The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 20

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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 20
Vivian’s expression sharpened, her intent to ruthlessly expose every one of Heinrich’s secrets blazing across her face.
Yet Heinrich merely observed her in serene silence, his beautiful eyes unwavering.
Then he spoke in a soft, melodious voice.
“Vivian. I think there’s been some misunderstanding…?”
“There’s no misunderstanding!”
Vivian cried out as though deeply wronged.
“You definitely told me that day to go to the Third Floor Left Room. You knew exactly what you were doing.”
…
“That Sisrain and Anette were hiding there. …You deliberately made me report them, didn’t you?”
“Vivian. Your imagination is running away with you.”
Heinrich refuted her quietly.
“Even if you’d discovered the Secret Hideout, you didn’t have to report it, did you?”
His words held truth, yet Vivian was no pushover. The girl who had lived as a diligent model student was far from foolish.
“You knew! You knew how sensitive I am to the School Rules!”
Vivian’s eyes reddened.
“You clearly knew I would report it. You deliberately guided me toward it.”
…
“From that first report onward, I could never become close to Sisrain. And I…! I!”
Vivian trembled, her gaze dropping away.
“I contacted the Slave Trade Business to help you, I even stole, but…”
You never smiled at me.
Instead, you despised me.
Vivian’s fists clenched harder.
Before long, tears began to fall—plink, plink—each one a sorrowful confession.
“I’m going to tell Anette everything. That you made me do it.”
…
“If you hadn’t shown me the Secret Hideout as though asking me to report it in the first place, I would never have done such foolish things.”
Tap, tap, tap.
The boy approached Vivian with a chilling expression. The beautiful, cruel face she had adored was thrust mere inches from her own.
A strange smile lingered at the corners of his elongated eyes.
“Vivian.”
His voice was cruelly tender.
“Sister must never find out.”
His brilliant violet eyes narrowed with predatory grace.
“Because sister hates children who do bad things….”
A tremor ran through Vivian’s eyes. Heinrich whispered a dangerous secret.
“Bad things must be done in secret.”
“…!”
Around Heinrich, whose smile had withered away, countless threads of tension and murderous intent hung like needles in the air.
“If you’re going to say something….”
A clear image crystallized in my eyes.
“I’m prepared to do absolutely anything to stop you.”
“….”
Ah, in that moment Vivian understood.
Though Heinrich wore a mana suppression collar, that explosive magical power was more than dangerous enough to threaten her.
Those words were no mere bluff.
In that instant, the boy’s “anything” terrified Vivian beyond measure.
In the end, Vivian bit her tear-dampened lips and exhaled her frustration.
“You’re insane, Heinrich.”
The boy simply chuckled softly.
“Ah, now you finally acknowledge it—how disappointing.”
Only then did he straighten his leaning frame and turn away.
“Anyway, I’ll trust you to keep quiet. Have a safe trip to the Forest Cathedral, Vivian.”
Heinrich’s wave from behind was light and carefree.
Thud, thud.
The sound of him leaving the room echoed through the silent Corridor.
* * *
Heinrich’s expression had grown dark.
Every time he discovered his own wretched nature, like today, his mood always plummeted to its depths.
“…Anette.”
The boy quietly called the name of someone precious to him. His chest ached at the sound.
In the end, I’ve become the one tormenting my sister.
The truth was, revealing the Secret Hideout had been an intentional act.
Just as Vivian said, I had known all along. That she would report it immediately.
‘But I couldn’t bear it any other way.’
When Anette appeared holding Sisrain’s hand, I felt an overwhelming terror and an anxiety as though the world was collapsing.
I simply could not accept the appearance of this new person Anette cherished.
And so, that was it.
I acted out so very impulsively.
Of course, I didn’t know Vivian would contact the Slave Trade Business and steal things to frame me, but when I think about it… perhaps those events were truly what I desired all along.
Heinrich stumbled into the Dormitory, consumed by self-loathing.
“….”
The darkened Dormitory was wrapped in silence.
