The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 78

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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 78
Before I knew it, he settled beside me, his overwhelmingly massive shoulders relaxed as he casually lifted his arm.
Then, with a soft clink—
my wrist was pulled upward along with his.
‘Insane.’
A cord connected our two wrists.
Whatever power dwelt within it, the crimson cord shimmered with a faint, undulating glow, and at first glance, it appeared impossibly resilient.
“Anette. If you wish to leave me now,”
his eyes—those pupils stained with madness—narrowed. He whispered low.
“sever my wrist and flee.”
My heart lurched.
If I went with him like this, I truly felt as though I would be trapped forever—a pair of birds locked in a cage, bound eternally to Sisrain.
‘Stay composed. I know Sisrain’s nature.’
If I wavered even slightly, he would swallow me whole and never let go.
‘I must keep my wits about me.’
Even caught in a dragon’s claws, survival is possible if the mind remains sharp.
“Your Imperial Highness.”
“….”
The look in his eyes made it clear he still disliked being addressed as Your Imperial Highness.
That alone told me everything. Sisrain still desired closeness with me.
Then perhaps I could exploit that desire, at least a little.
…for the sake of my survival.
“If we continue like this, I will spend my entire life hating you, Your Imperial Highness. Until the day I die.”
“….”
“Is that what you wish for?”
I spoke with cold eyes.
I had hoped for some small impact, but Sisrain’s reaction was ambiguous.
He merely touched his jaw and said this much.
“That would be rather troublesome.”
“….”
“Quite troublesome, actually.”
…So it is troublesome, then?
I maintained my composure and spoke calmly.
“I have my own life, you see. The bakery I built here on Bayonere Island, my neighbors. …they are all things I love.”
“Hearing you speak of love makes me want to burn it all to ash.”
“…!!!”
What on earth is his intention, you madman.
He rested his chin in his hand, his sharp eyes narrowed as he pressed a long finger against his face and spoke.
“I’m jealous.”
“…I don’t love them quite that much, really.”
At my flexible evasion strategy, he let out a sharp laugh.
“But you are precious to me.”
I spoke with conviction. There was more than one reason why he couldn’t simply take me away like this.
“And there’s another thing. If you take me to the Imperial Palace of Eldorado like this, you won’t be able to monopolize me.”
It was embarrassing to say aloud, but it was undoubtedly an important factor for that obsessive madman.
After all, what he wanted was me.
As expected, those crimson eyes held me still for a moment before he asked tersely.
“Why is that.”
“You may not know, but Gerard is still searching for me even now.”
“….”
“If I go to the Imperial Palace, he’ll likely become obsessed with claiming me. You know, don’t you? That I possess a ‘special’ ability.”
I spoke without wavering.
“Gerard understands its value and is trying to possess me.”
“….”
“Even if the other party is the Crown Prince, he will never give up. Besides, I was supposed to be adopted, so I have sufficient ‘justification.'”
If Gerard pressed forward in such a situation, monopolizing me would become difficult.
Remarkably, Gerard still maintained a favorable reputation among the Empire’s people—one could occasionally confirm his popularity through the World Daily News.
If Gerard stepped forward and the matter became public discourse, it would be hard to manage.
No matter how powerful Sisrain was, if the entire opinion of Eldorado turned that way, it would be difficult to ignore.
Unless he intended to slaughter them all mercilessly and become emperor of an empty Empire.
“….”
I met Sisrain’s gaze. Those crimson eyes held within them a sharpness as if carved by a blade.
They were distinctly different from before.
I couldn’t fathom what my ‘Sis’ had endured to change so completely.
I had no sense of how he had lived during those ten-odd years I was gone.
Afraid that if I faltered he might devour me, I held my spine and back rigid, meeting his gaze with confidence.
“You don’t want to be hated by me, do you.”
His lips finally curved upward.
“You’re cruel, Anette.”
…Me, cruel? You, the obsessive madman Sisrain, are you not?
My confusion was perfectly clarified by his next words.
“You made me search for you like a madman for over ten years, and now you try to tame me with your affection.”
“….”
For a moment, he overlapped with the young Sisrain of old. That small, pitiful boy who crawled out from the black Cave knowing only me, living only for me.
But I tried not to waver.
…I mustn’t grow weak.
The strategy had worked.
Sisrain seized my hair with hands twice the size of mine and pressed his lips against me.
Even from my hair, which held no sensation, I felt a scorching heat.
Perhaps it was because of those crimson eyes that seemed ready to devour me whole.
“I suppose I should obey.”
His low voice wrapped around me, thick and suffocating.
“‘For now,’ at least.”
“….”
It was a declaration from a man who seemed utterly incapable of obedience—a ferocious beast in human form.
