The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 36

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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 36
In the moment my heart was burning.
“My apologies, Your Highness. It seems Anette is quite nervous.”
Julius interjected tactfully.
“So it would appear.”
Fortunately, he hadn’t been staring at my pocket specifically, and soon enough his gaze lifted to meet mine.
‘I need to keep my wits about me.’
Any more of this and he’ll grow suspicious.
He was the First Imperial Prince, a man of seemingly flawless perfection. In this bloodstained Imperial Court, he was even called the “future Emperor”—a prodigy of the highest order.
A man of his station would possess keen intuition and exceptional instincts; he would easily sense something amiss.
I needed a plausible excuse.
I lowered my eyes apologetically and spoke.
“I beg your pardon, Your Highness. The children of the Forest carry deep wounds in their hearts, and they sometimes startle when hands approach them suddenly like that.”
“I see.”
A flicker of disappointment crossed Gerard’s face.
I had reminded him that the Forest Children were orphans who might harbor trauma from violence.
‘Of course, I’ve never experienced such a thing myself…’
It was a convenient excuse to escape the situation.
Gerard slowly placed his hand atop my head and spoke gently.
“Dear child, this hand will never harm you. I swear it.”
“…Thank you, Your Highness.”
Liar. You look perfectly capable of harm.
No matter how much he knew my secrets, he had killed the High Priest. And not just any High Priest—one who had begged submissively, like a loyal dog, swearing to keep his secrets.
‘The High Priest must have known Gerard’s true nature, which is why he pleaded.’
So Gerard had cast a spell of oblivion upon the priests who knew his secret and sworn to silence himself—yet he killed him all the same.
‘And he did it without hesitation.’
In the end, that High Priest never even saw his grandson’s wedding two days later, becoming nothing but a cold corpse.
A man merciless to the elderly would surely be merciless to children as well.
I forced myself to smile without fear, and only then did Gerard withdraw his hand.
“Will you accept another invitation next time?”
“Anytime, Your Highness.”
‘No way in hell am I coming back.’
I concealed my true feelings and gave an appropriate response. Satisfied, Gerard exchanged brief greetings with Julius and Heinrich before finally taking his leave.
‘…I survived.’
Phew, that was close.
My legs had turned to jelly—limp as squid—from the tension I’d been holding in Gerard’s presence. My body swayed like a flower Bamtoli had offered, trembling uncontrollably.
“Are you alright, Miss?”
Heinrich quickly steadied me, his brow furrowed.
“That irritating bastard… Why does he insist on touching your head? You hate that!”
“…!”
Oh my, our Heinrich is quite the handful!
As expected, Julius’s face darkened in an instant, and he lowered his voice urgently.
“Heinrich! How many times have I told you to watch your tongue in the Imperial Palace? How dare you speak to the Imperial Prince in such a manner.”
The boy’s eyes gleamed coldly.
“So what if the other person is some Imperial Prince or whatever.”
“…”
“If anyone makes things difficult for my sister, I won’t let them off easy.”
His face was one hundred percent sincere.
Julius pressed his forehead as if it were throbbing, then spoke.
“And now, because of the trouble you caused today, you’ve earned the Imperial Court of Eldora quite the notorious reputation, Heinrich.”
Heinrich, still holding me, looked at Julius with a face full of displeasure. But unlike his usual yappy demeanor, he couldn’t bring himself to bark back.
‘It’s because I’m involved in this.’
After all, I was also caught up in it and would be reflecting on my own actions.
Julius spoke coldly, pointing at Heinrich.
“I can no longer overlook such unruly behavior. I will report this matter to Mimosa.”
Immediately, Heinrich turned his head away with a sullen face, clicking his tongue.
“As for Anette…”
Julius looked at me belatedly, his expression softening slightly.
“You demonstrated the exemplary bearing of a true member of the Tree.”
Julius, who rarely offered praise, had actually complimented me. But I was too drained to feel any joy about it.
He then opened the carriage door with a dignified and graceful motion.
“Your first official socialization training has now concluded. Everyone, thank you for your efforts. Members of the Tree.”
…It truly had been a socialization training filled with many incidents.
After all the twists and turns, it was finally over.
I sat in the carriage and let out a sigh.
‘I wonder how much trouble Heinrich will get into.’
* * *
“Sisrain is getting absolutely scolded!”
“What?!”
The moment we returned to the Forest, I heard unexpected news.
Unlike us, Sisrain had been invited to a quiet salon gathering of the nobility, and he had apparently caused a major incident there.
‘Our gentle and kind Sisrain…?’
I asked Shasha in surprise.
“What kind of incident did Sisrain cause?”
Did he cause trouble from nervousness? Well, our cute, gentle, and innocent boy—though he does have a severe blind spot—might have made a careless mistake from being tense in an unfamiliar place—
“He burned down the entire dining table. Completely!”
…He committed arson!
‘How could our gentle Sisrain do something like that?!’
My pupils trembled.
Even Heinrich had never committed arson until now.
Shasha bounced her fluffy pink hair like cotton candy as she spoke.
“She burned all the nobles’ hair with candles too!”
“Oh, really…?”
I covered my mouth in shock. Julius had been frequently absent from the Imperial Palace for care, which had felt insufficient, but now I finally understood why—he’d been busy managing the arson incident at the Salon.
