The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 68

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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 68
“Anette!”
Just then, the sound of urgent knocking echoed from the door.
―Perfect timing.
I recognized the voice immediately. I opened the door and found exactly the face I expected.
It was Noah.
“Anette, are you alright?”
The boy with pink hair and aquamarine eyes was wielding a scythe.
He’d rushed over with whatever weapon-like object he could find.
“Someone severed the gas pipeline, so all the gas lamps in front of Anette’s place and our house went out. …That’s why I came running in worry.”
“Good heavens, someone did it on purpose?”
“It seems to be the work of that thug.”
Kine interjected from behind, now wearing his glasses neatly.
Noah’s eyes immediately narrowed.
“Who are you, sir?”
“…!”
Sir? Oh, Noah. This man is far too young and handsome to be called sir.
You could call him older brother instead.
“Who, you ask? This ‘sir’.”
Hmm, he has no intention of correcting himself.
“I’m Kine. I’ll protect this place, so you’re safe. Now run along.”
Noah crossed his arms and scanned the man from head to toe with quite a challenging gaze (this was the first time I’d seen such a bristling expression from Noah).
“I don’t want to.”
“….”
“I’ll protect her, so why don’t you leave instead?”
―Why?
Why are you provoking him, Noah?
Kine is mature enough that he won’t rise to such provocation.
Kine’s lips curved upward.
“I’m certainly better at protecting than a weak and small ‘kid’ like you.”
‘He actually took the bait.’
Noah smiled with a bitter edge and spoke.
“Well, I might protect her better than some ‘sir who’s already been beaten to a pulp.'”
‘That was a devastating blow.’
Kine was smiling broadly, but it didn’t seem like a genuine smile.
“I’m not a kid—I’m Noah, sir.”
“Sure, kid.”
I could only stare blankly between the two of them.
I felt like a shrimp caught between two whales.
Noah spoke with his lips curving upward.
“I suppose I’ll have to keep watch over Anette through the night. The danger might be closer than we think….”
With a soft thud, Noah entered carrying a scythe slung across his shoulder.
“―It could be lurking nearby.”
I couldn’t fathom why he was saying such things while looking directly at Kine.
Then Kine looked at me, his eyes conveying a silent message—a desperate plea that read, ‘Please stop him.’
But I welcomed Noah warmly.
“Come right in!”
―This deer actually possesses considerable combat prowess.
* * *
I regretted my decision within ten minutes.
‘This is painfully awkward.’
We sat at the table facing one another—or rather, the two of them faced each other while I squeezed myself between them.
‘A perfectly vulnerable position for a backstab.’
The seating arrangement stirred vague, nostalgic memories.
It felt like sitting between a neurotic chihuahua and a ferociously spirited young beast.
It was as though I’d been transported back ten years.
An unintended rejuvenation that troubled me only briefly.
Gurgle―
At the sound of a stomach growling from somewhere, I spoke up in surprise.
“Oh my, are you both hungry?”
Noah’s face flushed crimson.
It was Noah, after all. Growing children, indeed!
A brilliant idea suddenly struck me.
“I’m famished myself—who’d like some chicken and vegetable soup?”
“Your cooking, proprietor? How wonderful…”
“I’d like some too, Anette.”
I smiled brightly and tied on my apron.
“Then I’ll treat you both properly! Please wait for me.”
The cunning shrimp devised a sinister scheme, grinning mischievously as I retrieved the largest cast-iron pot.
Hehe, I’ll feed them until they burst.
Once full, whether young or old, everyone grows drowsy and falls asleep early.
‘Let’s see them fight after overeating and feeling sluggish.’
They won’t be able to quarrel anymore, you understand?
I prepared an extraordinarily lavish spread for a late-night meal (the two of them tried to help together midway, but were promptly shooed away together), and my guests ate as though they’d been starving.
My heart felt strangely satisfied.
“Ugh.”
Then Noah’s face contorted in distress.
He covered his mouth with his hand like a soldier suffering through torture (though his tiny fern-like fingers were far too adorable for such a comparison).
Noah’s fluffy pink hair trembled.
“C-cooked carrots….”
“Oh my, it seems you can’t eat cooked carrots.”
Kine’s eyes gleamed with cold clarity beyond his square-framed glasses as he spoke.
“A little one might not be able to eat them. But once you become a man, you’ll be able to.”
“…!!!”
Genuinely indignant, Noah trembled before swallowing the cooked carrot with difficulty.
Kine let out a snort of amusement.
At that moment, I pointed to Kine’s plate and spoke.
“But Kine, you’ve left all your beans.”
“….”
I caught it in that instant—a flicker of surprise in his eyes behind those square-framed glasses.
Then Noah grinned wickedly and scooped a spoonful of vegetable soup (remarkably, it was heaped with peas).
He ate it confidently and spoke.
“Beans should certainly be eaten. If one is a ‘man.'”
I watched them both with narrowed eyes.
“….”
A childish twelve-year-old and a childish adult.