I grasped this ‘power dynamic’ with crystalline clarity.
No matter how exalted an imperial crown prince might be, in relationships like this, the one who loved more was always the weaker party.
―Cruel as it was, I found it fortunate.
That I possessed one position where I, inferior in raw strength, might actually have the upper hand against him.
‘Good. I can escape now.’
Once he released me, I could return and proceed with the plan as intended.
A second escape—if I succeeded, I was confident I could hide far more thoroughly.
I had experience, after all.
At the very least, I wouldn’t spend my life ensnared by this ‘obsessive madman.’
That was when Sisrain’s lips pronounced a single word as though spitting it out.
“But.”
“….”
But? Why ‘but’?
Just let me go for free, why don’t you.
“You’ll need to ‘swear’ that you won’t run away.”
His crimson eyes fixed upon me with deliberate intensity.
“…I swear.”
I smiled quietly.
“I told you—my shop is here, so I won’t leave.”
Then Sisrain’s face drew closer.
As my tension eased slightly, I could finally see him clearly.
He had grown truly magnificent.
Hair black as if it had swallowed the night itself.
Beneath thick brows, sharp crimson eyes and a straight forehead flowing into a clean, prominent nose—the masculine lines were nothing short of perfect.
From him emanated the unmistakable aura of an apex predator, a presence that demanded no one bow their head, regardless of who stood before him.
He resembled a mythical beast—the kind the gods might have fashioned to strike fear into mortal hearts.
And….
‘He’s devastatingly handsome.’
Had the situation permitted, my gaze would have lingered far longer.
For the briefest moment, I found myself staring at his lips, afraid of what he might say next.
Then a heavy voice flowed from deep within his chest.
“Tell me you won’t leave my side. For the rest of your life.”
“…!”
‘For the rest of my life’?
No matter how splendidly Sisrain had grown into a beautiful man, at this point, I simply had to speak again.
‘This madman is in his element.’
I closed my eyes, then opened them again.
“I swear to you. For life.”
I’m sorry for the lie, Sisrain.
But I need to survive too, don’t I?
It was then that I thought Sisrain’s crimson eyes looked almost pleased.
“…!”
Ominously, the red thread binding us together began to emit light.
Whoooosh—
Rather than connecting Sisrain and me, the luminous thread transformed into a ‘bracelet’ that settled around my wrist.
“…What, what is this?”
Startled, the informal speech tumbled from my lips.
Sisrain answered matter-of-factly.
“An artifact of oath-binding, ‘Lucanto’. Break the vow, and you pay the price.”
I didn’t want to know, but I had no choice but to ask the question.
“…What happens if I break it?”
“You lose your life.”
My heart lurched in that instant.
So he’s telling me not to think of running if I want to live?
This is madness, Sisrain.
Sisrain narrowed his dark eyes and laughed like an addict intoxicated by poison.
“Your heart will burst.”
“….”
“Mine.”
“…!”
I stared at him, my face a portrait of shock.
His ribs rose and fell slowly as he swallowed, and he pressed a tender kiss to my cheek.
“So, Anette.”
The kiss was sweetly at odds with the moment, but his voice was resolute.
“If you ever try to run, trample my heart as you go.”
My spine went rigid, and a chill raced across my skin.
I felt an obsession that transcended mere devotion—a desolate, terrible madness.
Sisrain had wagered his own life on me.
There was no turning back.
“…This is.”
Like being swept up in a catastrophic storm, my mind became a whirlwind of chaos.
I barely managed to part my lips.
Almost like a scream.
“This is too much….”
To leave him, I would have to kill him….
Only then did I truly become curious.
What kind of life had Sisrain lived during the time I was absent?
What had made him into the Crown Prince with sleepless eyes, the one who waged war and slaughtered his own brothers, the one who came searching for me?
In the original story, it was vengeance.
But now?
I had always thought of him as the weaker one in this relationship.
Yet the scales of this bond were so heavily tilted that he had instead placed his thrashing heart into my hands, leaving himself utterly defenseless.
“It’s simple.”
His lips curved upward.
“Just keep your oath, Anette.”
Sisrain simply said it that way.
The carriage pierced through the misty darkness, and before long, it returned to where it had started.
To the very place where he had stolen me away.
Only after Sisrain had bound his heart and my wrist together with shackles did he set me down there.
He laughed, tracing his lips with his rough fingers.
“I’ll visit often, so show me your face when I do.”
“….”
“I thought you’d come back because you wanted to see me.”
The Imperial carriage departed swiftly. I stood there, watching its receding form in a daze.
As though I had been possessed by a ghost.
Blinking, I carefully pinched my own cheek.
…Could this be a dream?

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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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