The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 24

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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 24
“…!”
In that instant, tremendous power erupted from the small frame.
The white radiance pouring from Anette pierced through the monster and obliterated it in mere moments.
Sisrain’s black ability, which had barely grazed her, became entangled with the white light and crashed down like a wave with a deafening roar.
Thud—
That was when Anette’s small body, which had been floating in midair, fell to the ground.
“Anette!”
“Sister!”
The two boys rushed toward her, calling her name frantically.
The moment Heinrich saw Anette collapsed, tears burst forth.
“Sister, please wake up!”
Then Sisrain, who had been carefully examining Anette’s face, spoke.
“She’s asleep.”
“…What?”
“Anette is simply sleeping.”
Both boys knew that after awakening, overwhelming exhaustion would follow.
Looking again, Anette lay with her cherry-like small lips parted, snoring softly—”Kooo—”
She looked exactly like a tired little rabbit.
“…Ah, thank goodness.”
Only then did Heinrich’s heart settle somewhat, and he lowered his head, exhaling deeply.
But his startled mind hadn’t yet calmed, and he blinked as he spoke.
“Did you see that just now? That was truly incredible power. I felt a strength even greater than when I awakened. What ability did she even awaken?”
“I’m not sure….”
Sisrain answered quietly, gazing down at the sleeping Anette.
His eyes held a certain complexity. He was worried about the girl.
‘Will Anette be able to handle this.’
He knew that obtaining an ability would drastically change one’s life.
Sisrain soon lowered his gaze and withdrew his attention, then examined the necklace.
“Your necklace is broken too, isn’t it?”
“Huh? The necklace? …Damn, this thing’s become completely scrap metal.”
Heinrich furrowed his brow, examining the necklace that had lost its light.
“Why is this happening?”
“It’s strange. All three of our necklaces are broken.”
“…Now that you mention it, isn’t it odd that Sister is in such a dangerous area?”
“….”
Sisrain quietly lifted Anette’s body into his arms.
“What are you doing? Where are you taking her?”
“It will take the teachers a while to find us.”
“And?”
“It’s dangerous for us to escape this place on our own. The Forest is far too deep, and once night falls, it’s easy to lose our way. We need to move Anette to safety before then. Let’s head to the Cave.”
The Cave was a kind of safe zone for children undergoing level tests.
Normally, if the Forest became dangerous, the Forest Teachers would intervene, but this was a precaution against unforeseen accidents. High-level zones were inherently perilous, so comprehensive safety measures had been put in place for the children.
The suppression bracelet had become a sort of GPS in a situation like this.
Heinrich’s eyes narrowed with displeasure, his brows rising sharply.
“…Hey, why are you holding her? I’ll carry her. Back off.”
Heinrich trudged forward and snatched Anette from Sisrain’s arms in one swift motion.
But Sisrain simply walked ahead and, without a word, reclaimed Anette in a single second, cradling her once more.
“…!”
In a flash, Heinrich snatched her back like a greedy cat hoarding a snack all to itself.
One second later, Sisrain seized her again with lightning speed.
“You beast! Don’t hold her with that sneaky expression!”
“Your expression is sneakier.”
“I’m the one who’s going to hold her!”
Whoosh, swish.
Anette’s position changed several times on the way to the Cave.
Yet throughout it all, the two boys were so extraordinarily careful not to jostle her awake that she remained peacefully asleep, as if resting on a feather bed.
* * *
“It’s a Cave with a protective barrier.”
“Right.”
The moment they arrived at the Cave, Heinrich slumped down with a heavy sigh.
Sisrain methodically surveyed the interior, checking for any signs of danger.
There was a faint dampness characteristic of caves, but overall it felt quite comfortable.
“Let’s make a bed first. Take off your clothes.”
Sisrain removed his own garments as he spoke to Heinrich, then gathered armfuls of leaves and branches from outside the Cave.
He wove them densely together to fashion a makeshift bed and spread his outer coat across it.
Under normal circumstances, Heinrich would never obey such a command, but since it was for Anette’s sake, he complied without complaint.
“Sister, don’t get cold.”
Heinrich removed his own coat and draped it over her.
Then, gazing down at the sleeping Anette, his face flushed with barely concealed affection.
“Sister, you’re as adorable as a little rabbit.”
“Stop that and come with me.”
At Sisrain’s words, Heinrich’s expression darkened with visible displeasure.
“Where?”
“We need to find food. We’ll need water too, and we should scout the area.”
“No way! I’m not leaving her alone! You go. I’m not moving an inch from here.”
As Heinrich quickly grasped Anette’s hand and clung to her side, Sisrain spoke with an expressionless face.
“I won’t have enough hands on my own, and it’ll take too long. We need to hurry back. Anette will be hungry when she wakes up.”
At the mention of Anette being hungry, Heinrich’s eyebrows shot upward.
“…Damn it.”
“When you first awaken, a tremendous hunger overwhelms you. Have you forgotten?”
Typically, the process consumes so much mental and physical stamina that one collapses into sleep as though all power has been drained away, only to suffer from ravenous hunger the moment consciousness returns.
Recalling his own experience, Heinrich rose with a quiet sigh.
“…There’s no helping it. I hate seeing my sister hungry. The safety barrier is in place here, so beasts shouldn’t be able to enter, right?”