Heinrich quietly knelt on one knee before the bed where Anette lay sleeping.
Then, with a trembling voice, he asked softly.
“…Sister, are you asleep?”
“My dear… you came?”
Anette’s pale green eyes were heavy with sleep as she gently stroked Heinrich’s hair.
“Heinrich, you should sleep too.”
“…Yes.”
Heinrich barely managed to respond, grasping her warm hand with both of his small ones.
‘My dear sister.’
Anette, the most angelic soul in this world.
But if the truth were revealed, she might hate me or abandon me.
I’m not a good child worthy of love.
This affection is too much for someone like me.
Heinrich clung desperately to the warmth radiating from her hand, his mind drifting back to the day he first met Anette.
* * *
“Your father doesn’t wish to see you.”
At five years old, Heinrich sought out his father for the first time, only to hear those words.
And they came from his mother’s lips.
Since childhood, Heinrich had grown up hearing that his father was actually a great sorcerer.
A duke no less, spoken of as the next candidate for Mage Tower Master.
“Mother, but why can’t we see Father?”
“That’s because, Heinrich… your father is busy with great and important work.”
I see. Father must be a truly great man.
Heinrich grew up holding deep respect for his father in his heart.
Yet at five years old, the moment his father rejected even their first meeting, this perceptive child understood the truth.
His mother was nothing but a lowborn courtesan, and he—her son—was too insignificant to ever touch his noble father’s hand.
His father had abandoned him before the umbilical cord was even cut.
“Let’s go home, Heinrich.”
His mother had sought out his father only to obtain enough food for a single week.
After bearing Heinrich, she had abandoned her work as a courtesan and raised him through menial labor.
But her frail constitution made it nearly impossible to earn a decent living.
Whenever she managed to obtain anything remotely edible, she gave it all to Heinrich. It was inevitable that her strength continued to wane.
Crunch, crunch.
On a snowy day, Heinrich returned home holding his skeletal mother’s hand.
His stomach ached from hunger, having obtained no food…
Yet the flower-like snowflakes that danced that day and the footprints he and his mother left side by side remained as beautiful memories.
Which made it all the harder to comprehend when he discovered his mother’s cold corpse days later.
Heinrich was far too young to understand the concept of taking one’s own life, or to grasp the heart of someone who loved their child so deeply yet was so exhausted by existence that they had no choice but to make that decision.
He simply believed he had been abandoned.
That he was so lacking, so insufficient, that even his mother chose to leave him behind.
It was a reality too heavy for a young child to bear.
Afterward, he sought out his father alone, only to hear him say: “A seed born from a filthy body.”
Heinrich fell into complete despair.
After that, the broken boy drifted into The Forest.
* * *
“Drop it! Don’t you dare touch it, you bastard.”
At ten years old, Heinrich was a spike itself—sharp, angular, cutting to everyone around him.
Even after awakening Special Grade 1 abilities, he remained a perpetual source of trouble.
This arrogant and beautiful boy quarreled with other children almost daily.
Yet the teachers dared not reprimand such a precious Special Grade 1 child. Heinrich grew increasingly mischievous, and with each transgression, more isolated.
In the Forest, Heinrich alone had not a single friend.
Anette’s arrival into his life struck him like a thunderbolt.
“Hi there? So you’re Heinrich. I’m Anette. Eleven years old.”
“I don’t care.”
“Hmm, well I’m quite interested in you. Can’t we be friends?”
“Stop bothering me and get lost!”
Thump!
As Heinrich shoved hard and stood, the small girl tumbled backward.
From here, the outcome was predictable—she would burst into tears or come to hate him.
Yet this child, whose eyes held the tender green of spring sunlight, did not cry. Instead, she smiled at him—a gentle, radiant smile.
“…Heinrich, you’re amazing! You’re so incredibly strong!”
Heinrich found himself utterly bewildered.
“How annoying!”
After that, the girl’s behavior remained unchanged.
He pushed her away, cursed at her, shoved her aside, vented his frustration—yet she was always there beside him.
