The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 18

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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 18
* * *
“Vivian. Only you know that compass is something precious to me.”
Anette’s jade-green eyes, usually so gentle, were now quiet and piercing—as if seeing straight through her.
She seemed more authoritative than any teacher could be.
Vivian protested, visibly flustered.
“…That’s! You said it was a compass to help you find your parents. That’s why it’s precious….”
“That’s right.”
The corners of Anette’s eyes curved upward in a smile.
“I only told you that story.”
“What do you mean….”
“The compass was never mine to begin with.”
“…?!”
Ah, I’ve been played. Vivian realized it in that instant. The shock of that realization drained all focus from her teal eyes, leaving them blank.
So everything she said at the Lakeside was a trap?
* * *
A few hours earlier.
Anette had two items and one plan in mind.
The items were a fountain pen and a compass.
Though she had never seen them before, they would soon become her most precious possessions.
Anette first took the compass to the Lakeside, a place Vivian frequented.
Vivian had come to the Lakeside for her usual breath of fresh air when she spotted Anette.
‘What is she doing here?’
Her expression darkened instinctively.
‘This is my place. How irritating.’
The thought of that detestable girl in her sanctuary only fueled her annoyance.
A girl whom Heinrich inexplicably adored and followed.
Not understanding why made her dislike and envy her all the more.
‘And she’s always pretending to be so good and kind to everyone.’
Vivian didn’t want to be near Anette, but she couldn’t abandon the Lakeside either.
So she sat down beside her.
“Hello.”
“Oh, Vivian, hello?”
Anette smiled warmly as always, her jade-green eyes bright beneath her golden hair.
In her hand was a small compass.
At first glance, it looked like an old object.
“…What is that?”
“Ah, this. They say if you go where this compass points, you can meet your family!”
For the Forest Children, the ultimate hope was always ‘meeting family’.
The greatest wish of the Tree.
“Hmm.”
Vivian’s eyes narrowed to slits.
I cradled the compass carefully in both hands, gazing down at it.
“That’s why I’ve kept it since childhood. If I lost this… it would feel like losing my future family too.”
Vivian’s lips twisted upward into a smile.
“Ah, I see. I’ll have to treasure it carefully!”
“Yes!”
Afterward, Vivian secretly followed me and discovered where I hid the compass.
‘How foolish. Such a precious item, yet she only hides it in a locker?’
You’ll regret this, Anette.
Vivian laughed wickedly.
* * *
“Sister, what’s that?”
Heinrich asked as he spotted the box I was hiding beneath my bed.
I deliberately placed it deep and concealed enough to catch his attention.
“Hmm, this? Should I show you or not?”
With those words, he’d definitely take the bait—I knew Heinrich well enough.
As expected, his violet eyes gleamed like a cat drawn to treats, and he promptly sat on my bed.
“Sister, why are you hesitating? Is there something you can’t show me? …I’m even more curious now. Show me!”
I smiled softly.
Then I revealed the fountain pen.
“Ta-da!”
“Oh, that looks nice?”
“Yes! This is Father’s fountain pen. Mother and Father left it in my cradle when they abandoned me.”
“It must be precious to you, Sister.”
“It is!”
I showed him the fountain pen in greater detail.
“Actually, I’ve shown it to the Forest Children several times—you just haven’t seen it yet?”
I said it deliberately.
‘This fountain pen’s existence is known not just to you, but to the other children too’—it was a trick to establish that.
Heinrich was perceptive and clever, so I had to measure every word carefully.
Yet for some reason, Heinrich looked down with a dejected expression.
“…Heinrich? What’s wrong?”
“Your father left you something like that. I’m envious.”
…Ah, now that I think about it.
When his father abandoned him, he left Heinrich nothing.
My chest suddenly ached with a sharp pain.
‘I’m sorry, Heinrich.’
I was so focused on deceiving you that I failed to consider that.
Seeing Heinrich’s wounded, downcast expression, my heart was mercilessly pierced, and I wanted to abandon everything—the criminal investigation, all of it.
‘But I have to see this through.’
My heart ached, but I had to deceive Heinrich with the same fairness.
To catch a small devil, I had become a small devil myself.
A short while later.
During outdoor class when the small devil was active, I deliberately told Sisrain to enter the Classroom late.
And then, finally, at the fateful moment, I stood before the locker with trembling hands.
‘Did my plan work?’
If it did….
‘If it’s a fountain pen inside, Heinrich is the culprit. If it’s a compass, then Vivian is the culprit.’
I took a deep breath, counted to three in my heart, and yanked open Sisrain’s locker with all my strength.
Click—
“…!”
An old compass pointed to the culprit.
* * *
Vivian’s eyes trembled as she cried out.
“Y-you set a trap like that? That’s cowardly, Anette!”
“Why did you do it?”
Anette spoke with dignified, cold eyes. The aura emanating from a twelve-year-old was remarkably different.
“You’re the one who snitched that Sisrain was hiding in the Secret Hideout, aren’t you?”
As I pressed forward menacingly, Vivian’s anxiety erupted into a shout.