“Yes. I’ve confirmed it.”
Even after hearing the confirmation, Heinrich felt inexplicably uneasy and checked the barrier with his own mana several times over.
Then he picked up a suitable stone. Sisrain, who had been watching, urged him on.
“You need to catch something and return before sunset.”
“Thoughtless beast. When she wakes up, my sister will worry, won’t she? I should leave a message.”
That was a fair point, so Sisrain silently observed as Heinrich wrote on the wall.
The message was a sweet one, roughly containing “I love you, sister.”
As Sisrain quietly read that message, he spoke from beside him.
“…Write something about me too.”
“Tch.”
With an air of reluctance, Heinrich hastily scribbled a brief addition about Sisrain in his careless handwriting.
“That enough?”
Sisrain carefully examined the content, pondered for a moment, then nodded.
“Let’s go and come back quickly.”
The two boys finally left the cave.
* * *
At the same time, the Forest Teachers had gathered in one place, consumed with worry.
“We must search for the children immediately—they must be in danger!”
“Please calm yourself, Rose. First, we must all assess the situation together.”
“Oh no, the children must be waiting for me…!”
Rose, the test administrator, wrapped her face in her hands and hung her head in despair.
She had clearly heard Anette’s cry for help—”Please help me”—transmitted through the necklace.
Yet she could not answer the child’s plea. The magical artifact necklace had suddenly stopped responding.
The necklace contained a spell designed to summon Rose to that location, but for some reason it had lost its light and gone silent.
Rose, who bore a strong sense of responsibility for the children, appeared deeply tormented.
“I should go ahead alone and investigate! Mimosa, please grant me permission.”
His deep blue eyes held a cold gleam as Julius restrained her.
“Those children have likely found a safe place. And Rose, searching alone would be futile—the Forest Hall is vast and deep.”
“But…!”
Rose’s eyes trembled with emotion.
Then Mimosa, who had been listening quietly, spoke.
“Is it true that only the three children’s necklaces malfunctioned?”
Rose answered.
“Yes, madam. I checked all the necklaces of the other children who returned, and they were all functioning normally.”
“….”
Mimosa’s eyes darkened. How could this possibly be?
Heinrich, Anette, Sisrain.
Of all people, only the three members of the Tree that I had been carefully watching disappeared. In essence, the most important children in the Forest had vanished.
What terrible luck.
‘This is completely beyond my expectations.’
Mimosa’s brow furrowed.
Moving Anette to the mid-level testing grounds in the middle was part of her plan, but deliberately breaking that necklace was absolutely not.
Yet the children had suddenly lost contact. And it happened within the Forest itself.
I could not afford to lose the children.
…Especially not Anette.
Mimosa opened her mouth. Her calm yet stern voice filled the Assembly Hall.
“From this moment forward, devote all efforts to finding the children. When darkness falls, take torches if you must, and search every single place. Leave not even one corner unsearched!”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The teachers bowed their heads in unison.
“Those three members of the Tree are the Forest’s most precious treasures.”
Her golden eyes gleamed with sharp intensity.
“You must find them.”
The teachers each took on their roles.
Rose and the other teachers divided the areas to search (Rose volunteered for the deepest and most treacherous region), while Julius remained in the Forest to care for the anxious children.
“….”
Finally, alone in the Reception Room.
Mimosa picked up a small green box from the console.
Anette’s initials were engraved into the box.
It was a gift for that child.
A gift for the most excellent and magnificent member of the Tree who had awakened and returned.
‘She won’t have died. That child. My instinct tells me so.’
An oddly unwavering conviction took hold.
Yet even now, there remained one truly unknowable fact.
‘Has Anette awakened?’
If she has awakened, then from this moment forward, your life will change 180 degrees.
So please, show me the splendid bearing of an awakened member of the Tree.
But first, you must return to my embrace.
You must….
With eyes tangled between anxiety and anticipation, Mimosa gazed out the window.
‘Where are you, Anette.’
* * *
Drip, drip―
A cold water droplet fell upon my cheek, rousing me from my light sleep.
“Mmm….”
Why had I been sleeping? What was the situation again? Right, I entered that frightening forest and encountered a strange monster that cried out with a bizarre “Kyuuung―” sound.
And then, I awakened.
…Awakening? Me, someone with no talent whatsoever?
I felt my eyebrows twitch.
No, this must be a dream. It has to be a dream.
Not only have I experienced something so terrible, but above all, there’s no way I could be an Awakened One.
‘Since it’s just a bad dream, I’ll fall back asleep and return to reality when I wake up, right?’
I was about to lie back down and try to sleep again when it happened.
A soft whisper reached my ear.
[ Look at these plump little cheeks. Are all children’s cheeks like this? So soft and squishy, like glutinous rice flour bread. ]
…Excuse me? Glutinous rice?
Then I felt fingers poking my cheek with a “boing, boing!” sound.
‘Um, what are you doing?’
My cheeks are not communal slime, you know.
‘Who on earth is doing this?’
The fingers grew increasingly aggressive, now freely kneading my cheek as if pressing freshly baked bread.
[ …How cute. ]
‘Oh no, I’m going to get squashed at this rate.’
I carefully opened my eyes to see who was poking my cheek.
“…!”
And then I was startled.

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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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