The Obsessive Male Leads Want to Eat Me Alive - Chapter 85

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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 85
* * *
“Mmm….”
Anette made a small, drowsy murmur.
What time was it now? I’d slept so wonderfully well.
I wanted to lie here a bit longer. Actually, I wanted to spend the entire day rolling around in bed.
‘Today feels so peaceful.’
She shifted her body slightly, and then felt something firm yet warm beside her. It was like a furnace.
Though for a furnace, the scent was far too exquisite. Anette buried her head quietly and breathed in the fragrance before―
suddenly sensing something amiss, she slowly opened her eyes.
Huh?
It was Heinrich’s embrace. He lay on his side with his chin propped up, and had been awake for some time, gazing down at her with an immaculate expression.
His violet eyes shone with tenderness.
“Good morning, sister?”
“….”
“Did you sleep well through the night?”
Large, beautifully sculpted hands gently brushed across her cheek and through her hair.
“…Heinrich.”
“The first name you call upon waking is mine—I couldn’t be happier.”
Heinrich smiled with genuine joy.
Anette, still drowsy-eyed, asked quietly.
“Has the rain stopped?”
“Yes.”
Heinrich tilted his body slightly to the side, drew back the curtains, and opened the window.
Sunlight poured down like jewels.
As if last night’s torrential downpour had been a lie, not a single cloud graced the sky.
“Wow, the morning air is so refreshing―”
“Right? The weather’s beautiful today, sister. I’m glad.”
Anette and Heinrich stood side by side at the window, breathing in the crisp morning breeze.
Tok tok. The sound of dewdrops, glimmering with light, sliding from grass blades.
It was a morning where happiness bubbled up abundantly.
* * *
“Sister, tie it for me.”
“Huh? You’re working too, Heinrich?”
I regarded him with a slightly hesitant gaze. Yet Heinrich confidently donned an apron and turned his back to me.
As if urging me to tie it quickly.
“Of course I should help. It’s your shop, after all.”
I looked at him with uncertain eyes.
‘Why do I have such a bad feeling about this…?’
Heinrich and menial work were entirely incompatible.
You’ve never had a particular interest in baking, nor were you especially good with customers, Heinrich.
But.
‘If that handsome face were standing behind the counter?’
The self-employed business owner, suddenly obsessed with sales figures, finally broke into a sinister smile.
“Hmm, then shall I have you work the counter for a bit?”
“Sure.”
Dreaming of legendary sales success by selling out my younger brother whom I hadn’t seen in over a decade, I tied his apron strings with my shameless intentions on full display.
“Let me tie yours too, Sister.”
….
“That phrasing is a bit suggestive.”
…!
Heinrich’s face flushed subtly as he fumbled to tie my apron.
What on earth are you thinking, Teacher?
Heinrich tied the strings into a bow and smiled shyly.
“Sister, with us like this, we look just like a newlywed couple, don’t we?”
No.
“When you were little, you used to say every day that you’d marry me. Idiot.”
“I still do.”
Heinrich kept his eyes lowered as he adjusted my clothes and spoke.
“I still want to marry you, Sister.”
…!
For a moment, I was genuinely startled. It sounded just like a proposal. Surely he didn’t mean it seriously.
Hmm, having received a proposal from that tiny squirrel-masked brat (though he’s grown into a tall, carnivorous deer now), I suppose I’ve become oversensitive.
I laughed it off lightly with a snort.
“Geez, there sure are a lot of people in this neighborhood who want to marry me~”
….
But something felt off. Heinrich went silent for quite a while.
As I organized the cooking utensils for opening preparations, I suddenly felt a gaze and glanced to the side.
…Heinrich had gone completely rigid. For a moment, it was almost frightening.
His eyes gleamed with a quiet intensity as he asked.
“Who else wants to marry you, Sister?”
“…What?”
I found myself making excuses without thinking.
“The three-year-old regulars at our bakery were just joking around about it.”
So drop that expression. People won’t be able to come buy bread.
Is this a sister complex?
Can’t you stand the thought of Sister marrying another man, Heinrich?
I quickly decided to change the subject.
“By the way, Heinrich. How did you put such a massive bounty on it? 580 billion gold! I was shocked when I saw it… If only I had that kind of money.”
I spoke while happily imagining the possibilities.
“―I’m planning to open a larger bakery.”
Heinrich listened quietly to my explanation before asking.
“Should I give you the money for that?”
“…?!”
My eyes widened like saucers—the capitalist baker within me awakening.
What did you just say, sir? Are you serious?
In that instant, I imagined glittering gold coins cascading like rain before my eyes.
“Really?”
Heinrich crossed his arms and nodded slowly.
“Yeah, I still have that bounty posted.”
“….”
“So you just need to report directly to me. ‘You found Anette.'”
A life-changing opportunity, just like that?
…But why?
