The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 45

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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 45
Tap, tap, tap.
A tiny hand reached out to comfort me, its touch gentle and reassuring.
It was the Baby Squirrel.
The squirrel’s eyes, dark and gleaming like black beans, fixed upon me with what seemed like a question—was I alright?
“Yes, I’m fine! Dear squirrel. I’m truly delighted to have received such a thoughtful letter.”
Since I meant every word, I offered a radiant smile.
The Baby Squirrel, reassured, brushed its plump cheeks—round as acorns—with its tiny paws.
“I should send a reply to my patron.”
I picked up my pen and wrote words of gratitude for the invitation, along with my own eager anticipation for that day.
Though shy, I wove a touch of warmth into each sentence.
Hmm, I felt embarrassed and my cheeks flushed crimson.
Finally, after sketching lovely flowers across the card, I placed it carefully into the Baby Squirrel’s tiny paws.
“Will you deliver this for me? Thank you, squirrel.”
The Baby Squirrel, as if to say not to worry, swished its luxuriant tail once—a gentle flutter—before scampering swiftly up the tree and vanishing.
“Sigh.”
I exhaled quietly and reflected.
‘Good, so only one task remains?’
Delivering the cigarette case.
‘Gerard said he’d send his aide to the Forest today.’
Sure enough, about twenty minutes later, a child arrived with word that the Imperial Prince’s aide was looking for me.
“The Imperial Prince’s aide has asked you to come to the Incinerator, Anette.”
Huh?
…Of all places, the Incinerator?
* * *
The Incinerator.
The acrid stench of ash from burning refuse during the day hung thick in the air.
‘A fitting place for a clandestine exchange.’
Meeting the Imperial Prince’s aide in such a desolate location with a child’s body was somewhat daunting, yet I felt certain of my safety.
‘If they meant to harm me, they would have summoned me in secret.’
They had made it official, and they certainly wouldn’t have called me through the Forest with unnecessary witnesses present.
Besides, I had a sorcerer as my contingency.
‘Hehe. How reassuring to have the most powerful mage’s ring.’
Julius—best value for money!
I was certainly making good use of him in every conceivable way.
Oh no, I just evaluated a person by their cost-effectiveness!
“…?”
It was at that very moment.
A peculiar gaze emanated from a distant corner of the Incinerator.
As I peered into the darkness, wondering if it was the aide, I felt that strange presence intensify.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the little lady.”
I started, my eyes widening as the man materialized before me without warning.
Eyes so narrowed they were mere slits, barely revealing the pupils within.
Hair black as the depths of night.
A faint smile playing subtly at the corners of his mouth.
‘Gerard’s adjutant!’
The same man who had disposed of the High Priest’s corpse at the Imperial Palace with such seamless efficiency.
“Oh dear, it seems I’ve startled you.”
The smiling man placed a hand respectfully over his chest as he spoke.
“My apologies.”
He seemed remarkably courteous and gentle.
‘Much like Gerard’s first impression.’
Perhaps this man, too, harbored a duality beneath his master’s surface.
I needed to be cautious.
“Good day to you, sir.”
I bowed slightly in greeting.
“My name is Abilos Teje, Miss Anette. I serve as adjutant to the First Imperial Prince. Please, call me Lord Teje.”
“Of course, Lord Teje.”
In that moment, my gaze caught upon his distinctive ears—ornate feathers sprouting along the contours of his auricles.
“…!”
‘This man… he’s from the Rekilos Tribe?’
The Rekilos Tribe.
Memories from my lessons surfaced.
They were a branch of the beastfolk—the ‘bird clan’ who had miraculously survived when humans attempted to exterminate the beastfolk in the distant past.
Now, having evolved rapidly toward humanity over the ages, only the feathers at their ears remained as vestiges (much as humans retained tailbones as traces of tails), and their defining trait was the ability to communicate with birds.
‘So it was him? That arrogant crow he sent to ransack my treasures!’
It had taken me ages just to restore order.
“The crow this morning—that was sent by you, Lord Teje, wasn’t it?”
“Indeed.”
He answered swiftly without bothering to deny it, his cheerful smile grating on my nerves.
“I heard some little mouse had hidden away something precious to my lord.”
“Isn’t the crow that rifles through rooms without the owner’s permission the real mouse? Or perhaps the master who commands such mouse-like behavior is the true mouse?”
“…!”
Surprised by my unflinching retort, his eyes widened slightly.
Then his lips twisted.
“Quite the impertinent little thing, aren’t you?”
Ah. So he was the type whose true nature emerged the moment you provoked him?
“Failing to find it and resorting to this negotiation is rather embarrassing for you. You would have saved face by simply proposing the trade from the start.”
“Y-you insolent little brat!”
“Take it.”
I thrust the cigarette case directly in front of him as he was about to explode with rage.
Like an owner suddenly offering a treat to a large dog about to bark in anger.
As expected, the man’s gaze fixed entirely on the cigarette case.
He quickly snatched it up with a sharp motion and shoved it inside his jacket.
‘He won’t let it be taken away, he won’t let it be taken away.’
He looked exactly like a monster obsessed with a ring, and I couldn’t help but laugh hollowly.
At this point, I was genuinely curious what that object was…
‘No, I shouldn’t take an interest in it.’
