The Obsessive Male Lead Is Obsessed With Me! - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 13

“Oh my… Carnations?”

“Yes.”

Lionel received the bouquet from his attendant and examined it closely as if checking what was nestled between the flowers, then handed the bouquet to me.

“I found out that pink carnations are flowers that convey gratitude. So I prepared them.”

“What are you grateful to me for?”

If it’s repayment for the fountain pen… I had already properly received the fountain pen he prepared during my last visit.

I brought the cookies today, so it can’t be gratitude for these cookies either.

“I’m not really sure myself.”

“Pardon?”

I’ve seen many people who apologize without knowing what they did wrong, but this was the first time I’d seen someone express gratitude without knowing what they’re grateful for.

“For now, thank you for baking cookies for me personally. This is my first time experiencing something like this.”

“Your first time?”

As someone who grew up eating cookies my mother baked since before I could even write, this was a rather puzzling statement.

But considering that Lionel’s mother is the Empress…

‘It would be his first time, yes.’

The Empress wouldn’t bake cookies herself, and even if she did, they would all have gone to the First Prince anyway.

Feeling somewhat sorry for him, I hugged the bouquet tightly and said to Lionel.

“I’ll bake them for you often from now on. But isn’t your mouth too sweet?”

“It’s sweet.”

“…And your stomach isn’t churning?”

“It’s not churning, but I think I could skip dinner.”

Lionel spoke as if it was perfectly fine, his gaze turning toward the desk behind him.

Indeed, there were quite a few documents piled up there, so I unconsciously frowned and made a groaning sound.

“I understand you’re busy, but still, don’t skip meals.”

I looked at the case with only crumbs remaining and reflexively opened my mouth.

“Next time, something less sweet would be better, right?”

“Either way is fine with me.”

“Is there anything you can’t eat? Things you dislike, or things that give you hives?”

“Not particularly.”

“Then what about things you like?”

“Not particularly that either.”

I clapped my hands loudly toward Lionel, who was shaking his head lightly.

“Great. Then I’ll bake different varieties and bring them, so try them all and think about which one you like best.”

“When you say different varieties, how many types do you mean?”

“Well, I’ll have to see what’s available in our kitchen.”

It was the kitchen of the ducal family, rumored to be the wealthiest in the empire. Surely it could easily exceed ten varieties?

“I’m curious myself how many I can bake. I probably can’t bake them all alone, so I’ll bake them with the head chef and we can taste which ones are the most delicious together.”

“Then please bring three varieties at a time, two of each.”

“Three varieties at a time, two of each?”

“Yes. After trying them today, six seems like the right amount.”

I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at his words.

‘He has an unexpectedly cute side.’

I brought eight or nine cookies today, and it seems he got full around six.

‘Then he’ll save the remaining one or two for later.’

I thought maybe the problem wasn’t the quantity but that they were too sweet, but since he stated it so clearly, I nodded, thinking it would be easier for me to prepare.

“In return, Rio, you prepare tea that goes well with cookies. Various kinds.”

“Understood.”

Even as he answered, his face remained expressionless as always.

Talking face-to-face with this man was somewhat frustrating in many ways, but at least he answered well, which was fortunate.

* * *

“Well then, I’ll be going now. You seem busy, so you don’t need to see me out.”

“Yes. Please travel safely.”

After Cecilia left, holding the bouquet in her arms, Lionel sat back down at his desk and resumed his work.

Since he had given his assistants separate break time, he was alone in the office.

A moment later, the head attendant who had escorted Cecilia to her carriage entered, confirmed no one else was around, and asked Lionel.

“Your Highness, is it true that the Duke’s daughter personally baked cookies?”

“Yes, it’s true.”

“Those cookies…”

“I ate them all.”

“Ah…”

The head attendant looked at the empty case with a defeated expression. He had received separate orders from the First Prince.

“If Cecilia brings anything else to the Second Prince’s Palace, report to me immediately.”

After reporting, it was obvious he would receive orders to bring whatever it was.

But while objects might be manageable, food like cookies that could be eaten up was difficult for the head attendant to secure.

