The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 31

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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 31
“First, I shall order the maidservants to care for the poor bird and tend to its injuries.”
It was a gracious yet arrogant response, befitting a noble.
Not quite a perfect score, but respectable enough.
“Hmm, I see.”
The nobles’ reaction was equally unremarkable. I continued speaking.
“And after I’ve carefully nursed this beautiful bird back to health and placed it in a cage, I wish to present it as a gift to the parents who adopted me.”
“…Why would you do that?”
The bird was certainly precious and beautiful, but they seemed curious about my reason for giving it away.
I smiled brightly and answered.
“Because it resembles the affection my adoptive parents have shown me. …They took in someone who wandered alone for so long, exhausted and weary. I wish to repay them, even if only in small measure.”
I lowered my gaze, deliberately stirring the emotions of these adults, and the effect was flawless.
The nobles let out soft exclamations of admiration.
“My goodness…!”
“…Anette, what a remarkably noble sentiment you possess.”
“Truly clever, pure-hearted, and lovable—what a child.”
“How could she give such a touching answer….”
A middle-aged man, apparently going through his own emotional phase, was moved to tears, dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief.
His wife beside him cried out softly, “You sentimental fool!” and smacked his receding hairline with a slap, but he couldn’t stop wiping away his tears.
“Then, if you’ll excuse me for a moment.”
Surely I’d earned enough points by now?
I excused myself from everyone and stepped away from the nobles for a brief respite.
‘Phew.’
There had been so many close calls.
It felt like treading carefully through a minefield, one step at a time. Social training truly was exhausting work.
Just as I was finally catching my breath,
“…?”
I felt a gaze from across the table in the distance.
It wasn’t an unpleasant stare, exactly—more like when you’re hiking and suddenly notice a baby squirrel watching you.
‘Who is that child?’
The moment our eyes met, the child hid so quickly that I could only see his chubby cheeks.
Curious about the identity of this child with those plump, sticky-rice-like cheeks, I stood and walked toward him.
“…!”
The child suddenly turned and scurried away deeper inside.
“Wait, just a moment!”
I chased after the boy.
He’d stared at me as if he had something to say—why was he running away?
Judging by his silhouette, he was definitely a boy.
Unable to catch him, I stamped my feet in frustration as I pursued him.
Finally, I spotted the child behind the Banquet Hall.
‘…There, it’s all visible.’
Is that supposed to be hiding?
This time he’d hidden behind a stone statue, but only his fluffy, wheat-colored chestnut hair peeked out.
“Hello?”
As I raised my hand in greeting, the boy panicked and scurried—pitter-patter—deeper inside.
“Wait! Chestnut Boy!”
I called out urgently, but he ran so fast he completely vanished from sight.
That was when it happened.
Something caught against my feet with a soft thud.
“…Huh?”
‘It looks like that Chestnut Boy dropped something.’
It was some kind of card.
Without hesitation, I picked up the card and opened it. Inside was an incredibly adorable puppy brooch.
“Oh my.”
Though the price certainly didn’t match its cuteness—it was absolutely covered in diamonds.
The card read:
「 Dogs are intelligent pets, Anette 」
“…?”
He knows who I am? Then did he intentionally drop this to give it to me?
‘Dogs are naturally intelligent animals, after all.’
I’m quite fond of cute things—children, squirrels, cats, and the like.
And all my other animal friends too.
Dogs were certainly among my favorites.
‘What on earth does this message mean?’
Just in case, I flipped the card over looking for another message, but that was all the Chestnut Boy had written.
But then it happened. A violent commotion erupted from the Banquet Hall, completely capturing my attention away from the puppy and the chestnut-haired boy.
“Damn it! Don’t touch me!”
“…!”
‘That’s Heinrich’s voice.’
Something’s definitely wrong!
I rushed urgently into the Banquet Hall.
* * *
“Let go, I said!”
A rather shocking scene was unfolding in the Banquet Hall.
Heinrich was being held by some nobleman and struggling to break free.
“You brat, what kind of language is that!”
The nobleman, his swallow mustache quivering, wore his shock and indignation across his entire face at being cursed at by this cute yet fierce child.
“I don’t like being touched.”
The boy’s bold violet eyes were filled with irritation.
‘A wound on his cheek!’
Only then did I grasp the situation.
Now that I thought about it, that nobleman had been constantly stroking Heinrich this whole time.
