The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 118

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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 118
“Heinrich, when did you come in?”
Victoria had certainly been moving in and out of this room, yet I hadn’t noticed his arrival.
‘It’s easy for a Mage to hide their presence from ordinary people.’
…But still, Heinrich is so large!
“Yawn.”
Heinrich rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, his gaze heavy with drowsiness.
“I’ve been sleeping since earlier, Sister.”
Heinrich opened his eyes wide as he spoke.
“And you’re forbidden from scolding me for sneaking in.”
“Good grief.”
I let out an exasperated laugh, and he looked up at me, ruffling his tousled silver hair like a puppy.
“And you’re also forbidden from not hugging me.”
“….”
What a way to ask for a hug.
…He’s too cute to refuse.
I patted Heinrich’s shoulder.
He closed his eyes and made a contented sound, his throat rumbling with pleasure.
“I’m so happy that Sister came to Eldorado.”
“….”
“Because I can see you often now.”
Heinrich lowered his eyelids softly and whispered.
“It’s so wonderful that it feels like a dream.”
“….”
Today too, I found the boy I once knew in Heinrich’s face.
Hearing such pure words—the kind an eleven-year-old might say, that it feels like a dream—I could imagine how much he must have longed to see me during all those days alone in Eldorado.
I smiled and spoke.
“From now on, I’ll stay here. I won’t go anywhere.”
“Really?”
“Yes!”
“Promise me.”
Heinrich’s anxious face turned upward as he held out his finger.
Heinrich….
I’ve already broken a promise with you. Yet you hold out your most delicate finger and ask me to promise again—
Because there’s nothing else for you to hold onto.
Even after experiencing that promises can be broken, you have no choice but to cling to this small hope.
I felt sorry and heartbroken.
‘Heinrich, I won’t leave anymore.’
Whether we marry or not, I won’t abandon you and leave like I did before.
Knock knock,
In that moment, I recalled the boy trapped inside the shield, pounding on the door with small fists, crying pitifully.
“Sister, you’re joking, right? …Why did you prepare something like this!!! Are you really going to abandon me and leave?!”
I could still vividly see your face from that day. So how could I do that to you.
“Yes, I promise.”
I smiled and linked my pinky finger with his.
Only then did the anxiety fade from Heinrich’s face, and a beautiful smile bloomed there.
“Sister, I actually came because I had something to brag about.”
“What is it?”
“The Mage Tower Master is retiring soon. So the Mage Tower will be selecting the ‘next Mage Tower Master.’ And who do you think is the most likely candidate? …It’s me!”
“Wow!”
I was genuinely shocked.
The Mage Tower Masters of Eldorado were basically all grandmothers and grandfathers!
So someone as young as Heinrich would become a Mage Tower Master? How talented our little one must be!
“You’re truly amazing, Heinrich. As expected, our Heinrich is a genius~”
There, there, our little one.
“You’re so incredibly cool!”
Heinrich’s already high nose lifted even higher. He puffed out his chest proudly like a preening cat, straightening his shoulders.
“There will be a vote soon, and I’m sure I’ll be chosen. It’s practically a done deal, really? The outcome is already decided.”
“Hmm? Wouldn’t a vote be somewhat disadvantageous?”
After all, you’re not the popular type. Unless it were a beauty contest.
“Oh, it’s fine! The selection of the Mage Tower Master is voted on through strict ‘merit-based’ evaluation.”
The little cat puffed out his chest and pointed to himself, blinking his eyes.
“Even if your personality is bad, it doesn’t matter!”
“….”
Thump.
…Oh my, your self-assessment is quite objective, isn’t it? Our little one.
I quickly gave him a thumbs up.
“Our Heinrich is truly the best!”
“Right?”
“Yes!”
Heinrich received my affection and his face brightened considerably, but then something seemed to occur to him, and his expression darkened slightly.
I caught that shadow and immediately asked.
“What’s wrong…?”
“Actually, I have one concern, Sister.”
“What is it?”
Heinrich’s face showed hesitation, as if he couldn’t decide whether to speak. For someone usually so unguarded, this was clearly a serious worry.
Just as I was listening intently, he opened his mouth.
“I received contact from my biological father.”
“…!”
Heinrich’s biological father.
A great Archmage, yet a man without mercy—he abandoned the courtesan and his child the moment she bore him a son.
Despite living in the same Eldorado, he had never once reached out to Heinrich.
