The Obsessive Male Lead Is Obsessed With Me! - Chapter 159

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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 159

“Are you coming to your senses?”

“Your Highness? Your Highness took my wife and daughter…! P-please forgive me. I’ll do whatever you command. Please, just return my family to me!”

To Count Riam, who was sobbing, Lionel asked just one question.

“Do you regret kidnapping that giant wolf’s cub back then?”

“I regret it. If I could turn back time, I would never do such a thing!”

“Keep those words in mind.”

Lionel left the room, and shortly after, someone entered the room where Count Riam was alone.

“Father!”

“Honey?”

“Lika! Honey! …Are, are you both alright? Hm?”

“We’re fine, but… What happened to you? They said you accidentally fell on the road, hit your head and collapsed. Does it still hurt a lot?”

“Huh?”

“Really, Father! How could you make such a scene in front of His Highness the Second Prince, who will soon become His Majesty the Emperor!”

“Th-that is, well… Are, are you both really alright?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“This morning you left a note saying you were going to visit the Duke’s residence after receiving an invitation from Her Highness the Second Prince’s consort. Didn’t you see it?”

He hadn’t seen it.

Come to think of it, the person who told him that the Lady and his wife had been kidnapped was a servant who had newly arrived a few days ago.

“More than that, Father, did you happen to see Kreung here?”

“…Kreung?”

“Yes! It’s a giant wolf, and it’s His Highness the Second Prince’s friend. They became friends at a hunting competition a few years ago. I heard it was an incredibly fierce beast, but it really doesn’t harm people!”

“At the hunting competition, they became friends…?”

Ah, yes. That’s how it was.

What happened today was Lionel’s own form of revenge. Revenge for his friend who had its cub kidnapped by him.

If Lionel had intended to harm him without showing mercy, saying he would settle the score for trying to hurt him, he might never have seen his wife and child again.

“Lika, honey…”

“Oh, Father?”

“I, I was wrong. I’m sorry, because of me, because of me…”

It wasn’t about participating in the Former Empress’s scheme. No, it was his own fault for committing crimes like embezzlement that made it impossible to refuse her blackmail in the first place.

From now on, he would never do anything that would make him ashamed to face his daughter and wife.

The day after making that resolution, he was summoned to the investigation headquarters like this.

“I… I sincerely intend to repent for what I have done. Ask me anything. I will answer honestly.”

“Ahem, good. Then let me ask this first. Did you ever lure a pack of giant wolves at the hunting competition a few years ago?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Who ordered you to do that?”

“The person who blackmailed me about the embezzlement I had committed and ordered me to do it was Her Majesty the Empress. But the actual mastermind was His Highness the First Prince, that is, His Majesty the current Emperor. And…”

Suddenly, two intense emotions took hold of Count Riam’s mind.

Gratitude toward Lionel, who had treated his daughter and wife as honored guests without revealing the truth to them and sent them back safely.

And anger toward the Former Empress, who had forced him to do unreasonable things, yet made him into this miserable state when things didn’t go her way!

Thus, from Count Riam’s mouth flowed a plausibly fabricated story without him even realizing it.

“She ordered me to harm His Highness the Second Prince, a strong contender for the imperial succession… and if things went well, to assassinate His Majesty the Former Emperor as well.”

Though they were both royalty, a plan to kill a prince and a plan to kill an emperor did not carry the same weight.

Naturally, they were different. The latter was treason.

“Is that true?”

“It’s all true. I too will receive appropriate punishment, so please investigate. How many people heard His Majesty the Emperor, when he was the First Prince, say that he would become emperor!”

Even though he was the First Prince, there was another strong contender for the imperial succession. Moreover, in a situation where he was planning to assassinate the emperor, he said he would become emperor himself?

This was clear treason.

The investigation team began a new inquiry under the assumption that perhaps the main culprit in the Former Emperor’s assassination was not the Former Empress, but the Emperor.

“When His Majesty the Emperor was still a prince, you mean? …Yes, he did say such things often…”

“That once his health improved, he would be able to sit on the imperial throne…”

When Cayen was a prince, he had lived so arrogantly that there were countless testimonies and witnesses that could be used as circumstantial evidence for imperial assassination if one wanted.

Depending on who served as the judge for the verdict, depending on what decision the jury made, the main culprit of the Former Emperor’s assassination would be either the Former Empress or the Emperor.

In any case, from the moment the Former Emperor’s will was proven to be forged, the dethronement of both was already as good as decided.

Therefore, the trial’s outcome would determine who would take full responsibility and be executed.