I couldn’t understand. He’d already found me, yet he was telling me to report myself and claim the bounty.
Heinrich gazed intently at my bewildered face. Then, leaning slightly toward me, he whispered.
“Sir Heinrich, I’ve found Anette.”
His voice was sweet as a demon luring a child with candy.
Crunch―
He gathered both my wrists and seized them effortlessly in one large hand.
Cold and surprisingly strong. My wrists were trapped like they were bound in shackles, unable to move an inch.
“…!”
Heinrich stared directly into my startled eyes and the pupils within them, slowly drawing my wrists closer.
Smoothly, until we were mere inches apart.
“Like this….”
His lips, vivid red like forbidden fruit, moved with mesmerizing allure.
“I brought her directly to you, Sir Heinrich.”
Heinrich’s eyes gleamed with a darkness so vivid it seemed to devour the shadows around us.
“That’s all you need to say. Anette.”
“….”
I felt it instinctively. That money was dangerously tempting.
If I took it, somehow my entire life would spiral into ruin, Heinrich.
I had at least that much sense.
“Oh, that’s right. Milk!”
“….”
At my words, Heinrich’s expression twitched slightly.
“I forgot to buy milk. I need to stock up before opening. I’ll be back, Heinrich!”
I wrenched my wrists free from Heinrich’s now-weakened grip and hurried out of the bakery.
“…Tsk.”
Heinrich watched the door through which I’d departed with a look of regret, then touched his chin thoughtfully.
I thought he was almost crossing the line.
In any case, it was a perfect opportunity with the house to myself.
Heinrich smiled wickedly as the thought crossed his mind.
‘I should inspect the house.’
There might be things targeting my sister, after all.
A moment later.
He stood before a drawer with an utterly furious expression.
Inside the drawer was a ring case.
A diamond ring, no less.
“…Tch.”
So some pest has attached itself to my sister?
“….”
Heinrich furrowed his delicate brows, contemplating.
How should he crush this insect so thoroughly that word of it spreads?
Burn it with fire? Scatter it on the wind?
Or simply crush it to death as is?
* * *
However, Heinrich was unfortunately burdened with a prior obligation.
His shift at the Bakery.
Beside Anette, Heinrich wore an apron emblazoned with fluffy bread illustrations and smiled brightly (though internally, he remained subtly seething with rage over the ring).
“Welcome to the Little Bakery!”
“…Welcome.”
As Anette led the greeting, Heinrich followed in a quiet voice.
He had accumulated many ‘first’ titles throughout his life.
The first magical artifact prodigy, the first man to become a Grand Duke despite his half-blood lineage, the first man to seize the Mage Tower Master by the collar.
And now…
The first Grand Duke to work a part-time job at a bakery.
‘Damn it… customers, please stop coming.’
Naturally, bakery work did not suit Heinrich’s temperament.
The customers at this popular bakery descended like zombies craving baguettes instead of blood and flesh, moaning “uuugh” as they devoured bread (or so it sounded to Heinrich’s ears).
The only consolation amid this chaos was how beautiful Anette looked working so diligently.
“Here you are, customer. This is a scone topped with fig jam. Do you enjoy something crispy and sweet?”
…She’s so beautiful, my sister.
Heinrich was watching Anette with a faint blush creeping across his cheeks when it happened.
Ding—
The door opened, and a man with an unnaturally tall frame and glasses stepped inside.
Anette, who had been arranging bread at the counter, welcomed him with a smile.
“Welcome, Kyle! You’re back?”
―Kyle?
It was a name he’d heard before somewhere, yet so common and trivial he couldn’t be bothered to recall where.
The only thing that displeased Heinrich was the way Anette smiled at him.
Anette approached Kyle and spoke.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m not.”
At that brief exchange, Heinrich’s brow furrowed.
Why would she concern herself with that bastard?
“But what can I do? I’m terribly busy right now, so my brother will have to help you instead. I’ve already set aside your favorite bread.”
“…Thank you for your consideration.”
Kyle bowed politely and looked at the man called her “brother.”
The moment he saw him, he understood. Heinrich’s true identity.
Heinrich naturally had no way of recognizing Kyle, who had left Eldorado at a young age and grown up on the battlefield.
But Kyle could never forget the man who had placed a bounty on Anette’s head.
As Kyle approached, Heinrich glared at him with particular irritation and thrust out an envelope.
“Here.”
Crackle—
Kyle took the envelope and checked its contents. Then he spoke.
“This isn’t it. You’ve given me the wrong amount.”
“…”
Then Heinrich’s expression darkened as he leaned closer. His eyes, containing Zian, narrowed sharply.
“Just take what I give you, won’t you?”
It was then that his eyes curved behind his glasses. A low voice pierced Heinrich’s ears.
“Quite the businessman, aren’t you? Like a dog?”
Kyle laughed with a snort. It was unmistakable mockery.

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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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