The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 53

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 53
He doesn’t even know I’ve already awakened, yet he clings to me as though I were an unawakened talent. There could only be two reasons for this.
First, my unexpected proposal in the middle of everything had derailed his original plan.
When you recover something you nearly lost, the pleasure is always doubled.
Second—
‘He must be desperate enough to cling to my unawakened talent.’
I finished my calculations and decided to play the docile part for now, nestling into his embrace.
Gerard released me only after taking several long, measured breaths, as though barely restraining himself.
“Shall we go then?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
I lowered my brows and offered him a deliberately gentle smile.
Then I took my leave of Mimosa and Julius in turn.
After exchanging composed farewells, I walked toward the procession of black carriages.
‘This is where you’d tear up, you golden-eyed prince.’
But then Gerard said something unexpected.
“Since you’re unfamiliar with the route, ride in the carriage with me.”
“…!”
What?! Who are you trying to ruin?
If we share the same carriage, how am I supposed to use my magical artifacts?
‘Why would he insist on riding with a commoner orphan?’
He doesn’t truly think of me as his daughter.
I looked at Gerard in momentary surprise, but when I saw those eyes gleaming softly, I understood.
‘Ah… he doesn’t want to be separated from his prize for even a moment.’
It was the same feeling I’d had, clutching my treasure pouch and giggling all dawn long.
I spoke in a measured tone.
“I’m grateful, but a commoner who hasn’t been formally registered riding in the same carriage as Your Highness would raise considerable concerns.”
“…”
“An orphan with no lineage—they’ll say my entry into the Imperial Palace itself violates propriety. I’m destined to be quite conspicuous there…”
I continued with a pleasant smile.
“I’d prefer not to give the servants ammunition for gossip from the very start, Your Highness.”
‘Gossip’.
This was something Gerard—who harbored far dirtier intentions in adopting me—would despise more than anyone.
People were already whispering about why an unmarried prince would adopt a daughter. He wouldn’t want to invite further speculation.
As expected, Gerard conceded to my reasoning.
“…You’re right, Anette.”
“Thank you.”
“Then we’ll take separate carriages.”
I exhaled in relief and quickly located a maidservant with an approachable demeanor.
Phew.
I quickly found a maidservant with an easy-going impression, which put me at ease.
There’s no way he’d let me ride alone….
If I traveled with a maid as soft as pudding, escape would be far easier―
“I shall attend to you.”
Just as I was thinking this, a woman with an exceptionally stern and sharp impression appeared.
Her hair was pulled back so tightly I worried she might go bald, and her cold, expressionless face had a sharp jawline and brown eyes.
She looked exactly like an eagle.
‘Damn it all.’
“Yes.”
I smiled brightly and boarded the carriage obediently.
“I am Immanuel Borier, your dedicated instructor going forward.”
‘Another teacher, seriously?’
And she looked far more merciless than the Forest Teachers.
Immanuel Borier examined me with an appraising gaze before clicking her tongue.
“First, we must strip away the marks of an orphan raised in the Forest.”
“….”
“Learning the refined dignity befitting the Imperial Family is no easy task. From now on, I will tolerate neither shortcuts nor laziness.”
Telling an orphan outright that she needs to shed her orphan marks.
If I were truly twelve years old without my past life, I would have been deeply wounded.
Her words seemed intentionally designed to hurt.
“Yes! Thank you for your guidance, Immanuel Borier.”
When I smiled brightly without showing the slightest concern, I saw her flinch instead.
‘Anyway, I’ll be gone soon enough.’
The real problem was how to shake off this meticulous eagle and make my escape….
As I was intensely contemplating this.
Neeeeiiiigh!
Finally, the sound of horses whinnying rang out powerfully from the front, and the carriages began moving slowly, starting with the front row.
Then Immanuel Borier tapped the carriage door twice with a sharp knock.
Whether it was a signal, our carriage in the very back also began moving slowly forward.
“….”
‘I’m really leaving the Forest.’
Watching the passing scenery, I fell into contemplation.
Though parting was bittersweet, since I had accomplished everything I set out to do, I felt oddly relieved.
It’s a strange mix of emotions.
The children will do well even without me now.
Still.
‘…Sisrain.’
I wanted to see your face one last time.
But I’m leaving without even that.
Are you sleeping by now?
Without realizing it, I tightened my grip on my bag and lowered my eyes.
At that very moment,
Crash―!
A deafening sound erupted from the Mansion without warning.
“…?!”
I rushed to the rear window of the carriage.
―What?
A faint silhouette was charging toward the carriage with fierce intensity from the distance.
“Anette―!”
“Sisrain!”
The boy’s forehead was covered in blood.
* * *
Still early dawn.
Sisrain checked the beds of Anette and Heinrich, who had not yet returned, and gazed out the window.
A ‘strange premonition’ enveloped the boy.
It was a premonition that Heinrich’s warning and the Incinerator incident were interconnecting.
“Something about my sister feels off.”
“She asked me what I’d do if she went to be adopted. Asking something like that… it was the first time. And didn’t she seem strange at dinner earlier too?”
Of course, Anette had said at the Incinerator that everything was over now….