Two days before this important trial was to be held.

Someone visited the solitary cell where the Former Empress was imprisoned.

It was Lionel.

* * *

When confined in a solitary cell with nothing to do, no sounds to hear, and no one around for days on end, one’s mind inevitably fills with thoughts.

Especially if death is imminent, the thought that person would most often have would be how to survive.

But the Former Empress was different. After all her crimes were exposed and she was imprisoned here, she worried more about her son’s safety than her own.

‘Is his body alright? It should be. He took the antidote.’

The Former Empress confessed to her crimes, claiming that everything was done for her own sake and that she was the mastermind. So that no harm would come to Cayen.

‘That child is already emperor. No matter how much the temple raises objections citing divine oracle… how could they possibly bring down that child who has already been enthroned as emperor?’

The one thing that bothered her was the Former Emperor’s will. If only that hadn’t been revealed, she wouldn’t have had to tremble in such anxiety…

‘If only I could know how things are going outside…’

No one extended a helping hand to her, who had fallen from Former Empress to traitor overnight.

It was natural. From her close associates to the maids, servants, and knights who had helped her, all were imprisoned and undergoing separate investigations.

‘I don’t care what happens to me. If only I can protect Cayen…’

Had that earnest prayer reached God?

The door to the solitary cell where she was imprisoned opened, even though it wasn’t mealtime.

The Former Empress, who had turned her head toward the sound without thinking, sprang up from her seat upon seeing who stood at the door.

“You…!”

“It’s been a while.”

Lionel, who lightly nodded and offered a perfunctory greeting, looked around once. As if he was more curious about the environment of this place than the person in it.

Seeing this, the Former Empress showed sharp wariness.

“What face do you have to come see me! After pointing a blade at your own mother and brother!”

“I came to inform you of one piece of news you’re probably curious about.”

As if that was his only purpose, Lionel looked at the Former Empress with colorless eyes that held no worry or concern whatsoever.

“Do you remember the hunting competition I attended when I was sixteen, my first and last?”

“Why are you suddenly bringing up that story…”

“That’s when a pack of giant wolves attacked the headquarters, causing great chaos.”

At the mention of giant wolves, the Former Empress flinched and hardened her expression.

As if that reaction wasn’t particularly unexpected, Lionel continued with a calm face.

“My brother is being identified as the mastermind behind that incident.”

“What…! Th-the mastermind of that incident was me! Me! It was a scheme I devised to harm you!”

“I knew that too. But Count Riam and the servants and court physicians of the Imperial Palace say otherwise.”

“What? Why would they! …Yes, I understand. You bribed them! You bribed those bastards, didn’t you!”

“Why would I need to do such a thing?”

“Because your goal is to become emperor!”

To the Former Empress’s cry, shouted as if to vent her anger, Lionel calmly replied.

“Before, and now. I don’t particularly want to become emperor.”

“Then why did such a person invade the Imperial Palace and point a sword at the Emperor! What a shameless bastard!”

“Before, and in the future. My purpose is one thing. Protecting my family.”

“What…? Ha, hahaha! Ahahaha!”

As if she had heard an extremely amusing joke, the Former Empress burst into loud laughter. After giggling until tears formed in her eyes, she then glared at Lionel with a serious expression.

“What? Protecting family? When you don’t even recognize your own mother, who are you protecting?”

“I’m well aware that you gave birth to me.”

“You know that I bore you from my own womb? Knowing that, you dare treat me like this! Instead of repaying the debt of giving you life, you insolent…!”

“The grace of giving birth to me, you mean.”

Lionel tilted his head as if he had heard something quite strange.

“I turned twenty-one this year.”

“So what? Do you think I wouldn’t know your age?”

“It’s been 21 years since I was born, yet you only mention the grace of giving birth.”

In other words, it was a pointed observation that she knew she had only given birth and done nothing else afterward.

The Former Empress’s face instantly flushed hot.

To erase the shame she felt, she deliberately shouted even louder.

“So what, are you going to resent me for not loving you? Like a child?”

“That could hardly be the case.”

Lionel shook his head as if he had never even considered such a possibility and pulled out a medicine bottle from his pocket.

He placed the bottle on the floor. He didn’t hand it to her directly, just dropped it on the ground with a clink.

“It’s poison. The Alchemist was quite proud of it. Said you could die easily without pain.”

“What…!”

“It’s the only way for that son you cherish so much to avoid being framed for attempted regicide against the Former Emperor.”

In short, he was telling her to take all the blame and kill herself.

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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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