He kept saying how adorable he was, and even went so far as to pinch his cheeks repeatedly.
‘He must have gotten scratched by the ring.’
From the start, Heinrich despised being touched by others, and after enduring it for so long, he’d finally exploded.
As expected.
“I was merely charmed by your cuteness…! You insolent brat. The scratch on your cheek was an accident!”
“Then why do you keep pawing at me? Just stop pawing at me.”
Heinrich glared at him like a cornered kitten hissing, his words dripping with resentment.
What he truly meant to say was probably something like, ‘Please stop touching me. I hate it. My cheek hurts from the ring scratch!’
―Something along those lines.
But the temperamental little chihuahua was defensive, immature, and emotionally twisted, so he could only express his feelings in such a distorted manner.
“I sincerely apologize, Count! Please allow me to apologize on his behalf.”
“You stay out of this!”
As I stepped forward to shield him, the Count shoved my shoulder with enough force to hurt.
Yet I didn’t cry out—I simply bowed respectfully to him once more.
“Heinrich is frightened by being touched. Count, I humbly ask that you show mercy toward the child’s mistake.”
“Sister…”
The moment I appeared, Heinrich’s sharpness dulled, and his face reverted to that of an eleven-year-old boy.
His expression showed belated regret for having caused trouble and dragged me into it.
“A wild colt, nothing more!”
Yet the Count’s anger showed no signs of abating as he glared at us with blazing eyes.
Then, his brow furrowed as he muttered to himself.
“No matter how much noble education one receives, no matter how fine the clothes of nobility one wears…”
What emanated from those cold eyes was
“the blood of lowborn origins cannot be hidden.”
It was naked contempt.
“…!”
I froze, holding Heinrich in my arms.
It was my first time.
Being subjected to such contempt from adults.
‘Ah, Heinrich… Sisrain.’
So you two have endured these gazes and words all this time.
For the first time, I truly grasped how difficult the boys’ lives must have been.
Now I finally understood why Heinrich despised socialization training so intensely.
…I’m sorry, Heinrich.
All those times you threw tantrums about not wanting to go to socialization training, and I dismissed you, coaxed you, and scolded you…
Before the cold gaze of an adult, my body and heart shrank to the size of a mouse hole in an instant.
My heart began to crumble bit by bit.
“Don’t you dare speak rudely to my sister!”
The absolutely unrelenting Chihuahua lunged forward and sank its teeth firmly into the Count’s arm.
“Aaaahhh!”
Just as the Count flailed his arm grotesquely, trying to shake Heinrich off.
A quiet, low voice cut through the chaos.
“How curious. On such a joyous banquet day, I hear quite the disturbance. What is this noise?”
In that instant, everyone in the hall snapped their heads around in unison, turning toward the source of the voice.
The nobility gathered around the commotion quickly parted, revealing the man’s full figure.
Beneath the light, his silver-grey hair gleamed with quiet refinement, while his crimson eyes radiated an overwhelming pressure.
Despite the smile playing at his lips, he exuded an uncanny chill—as though a thick serpent coiled around his neck.
“…Your Highness!”
The Count, startled, immediately bowed deeply.
* * *
Gerard von Axilpherion.
He was the First Prince of the Eldorado Empire, and though not yet formally designated as Crown Prince, he was spoken of as the de facto heir to the throne.
His abilities and talents were qualitatively different from those of the other princes. Most distinctive of all was his sheer ‘presence’.
With his arrival, the previously chaotic Banquet Hall fell silent—so completely that one could almost hear the absence of sound itself.
It was no illusion. Even the symphony flowing through the hall could no longer be heard by anyone’s ears.
The nobility bowed in unison, offering their respects to the prince.
‘Those crimson eyes!’
I felt a strange sense of familiarity and bowed as well.
Though he shared a mother with Sisrain, there was something subtly different about him—similar yet distinctly other.
‘…How fascinating.’
Gerard approached and looked down at us with his elongated eyes, speaking.
“What adorable children you are.”
Those eyes that had radiated such oppressive pressure now held a warmth when gazing upon the children.
His voice was even tender.
“My, what happened to that cheek?”
Gerard noticed Heinrich’s wound and inquired.
At that moment, the Count interjected, his face brimming with grievance.
“Esteemed Your Highness, I beseech you to impose severe punishment upon this ill-mannered young rascal!”
“…”
The prince’s expression hardened as he looked down at Heinrich.

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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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