No, let me correct that. Two childish little ones (one of them even seemed about ten years old).
How could I keep them from fighting?
I ate a spoonful of vegetable soup mixed with cooked carrots and beans—the most manly choice at this table—when a brilliant idea suddenly struck me.
“…!”
I broke into a wide smile.
“After we finish eating, could you two help me with something?”
* * *
Colored pencils scattered about. Colored paper and small cards the size of a palm.
Noah, fast asleep.
The three of us were at the scene where we’d finally lost one person while writing ‘invitations.’
Writing invitations for the party one by one had seemed daunting, but I was grateful for the extra hands.
“Why are these invitations drawn as pictures?”
“Well, I prepared picture invitations for neighbors who can’t read!”
I answered Kine’s question. Not everyone in Bayonere can read, after all.
That’s why the menu board at the Little Bakery is also made with pictures of bread (Sordi drew them for me).
The invitation pictures were quite charming.
It showed a party venue with a cake, where residents came with smiling faces and ate ‘yum yum,’ and the characters were drawn based on the features of the person receiving the invitation.
“You’re truly thoughtful, proprietor.”
Kine said this, and I felt a bit embarrassed.
I handled the picture invitations, while Kine took care of the ones for people who could read.
I glanced sideways at Kine.
“….”
With his thick forearms exposed as he rolled up his sleeves, he held the pen in his large hands and wrote the letters neatly.
Scratch, scratch—
From the pen’s tip flowed handwriting that was both rigid and graceful—a flowing script.
Unmistakably, it was the penmanship of a man who had received formal education.
And that refined accent and pronunciation.
‘Kine really does seem like he’s from the Nobility.’
But why wouldn’t he reveal it?
In any case, it was clear he didn’t want to receive the formal courtesies reserved for the Nobility.
I could sense that much instinctively.
I asked him.
“By the way, Kine. Where do you think that thug came from?”
Cutting off the gas line, no less. He was truly a despicable man.
“Judging by the extortion demand, this wasn’t the work of an individual. It’s clearly from some ‘organization.’ And since they sent someone out for such menial work, he must be a low-ranking member of that organization.”
―My goodness, an expert on criminal organizations?
‘How does he know all this?’
I suddenly became curious about this man’s true identity and asked.
“But what do you do, Kine? Are you some kind of town administrator? …Or perhaps a researcher at the Academy? You give off the impression of a civil servant or student.”
“I am….”
It was just as Kyle was about to tell the truth.
A name suddenly flashed through her mind like lightning.
“Kine, Kine!”
“Yes?”
“I think I know which organization that thug came from!”
“Which one?”
Kyle asked with evident curiosity in his expression.
Anette’s jade-green eyes gleamed as she spoke with confidence.
“That thug—could he be from ‘Larva’?”
The leader of ‘Larva’ standing before her eyes narrowed his gaze and asked in return.
“Larva…?”
That can’t be right, Master.
Anette trembled like a rabbit trapped without a carrot, speaking nervously.
“I heard their leader is a truly terrifying person. Why else would his nickname be ‘the Murderer’?”
“….”
It’s true that my nickname is the Murderer.
And it’s true that I’m a terrifying person.
“What does their master look like again? Brown hair and…green eyes.”
Kyle quietly snatched Noah’s beret and placed it on his own head, then blinked his eyes rapidly.
Anette whispered.
“I heard he has a large scar across his face and looks like a troll!”
“….”
“Isn’t he truly frightening and dreadful?”
“…I’m a researcher.”
“Pardon?”
Kyle gestured urgently to himself, offering a forced smile.
“I’m a research assistant, ma’am.”
* * *
‘A research assistant, she says.’
Such a pathetic lie—it was almost laughable.
In the deep hours of dawn, even the moonlight seemed to slumber.
Kyle gazed quietly at Anette’s sleeping face.
In her small hand lay an invitation.
【An Invitation for a Small Happy Ending】
―that was its title.
She said she would celebrate the happy endings of the novel’s protagonists and throw a farewell party for them.
‘To become so immersed in reading novels.’
It was an endearing hobby.
Those who read novels are romantics.
I loved that side of Anette. The parts she possessed that I lacked were beautiful and adorable to me.
“…Mm.”
As Anette stirred softly, Kyle carefully gathered her into his arms.
She was remarkably soft, delicate, and fragrant.
My heart raced.
Fearing she might shatter if handled roughly, I walked toward her second-floor bedroom with the care of one cradling a small bird.
“….”
As I gazed tenderly down at her in my embrace, moonlight bathed us both.
The man who had panicked and introduced himself falsely―
soon whispered a confession in a low, careful voice, lest she awaken.
“I am Kyle Winston. I fell in love with a certain girl who gave me a squirrel mask, and I have protected her for life.”
“….”
“Now I am the leader of Larva, and the name I use in the Dark Guild is ‘Kine’.”
“….”
“To introduce myself more simply―”
Beneath the moonlight, emerald eyes and a dimpled smile radiated tenderness.
“I am Kyle Winston, fallen for you.”

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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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