“Um… Your Highness, perhaps next time…”

The head attendant hesitated, unable to continue his words.

Whether to ask him to save some cookies, or to request the Duke’s daughter to bring more.

Either way, these weren’t words appropriate for a servant to say to a prince.

While it was clear that Lionel was a prince neglected by the Empress, he wasn’t just some mistreated prince.

[Regardless of your own will, you shall ascend to the supreme position]

He was the future crown prince, certain to ascend to the throne.

“…Never mind.”

Lionel glanced at the dejected head attendant and lowered his gaze to the documents. He didn’t care who was pressuring him or how.

“If you have nothing else to do, bring me some tea. Earl Grey would be good.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I’ll prepare it right away.”

After the head attendant withdrew, Lionel swallowed dry saliva several times, uncomfortable with the sweetness clinging to his tongue and the inside of his molars.

Having eaten several sweet cookies he didn’t particularly like all at once, his stomach felt heavy too.

However, he didn’t find these sensations particularly unpleasant. He was pleased with the empty case that he himself had emptied.

* * *

Pink carnations that he had personally chosen to express gratitude, though he wasn’t sure exactly what he was grateful for.

Returning home with that bouquet in my arms, I asked Uni to bring me a vase.

“Are you going to display them in your bedroom?”

“Yes! It’s my first time receiving flowers from a man!”

While personally arranging the flowers in the vase Uni brought, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘No matter how I look at it, the current Lionel doesn’t seem like someone who would kidnap and confine someone.’

It wasn’t that he didn’t seem like a bad person capable of committing such evil acts.

More precisely, he didn’t seem like someone who would have the kind of deep, obsessive emotions toward others—obsession or possessiveness—that would drive him to such acts.

There must be some trigger. A trigger that would make his personality change drastically, as if he became a different person.

“Say, Uni. Do you think it’s possible for someone’s personality to change in an instant?”

Uni tilted her head at my question.

“What degree of change are you referring to when you say ‘in an instant’?”

“Well, I mean… someone who was like an emotionless doll suddenly kidnapping some young lady and confining her where no one could find her…?”

“I doubt a person could change that drastically… but if I had to guess, I think there are two possibilities.”

“Two? What are they?”

Uni first told me the first possibility.

“If someone has normal ethical standards, no matter how twisted their personality becomes, they wouldn’t actually carry out inhumane acts like kidnapping and confinement. So they were originally a psychopath but had been hiding it well.”

“Oh… That makes sense.”

I thought about it for a moment. Is the current Lionel a psychopath who’s good at hiding his true nature?

‘But that seems unlikely.’

The fact that I read the novel was from my previous life, and that was 16 years ago from now, wasn’t it? Actually, I couldn’t remember the novel’s content in detail.

However, when I thought about Lionel from the novel—that is, the version of Lionel he would become in the future—there was a certain thought that surged intensely from a corner of my mind.

‘He wasn’t originally like that.’

It was probably my impression from when I read the novel back then, but anyway, the current me felt that was correct too.

“What’s the second one?”

“If that person experienced something so shocking that it shook their life to its very roots, I think it’s natural for them to go insane.”

“Ah… I think I know what you mean.”

You mean cases like losing family or loved ones in a momentary accident, or having wealth or career that you’ve built by dedicating everything suddenly disappear, right?

Especially if the cause of such events wasn’t just a simple accident but something that happened due to someone’s malice, even a perfectly normal person would probably pick up a knife.

‘When I consider Lionel’s case, there are parts that fit.’

So should I stick close to Lionel’s side so that even if he gets pushed out of the crown prince position, he won’t feel like everything has been taken from him? Would that prevent his corruption?

‘Ugh, I don’t know.’

For now, since I still didn’t know Lionel well, I felt like I should start with what I could know for certain about him.

“Uni, there’s something I want to ask you.”

“Yes, Miss. Please tell me.”

“Uni’s father is the head of our family’s Intelligence Department, isn’t he?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Then Uni too… you’d know how to make contact with information brokers from the Underworld, wouldn’t you?”

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