Always smiling, always praising him.
How remarkable Heinrich was, how kind-hearted he truly was.
‘What a strange child.’
Heinrich disliked Anette.
Of course he did. He had never liked anyone.
A terror gripped him: if he allowed himself to care for someone, that person would inevitably abandon him and leave.
Just as his mother had.
So the only way forward was to never care in the first place.
And so one day, Heinrich decided to play a cruel prank.
“Hey, Anette. The Lake is completely frozen over. Want to bet we can walk across it?”
The Lake bore only a thin layer of ice; it was not nearly solid enough for children to walk upon safely.
Heinrich knew this perfectly well, yet he was being deliberately mean.
But this foolish Anette simply beamed with delight.
“Yes! I’d love to!”
“…”
“This is the first game we’re playing together!”
She’s truly an idiot. Is she out of her mind?
Anyone can see the ice isn’t fully frozen!
Her joy somehow twisted his heart further, and Heinrich spoke to Anette.
“You go first and make it across.”
Then he turned away and sneered.
‘Anyway, she won’t be able to go near the Lakeside. It’s obviously not frozen solid.’
I’d use that as an excuse to brush her off.
‘She asked me to play with her, but it’s her fault for not coming. Anette.’
It was at that moment, while I gazed toward the Lakeside, that it happened.
“…!!!”
Anette wasn’t at the Lakeside.
Looking more carefully, I saw a small girl floundering at the edge of the Lakeside, having fallen through the ice.
“Hey, are you insane?! What the hell are you doing?!”
Heinrich immediately stripped off his shirt and dove into the Lake.
He swam through the frigid water, thin ice still forming on its surface, and pulled Anette out.
“Come to your senses! Anette!”
The moment he emerged, Heinrich wrapped his dry shirt around the girl’s body.
Was she dead? What if she was hurt because of me?
I hadn’t meant for this to happen….
‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry….’
As Heinrich frantically tended to Anette’s body, now cold as a corpse, unsure what to do—
Anette opened her eyes faintly and smiled.
“…Wow, Heinrich, you’re good at swimming too? You’re really amazing. So cool. *Cough cough cough!*”
“…You’re such an idiot!”
After that day, the two of us both came down with the flu.
And from that moment on, Heinrich’s world changed completely.
Wherever Heinrich went, he went with Anette.
Whenever he ate something delicious, he always saved a portion for Anette.
He found himself smiling more often, and he learned what warmth truly meant.
Heinrich would sometimes ask her.
“Sister, why are you so kind to me?”
Then Anette would respond with the warmest, most beautiful smile in the world, beaming brightly.
“Because I love you, Heinrich. You’re my favorite person in the whole world!”
Heinrich’s heart was stolen by that girl who laughed so freely.
From that moment on, Heinrich had someone he truly loved for the first time.
It was a feeling so precious that he feared it might shatter.
It was a childish heart that became unbearably lonely whenever someone came between them.
Even knowing it was obsession, even knowing it shouldn’t be this way, he couldn’t control it.
That was…
what Anette meant to Heinrich.
* * *
“Sister, the day you fell into the Lakeside… you did that on purpose for me, didn’t you?”
Heinrich knelt quietly before the bed and whispered.
“…Why would you go that far?”
What am I, anyway? What could I possibly be?
I was nothing but cruel to you… Why were you so kind to me?
Anette seemed not to have heard Heinrich’s whisper.
She lay in deep slumber, exhausted from an extraordinarily long day.
Heinrich swallowed hard.
Confusion, guilt, and the fear of being despised swirled chaotically in the boy’s eyes.
His lips trembling faintly, the boy confessed.
“Sister, the truth is… it was me who told Vivian the location of the Secret Hideout.”
I was truly wicked.
That’s why everyone abandoned me all this time.
“I’m sorry for being such a terrible child… I suppose I was simply born this way.”
Sister, please don’t hate me too much.
Forgive me….
On the night Anette slept, Heinrich confessed pitifully through tears, like a child who had lost his mother’s hand.

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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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