The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 40

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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 40
“You’ll write to me every day once I’m adopted, right?”
“Every day?”
“Well, at least once every two days.”
The boy’s eyes narrowed pleadingly.
“No, it has to be every day. I can’t bear to be apart from you for even one day.”
Heinrich quickly corrected himself and embraced me like a whimpering puppy.
‘My sweet boy.’
I laughed softly, gently stroking his silken silver hair.
“All right. I’ll write to you every day!”
“And I’ll visit your place every three days without fail.”
“That often…?!”
I couldn’t help but be surprised.
I could already imagine Prince Gerard’s expression upon seeing this mysterious little creature appearing at the Imperial Palace every three days.
But the moment I said “often,” I watched Heinrich wilt visibly.
“…!”
Oh, like blanched spinach.
“All right, all right. Let’s see each other often, often!”
I was particularly weak to Heinrich’s wheedling, and I ended up accepting all his conditions.
Who wouldn’t be helpless before their favorite?
I’d pluck the stars and moon from the sky for him if I could, and it’s always been my regret that I cannot.
‘I thought our boy had grown so much. But seeing him act spoiled like this, it seems he’s still got some growing to do…’
I stroked Heinrich’s head. The silver-haired boy laughed playfully and spoke.
“Besides, it’ll take at least a year before you get adopted anyway, right? Look at me—I’m this handsome and talented, yet I haven’t been adopted even after two years.”
“…”
“So let’s not worry about parting just yet.”
Hearing those words, my chest ached inexplicably.
No, Heinrich…
The truth is, I—
“There.”
As I silently turned over the words I couldn’t bring myself to say, the boy’s small head settled upon my lap.
Heinrich lay with his head resting on my knees, his beautiful eyes gazing upward.
“Sister, look up there. The willow branches seem to be saying hello.”
At his words, I too looked up at the sky.
The long willow branches hung down, adorning the bright blue sky as they swayed gently with the breeze.
It did seem like they were waving hello with their long arms.
“You’re right, Heinrich…”
Then Heinrich looked up at me and spoke softly.
“Let’s go celebrate my birthday together when it comes in winter.”
Birthday.
Our birthdays were quite extraordinary.
Abandoned without knowing the day we were born, we had no choice but to mark the day we arrived at the Forest as our birthday.
That’s why Heinrich’s birthday fell in the depths of winter, when the entire world turned white and cold snow fell relentlessly.
I heard that Heinrich had stood barefoot at the door on that day.
Like a child numb to the cold.
Sisrain’s birthday was sometime in summer.
The boy who had fled from the burning Slave Trade Business beneath the scorching sun was said to have looked neither human nor beast.
My birthday was in spring.
My memories of that day were hazy. The sky was beautiful and clear, the spring sun warm and gentle, yet all I could remember was crying endlessly without reason.
“On my birthday, let’s go play in the winter Forest and build a warm bonfire and drink hot cocoa.”
Laying out a future we couldn’t guarantee, Heinrich buried his face in the folds of my skirt at my knee.
His violet eyes, holding the essence of winter, shimmered like a dream.
“We’ll share one blanket and spend the whole day watching the snow fall.”
The Forest’s winters brought particularly heavy snow, so when winter came, everything would surely turn white just as the boy described.
I gazed quietly at Heinrich.
For a long moment, I couldn’t speak.
“….”
“Sister?”
Finally, I managed to lift the corners of my mouth toward the boy and nodded.
“Yes, let’s do that. We’ll definitely go play on your birthday.”
“Yes! You promised!”
Heinrich laughed mischievously and reached out, finding my hand and grasping it firmly, yet gently.
Then, with a smile on his face, he closed his eyes—already lost in that day, our happy winter together.
Unaware that such a promise was uncertain.
* * *
After parting with Heinrich at the Lakeside, I fell into deep contemplation.
‘I suppose I can’t leave just yet.’
I could have left now without issue.
But I thought the boys would struggle without me.
‘Let me raise the little ones just a bit more, just a bit more, before I go!’
At least I wanted to stay with them until Heinrich’s birthday.
Besides, the real problem was actually―
‘I like a good father.’
My ideal father was kind and handsome.
Like my benevolent patron, Marquis Bijé Winston, who smiled while showing off his dimples.
But Gerard only met the ‘handsome’ condition of my ideal father.
Still, let me just check once more whether Gerard might possibly be a good person…!
‘I beheaded him.’
―Let’s stop investigating that right now.
I felt deeply uncomfortable consenting to an adoption without understanding such a terrifying father’s intentions.
I’d briefly imagined a life as royalty, spending money lavishly without restraint, and while that certainly held its appeal, it wasn’t what truly called to me.
‘A bakery owner suits me far better than a prince, after all.’
