The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 157

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

Side Story: Marriage to Kyle (8)
I pressed my forehead and exhaled deeply. At my feet, diamonds rolled about like gravel instead of straw.
“Anonymous B, Anonymous Husband.”
Flinch, flinch.
At my call, the two men responded in turn.
Anette’s Father spoke first.
“My dear daughter-in-law, I simply wanted the children at the Orphanage you run to grow up in abundance…!”
So abundantly that they could play jacks with diamonds.
Not to be outdone, Kyle placed his hand over his heart and spoke with utmost sincerity.
“I merely wished to be of some help, as it seemed you poured considerable affection into the Academy.”
“Some help?”
I kicked at the diamonds at my feet and glared coldly at my husband.
This was some?
My deer noticed my displeasure and quickly corrected his pronunciation as if he’d meant it that way all along.
“Some ‘considerable’ help.”
Anette’s Father let out a scoffing laugh.
“It certainly was considerable. I clearly made only modest donations in simple boxes at first, but this fool challenged me to a competition, didn’t he? And furthermore….”
Anette’s Father looked at Kyle with an aggrieved expression.
“Anonymous Husband? You didn’t even try to hide it!”
“It was a more dignified and masculine donation name than Anonymous B, who wanted to show off with his entire being, Father. Besides, for a supposedly modest box, the contents were excessive.”
“You’re the excessive one.”
“Father, you both donated once each fairly, yet you insisted on donating again. You didn’t even need to donate again, yet you kept making excuses. What was it you said later…? Something about donations for ‘the higher castle walls of Valienne Duchy’? What kind of donation is that?”
“You mad fool! You donated to cream bread for Valienne Duchy!”
What is that? My husband stared at Anette’s Father with unprecedented shamelessness.
“So you’re desperate to outdo your father-in-law’s love for my daughter-in-law?”
“I love my wife more, Father.”
“You fool, give up my daughter-in-law!”
“Then you give up either Father or my wife?”
….
Listening quietly, cognitive dissonance struck me.
If one of them gave up, wouldn’t the other automatically be given up as well?
I’m this household’s daughter-in-law while also being this household’s son’s wife—I can’t be one without the other. If you give up one, you automatically lose the other too!
Yet the two men, as if they’d forgotten such obvious logic, burned with fierce competitive spirit.
“Fine.”
Anette’s Father finally drew out a magic gun.
“Let’s settle this today by wagering Anette. Only one of us survives, and we’ll conclude who loves Anette more.”
“As you wish, Father.”
“I’m joining in too.”
I quietly interjected and snatched the magic gun from Anette’s Father’s hands, causing both men’s eyes to widen in shock.
“I need to punish two men who show no remorse even after toppling Valienne Estate.”
“….”
“….”
Both men instantly lowered their eyes and fell silent. Hmm, it was amusing how father and son shared identical mannerisms.
I pointed to two sample treasure chests among the countless boxes piled before us.
“I appreciate the support, but I’ll be returning everything. The Valienne Duchy is already sufficiently wealthy, isn’t it? Besides, Kyle, how could I accept stolen goods?”
When I scolded Kyle, Father-in-law’s lips curled upward.
“You’re just the same, Father-in-law. I’ll decline the diamonds built from selling stolen goods as well.”
His expression fell.
Father-in-law’s smile faded once more.
“I’ll be declining any further support. I’ve been away from the duchy for so long, and now that I’m finally taking on my duties as its lord, I don’t wish to accomplish things easily with help from other territories.”
I meant every word. If I relied on such vast sums of money to develop the duchy easily, I would lose the opportunity to grow as a lord, and my people would lose their self-reliance.
I wanted to build a peaceful, prosperous territory.
This land—my homeland.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes, I’m sorry, Anette.”
“My apologies….”
Fortunately, both men possessed deep character and respected my wishes, so I doubted such incidents would repeat themselves.
* * *
