The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 114

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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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Chapter 114
Whose touch was this? Leisurely yet scorching.
At first, it was almost tender—fastening the thin fabric near my heart.
Then fingertips grazed the delicate skin at my collarbone.
A burning contact, as if imprinting a fingerprint upon me.
Soon, large hands began to slowly envelop my body—with enough pressure to feel almost suffocating.
“Ha….”
The moment I exhaled that stifled breath and opened my eyes.
‘I wasn’t lying in bed?’
I was kneeling before someone. Not even properly kneeling—one leg folded awkwardly beneath me.
When I lifted my gaze—
A man was looking down at me. A figure of oppressive, towering proportions.
He carried the aura of a predator perfected in the art of subjugation, of forcing others to their knees, of consumption.
“Sisrain?”
I knew instinctively.
Those thick hands that had just enveloped me were his.
“Anette.”
“….”
“Mine….”
He caressed his own smooth jaw, and the corner of his mouth lifted with lazy satisfaction.
Drawing out his words, his large hand then cradled my cheek.
“Adorable. Impudent.”
“….”
“Anette.”
His solid, broad shoulders lowered as he maintained our gaze.
Soon, he aligned our eyes perfectly.
“You ask for time, and after resolving your mother’s affairs, you plan to flee, don’t you?”
“No, I….”
‘Our hearts are already connected anyway.’
I’m not cruel enough to kill you.
Those sharp crimson eyes—sliced clean as if by a blade—narrowed with amusement, as if witnessing something delightful.
“If not, then why won’t you give me an answer?”
His handsome face drew closer.
“You’re drawn to me too.”
“….”
It was an undeniable truth.
But.
I feared that surrendering to his obsessive madness would shatter my very existence.
―If I nestled into that embrace, I would dissolve, become entangled with him, lose myself entirely. As if consumed by him.
It felt like poisoned wine—intoxicating and thrilling to drink, yet simultaneously numbing, slowly killing me.
“Don’t be afraid.”
He whispered as though he could see straight through me.
Those deep crimson eyes seemed poised to tear through every layer of my being,
so I squeezed my eyes shut.
The next moment.
I found myself sitting atop Sisrain as he lay in bed.
“…!”
Broad shoulders and a chest carved with the precision of a masterwork sculpture.
He gazed up at me languidly, his clothes clearly torn open by his own hands, his crimson eyes fixed upon me with such brazen intensity that heat flooded my cheeks.
Then, muscular forearms traced with prominent veins wrapped around my waist.
And.
At the scorching breath that suddenly rose to my ear, my heart gave a sharp, electric jolt.
A sensation so overwhelming it made my skin crawl—
“Let us fall into the abyss together.”
That low.
Voice brimming with obsession.
I could only grow dizzy and close my eyes.
* * *
“My lord, are you all right?”
I felt someone shaking me awake and opened my eyes.
Gentle eyes regarded me with concern—deep forest-green irises and light brown hair, a soft voice.
It was Kyle.
“You seemed to be having a nightmare, so I woke you.”
“Ah….”
What happened?
Why am I in bed?
“You collapsed in the Banquet Hall.”
Only then did the memories before my collapse return to me with clarity.
How I’d driven Gerard into a corner as planned, how I’d forced the High Priest to step forward, and how someone had attacked me—and in that moment, Sisrain had shielded me and taken the blade instead.
‘Sisrain was wounded?’
“…!”
“The Crown Prince is unharmed. Perfectly fine, in fact.”
As though reading my mind, Kyle quickly reassured me.
Only then did a deep breath of relief escape me.
“Thank goodness.”
“Indeed.”
The innocent doe repeated my words and smiled with bright eyes.
“Still, I should go check on him. On Sisrain, to make sure he’s truly all right.”
As I tried to stand, he urgently grasped my hand and stopped me.
“Please rest a little longer.”
Then he cradled my cheek in his warm palm.
“I’m concerned about you.”
“….”
“Master, it seems you’ve accumulated considerable fatigue and tension over these past days.”
―That was true.
The moment I thought I’d found my mother, she passed away. Because of that, instead of the long-awaited reunion I’d yearned for, I never even exchanged a single word with her.
On top of that, I’d been in a state of constant tension dealing with Gerard for days on end.
‘In the end, everything proceeded according to plan.’
But when I was suddenly attacked, my mind nearly shattered—my body’s condition was worse than I’d realized.
―However, I had no time to rest now.
There were things that needed to be done.
“Kyle, please accept this.”
First, I needed to settle accounts properly. I called for Victoria and handed Kyle the documents I’d prepared in advance.
Confusion flickered across his gentle eyes.
“This is….”
“It’s a record of the fortune I’ve accumulated in Bayonere over time. You found ‘Larva’ for me, after all. This is my payment for that service.”
It was no small sum.
My business acumen was quite considerable, so the amount was far too large for what a mere commoner could have gathered. Besides, I’d also liquidated several dwarven treasures.
“I cannot accept this.”
Kyle shook his head.
But this money wasn’t meant for Kyle himself.
It was payment owed to the ‘leader of Larva’ as fair compensation for a commission.
“I made a request and promised to pay for it. To ‘Larva.'”
“Anette.”
For the first time, he called my name. Without any honorific, intimately and tenderly. His deep voice carried unmistakable affection.
He pressed his forehead against the back of my hand as he spoke.