My future had always been oriented toward the peaceful life of a bakery proprietor—a dream that Petesh, Sordi, and Um all strongly supported (though I chose to interpret Um’s position generously).
I stood in the Corridor where candlelight flickered and thought quietly.
“…Then there’s only one method left.”
To obtain what I desired, I would have to accept the risks.
With my resolve hardened, I requested a meeting with Mimosa.
* * *
“What is it, Anette?”
Though Anette’s request for a meeting had come quite late, Mimosa accepted immediately.
Meeting requests from children whose adoptions had been finalized were commonplace, and most consisted of trivial questions.
What were their new parents like? How should they behave after adoption?
Typically, they would lose sleep from excitement, then arrive brimming with anticipation to ask their questions.
“Mimosa, I have a proposal for you.”
A proposal?
This child truly defied expectations in every way.
“….”
Mimosa gazed quietly at those confident, intelligent jade-green eyes, then removed her glasses and spoke.
“Go ahead.”
What came next was even more shocking.
“Please withdraw Prince Gerard’s adoption request.”
“…!”
Anette’s eyes shone with unwavering resolve.
“I will refuse the adoption.”
Mimosa looked at Anette with evident surprise.
She didn’t appear to be joking.
The child, having instantly read Mimosa’s shock and bewilderment, added with keen insight.
“I know! The Forest can’t refuse first, especially not a royal adoption request. But if Prince Gerard withdraws it himself, that’s different, isn’t it?”
“….”
“I’ll convince Prince Gerard myself.”
Had she perhaps fallen from her bed and struck her head?
Mimosa examined Anette carefully, bewildered by this turn of events.
The determined girl’s eyes appeared perfectly lucid.
Then perhaps―
‘It’s because of Heinrich and Sisrain.’
The decision not to leave must stem from them.
‘They both follow her so closely….’
Still, adoption was every child’s dream, and given that the suitor was a prince no less, Anette’s decision to remain here was quite remarkable.
And to convince him herself, no less?
“Anette, from the Forest’s perspective, if the Tree refuses the adoption, we lose considerably.”
“I understand.”
“…Besides, why would Prince Gerard ever listen to a small child like you?”
Anette answered her calmly.
“Refusing adoption would be a loss for the Forest, but I believe the gains from my staying would actually be greater.”
“….”
“Sisrain and Heinrich were children so unstable they couldn’t possibly be adopted, but I’ve cared for them well and brought them this far.”
That was the truth. Irrefutable.
“If I stay and help ensure those two children’s adoptions succeed, wouldn’t that be more beneficial?”
Mimosa’s eyes gleamed with interest.
“As you said, I’m also quite popular in the adoption market. Even if I refuse this time, I can find a good home. And as for Prince Gerard―”
“….”
“Persuading him is my responsibility, so please give me the chance. If I fail, I’ll accept adoption obediently.”
Mimosa felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
This twelve-year-old child, shining with such innocent determination, had accomplished everything she’d set out to do so far.
She’d retrieved Sisrain from the dark depths of the Cave, and helped the boy who trembled at the sight of water learn to live properly in the Forest.
With nothing but a fountain pen and a small compass, she’d even caught the “real culprit” behind the theft incident.
‘Could she manage it this time?’
But Prince Gerard—or rather, J—was far too formidable a man for such a small child to face.
Throughout all those years of encountering Gerard, Mimosa herself had never once bested him.
A man possessed of terrifying zeal and obsession toward his desired targets and goals.
Cruel and merciless in temperament.
It seemed he would crush in an instant any girl with eyes as delicate as pale grass blades who dared to oppose him.
‘But Anette is Anette, after all.’
She knew well just how strong a will burned within those gentle eyes.
‘This could prove quite interesting.’
Watching Anette’s exploits had become one of Mimosa’s small pleasures.
“Very well.”
“…!!!”
At Mimosa’s affirmation, Anette’s face lit up brilliantly.
Mimosa allowed herself a slight smile.
She wanted to see it. The moment when this small lady’s innocent yet formidable will collided with Gerard’s extraordinary obsession.
Gerard desired Anette so intensely, but if Anette ultimately slipped from his grasp… wouldn’t that be quite amusing?
“If you persuade Prince Gerard, I will accept the withdrawal of the adoption.”
“Thank you so much, Mimosa!”
* * *
I went to my room and immediately wrote a card.
The next morning, with Mimosa’s permission, I sent that card to the Imperial Palace.
The recipient was Prince Gerard.
The contents were quite provocative. After all, this was my gambit.
“Your Highness, you haven’t lost your cigarette case, have you?”
‘I’ll get a response by tomorrow.’
Yet surprisingly, the feedback came immediately.
That very night.
In the depths of dawn, when everyone slumbered.

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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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