The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 149

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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 149
“How are you holding up?”
Kyle extended a bouquet of flowers to Anette as he asked.
He understood what it meant to say goodbye to one’s mother—he had experienced it himself.
That’s why he couldn’t help but worry about her, now that she had laid her mother to rest.
Anette accepted the flowers with a gentle smile—the kind of warm smile that bloomed like flowers in spring.
“Of course. I had already prepared myself mentally and proceeded with the funeral. I’m fine.”
Fortunately, she appeared far more composed and at ease than he had been at such a time.
―She had always been a more remarkable woman than he was.
He felt it in every moment they spent together. Deeply, thrillingly so.
Anette guided Kyle to the table, and they sat across from each other. A warm cup of black tea wafted its fragrance across the surface.
“Miss Anette, I’ve decided to have one of my subordinates manage the Bakery for the time being. A boy named Noah is helping out, I hear.”
“Noah! That’s wonderful. I heard the bakery is doing exceptionally well?”
Rocky Valinel—finally revealed as Number 19’s true name—possessed considerable talent for baking, and his distinctive rustic dialect declaring “Sold out!” had become his trademark, steadily elevating the bakery’s popularity.
“Rocky has been visiting me frequently to explain the operations. It seems a branch location will open soon.”
“Even as a duke, you’re still running a bakery―”
Kyle brought his fist to his mouth and chuckled softly.
“You’re quite the incurable bread enthusiast.”
“And you’re one to talk—buying bread every single day!”
“I didn’t go there because I liked bread. I went because I liked the beautiful owner who always welcomed me at that bakery.”
Kyle said this with a refreshing smile.
“…!”
Anette’s expression suddenly turned apologetic.
Now she could no longer repay that pure, gentle man who used to visit the bakery daily, bringing her chocolates and flowers.
She could no longer repay his proposal ring.
Kyle, who always gazed thoughtfully into Anette’s heart, immediately recognized that beautiful sentiment.
He smiled and wrapped her hand gently in his, his serene eyes meeting hers.
“You always give your best to the things you love, Miss Anette.”
“….”
“Whether it’s running the bakery, helping someone, or loving someone. …I found that way of yours incredibly beautiful and precious. So.”
Anette looked at Kyle—at those warm eyes beneath hair as soft as a wheat field.
“So, Anette.”
“….”
“Don’t apologize to me.”
Anette trembled slightly. Until the very end, this man was being considerate of her, ensuring she wouldn’t feel burdened.
He truly was a good person.
“How could I not apologize, Kyle?”
“….”
“You’ve done so much for me. You’ve always protected me and helped me. In Bayonere and even now.”
“You were always the one who gave to me first.”
A girl who was afraid of people yet lonely, who always had to hide, and who willingly gifted him a mask.
A person who transformed him—insignificant as a grain of sand—into something as magnificent as a castle.
That unconditional warmth was the beginning.
Her heart was the beginning.
I merely sought to repay the thoughtful kindness and affection I received from her back then.
“Miss Anette.”
“….”
“Please don’t misunderstand. I have not protected you in hopes of receiving Miss Anette’s love.”
My goodwill carried no such condition.
“I simply wished to repay a debt of gratitude. And I admired Miss Anette’s noble and tender heart, desiring only to emulate it.”
With that handful of kindness I received as a child, I became a warm person, Miss Anette.
Had it not been for you, I might have become a heartless man by now.
Anette lowered her eyes and whispered softly.
“Thank you so much for saying that, Kyle.”
“I depart for the borderlands tomorrow. I must fulfill my duties with the Demon Subjugation Corps.”
“…! Will it take a long time this time as well?”
“It shouldn’t take too long.”
“How long will it be?”
“Two seasons should suffice. I will return when autumn arrives.”
“Please take care of yourself while you’re away.”
“Yes.”
He smiled tenderly, then rose from his seat.
“Ah, one last favor—would you grant it to me?”
Anette nodded.
Was there any favor she could refuse him?
If it was Kyle’s request, she truly wished to grant anything.
“Of course. Please, tell me, Kyle.”
Kyle took her hand and slowly bowed his head. The fragrance of black tea drifted sweetly between them.
“Be happy, Anette. I have been truly happy because of you all this time.”
“….”
With a surge of emotion, Anette bit her lip before breaking into a radiant smile.
“Yes!”
I will be, Kyle.
“I will be happy.”
* * *
A dim Prison.
Gerard, whose execution had been confirmed for today, sat with a vacant expression.
A few rats beside him gnawed at moldy bread scraps, but scattered at the sound of footsteps—’thud, thud’—drawing near.
“Death row inmate Gerard, here’s your final meal.”
Clang―
It was a meager meal. Stale bread and a yellowish broth that was barely more than water.
Gerard’s gaze fell upon his plate, and he soon frowned as he spoke.
“They’re serving garbage.”
“….”
The guard’s expression changed.
Bang!
The guard lashed out with a kick as he spoke.
“A wretch like you doesn’t deserve even this food! Think of all the people who died because of you! Ptui!”
With scathing words, the guard spat and left.
“…?!”
Gerard felt a strange cognitive dissonance wash over him.
Wasn’t he the one who had always commanded everyone’s respect?
Though born of humble origins, wasn’t he destined to ascend to the most noble station?
Even on the day Akra was lifted, he had held the position of a prince revered by all.
That dissonance only began to fade when he stood upon the execution platform the next day.
Everyone who had come to witness the public execution resented him. Some wept, having lost family in the chaos.
―It was then that Gerard finally understood.
His entire life, from beginning to end, had been a perfect failure.
