The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 151

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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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Side Story: Marriage to Kyle (2)
“Pardon?”
My mind had been entirely occupied with thoughts of how delicious the free cookies at the Bakery must be, so I answered with a bright smile.
“Walking together like this brings back memories of when I first saw you. You were so adorable back then… I remember wishing you’d become my daughter-in-law, though I never imagined it would actually happen. Isn’t fate remarkable? I wonder what our future holds.”
“Well, first I’m planning to go to the bakery and get some free cookies.”
“Ha ha, ‘well’ is quite a philosophical answer. You’re right—we can never know the distant future. Yet I find myself always contemplating it. It makes my heart ache. Don’t you feel the same?”
“Yes, but still, I really should go to the bakery and get those free cookies.”
How delicious they must be.
“I’ll… make sure you get them, Anette.”
Kyle, who had been listening, answered with an oddly solemn tone.
‘Of course. I won the free drawing, after all.’
I thought nothing of it and quickened my pace, pulling along my Father-in-law, whose steps had somehow slowed.
* * *
“That’s the woman, right?”
“Hehehehe, seems like it. Though she appeared earlier than expected?”
Meanwhile, in a dark alley behind Taran Boulevard, two thieves were secretly watching Anette.
Their names were Jack and Bilbo.
Neither was particularly famous, but they were thieves with considerable skill in this area.
“A noble of such standing walking the boulevard without even a carriage!”
“Wasn’t she originally a naive bakery girl from Bayonere Island? And an orphan at that? …Even though she’s now a Duchess and a Countess’s daughter-in-law, she’s still innocent.”
“No matter how innocent, for a noble to actually enter a drawing for ‘free cookie vouchers’…! She’s truly an unusual woman.”
When the name ‘Duchess Anette’ appeared on the free cookie winner’s list at the Bakery, the Empire’s citizens were genuinely astonished.
There were no nobles who would enter a drawing for free cookies.
Except for Anette.
“So that woman is the very famous… what was it called…”
Jack, one of the thieves, gestured frantically as the word escaped him.
“The Bread Princess? Something like that, I heard.”
“…”
The cognitive dissonance of a Duchess of an entire Empire earning a reputation as the “Bread Princess” was so overwhelming that Bilbo momentarily abandoned his train of thought.
“I see.”
Jack narrowed his eyes and gestured toward Anette as he spoke.
“But she really is beautiful.”
Today, beneath the brilliant sunlight, her honey-colored hair gleamed sweetly, and whenever she smiled, a fresh spring essence flowed from her jade-green eyes.
She was a pristine beauty that stirred the heart merely to behold.
No matter how ornate her jewelry and dress, her face and delicate frame drew far more attention.
Every man on Taran Boulevard, and many women too, blushed and stole glances in her direction. Some were so captivated they didn’t even notice the two men flanking her.
“Wow, she’s like a spring fairy!”
“…The rumors about Winston’s slaughter-stag being mad for his wife aren’t unfounded, it seems. Look at the previous Marquis—so besotted with his daughter-in-law that he escorts her with an iron grip on both sides. No wonder the rumors spread throughout the System.”
Jack laughed, baring his gold teeth.
“This works out well for us.”
It was a sinister smile.
“If we kidnap that woman, she’ll pay without hesitation. Once word spreads through high society that the noblewoman’s been abducted, it’ll tarnish her family’s reputation so badly that she won’t even dare summon the Imperial Knights to avoid further scandal… Hehehehe, if this works, we’ll be rolling in money for life!”
Bilbo, watching his companion, scratched his chin and asked.
“But is that woman really okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“That woman inherited Exordium and is a sorcerer, right? When Prince Gerard raised Akra across the Empire’s sky… it was that woman, Duchess Valienne, who stopped it. If she has that kind of power, would she really let us get away with this?”
Jack scoffed.
“Nonsense! If that scrawny little thing is a sorcerer, then the Empire’s stray dogs are all archmages! The Imperial Court definitely fabricated some fake ‘beautiful savior’ image while they were dealing with the traitor Prince Gerard, and now they’re selling her as some great hero. It’s pathetic—the Imperial Knights did all the work, but this little girl gets credit for it and gets treated like a hero. Tch, tch.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah. A woman like that will cry and cling to us the moment we scare her a little. Just make sure not to leave any marks when we kidnap her. She’s a precious ‘item’ for opening the Winston vault!”
“Okay.”
* * *
Surprisingly, the opportunity came quickly.
Whenever Anette so much as glanced at something, her father-in-law would rush off thinking, “Our daughter-in-law must want that!” and her husband would frequently dash off somewhere as if competing with him.
“Sigh, it’s only a 15-minute walk…”
Left alone, Anette checked her watch and pressed her forehead.
“I’ve been walking for an hour!”
Jack and Bilbo, watching from their hiding spot, whispered that at this rate, she’d be so obsessed with sweets that the bakery would run out of free cookies before she even got there.
However.
Anette smoothly brushed back her hair and spoke.
“…Well, I anticipated this and left two hours early, so it’s fine.”
“…”
“…”
Had they ever seen such a meticulous pastry enthusiast?
Jack and Bilbo found themselves genuinely curious about what delicious cookies meant to her.
Jack whispered.
“The bakery’s just ahead. This is our chance.”
Right now, her father-in-law had rushed off to buy a “24-hour temperature and humidity-controlled pure gold oven” for his daughter-in-law’s hobby.
Her husband had pointed out the fundamental scientific error that pure gold melts at high temperatures, and had disappeared to buy some formidable baking equipment instead.
All Anette had done was sneeze and happen to glance at a baking shop…
And the two men had bolted off like madmen trying to catch wasps.
Swiftly—
Finally, the thieves’ dark hands reached toward Anette’s unguarded back.
Kidnapping a noblewoman in broad daylight on the boulevard wasn’t easy, but they were seasoned professionals who’d done this many times before, and Anette happened to be standing in the dark shadow to avoid the sunlight.
Confusion crossed Anette’s face.
“Huh?”
And then.
“Kyaaah!”
Anette was kidnapped in an instant. Before she could even gather her wits, the thieves dragged her into their cart.
“Who are you people? Let me go!”
Clop, clop, clop!
The moment she climbed aboard, the horse pulling the cart bolted forward like a creature possessed.
Jack gripped the rattling cart railing with white knuckles, his lips curling into a vicious grin.
“Listen here, you naive duchess—or should I say Duchess Valienne? You seem remarkably oblivious to your situation. If you were going to let me go, why kidnap me in the first place? Hahahaha!”
“Kidnap?”
Anette’s expression turned bewildered.
He knew who I was, and yet he dared speak of kidnapping?
Her face went perfectly blank in an instant.
Then, shadows gathering at the corners of her eyes, she murmured softly to herself.
“What a pity. You could have had such a promising future as a kidnapper.”
“?”
Bilbo sensed something ominous and called out to Jack.
“H-hey, Jack. Something about that woman’s reaction feels… wrong.”
“Tch, nonsense! The kidnapping’s already succeeded! There’s nothing stopping us now. Unless Larva suddenly shows up out of nowhere, or the legendary Balrok inexplicably appears—which won’t happen. Kehehehe.”
It was precisely as he finished his boast.
Jack, glancing backward, spotted something and jolted in absolute terror, his voice cracking.
“Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!”

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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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