The Obsessed Male Lead Who Will Kill Me Has Become Strange

– 9 –

Avoiding the numerous gazes within the palace as best I could, and boldly ignoring them when occasionally spotted, I safely made my way to the Crown Prince’s training grounds.

I hid behind the wall near the entrance to the training grounds, stealing glances at the Crown Prince observing the knights’ training.

Wow! Look at that body. He’s like a sculpture.

Magnificent, my lord!

How long have I been staring absentmindedly mesmerized?

When should I let him know I’m here?

I’m going to have to make my entrance as natural as possible.

It was a time when I was trying to figure out the right time to jump in.

Swoosh.

I felt something cold and metallic touch my neck just as I was about to jump into the training area.

Oh my goodness!

Is that a…… sword?

‘!!!!!!’

It’s a sword!

A real sword!

I was so shocked that my body froze in place.

“Who’s there!”

“…….”

With a sword pointed at my throat, how could I possibly talk?

My mouth froze, unable to move.

The rough voice of the man who held the sword on me drew the attention of everyone inside the training grounds toward the entrance where I stood.

And among those gazes was Calix’s.

As our eyes met, I sent him a pleading look.

“Calix! It’s me, Kailyn Brockburg! Tell this man to put down the sword.”

However, despite my pleading gaze, Calix’s face grew colder than when our eyes first met, his brows furrowing deeper with each passing moment.

Why is he looking like that?

“Who are you! Who dares to spy on the knight’s training!”

The man holding the sword shouted without hesitation, attempting to push the sword further.

No! He’s going to slit my throat!

“It’s Kailyn! Kailyn Brockburg!”

I screamed with all my strength.

Even in my own ears, I could hear my voice cracking.

“Brockburg?”

The knight’s eyes widened as he repeated my words.

There wasn’t anyone in the empire who didn’t know the Brockburg nama.

Got it? I am none other than Kailyn Brockburg, the precious daughter of Everetian’s Prime Minister, Duke Brockburg!

“I’m Kailyn Brockburg. I’m here to see His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Calix.”

I stuttered.

The strategy of pretending to have lost my way and stumbled upon the training grounds was already a complete failure.

The knight’s sword still hovered near my neck.

But his gaze was fixed on Calix.

As Calix met the knight’s gaze, subtly nodding as if confirming my identity, the knight finally withdrew his sword from my neck.

As soon as the sword was removed, the tension released from my body.

I slumped down, trembling all over.

A sword…….

It’s a fantasy novel, so of course there’s a sword.

I even wrote that I was killed by a sword like that.

But experiencing a sword pointed at my throat, the horror was indescribable.

And I’m going to be killed by that sword?

No way!

I absolutely can’t let that happen!

As I sat there trembling and resolving firmly that I could not possibly die by being stabbed to death, Calix began to approach me.

The knight took a step back as Calix came to stand directly in front of me.

“Your Highness! Is this Lady, really Duke Brockburg’s daughter?”

Of course, it’s me!

Can’t you tell from my fancy dress, pretty face, and flawless skin?

Calix didn’t respond to the knight’s question but looked me over and asked.

“Kailyn Brockburg, what are you doing here?”

“I- I’m- I uhh….”

I was about to say I got lost, but….

I can’t do that now that I’ve been caught snooping.

Calix was still waiting for my answer.

Why is he asking such a thing?

He should just be grateful that I came on my own!

Well, there’s no turning back now.

Let’s be a little more blatant about this.

“I… came to see you, Your Highness.”

“Why?”

His voice sounded colder somehow.

Why…?

When the hell are you going to take off your mask of coldness and pour out your passionate love?

What’s taking you so long?

Your heart has been in love with me for years.

They say love is something you win.

Why is he so confident on the outside but so timid on the inside….

My God!

I felt frustrated, my heart thumped in my chest.

“I… I mean….”

“?”

“I just wanted to let you know that His Highness the Crown Prince… can… have me.”

There it is. Done.

Now that I said it, it was a really strange thing to say.

He doesn’t show his love on his own, so I have to tell him to love me out loud….

But my voice that said those strange words was so quiet that even my ears couldn’t hear what I said.

“What?”

Calix repeated, obviously not hearing me either.

“I….”

No!

I snapped out of my thoughts.

Saying “I love you” like that would be too audacious, even for a prince.

“… What?”

“No, Your Highness. That’s not it… I just wanted to tell you that it’s okay to show me your feelings, to show them to me, not to hide them.”

It’s okay to like me, to want to monopolize me.

I’m ready for your obsessively passionate love.

Calix furrowed his eyebrows, questioning my words.

“The feelings you’re talking about, is that about my feelings?”

Yes, of course it’s your feelings!