Step, step.
Gerard’s eyes were hollow as he walked toward the scaffold.
The blazing light from above was so intense that the condemned could barely open his eyes. That brilliance made him laugh. So this underground was where he truly belonged?
‘…In the end, I meet my demise as the most wretched and lowly of all. This is worse than a worm.’
A miserable death that came from the opposite direction of everything he had desired.
The man who had committed atrocities for his own sake met his end in such a manner.
No one mourned Gerard’s death.
His death became a small comfort to the victims—the only thing he had done in his life as a human that held any worth.
* * *
“Are you going to the Riverside again today?”
“Yes, Victoria.”
Victoria seemed to hesitate, as though she wanted to say something.
Her eyes held a note of concern.
I sensed what Victoria wanted to say, so I smiled reassuringly.
“I’m just going to get some fresh air and take a walk.”
“…Please return before dawn, Duke. The night air is cold.”
“Yes, Victoria.”
After Victoria left, I picked up my pen and finished the letter I had been writing.
It was a letter to Sisrain.
「 Sisrain,
It’s already been ten days since you departed for that distant place.
When I calculate it, in Crevasse… an entire lifetime has already passed. 」
The tip of the pen trembled.
A lifetime had passed in a single moment.
Someone was born, and then faced death once more.
「 For me, it’s only ten days, but for you, it will be a lifetime.
Because time flows differently where you are and where I am.
So my single day stretches like ten years. Every minute, every second without you feels impossibly distant and slow.
During that time, I worry about you, yet I harbor another selfish concern as well.
What if you’ve forgotten me?
A lifetime is…
simply too long to wait for someone. 」
They said that experiencing Crevasse drives one to madness.
Will you remember me through that excruciating agony?
Even Sisrain himself had never spent such an impossibly long time within Crevasse.
Perhaps he has already forgotten me.
「 But that’s all right.
Because I will remember everything for both of us. 」
The pen’s fine tremor gradually stilled, and the handwriting became calm and clear.
「 This time, it’s all right for me to love you alone.
Just as you did all this while.
So please…
come back to me. 」
The letter’s ending was ultimately stained with tears.
* * *
Today, the sky was particularly clear.
Along the Riverside, sunlight sparkled as if diamond dust had been scattered across it.
I stood beside a hawthorn tree, gazing out at the Riverside.
“…It’s so beautiful today.”
In truth, before coming here, Heinrich had asked me.
“Sister, but why do you always wait here by the Riverside?”
“Oh, just because!”
Despite my answer, there was actually a reason.
―This was the Riverside closest to the fissure where Crevasse had formed.
I’d heard that those who experienced Crevasse often appeared ‘near water’ when they returned.
So I was simply placing my fragile hope in this place.
‘If he comes back….’
So, if Sisrain spent that long, endless time within it and returned.
‘I wanted to greet him as close as possible, even if just one step nearer.’
I wished to be the first person to welcome him.
Today, the wind along the Riverside was particularly fierce, whipping my hair about and numbing my fingers.
I breathed warmth into my palms and gazed at the small bird beside the hawthorn tree.
‘How adorable.’
A yellow bird with a tiny, endearing beak and black eyes—it looked just like a little chick.
Then, caught by a gentle breeze, the bird fluttered away and landed on another branch.
“…?”
I pushed that branch aside with my hand, and a large, familiar silhouette emerged.
Hair as black as if it had swallowed all the light in the world, and beneath it, crimson eyes.
His shoulders were so broad they felt as solid as a fortress.
Anette’s lips trembled.
She barely managed to let out a whisper.
“…Sisrain?”
My heart plummeted to the depths. My chest ached with each beat.
I felt both joy and dread. Could this be a dream?
I had dreamed of Sisrain’s return countless times.
Thump, thump—
Soon Sisrain drew near. His scent was familiar, his face was familiar, yet something was different.
‘His eyes.’
—Yes, his gaze had grown far deeper.
As deep as the weight of the time he had endured alone.
“….”
Sisrain simply gazed at me with an inscrutable expression, so I steadied my trembling hand against my chest and asked.
“Do you… remember me?”
At my careful question, he let out a soft laugh.
Instead of answering, Sisrain pulled me into his arms with force and kissed me.
It was a familiar, thrilling kiss.
Tears spilled from my eyes at the warmth of his unchanging embrace and the tenderness of his hand caressing my back.
Our lips parted reluctantly, and Sisrain answered in a low, gentle voice.
“What a foolish question.”
I would sooner forget myself.
“How could I forget you, Anette?”
“…But so much time has passed. Nearly an entire lifetime.”
He brushed away Anette’s tears with his fingertips and spoke.
“Yes. Even while spending decades in the Crevasse in agony, I never stopped wanting you.”
Through tens of years of suffering, I loved her as if it were only yesterday.
A love bound to my heart, a thirst of my very soul.
Anette.
From now on, I will always stand by your side, forever yearning for you, desiring you, loving you.
Just as Anette had lived by Sisrain’s measure in this place, Sisrain had lived by Anette’s time in the Crevasse.
Sisrain spoke, as if answering her confession from ten days ago.
“Marry me, Anette.”
“…!”
Anette’s chest swelled with emotion. Tears of pure joy streamed endlessly from her eyes.
She wrapped her arms tightly around Sisrain’s neck and spoke.
“Yes.”
And again.
“Sisrain, yes…!”
We would become a family now.
Like the single missing puzzle piece that each of us had longed for, we would complete each other’s lives—making them more joyful and beautiful.
And with that,
―I found true happiness.
【Main Story Complete】

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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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