“―So, it’s all over now. I’ll be staying in the Forest, you see. What do you think, isn’t it great?
”
Is it really all over? Anette.
Then what does this dawn without you mean.
“….”
Something doesn’t feel right.
And when that peculiar dawn passed and morning finally arrived, Sisrain finally confirmed the identity of that ‘strange premonition’.
First, he saw the procession of carriages bearing the Imperial Family emblem rushing toward the Forest.
And then, immediately after, Crash―!!!
Through the shield that had perfectly confined and blocked me.
“…!”
My body moved before my mind could comprehend the situation.
In an instant, aura exploded from my body. Boom! But the shield roared and instead deflected that force, attacking Sisrain.
Drip, drip―the aura that grazed my forehead sent crimson blood streaming down my eyes and across my cheeks.
Yet the boy paid it no mind and compressed his power.
Crack!
The restraint shattered under the immense energy, and black power coiled like a serpent, writhing violently.
At the moment the limit was reached.
With a sound that shook heaven and earth, the shield shattered to pieces.
No one had anticipated it. Not even Julius, who had created this shield himself.
“…!!!”
In an instant, Sisrain burst forth like a beast with its leash severed.
“Anette―!”
“Sisrain!”
From the very back of the carriage departing the Mansion, Anette appeared.
‘Good heavens…!’
Upon seeing Sisrain’s blood-soaked face, Anette’s own complexion drained to a ghostly pallor.
At that moment, the teacher beside her spoke.
“A Special Grade 1 boy is following us. The escorts will prepare an attack to separate him from the carriage. Jump out the window!”
“―What did you say?”
“We have made preparations for such a contingency.”
It seemed Anette was not alone in anticipating that the boys would not let her go so easily.
Anette leaned her head out the window in alarm to check the front of the carriage, where a mage escort positioned midway was concentrating mana.
“…!”
Anette immediately rushed to the rear window.
“Sisrain!”
Pursuing fiercely, Sisrain cried out.
“Anette, I’ll save you!”
“No, that’s not it…! Turn back, Sisrain.”
I saw the boy’s expression shift.
“I’m going to leave the Forest and live happily! …Please turn back!!!”
Sisrain asked her with a bewildered expression.
“If I turn back, will you come back too, Anette?”
“….”
Anette did not answer.
She could not bring herself to lie to that desperate face.
Her silence engulfed the boy like a deep river current.
During the agonizing seconds when no answer came, the boy felt as though he were drowning in that suffocating silence.
Then, with a thunderous crash!!!
Threatening mana shot toward Sisrain, and the boy who had been running fiercely was violently knocked down and sent rolling.
“Please don’t…!”
Anette clung desperately to Immanuel Borier.
“I can convince him! Please, ask them to stop the attack!”
“It is merely a warning shot. Should he continue pursuing, the boy will be injured.”
Anette hastily checked on Sisrain again.
The boy rose like a roly-poly toy.
Blood streamed freely from his scraped arm and forehead, yet he seemed to feel no pain.
He ran again with all his might.
His black hair rippled like waves in the wind, and beneath it, his crimson eyes still burned with determination.
As his lungs screamed with exertion, he recalled his first meeting with Anette.
“…Hey there, hello?”
“My name is Anette.”
Before I met her, I was nothing.
In the Cave where I hid away, that place was―
the very bottom of the world.
Consumed by fear, I merely breathed and existed in that darkness alone.
Neither human nor beast.
Anette was the only person who approached me with a smile and extended her hand first.
“I will never abandon you in that dark place again.”
Like a life hatched from an egg loving the first being it sees… Sisrain learned love naturally.
And I learned so much more besides.
How to make friends.
How to live with dignity despite my wretched past.
We blew soap bubbles together and dreamed, and eventually we could walk side by side, hand in hand.
“We….”
“Let’s never part and live happily together for a long time.”
We made a promise never to be separated.
I wanted to keep it.
Just as the girl had protected me, I wanted to protect her with everything I had.
―with my very life, for all eternity.
“Sisrain, please stop and go back!”
But Anette was trembling with tears.
“Please, I’m begging you…!!!”
At last, the boy finally grasped the situation clearly.
She was leaving like a butterfly.
Blooming me in this place and departing.
“Anette….”
Sisrain’s feet came to an abrupt halt.
Patter patter—only then did tears fall, hot against the boy’s cheeks.
The carriage vanished in an instant, turning the corner and disappearing from sight.
“Anette.”
The boy finally collapsed, breathless and shattered.
From the rapidly moving carriage, Anette could not tear her eyes from the window for a long while.
Though Sisrain’s figure was no longer visible, the boy’s final expression kept haunting her vision.
‘…Sisrain, I’m sorry.’
But I believe in you.
You will soon become part of the Imperial Family, and you will no longer waste your life hating Heinrich.
You will live happily in that noble position.
Watching over you from afar like that will be my greatest happiness too.
Now the extra exits the stage.
The protagonists will forget me forever and meet their own happy ending.
We will never meet again, but there is one thing I wish for.
“Don’t hurt. Don’t cry. You must be happy always.”
A wind like a sob burst forth.
“You must live well, all of you.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————