The Obsessive Maniac Is Trying To Confine Me - Chapter 33

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 33

I don’t want to go in.

I stood blankly in front of Arzen’s door.

My head was full of thoughts about resting after finishing the day’s work, but I was dragged here after being told that Arzen was calling for me.

I grabbed my pink hair.

…Should I really dye it red?

I stood in front of Arzen’s room door like that for 10 minutes, unable to do this or that.

“Aren’t you going in?”

The gatekeeper who was standing in front of the door to guard Arzen looked at me with disapproving eyes.

“I should go in.”

“…Then hurry up.”

“But in 5 minutes.”

“…”

It’s been a really long time since I felt this kind of trembling. It reminds me of those days when I couldn’t enter the house with my report card…

“5 minutes have passed.”

“Ah…”

The gatekeeper guarding the door gave me a look that said please just go in already.

“Just 5 more minutes…”

“…”

I was standing there watching the gatekeeper’s expression when the door suddenly opened.

I looked at the gatekeeper with eyes full of betrayal. Why did you open the door on your own?

The gatekeeper said, it wasn’t me.

The gatekeeper broke out in a cold sweat and gestured with his eyes as if to look over there.

I forced my stiffly frozen neck to turn forward.

“…”

Arzen stood there with his brow deeply furrowed.

“What are you doing standing there instead of coming in?”

His golden hair flowed down. It was a beautiful face, but those green eyes had sunk coldly like the deep sea.

“I guess you like my gatekeeper.”

“…Pardon?”

“Is that why you keep standing in front of the door instead of coming in, Roji?”

“Absolutely not, Count!”

I was thinking what kind of nonsense that was, when the gatekeeper seriously denied it.

I glared at the gatekeeper for no reason. I feel like I was rejected before even confessing.

“It’s a joke.”

Arzen smiled slowly.

“Laugh, will you?”

“Haha…”

I have the illusion that a blade is going back and forth in front of my throat.

“Don’t be so stiff, come in.”

I entered the room as if being pushed from behind.

The sound of the door closing rang heavily like the sound of prison bars coming down.

Arzen sat in a chair next to the table and crossed one leg.

Leaning back, he lifted his chin and looked down at me.

It was a languid yet elegant posture.

“…I heard you called for me.”

“You’re late, Roji.”

He gave his characteristic cool smile.

I stood far away from him. Then Arzen raised his eyebrows.

“Come closer.”

Why…

I really didn’t want to get close even if it killed me, but when the master gives an order, a maid has no choice.

“I heard something came up so you’re continuing to work.”

Right. Something came up.

I unknowingly found out that if I left the Evantes Estate without knowing anything, there might be problems with my safety.

“…Yes. For the time being.”

“How unexpected.”

He twisted his lips into a smile. It was a smile close to a sneer.

“Wasn’t it just a few days ago that you said you wanted to leave to get married?”

…Marriage?

Ah, that’s right.

It was just a while ago that I made excuses with that shallow lie.

I decided to continue the lie.

“I still want to.”

I answered pretending to be calm, but with desperation.

I came up with an excuse to match that.

“But?”

“…I need a dowry.”

After all, you need money to get married.

And actually…

My plan to leave Evantes and run away hasn’t changed, but it was true that even that plan needed money.

Let me save money here until I can make a safe escape plan.

“If you become a personal maid, I can give you as much compensation as you want.”

It was a tempting, affectionate tone.

What was bound to come has finally come.

“Count, how could a mere maid like me become a personal maid. I’ll just stick to what befits my station…”

“Do you really think so?”

As if cutting off my words, Arzen asked.

“I see it a little differently. Whether you know your place, or whether you don’t want to become a personal maid.”

…You’re quite perceptive too.

“I know my place very well.”

“Really?”

Arzen tilted his head and smiled slowly. The way his eyes narrowed felt unsettling.

“Roji, do you know why I kept you alive?”

“…”

“I heard that monster who escaped from the basement was only looking for the pink-haired maid. Like a beast in heat.”

The moment his words ended, my insides went cold.

…Right.

There’s no way you’d just let this story pass.

Why did I go along with that ridiculous claim that my hair was red? I’d been curious all along.

“I wonder why.”

His hand came up.

Before I could avoid it, my chin was grabbed.

It wasn’t a tight grip.

But the fact that I couldn’t escape was clear.

Arzen slowly examined my face from side to side, as if appraising an expensive item.

Wherever those green eyes touched, my skin began to sting.

It felt like I was burning up, and also like I was freezing.

“It couldn’t be that he spent time looking for you when he should have been running away, over some trivial emotion.”

Arzen, who had been leaning back loosely in his chair, rose from his seat.

“What’s so special about you?”

I bit my lips.

My jaw throbbed, but I couldn’t push him away.

In his eyes as he faced me directly, there was no anger or impatience.

Only calculation and certainty settled quietly within them.

“Why was the monster searching for you?”

Arzen’s hand gripping my jaw tightened.

My jaw was throbbing, but I couldn’t bring myself to push him away, so I just stood there chewing my lips.

I knew it, but this bastard isn’t normal either.

“Answer me.”

A coercive tone.

I must have been temporarily insane to think he was normal for that brief time.

This situation was frightening, yet also somewhat irritating.

“…I, I don’t know either.”

“You don’t know?”

I absolutely cannot tell him about Rihardt saying something about a scent coming from me or whatever.

Because then I’d become dangerous too.

However, saying I didn’t know seemed to be the wrong answer, as Arzen’s expression became pitying. At that moment, chills ran down my spine.

“I only met that person in the basement when it was my turn to serve meals. However…”

I swallowed and opened my mouth.

“The monster confessed that he liked me.”

“What?”

The strength in Arzen’s hand suddenly released. He looked at me as if dumbfounded.

“At first… I thought he was trying to seduce me to escape from This Place, so I coldly rejected him. But after he escaped, he said he liked me and asked me to run away together…”

I don’t even know what I’m saying.

Arzen looked at me with a somewhat dubious expression for a moment.

“If it weren’t for Prince Yurta, I would be right now…”

“I see. Roji, that must have been quite a dangerous situation.”

His eyes narrowed.

It was a gaze measuring the truth of my words.

A brief silence passed.

Even Arzen seemed unable to definitively determine why that monster had tried to run away with me.

“…There shouldn’t be any variables.”

He muttered as if to himself.

“Quite troublesome.”

Variables?

I wanted to ask what that meant, but I couldn’t open my mouth.

At that moment,

Something like a black tattoo seemed to be crawling up around Arzen’s neck area.

It looked like a tattoo, or perhaps like a shadow.

I reflexively blinked.

When I looked again, there was nothing there. Only smooth skin remained as if nothing had happened.

…Did I imagine it?

I must have been too tired lately.

“Roji.”

Arzen called my name.

“That monster must stay in the basement.”

It was a very calm voice.

“Until I let him go.”

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