The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 147

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

Chapter 147
Beneath the glittering sunlight, people exchanged excited voices, relieved that everyone had made it through unscathed.
Winston’s Shields came rushing over and regrouped with Kyle.
Bulk asked with a raspy chuckle, his grin wide.
“Master, are you alright? You were getting pummeled pretty hard by that monster earlier.”
“…Are you worried or just mocking me?”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, sir.”
Number 19 chimed in with a giggle at Kyle’s words. Everyone was in high spirits.
Even Heinrich had the Mage Tower members rushing toward him.
“Ah, here they come again, fussing over the substitute Mage Tower Master―”
As he muttered that this was precisely the sort of nuisance he despised, Heinrich wore a smug expression, though their doting didn’t seem entirely unwelcome.
The Mage Tower Master’s mages approached with flushed, eager faces, speaking over one another.
“Where did you source the materials for that construct? This is a breakthrough in magical research!”
“What is the principle by which the soul connects to the homunculus and operates it? Please submit a paper to the World Mage Tower Journal.”
“Could one of the construct’s materials be the essence of a red dragon?”
It was a full-scale uprising of magic otaku.
Heinrich shook his head as if to say, “I’m one to talk, but you lot are truly relentless,” and spoke.
“Insane mages―”
“So it really is red dragon essence, isn’t it?”
Meanwhile, Anette was receiving Sisrain’s concern.
“You’re hurt, Anette.”
“Huh? …I’m fine.”
That’s hardly what someone covered in blood should be saying, Your Majesty.
Her arm bore only a slight scratch. In the chaos of war, such minor injuries were a blessing.
Yet Sisrain could not tear his gaze from that thin arm’s wound, tenderly examining the area around it with evident distress.
“We should have a physician look at it immediately.”
In that moment, she felt it naturally―butterflies settling in her heart.
―Perhaps this was love.
Even as the world turned upside down and righted itself, as the sun rose to illuminate a new day,
she realized she could no longer help but love this man who grieved over a speck of dust on her body more than his own deep wounds.
In that instant, she understood she had fallen in love.
“Sisrain, I have something to tell you.”
“…”
His crimson eyes gazed down at Anette quietly.
When had she ever feared those red eyes, so full of concern and affection without a trace of malice? The memory felt distant now.
Perhaps love makes one brave.
The entire Empire fears you, but I… I do not fear you at all.
Confessions swirled in her mouth.
What should I say?
That I accept your proposal? That I’ve come to care for you too?
Pushing aside the countless confessions swirling in my mind, my true heart moved my lips with greater honesty.
“I want to marry you.”
“….”
In that instant, Sisrain’s movements froze.
Anette’s confession was utterly clear and burning with intensity.
“…From now on, I wish for you to be present in every remaining moment of my life.”
I want to wake each morning listening to your breath.
I hope I’m the one who worries about you first, always.
My entire existence,
my entire heart,
I want to devote solely to you.
“….”
A faint tremor and emotion flickered across Sisrain’s eyes. His large hand slowly cradled Anette’s cheek.
It was a moment that nothing could replace.
The emotion Sisrain felt in this instant, no one could understand. Not even Anette.
And in that moment, the wind came.
First a gentle breeze, but then a violent gale that seemed ready to tear the earth asunder.
The sound of the world splitting, cracks spreading across solid ground, the void being rent open—all could be heard.
“…!!!”
Between the startled Anette and Sisrain, the Crevasse opened.
Like a dark crimson maw, it gaped wide, hungrily devouring everything as if consumed by madness itself.
“Kuk, kuk, kuk, kuk…!”
Gerard, sprawled among countless corpses on the ground and collapsed in a state barely clinging to life, laughed.
“Did you think I wouldn’t prepare for my own failure? This is my revenge.”
His debased eyes gazed upon the Crevasse he had opened.
It was a curse designed in advance before his power was stripped away. If I fail, then open the Crevasse’s gate.
Gerard wanted to destroy Sisrain, to ruin this reality that refused to bend to his desires.
“If it cannot be mine, then let it be destroyed!”
He laughed with manic fervor.
“Let everything become a complete mess!”
“Shut your mouth, you bastard. Stop your pathetic whimpering.”
Thwack―! Crack!
Heinrich stamped down squarely on the back of Gerard’s head.
The Crevasse’s fissure expanded in an instant, as if ready to swallow anyone.
“Fall back!”
Kyle stepped forward with a warning. The Crevasse was originally designed to imprison criminals, so it was engineered to target ‘someone’ specific.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, please evade!”