If I wanted to live peacefully as a bakery owner, I couldn’t afford to be curious about dangerous things.
Knowing such things would only drag me into troublesome affairs.
“Is that enough now?”
“Do you really believe it’s over? How foolish.”
The adjutant stroked his chin as he looked down at me, a strange sneer playing at the corners of his mouth.
‘His eyes….’
Beneath his thin eyelids, vertically-slit teal pupils like a serpent’s stared out unnaturally.
Ugh, how utterly repulsive.
“My master is an extremely determined individual. He has never once failed to obtain what he desires, little one.”
“Oh, how impressive.”
I answered without a shred of sincerity.
“…Don’t listen half-heartedly.”
“Yes, I’m rooting for you. Fighting!”
I clenched my fist and offered him my encouragement.
I’d been through far too much to be intimidated by such clumsy threats, teacher.
Abilos Teje spoke with his face flushed with anger.
“…!! Tsk, you really don’t back down an inch, do you?”
“No, I’m just that way.”
I’m at that rebellious age, after all.
Until now I’d lived as a model student, but there was absolutely no reason to be one in front of this man.
Besides, I deeply disliked the sight of him threatening a child.
He probably did the same to other children too.
The adjutant, with veins bulging prominently on his forehead, spoke with a sneer.
“I’m genuinely curious how long that bold face of yours will remain so composed.”
Uh, uh…?
That’s a rather ominous statement, isn’t it?
‘Hmm, what other schemes does he have in mind?’
Let me find out.
I deliberately made an even more irritating expression (the most annoying one I’d ever made in my life) and spoke.
“Well, I’ve had this composed expression for twelve years straight since I was born, you know?”
“…!!!”
He clearly wasn’t the cautious type.
This man was.
So if I scratched him just right, he’d get excited and carelessly lose his composure, spilling secrets without restraint.
‘Lose your composure, lose your secrets.’
And right on cue.
This merciless brute seized the collar of a twelve-year-old girl without hesitation.
“Ugh!”
“A speck of a girl, let me give you one warning.”
“….”
“My master knows no surrender. You’ll be like a butterfly caught in obsession’s web, devoured from the head down.”
His mouth twisted with vile contempt.
“You’ll become the Imperial Princess, yes, but trapped in the Imperial Palace’s cage, you’ll live more wretched than a slave.”
“….”
“Forever squeezing out your abilities as a tool… until you wither miserably in a sunless hell,”
―Hmm, he’s talking too much.
Crack!
“Aaaahhhhh!!!”
The man who’d been threatening a child staggered backward three steps, clutching his nose.
“You, you, you bastard…!”
Drip, drip―
“Gasp, a nosebleed from both nostrils!”
He cried out in shock.
No matter how much of an adult he was, his nose had to be softer than my head.
“Oh, ah! I was so scared I stepped back and accidentally stepped on a stone…! It was an accident!”
As you know, it was intentional, teacher.
I covered my face with both hands and pretended to be flustered.
“You!!!”
Abilos Teje looked on the verge of explosion.
Even his feathers had flushed red—he was genuinely furious.
“My lord commanded me not to kill you, but… he said nothing about beating you.”
His mouth twisted with cruel intent.
“I’ll teach this orphan girl some manners right here, right now!”
His massive palm swung up through the air with a whoosh, about to strike my cheek.
―Screeeech, crash!
Black aura engulfed the man in an instant and slammed him against the wall.
“Gack!”
Abilos Teje writhed in agony, his limbs bound by the black aura like prey in a thick serpent’s coils.
“Ugh… damn it!”
I wasn’t surprised.
‘They intervened at just the right moment.’
I’d anticipated someone would step in before I was in real danger, after all.
When I felt that gaze in the darkness earlier, I wondered who it could be.
―The instructors were out of the question.
If it were one of the Forest’s instructors, they would either already know about this meeting, or they would have come out to take me away from the Incinerator alone.
Ordinary children were also eliminated.
There was no reason for any child to hide their presence and hold their breath.
‘Then the candidates were only two.’
Either Heinrich or Sisrain.
It was clear that someone had noticed something and was following me.
So they were hiding and watching.
Which meant to pull the boy out of the darkness and confirm his identity―
‘I had to be in danger.’
Those two would rush forward without hesitation if I was threatened.
Just like now.
A young voice flowed from the darkness.
“Leave Anette alone.”
Crackle, crackle.
The black aura intensified, and Abilos Teje let out a pained groan.
The boy walked out from the darkness.
Black hair catching the moonlight, eyes burning a deeper crimson with fury.
“…Sisrain.”
The boy cradled Anette’s cheek and asked.
“Are you alright?”
His voice was tender. Though he was angry.
“…Yes! I’m fine.”
Then Abilos Teje struggled and tried to break free.
“You damned little rats!”
In an instant, his crimson pupils blazed. Without taking his eyes off Anette, the boy extended his palm to the side.
―Boom!
“…!!!”
Abilos Teje shuddered with a groan.
As the startled Anette tried to look, the boy’s hand gently cupped the back of her head and drew her into his embrace.
Don’t look.
Don’t see such brutal things.
Only then did those brilliant crimson eyes turn toward the prey he held captive.
“…!”
Abilos Teje’s spine went rigid.
“Don’t you dare lay a hand on what’s mine.”
“….”
“Unless you wish to die.”

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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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