plan.

A sound interrupted his thoughts.

t wasn’t a scream, but a loud thud. Followed by another. And another.

Aaron picked up the pace, turning the corner—only to stop dead in his tracks.

Layla stood there, casually dusting off her hands like she’d just finished cleaning her room. Behind her, three guards were tied up and unconscious, stacked like firewood against the wall.

She noticed him right away and broke into a quiet grin. "Hey, Aaron," she whispered.

For so reason, his brain decided to take a small vacation at that mont. He froze. He didn’t say anything for a full three seconds, just stood there like a statue.

"Uh... Hey," he finally managed.

Layla tilted her head, amused. She waited for him to continue, but he just stood there looking like he had sothing important to say and then forgot all the words halfway through.

She raised an eyebrow. "So... Why are you here? This is my area. I’ve been sweeping through this place for clues." She lowered her voice but still looked confident, like tying up three guys was just another Tuesday.

Aaron snapped out of it, coughing awkwardly. "Right, uh, yeah. Adeline found sothing. Big eting room, bunch of forbidden magic practitioners talking about monsters, experints... and her almost getting caught because she is bad with directions. Classic her."

Layla smiled knowingly. "Of course."

He nodded quickly, a little too eagerly. "We’re planning sothing bigger now. Coordinated attack. Also, there are prisoners. A lot of them, apparently. If we can pull this off, it’s gonna be a huge jailbreak."

Layla’s smile softened into sothing warr. She loved that part of missions—helping people. "Got it. So what’s the plan?"

Aaron opened his mouth... And then closed it. "...Still working on that part."

She stepped closer to him, lowering her voice even more. He hadn’t realised how close until suddenly, she was right there. His brain short-circuited again.

"W-what are you—" he started, taking half a step back.

She reached out and tugged his sleeve, pulling him closer again. "I’m following you. You’re the one calling the shots, right? We need to make a plan together. So let’s go find Adeline."

If his mask wasn’t covering his face, she would’ve seen the deep red spreading across his cheeks. He suddenly forgot how to stand normally. His hands twitched awkwardly at his sides.

"Right!" he said a little too loudly, then winced. "I an—yeah, right. Follow ."

Layla only smiled, she didn’t say anything.

She wasn’t entirely sure why flustering Aaron was so entertaining, but it was.

As they walked side by side, Aaron tried very hard to focus on the mission. Prisoners. Guards. Plans. Not Layla. Definitely not how good she looks after beating up three guys.