Given Gerard’s resentment toward Sisrain, it was easy to guess who the target would be.
―But the Crevasse, moving with the swiftness of a living thing, rapidly shifted its position before finally lunging toward Anette.
“Ah…!”
Gerard had finally grasped the true method of making Sisrain suffer.
“…Sisrain.”
Anette’s golden hair and the collar of her garment whipped wildly in the wind.
In that fleeting blink of an eye, Sisrain relived the agony he had endured in the Crevasse—limbs severed, his entire body torn asunder.
Those moments that would make one beg for death itself.
Just before the Crevasse could swallow Anette, Sisrain swiftly pulled her free and cast himself as an offering into its depths.
Shuuuuuuush―!
The Crevasse, having consumed its sacrifice, vanished as if it had never existed.
Only Anette’s voice calling out for Sisrain echoed across the land in anguished desperation.
* * *
Though many had fallen, the battle had finally ended.
With ministers gathered in council over the vacant position of Crown Prince, a single conclusion was reached.
―The death of Crown Prince Sisrain von Axilpherion.
The Royal Physician’s opinion, who knew the circumstances of the Crevasse and Sisrain better than anyone, had weighed heavily in this decision.
The Royal Physician recalled the warning he had once given Sisrain.
“Should Your Highness venture into the ‘Crevasse’ again, you will certainly lose control. Or rather, in truth….”
“….”
“I cannot even guarantee that you would return alive.”
His current assessment differed little from that grim prognosis.
“Moreover, this Crevasse that opened is unlike anything Your Highness has faced before. That ‘blood-red thing’ is used to slaughter people.”
By now, not even bones would remain within it, the Royal Physician concluded, shaking his head.
The nation mourned the loss of its Crown Prince, though such sorrow proved fleeting.
State affairs had to continue, and the senior ministers assumed those responsibilities.
Today was the day a new Mage Tower Master would be chosen.
The vote among those with suffrage for the 28th Mage Tower Master became unanimous.
‘Grand Duke Heinrich Hyacinth’.
He had become the new master of the Mage Tower.
Furthermore, Belesak Valentigo was arrested for using ‘Paralysis Toxin’ on the former Mage Tower Master and for conspiring with Gerard to harm Anette.
The internal whistleblowing from Valentigo’s research institute, Anette’s testimony, and Heinrich’s blood all served to substantiate these charges.
“―Sister.”
Heinrich called out to Anette, addressing her back.
“You’re at the Riverside again. It seems you’ve been here every day lately.”
“….”
Thud, thud,
Heinrich walked toward her.
The clear Riverside was bathed in the glow of sunset. In the wind that swept coldly through her hair came the scent of the river—briny and bittersweet.
“What were you doing?”
“Just… thinking about the old days.”
Anette answered Heinrich’s question with a faint smile.
Anette stood beside a hawthorn tree, surrounded by small flowers white as snowflakes.
Both the flowering tree and Anette appeared so fragile that they would shatter the moment they were bent.
Heinrich’s eyes grew tender with a hint of sorrow, but he quickly composed himself and smiled.
“Sister! I finally became the Mage Tower Master~”
“You did wonderfully. Truly magnificent.”
“Right? You should have seen my biological father’s face when he found out, Sister.”
Ah, how exhilarating it was.
Heinrich scratched the back of his head playfully.
“Oh right, Gerard is being interrogated too. Well, execution is practically certain.”
He was already in such a wretched state that even interrogation was difficult.
In truth, remaining alive would only be greater torment.
“Will you attend the trial?”
“Yes.”
Anette spoke while gazing toward the Riverside.
“I will watch with my own eyes as he receives his punishment.”
So she had accomplished everything as she intended.
Heinrich smiled quietly beside her as he pondered this.
He hoped her heart would find some peace.
These days, Anette spent all her time beside the flowering tree, watching only the river.
She did not leave until dusk faded into night.
Gazing at the Riverside all day long—what was she truly seeing in her heart?
As Heinrich tried to understand Anette’s thoughts, she quietly opened her mouth.
“Heinrich, I have a favor to ask.”
“Anything! Just say the word! If it’s your request, Sister, I’m all in~”
Anette answered with translucent eyes.
“Tell them to postpone Sisrain’s funeral.”
….
Everyone in this Empire said that Sisrain was dead.
But not entirely everyone.
There was one person who believed until the very end that Sisrain was alive.
“Sisrain will return.”
She gazed at Heinrich with eyes that had grown resolute, whispering softly.
When all the world had abandoned him, Anette did not.
“I believe. …He will surely come back to me.”

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