The Unfilial Heir Who Tries to Kill Me Tempts Me - Chapter 39
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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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Episode 39
The Fabian who had always wagged his tail like a great hound before Leoni, grinning softly—seeing him wear this sharp, cutting expression, one meant only for villains, struck me as more than strange. It was jarring.
In the original work, even when Fabian disliked Charlotte, I don’t think he’d ever spoken quite so harshly to her.
A male protagonist who curses death itself.
Has he hit a belated adolescence?
“Do I really disgust you that much?”
“Do you call that a question? The time you’ve put me and Leoni through—it’s been nothing short of horrific. When I think of those moments whispering love from my own lips to you, I want to bite my own tongue clean off! It makes my skin crawl with such revulsion!”
My ears are ringing.
So he hated me that much.
I’m sorry.
I suddenly grasped the irony: in the original work, Charlotte had her neck severed before the Brainwashing even wore off—which meant I’d never faced Fabian like this at all.
Yet here I am, the author reincarnated, on the receiving end of this verbal barrage.
How peculiar.
“…All right, that’s enough. This isn’t pleasant conversation. What exactly have you done to your brother?”
“I beg your pardon?”
Why did the topic suddenly jump there?
“You confessed your crimes and were exiled—and you still haven’t come to your senses?”
What on earth was he talking about?
Bewildered, I could only stare at Fabian blankly.
He gnashed his teeth, telling me not to play dumb.
“You didn’t use a Magic Potion to Brainwash my brother?”
“I did? Me?”
Me?
When?
“My brother refused to hand you over! The very man who despises Black Magic users so much that it makes his skin crawl!”
“…Kaicius did that?”
This man.
He kept his faith.
He didn’t betray my trust.
Without meaning to, I smiled.
“…You’re smiling? Now?”
Oh no.
I couldn’t help myself.
“My apologies—it was a slip.”
I tried to compose my expression, but it was already too late.
Fabian’s face twisted into something even more menacing, as if my answer had only made him angrier.
Don’t ruin that handsome face like that.
You look prettier when you smile.
Of course, as Charlotte, I had nothing else to say about this situation, so I opted for a quick explanation instead.
“I really didn’t use a Magic Potion.”
I used a contract instead.
“You speak falsehoods without so much as a flicker across your face. Are you claiming my brother simply had a change of heart and decided to spare you?”
“I suppose his feelings changed.”
“Ha!”
Fabian let out a breath of pure exasperation.
“Do you think that makes sense? Don’t try to excuse this by saying Black Magic leaves no trace.”
“But it’s true. People’s hearts are fickle like that—they change their minds constantly. Look at me: I spent months researching how to Brainwash the Crown Prince, and then confessed everything less than half a day later.”
“Is this the same thing?!”
“What’s the difference?”
“Because there isn’t a single soul in this world who wishes for you to live! Everyone prays for your death!”
I froze.
My entire body went rigid without warning.
It felt as though I’d been struck hard across the head.
My gaze wandered aimlessly through empty air for a moment, then slowly I lifted my eyes to meet Fabian’s.
As if startled by the words that had tumbled from his own lips, Fabian’s mouth had hung open for a moment before he clenched his teeth. His clear green eyes flickered with malice.
“Do you still think that bearing the House of Schmitt name makes you something special? You were always like this. So blind to how undeservedly privileged you already were, so greedy you wanted to monopolize everything. But do you know what?”
Fabian’s crimson lips twisted.
“People find you absolutely repulsive.”
“…….”
“Don’t think that simply bearing that name will make you equal to Leoni. No matter how much you brainwash me or try to steal what’s hers, you can never become her. You and she are fundamentally different from birth.”
Ah.
My fingertips went cold.
This was precisely what I didn’t want to hear.
And of all people, it had to come from Fabian.
“Just because we live under one roof, do you think we see you as family? Don’t you know your place? Don’t you understand how much you’ve been given, beyond what you deserve? And yet instead of being grateful to us, you dare reach for what belongs to my daughter? What, did you really think you could become one of us?”
All at once, my Aunt’s voice overlapped in my mind.
Words I’d heard endlessly during those years in that house.
That I was different from them.
That I could never truly be family, never truly belong.
That I was a thorough outsider.
Perhaps because of the vision I’d seen in the Dungeon not long ago, Fabian’s words dragged those forgotten memories forward with startling clarity.
Without thinking, I bit down on my lip.
“…I didn’t want to be like that anyway.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I never wanted to be like them. Never wanted to be part of their family.”
I know.
Fabian can’t help but hate Charlotte.
He is the protagonist I created, and Charlotte was the villain I created.
Even if Charlotte had an unhappy past, even if people’s malice had shredded her heart, Fabian had no reason to understand that.
So it was something I had to bear.
Yes.
Intellectually, I understood it clearly.
But having become Charlotte?
With this girl so similar to me?
With past memories bleeding through like this?
I couldn’t accept this situation with detached observation. Fabian’s words came at me like a sharp blade, tearing into my chest.
“…It’s not as if I demanded to be adopted. They came and took me because they needed me. Because House of Schmitt needed a mage with talent.”
“How absurd. Now you’re blaming Count Schmitt and his wife for taking you in?”
What do you know.
What kind of life Charlotte lived, suddenly adopted by the Count and Countess overnight. What terrible memories she accumulated in that house. How lonely and sorrowful she was.
You don’t know, Fabian.
Because you’re the protagonist.
Only good things have ever surrounded you.
The world was kind to you because of me.
I drew in a deep breath.
I swallowed down the words that had risen to my throat.
Otherwise, I felt I would hurl something truly bitter at Fabian.
I couldn’t do that.
This wasn’t his fault.
“…I know we’re different from birth. I know what Charlotte—what I was greedy for. I’m not trying to justify it. That’s why I turned myself in. I disappeared from right in front of you.”
“You call that an explanation?”
“I came to the Borderland of my own accord and have been living quietly, but I don’t understand why you had to seek me out like this. Is it really that you want me to take my own life? Or will you only find peace if you kill me yourself?”
“Witch Charlotte!”
“That cursed witch!”
I cried out before I could stop myself.
Fabian flinched, his shoulders trembling—as if he’d never expected me to raise my voice like that.
So he could make this expression too.
I was seeing it for the first time.
A sudden silence fell.
Only my ragged breathing and Fabian’s startled breathing were faintly audible.
Then I suddenly realized, without having noticed, that many people had gathered around us.
Servants clustered in small groups couldn’t bring themselves to approach, whispering amongst themselves in hushed tones.
…This is bad.
I hadn’t meant to draw attention.
I glanced between Fabian and the servants gathered beyond his shoulder, clenching my fists.
“…I have no intention of returning to the Capital anyway. Or perhaps, as the Crown Prince said, the Duke will kill me someday. But I swear on my life—I never used Brainwashing.”
Her voice sank lower.
“So please, just go back. Go back and….”
Her throat seemed to close. She fell silent for a moment, then forced herself to meet Fabian’s bewildered gaze and continue, voice catching.
“Assume I’m dead.”
“…….”
“We won’t meet again.”
***
…And yet she’d said it with such conviction.
“Your Highness, which wine would you prefer?”
So why were the three of them sitting across from each other now, sharing a meal like old friends?
I really want to cry.
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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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Lyncdtxo
This novel is such a fuckass emotional roller coaster like what?? A moment its angst and the next moment it’s completely the opposite