The Male Lead Has Gone Mad Over the Troublesome Villainess - Chapter 48

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Male Lead Has Gone Mad for the Villainess 048
It was the very day Rosana departed for the forest. Vanessa now packed food into a sack with practiced ease—provisions for the children sheltering in the Mansion. Until now, she’d always made this journey with Rosana, but today she walked alone. The narrow alley felt impossibly wide beneath her solitary footsteps.
Yet today, the door swung open before she even reached the house.
The smallest child, who’d been dangling his legs from the threshold, sprang to his feet at the sight of her. He turned inward and called something—words too muffled to make out.
“Hello.”
Vanessa smiled.
The child scampered over and took the sack from her, refusing to step back even as she drew near, instead stretching his hands forward eagerly.
Vanessa moved carefully into the entrance. The children who’d poured out rummaged through the sack, hunting for food. Even the tall child, who’d always brimmed with wariness, kept his mouth shut.
“Rosana didn’t come today.”
The older child spoke first.
“Where did she go?”
Vanessa was startled by the question. It was the first time the child had initiated conversation.
“She had something important to do.”
“Where?”
“To do something very important. Why, curious? She went to the forest.”
At those words, the child froze mid-chew of dried meat.
Not only him—all four children who’d been happily filling their bellies went rigid at once.
They didn’t even swallow what was in their mouths, simply locked in place, their faces even paler now than when they’d first cracked open that door four nights ago.
The older child looked up at Vanessa silently.
“……She went to meet the High Priest.”
“What?”
Vanessa’s eyes widened.
She hadn’t said a word about it.
The smallest child burst into tears first. The others wrapped their arms around him and stumbled backward—before Vanessa could even ask why.
The older child shot to his feet.
“She can’t go there!”
“……What?”
“She can’t go there!”
The child’s voice cracked with a shout.
“Why? Why can’t she?”
“That person did it.”
“Did what?”
“It was that person who made our Village like this! The High Priest!”
Goosebumps erupted across Vanessa’s back. She prayed she’d misheard—that the child was speaking nonsense out of fear. But his terror was genuine. What gleamed in his dilated pupils wasn’t her, but the memory of that day.
“……What are you saying?”
“The Priesthood came.”
The child trembled as he spoke those words.
“The highest one was at the front, and priests followed behind in a line.”
“…….”
“We were all happy. We thought they came to help. We thought they came to save us. There were Monsters swarming outside Gloria.”
Vanessa said nothing, only listened.
“My mother dressed me in my finest clothes.”
The smallest child hiccupped through his words.
“She said I had to look clean when the priests arrived.”
“The bell rang. The bell ringing meant everyone gather in the Town Square. So we all went. The priests had come, everyone said. The adults took us by the hand and led us there.”
“…….”
“I swear it was good at first. The High Priest even prayed for us. But then night came…….”
The older child stopped mid-sentence.
Vanessa didn’t press him. She couldn’t. She had some idea of what this child had endured.
“Everything went wrong suddenly. They started biting people.”
Vanessa felt pins and needles creeping through her fingertips.
“And the people who were bitten changed the same way. My neighbor. The baker’s wife.”
Vanessa found her hand rising to cover her mouth.
“The adults grabbed our hands and ran. They locked us in the Bell Tower. They said we absolutely couldn’t leave. They’d come back for us, they said. But it was a lie. No one ever came back.”
The children’s tears fell freely.
“When morning came, the Village was empty. No priests. No one from our Village.”
The older child shrugged as if indifferent, but the terror bleeding through was unmistakable. The others whispered through held breath.
“They all turned into Monsters. I saw them. Their teeth grew like this, and their nails became so long…….”
The children wept. Vanessa spent a long time trying to soothe them.
Vanessa’s jaw clenched. Did those in the forest know of this news? One of the children who’d been resting his head on Vanessa’s knees, still sobbing, pulled at her sleeve.
“Sister, is Rosana dead?”
“……No.”
“Everyone dies if they go there.”
“She won’t die. She absolutely won’t.”
Vanessa clasped the child’s hand firmly in her own.
“Our Rosana is a terrifying person. She can swat the monsters roaming outside with one hand.”
The child stared at Vanessa with clear disbelief. She suppressed her own fear and smiled as brightly as she could manage.
“It’s true. And the people who went with her are all strong too.”
Even as she spoke, Vanessa felt her voice trembling.
She steadied her breath and spoke with as much gentleness as she could summon, drawing forth every ounce of courage she possessed.
“Rosana will definitely come back safely. So you just need to wait here patiently, all right? Can you do that for me?”
The children nodded solemnly.
As Vanessa stepped toward the door, the eldest child caught her arm.
“Sister.”
Vanessa turned back to look at the child.
“That person turns into a real monster at night.”
Vanessa stopped in her tracks.
“……What do you mean?”
The child held fast to Vanessa’s sleeve as she spoke.
“When night falls, they say she changes into a monster. So she has to come out before sunset. She has to.”
Vanessa lifted her gaze to the sky. The sun hung at its zenith, scorching the air with relentless heat. She steadied her ragged breathing and made a resolve: she had to deliver this news as quickly as possible.
“Thank you.”
“…….”
“Thank you for telling me. Truly.”
Again, the child said nothing. Vanessa offered one last small smile before turning away. Not long after, she heard the door close behind her and the bolt slide home—a sound she’d heard countless times before, yet today it seemed somehow less chilling.
Vanessa ran straight for the Town Square. Only when she reached it did she pause for a moment, catching her breath.
She had to tell Millers this news as soon as possible. She quickened her pace toward the Town Office.
* * *
No one had spoken since we entered the forest.
After Hald faded from view entirely, there was nothing but the sound of footsteps. The Mansion finally appeared before us.
For a structure untouched for two years, it looked far too pristine.
“……It looks as though someone lives here.”
“So it seems.”
Kael replied curtly to my observation.
Radan stepped forward first. He approached the door, checked both sides, and raised his hand to signal. Coby moved to his side. They pushed the door simultaneously, but it wouldn’t budge.
“It’s locked.”
“Can you break it?”
“I’ll try.”
Then it came back to me—what Hald had said about only a woman being able to open the door.
“……Let me try.”
“I’ll help.”
Seraphine approached my side. Together, we walked to the door and placed our hands on the handle.
The door, which had resisted every attempt moments before, swung smoothly inward with barely a sound.
“……Rosana.”
Kael called out to me. His voice was strained.
“Yes?”
“Step back.”
I obeyed without question, and Kael examined me briefly before exhaling. Radan and Coby entered first, Kael followed them, and Seraphine positioned herself in front of me.
A strange odor wafted from the Mansion’s entrance. I wanted to see what was inside. Both the male and female leads are here—what could there be to fear? I reassured myself and stepped across the threshold.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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