“If it’s your request, I would walk through fire itself. This isn’t something I did in expectation of reward.”
“…If you say such things, I won’t be able to ask you for anything in the future.”
I wanted the accounts to be clean. He was quite a capable information broker and had been my business partner for over a decade.
I wanted to maintain that trust.
“Even so, this amount is excessive. Even for a formal commission, a tenth of this would suffice.”
“You’ve forgotten—I’ve forcibly negotiated down your rates before. Like some miserly penny-pincher.”
I smiled, lowering my brows.
I owed compensation to the ‘Phantom Boy at half price.’
He’d genuinely cared for me and worked with utmost sincerity more than anyone else.
“I’m truly grateful for cutting off the pursuit for me.”
“…But it ultimately failed.”
Kyle’s face held a mixture of frustration and regret as he said this.
“It’s not your fault, Kyle. You mentioned that someone must have revealed my location.”
I already knew this from what Kyle had told me.
Gerard had been able to pinpoint my location with such precision because someone had betrayed my whereabouts.
He finally tucked the documents into his jacket. Kyle—or rather, the head of Larva—spoke.
“We are searching for that person. The one who revealed Miss Anette’s location. We will conclude this commission with that.”
“Very well.”
―It seemed this would be the completion of our transaction.
* * *
I tried to visit Sisrain, but Victoria firmly stopped me.
News of my collapse brought every attendant from the Duke’s Residence rushing to my bedside with concern, leaving me pinned to the bed with no choice but to rest (and I was forced to consume an abundance of various tonics for vitality).
The last thing I remembered was drinking a sedative and drifting back into darkness.
But then.
….
What was this heavy breathing?
‘It’s my bed, yet I feel someone else’s breath… that’s strange, isn’t it?’
I lifted my heavy eyelids slightly.
Right before my eyes lay a pale, delicate, and strikingly handsome face.
…!
‘Heinrich?’
He slept with the innocent, refreshing appearance of a boy who’d tumbled into my bed after playing outside, utterly harmless.
His long eyelashes trembled slightly.
‘How did he even get in here?’
Then again, it was rather foolish to question such things about a mage who could alter the very seasons.
A white stick protruded from Heinrich’s crimson lips. He’d fallen asleep while eating a lollipop.
‘How adorable.’
The tension melted away, and I found myself smiling.
“This will rot away, you fool.”
Whispering softly so as not to wake Heinrich, I slowly withdrew the stick.
A half-dissolved round candy slipped right out from his parted lips.
Heinrich stirred, his body shifting. The oversized shirt he wore slipped askew.
Though appearing delicate, his body was firm as tempered steel, moving with each breath in a way that seemed to invite sin beneath the thin fabric.
‘Insane.’
I immediately averted my gaze.
‘It’s just a man’s chest, after all.’
But why did looking at Heinrich’s make me feel like I was committing something wrong?
I was hastily fastening his shirt collar when it happened.
….
Long eyelashes rose slowly, and those beautiful violet eyes were already looking at me.
His expression was perfectly alert, as though he had never been asleep at all.
He licked his lips and glanced alternately between the candy in my hand and me.
“Sister.”
…Yes?
“My tongue feels empty.”
He drew closer still, lying on his side facing me as I reclined on the bed, narrowing the distance between us to no more than the width of a lollipop stick.
With eyes so pure and harmless, Heinrich gazed softly at my lips and whispered.
“I want to taste something sweeter instead.”
* * *
Marquis Winston’s Residence.
“We found them!”
Number 19 rushed in, speaking hurriedly.
“We found two people who witnessed Gerard having a secret meeting!”
Kyle’s eyes sharpened. This investigation had been underway since the Tracking Team arrived on Bayonere Island. By now, finding witnesses was hardly impossible.
Shortly after, two men entered the Reception Room.
Remarkably, both were Gerard’s subordinates—men who had worked in the Tracking Team.
Kyle sat across from them, his gaze unyielding with suspicion, and asked.
“You’re Gerard’s dogs. How am I supposed to believe anything you say?”
“The Tracking Team is finished! We heard we’d be ‘disposed of.’ If you compensate us, we’ll hand over the information and leave Eldorado.”
The other member of the Tracking Team beside him lowered his head and spoke.
“I… I feel the same way.”
“Did you both come together?”
In response to Kyle’s question, One-Eye, who had brought the two men, spoke respectfully.
“No, my lord. They each separately offered to provide information, so they’re only now seeing each other.”
The Red-Haired Man, who had entered the Reception Room first, struck his chest and spoke.
“My information is accurate.”
“What are you talking about? I saw with these two eyes who he met. You clearly said you knew the location of ‘that woman’! The two of them met in the Deep Forest.”
Not to be outdone, the Pink-Haired Man beside him chattered away.
The Red-Haired Man spoke hastily. Since he’d come this far, if he left Eldorado without receiving payment, only he would lose.
“He was an ‘aide’ to a high-ranking nobleman!”
…An aide?
Kyle, who had been sunk deep into his chair, straightened up abruptly and rested his chin on his hand.
Then he asked with a cold gaze.
“Tell me the name of that person.”
Who was the aide serving the man who had put Anette in danger and even threatened her life?
The two men answered simultaneously.
“Duncan.”
“Owen.”
Kyle’s face froze into a barren expression.
Grand Duke Hyacinth or the Crown Prince?
―Either answer among the two conflicting responses was unexpected.

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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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