I apologized to both men for summoning them here in the dead of night (though they had used a portal) and offered them rooms within the Castle.
However, Father-in-law said he would return to the Valienne Estate as a form of reflection.
“Then I should also….”
I stopped Kyle precisely.
“No, Kyle stays here. We need to talk.”
“….”
As if foreseeing further scolding awaited him, he gazed at me with those sorrowful emerald eyes.
Hmm, he was handsome.
Even if I hadn’t intended to scold him, I found myself wanting to.
We sat side by side on the sofa in silence, facing each other over cups of tea.
“I’m curious about something, Kyle.”
I set down my teacup with a soft clink and broached the subject.
“Why do you keep competing with Father-in-law? You know how he is—he simply wants to be kind to his daughter-in-law. That’s all.”
“….”
“I’m grateful for how you treat me, Kyle. But sometimes, it feels like you do these things not out of love for me, but because your competitive spirit refuses to lose.”
“…!”
Kyle’s eyes wavered. For a moment, countless emotions flickered across his gaze—the expression of someone who had just recognized a grave mistake.
“To think I made you feel that way….”
He covered his face with one hand, biting his lip hard.
“I’m the worst of husbands. I simply felt anxious, always believing I needed to show Anette more love.”
The very fact that you feel that way makes you a good husband, Kyle.
“Tell me more.”
“I…”
He released my hand and confessed, gazing at me with his true heart laid bare.
“I always feel like I’m giving you a love that comes too late.”
“A love that comes too late?”
“Yes.”
Kyle’s gaze fell slowly.
“The first person to support Anette in The Forest was my father. He gave you the teleportation magic to travel between the Winston Mansion and The Forest, and it was my father who made the contract to help you escape from Prince Gerard. You must have always found him to be a reliable presence.”
He was right.
My father-in-law, Bijae Winston, gave me everything without asking for anything in return.
In my childhood, he was the one and only adult I could trust and rely upon.
“But what about me? During your childhood, without the Squirrel mask, I couldn’t even step forward, and my hands trembled so much I could barely offer you a single flower. I gave you nothing and only received.”
“…”
“Even after we married, I feel like I’m not doing enough for you compared to my father.”
As he confessed his innermost feelings, he looked sad, like a little boy.
“I really…”
“…”
“…want to do better for you.”
That heart of his was touching and beautiful to me.
My dear, always striving to do his best, grieved over what he couldn’t do well enough.
He was truly a good man.
Instead of calling him a miraculous, lovely person, I sweetly cupped his cheek.
Then, gazing into his misty eyes, I whispered.
“Why do you say you did nothing for me when I was young?”
“…”
“It was you—that trembling Kyle who could barely give a flower—who wore Balrok’s mask and courageously helped me escape.”
“…How did you know?”
Kyle’s eyes widened in surprise.
I hadn’t known at first either.
But when we rode Balrok together during the escape, that scent from behind—so strangely familiar—had stayed with me vividly.
Then one day, it suddenly came back to me.
Perhaps it was the courage of that spiky-haired cowardly boy that had saved me that night.
Strangely enough, after meeting Kyle again, that suspicion became certainty.
“Actually, I’ve prepared something for you.”
I retrieved the box with some nervousness. It was an invention that Shasha and I had developed together over a long time.
Inside the box was a brooch crafted in gold. The gemstone appeared to be an emerald at first glance, but within it, a green butterfly was fluttering its wings delicately.
The butterfly was creating ripples of color that shifted and changed constantly.
Though Kyle, having worked as Larva and obtained many rare treasures, raised his eyebrows as if seeing something for the first time.
His reaction was amusing.
So curious about this unfamiliar object, he forgot to say thank you and asked instead.
“What is this…?”
“You’ll understand once you wear it. Here, let me have it. I’ll fasten it for you.”
It was then that I fastened the brooch to his chest.
Kyle’s pupils dilated sharply.
“…!”

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