‘…He must have heard that Heinrich was adopted, yet he pretended not to know all this time.’
Any father would have at least glanced at a child he’d abandoned, especially after learning the boy had become the son of another nobleman. But this cold man had done nothing of the sort.
‘Was it different in the original story?’
I recalled the source material after quite some time.
‘The biological father only appeared through narration.’
He was merely a narrative device—a means of explaining how miserable Heinrich’s childhood had been, why he had to become the character he was.
‘Even when Heinrich faced that pitiful, desolate ending….’
He never once showed his face.
But consider this.
Now he stands before me with such a soft, beautiful face, smiling brightly. But in the original story—
‘He was bearing the stigma of a traitor.’
If he had revealed himself as the biological father, he would surely have died.
By Sisrain’s hand.
Could it be that fear kept him hidden?
But circumstances have changed now, so perhaps he might show some affection after all.
‘Even if he doesn’t love enough to stake his life on it, a child is still a child.’
I couldn’t rule out that possibility either.
As I was weighing these various possibilities, Heinrich asked me a question.
“I suppose I should just tell him to disappear?”
Heinrich rested his chin on his hand, his expression darkening.
“It’s infuriating. Now, of all times. Where was he when he abandoned me and pretended not to know?”
His voice trembled with hurt.
“How despicable.”
…
“He didn’t even come to my mother’s funeral.”
Feeling the anguish Heinrich must have endured back then, my chest ached.
I pictured young Heinrich, placing a single flower on his mother’s grave with small, trembling hands, weeping alone before it with no one in the world beside him.
It was a scene that had made me cry when I read the original story.
My eyes darkened.
“…I don’t know.”
Still, if I were in my current position, I could only advise him to meet with the man for now.
After all, I had once misunderstood that my own mother had abandoned me, only to resolve that misunderstanding after she had already passed away.
Parents who abandon their children have their reasons.
But.
“If you don’t want to meet him, you don’t have to.”
A child has no obligation to understand those reasons.
Simply by being abandoned, a child carries wounds and scars that never fade throughout their entire life.
Heinrich had the right to live pursuing only his own happiness.
More than anyone, I supported it.
At my answer, Heinrich fell into thought for a moment before asking carefully.
“Do you… regret meeting Mother?”
I answered immediately.
“No.”
“”
“I don’t regret it.”
Because of her, I finally understood where my life had begun to unravel, and for the first time, I felt as though I had found my ‘roots’.
Who my true enemy was.
How I should face Gerard from this moment forward.
My life, which had been solely aimed at becoming ‘The Bakery owner’, now had a new purpose.
I desire ‘revenge’ against Gerard.
For my mother and for myself.
My life had never been clearer.
“Because of her, I learned who I am and what I must do.”
I answered calmly.
“I don’t regret it, Heinrich.”
“”
Heinrich fell into deep thought for a long time, as if turning my words over in his mind again and again.
* * *
“Duncan.”
After meeting with Anette, Heinrich, who had been lost in thought for some time, finally spoke.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
With his elegant and beautiful jawline resting languidly in his palm, Heinrich twirled the invitation caught between his fingers.
It was an invitation to the Mage Tower.
An invitation sent by Belesak Valentigo, one of the nine Grand Mages of the Mage Tower.
His name was written there in bold, flowing script.
「 Belesak Valentigo 」
The man who abandoned Heinrich and his mother.
―His biological father’s name.
Fundamentally, the nine Grand Mages belonging to the Mage Tower reside within it.
So he had extended this invitation to Heinrich.
Even after summoning Duncan, Heinrich’s gaze drifted meaninglessly toward the vase on the table.
His focus lay not before him but in some distant place.
Though he had thought about it at length after meeting Anette, he could not easily reach a conclusion regarding whether to meet his biological father.
Could I too avoid regret?
Heinrich recalled Anette’s voice.
“I don’t regret it.”
Conversely, if he simply ignored this invitation…
Could he avoid regret in that case?
‘I’ll run into them at the Mage Tower anyway.’
Heinrich thought dryly, yet his large hand pressed against his eyes as he muttered.
“Has guilt finally caught up with me now? It’s far too late for that. Too late to look after a child.”
Even as he spoke with bitter sarcasm, a shadow of emotion—the kind only the abandoned carry—flickered across his eyes.
He bit his lip and issued a command.
“Accept Belesak Valentigo’s invitation. Tell him I’ll come to the Mage Tower and to set a time.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”

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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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