“Is reporting a crime? That was a School Rules violation in the first place! Why is that a crime?!”
‘So you were the shadow after all.’
Mimosa, who was watching us both with cold golden eyes, naturally knew the identity of the snitch.
So Vivian couldn’t have lied.
Unlike the agitated Vivian, Anette’s face was as calm as the gentle ripples of the Lakeside.
“You contacted the Slave Trade Business too, didn’t you?”
“…N-no?!”
‘As long as I don’t admit it, they won’t know anyway!’
Vivian denied it outright.
But Anette already seemed certain. As she approached step by step, Vivian felt fear for the first time. The girl who usually laughed and bounced around like soft pudding—why had she become so terrifying?
‘Why are you doing this to me! Stop it!’
But Anette showed no sign of stopping. Like a determined cat, she cornered the mouse into its final refuge.
“You clean Mimosa’s Office. Is there any other child as well-positioned as you? You searched through the ‘student records.’ And you contacted the Slave Trade Business.”
“No!”
“Why did you contact the Slave Trade Business?”
Anette’s delicate brow furrowed. It was an expression of hers Vivian had never seen before.
Anette had always smiled at everyone.
“Because of you, Sisrain almost got taken away as a slave. You know what happens to slaves, don’t you?”
“That’s…!”
“That’s…!”
“You’ll have to live a miserable life forever. Did you enjoy watching your friend suffer like that?”
“No!”
Tears had already welled up in Vivian’s eyes. She finally burst into sobs, her voice trembling with protest.
“I…! I didn’t think it would go that far. I just wanted Sisrain to leave!”
Heinrich, who had been listening quietly, finally furrowed his brow and spoke.
“How despicable.”
“…!”
Vivian bit her lip and cried out.
“I did it for you! Because you hated Sisrain….”
Heinrich exhaled slowly and smiled faintly. His eyes and voice were as cold as ice, contradicting his expression.
“When did I ever ask you to do something like that?”
Vivian soon broke down, tears streaming down her face as she spoke.
“That’s so unfair!”
“You’re the one being unfair, Vivian. Apologize to everyone.”
At Anette’s words, Vivian lifted her tear-stained face, and I could see Mimosa, Julius, and the other teachers….
And then I saw the faces of Reina, Robert, and Sisrain—those who had stolen the items.
Only then did Vivian realize just how ugly her actions had been.
With tears streaming down her face, Vivian apologized to Reina and Robert.
“I’m, I’m sorry….”
Even kind Reina didn’t offer her forgiveness. She simply stared at her coldly with her pale violet eyes.
Robert shook his head firmly.
Amid everyone’s cold reactions, Vivian trembled as she approached Sisrain.
“Sisrain, I truly….”
After sobbing several times, her shoulders heaving, Vivian lowered her flushed face.
“I’m sorry!”
Sisrain looked at Vivian with dry, unreadable eyes.
“….”
The boy answered only with silence, but to Vivian, that quiet fury felt all the more terrifying.
Then Mimosa stepped forward.
“It seems everything has been settled. Now I shall announce Vivian’s punishment.”
Her cold golden eyes gleamed.
“Vivian will receive the cane and live in the Forest Cathedral until she has truly reflected on her actions.”
“…!!!”
Vivian’s face went pale in an instant.
The Forest Cathedral.
It was essentially the harshest punishment imposed on the Forest Children.
A place where the cries of children echoed day and night. Where terrifying instructors like monsters resided.
“M, Madam…! Please forgive me!!!”
Vivian fell to her knees and clung to Mimosa, but it was futile. Mimosa’s cold expression remained unchanged.
“Just this once, please forgive me, I, I beg you…!”
“Take this child to her room so she can pack her belongings.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
One of the teachers who had been watching separated Vivian from the group and dragged her away.
Her anguished sobs and desperate cries echoed through the hall.
“Ma’am, ma’am…!”
“…”
Meanwhile, there was a man quietly observing the entire scene, cold sweat dripping down his face.
It was Julius.
He quietly shifted his feet and hurriedly slipped out of the Assembly Hall.
* * *
“Damn it, damn it!”
Julius walked through the Corridor, glancing nervously over his shoulder.
He was checking to see if anyone was following him.
‘Curse it all—why did Vivian have to do something so foolish!’
This time, I was the one who was wrong.
And I was wrong in front of everyone in the Forest Children, so there was no taking it back now.
‘But I can’t possibly give up the family ring.’
A mere promise made to a child was something I could easily break without consequence.
As the instructor for ‘Noble Etiquette,’ I generally made it a point to keep my promises, but this ring—I simply could not part with it.
It was everything to me.
‘Yes, surely that child wouldn’t actually expect me to give it to her.’
Lost in such thoughts as I made my escape, that was when it happened.
“Teacher!”
At the sound of that bright, cheerful voice from ahead, my heart nearly stopped.
“Teacher, Professor Julius! Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?”
“…!!!”
It was Anette, who had taken a shortcut back. The child in her white dress was smiling like an angel.

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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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