He’d been occupied with handling the aftermath of the Salon’s fire incident.
And yet he hadn’t let on to us, so despite how irritating Julius could be, I had to acknowledge his professional pride as an etiquette instructor for the nobility.
Heinrich’s “trivial and common curse” had become inconsequential in light of the arsonist’s spectacular exploits.
By the time Mimosa’s stern discipline had ended, I made my way to the Dormitory to find Sisrain.
“Where’s Sisrain?”
Julian answered, his large sky-blue eyes sparkling brightly.
“Mm, Sis didn’t come here. Sniff.”
Then where had he gone?
I had Julian blow his runny nose with a “come on,” and then I pondered the matter thoughtfully.
‘Could it be….’
Would he be there? I climbed to the empty room we’d been using as our Secret Hideout. My hunch was correct.
The boy sat by the window where moonlight streamed in, chin resting in his hand, gazing out into the night.
“Sisrain!”
Lost in thought, he turned to look at me at the sound of my voice.
For a moment, joy flickered across his face.
“Anette.”
‘Hmm, he looks better than I expected?’
“What happened? I heard Mimosa gave you quite a scolding. Could it be… Wait! Let me see your legs!”
They’d looked fine from a distance, but as I drew closer, his calves were a mess. They were all dark red and bruised.
My heart ached the moment I saw them.
“You’ve been hit on the calves this whole time, Sisrain?”
“I’m fine.”
Sisrain answered calmly.
There was a time when Heinrich had been hit, and he’d whimpered and cried in my arms all night, in such pain he could barely move.
So how could this possibly be fine?
“Just wait a moment!”
I hurried to the Infirmary, borrowed the first aid kit, and returned.
Then I began to disinfect the wounds on Sisrain’s calves and gently apply ointment.
Sisrain pulled his leg away, feeling apologetic.
“Really, I’m fine….”
“How can you say that when it looks so painful, Sisrain!”
“….”
“My heart isn’t fine at all.”
I meant it. The wounds streaking across Sisrain’s calves felt as though they were being carved into my own chest as well.
I carefully blew on the wounds while meticulously applying the ointment. How wonderful it would be if there were a potion that could heal everything at once. But I couldn’t steal one this time.
If Mimosa discovered these wounds had disappeared, Sisrain would face an even greater punishment.
“….”
As Sisrain applied the medicine, his crimson eyes never left me.
I swallowed down my frustration and, after finishing the treatment, looked directly at Sisrain and asked.
“Sisrain, you didn’t start that fire by accident, did you?”
At first, I’d thought Sisrain’s mistake had been exaggerated when passed along to the other children.
But seeing the welts from the cane told me otherwise.
Mimosa never wielded the cane for mere accidents.
Children were bound to make mistakes, after all.
But if he’d deliberately caused mischief, that was another matter entirely.
In such cases, he received a sharp caning or strict punishment, just as he had now.
“Why would you do that…?”
I wasn’t scolding him—I was asking out of genuine distress.
“You’ve never deliberately caused trouble before, have you? Sisrain.”
“….”
Multiple emotions flickered across Sisrain’s face in that moment.
They gathered in his eyes like layers of summer twilight, burning intensely.
Then Sisrain turned his head away and answered flatly.
“Just because.”
Just because—those two words alone.
He compressed so many things he couldn’t say to me into just those few syllables.
That evening at the Salon, Sisrain’s popularity among the nobility had been extraordinary.
This new Grade-1 boy possessed talent and, despite his youth, emanated a unique aura that seemed difficult to approach.
The nobility read this aura as refinement.
At last, a “finished product” had emerged that perfectly complemented Heinrich’s character flaws.
“This boy is truly exceptional. If we take him as an adopted son, he’ll surely bring great honor to our house later. …It would be money well spent.”
“It seems we’ll be competing with you? We’re also interested in adopting this boy.”
But as the nobility’s favor grew, so did Sisrain’s anxiety.
I’d told Heinrich I would ask to be adopted alongside Sisrain as a daughter-in-law, but this clever boy knew such a request would never work.
The other party was nobility, who adopted unrelated children for the sake of their family’s prestige.
Every strand of that adopted child would be used thoroughly for the family’s benefit.
To make their investment worthwhile, they’d arrange a marriage to the daughter of a profitable house.
Like breeding a prize pig with superior stock.
Of course, even living such a life—becoming “nobility” from “orphan”—would never be a loss in life, but rather tremendous fortune….
“Sisrain.”
But.
If I had to part with the owner of this gentle voice, nothing in the boy’s life would have meaning.
That was why he’d deliberately caused the accident.
Now no one wanted the boy anymore.
Even if he remained forever an unwanted child, it didn’t matter.
As long as he could stay with Anette.
“Anette.”
“Hmm?”
Sisrain cradled my small face gently between his palms, tilting it upward to meet his gaze.
Moonlight settled delicately upon the girl’s thick lashes, casting them in silver.
He could not tear his eyes away—from those jade-green eyes, the small, proud nose like a gentle hill, the softly pressed lips.
From the girl emanated the fresh, tender fragrance of lilac.
It was achingly, devastatingly perfect.
“Let us….”
The boy drew the small Anette slowly into his embrace.
The warm body in his arms felt as delicate and precious as a fledgling bird.
He closed his eyes and whispered with desperate longing.
“Let us never part, and live together in happiness for a lifetime.”

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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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