“I believe even obsessive and relentless love can be considered love. Ah! Of course, I don’t mean love to death. That’s just a metaphorical expression. Love should keep us alive, not kill us, right?”

Don’t kill them for not returning your love, just express it.

I’m not the same Kailyn you used to have an unrequited crush on.

I’m the new Kailyn before you, who can pretend to love you even if you don’t love her.

“Princess.”

There was a slight tremor in his voice, somehow.

He seemed thrilled when he finally understood what I was saying.

“Yes, Your Highness!”

“Why are you saying such things to me?”

“Yes?”

What are you talking about?

Why wouldn’t I say it to you?

Because it’s you.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not interested in that kind of love. I think I’d rather be better at killing people than being in such love.”

Oh my goodness……!

You’re so scary. What’s wrong with you?

I said you can love me, and I’ll accept you.

What! You’d rather be better at killing…?

Are you saying you’d love me to death?

You want to kill me, stuff me, and keep me forever?

You won’t kill me, but you won’t accept not killing me either?

You absolutely want to kill me?

My heart pounded wildly in my chest at his terrifying persistence and obsession, far beyond my expectations.

Calix suddenly turned around and shouted.

“Rajiv!”

Rajiv?

As I pondered who that could be, a man addressed as Rajiv came running towards Calix.

Ah!!!

He was the vice captain of the knights.

The one who had been spying on our house last time.

That’s right, Rajiv.

It was only then that I remembered that I had chosen the name Rajiv for the man who served as both the vice captain of the knights and Calix’s right-hand man.

What was his last name again?

As I watched him running towards me, I tried to think of his last name, but I couldn’t.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Calix said to Rajiv who rushed over in an instant.

“Duke Brockburg’s daughter is returning home, escort her!”

Returning home?

That doesn’t mean I’m going to die, right? It just means I’m really going back home?

Please, my lord, just love and obsess over me. Don’t kill me, please!

I looked at Calix with eyes filled with desperate hope, but Calix had already moved away, walking towards the center of the training grounds.

Without even meeting my gaze.

What should I do.

It seems he finds me so unbearable that he wants to kill me right away and own me forever.

Or is he trying to hide his obsession and approach me more intelligently?

There was no doubt that his dark, obsessive, and ferocious nature had been refined into something more sophisticated.

Why on earth is it slightly different from what I wrote?

What should I do… I think it would be even scarier if you endured it like that and your obsession would exploded

I’m in trouble, really.

Should I say out loud that I love him, rather than just allowing him to love me?

My worries only deepened.

*****

 

Calix shook his head as he thought about the daughter of the Duke of Brockburg, who had spoken such insane words the last time.

He wondered if the Duke had gotten involved with the Empress because of Leon’s insistence that he wanted to marry her, even though she wasn’t in her right mind.

‘Because she’s pretty….’

“No!”

Calix shook his head in surprise at his own thoughts about her.

What’s the point of being pretty if she’s insane.

‘I believe even obsessive and relentless love can be considered love. Ah! Of course, I don’t mean love to death. That’s just a metaphorical expression. Love should keep us alive, not kill us, right?’

His chest tightened once more at the thought of the woman’s dreadful words.

He wondered if the Duke was spying on him and his Knights, using his daughter to do so, but the serious look on her face when she said it made him think of another possibility.

‘Does that princess really have such mad love for me? I won’t kill her…. Does she want to have me so much that she wants to kill me? No, no, that’s impossible. It makes much more sense that you’d want to kill me for Leon.”

A thick wrinkle appeared between Calix’s eyebrows.

‘So even Duke Brockburg, the old crook, has a weak spot…. Because his only daughter isn’t mentally sound….’

For the first time, Calix felt sympathy for the Duke of Brockburg, who had joined hands with the Empress and was a constant threat to his throne.

*****

 

When I returned home, I carefully organized the situation in my head again.

‘I’m sorry, but I’m not interested in that kind of love. I think I’d rather be better at killing people than being in such love.’

You’re better at killing than loving?

What are you, a sadist?

I didn’t mean it like that.

The reason Calix killed Kailyn was not only because she tried to take the Imperial throne from him, but also because she cursed Calix instead of accepting him even after Leon was killed by Calix.

He wasn’t at the level of a psychopath who felt pleasure in killing her, or that he would have her forever.

But why did he become so terrifying?

He became even scarier, didn’t he?

Killing the woman you love completely, what’s that?

You can’t even love normally, that’s why Kailyn didn’t like you!

Kailyn liked Leon, who was sweet and gentle, but Calix was four years older than her, and he was blunt and cold, so she was somewhat afraid of him.

Little did she know that this dark, scary man was growing on her.

Kailyn was deeply embedded in Calix’s heart when he was fifteen and Kailyn was eleven.