Chapter 12
“Damn it!”
As if that curse were a signal, I spun around and started running without hesitation.
I’d stepped into trouble. I’d run straight into the one person I absolutely had to avoid—the male lead.
That man was Kaiden Blake Rohade, Male Lead No. 5 from the novel What’s More Important Than Survival.
When I read the novel, he was my favorite male lead. But he’s a complete lunatic—someone I never wanted to meet in real life!
If Enoch was the person who hated Margaret the most in the original story, then Kaiden was the one who posed the greatest threat to her.
Margaret ultimately met her death at Kaiden’s hands. The other male leads were involved in the murder too, but the one who dealt the decisive blow was him.
Life really is made up of the worst possible timing!
I tore through the undergrowth, running like mad to escape Kaiden. Unfamiliar scenery flashed past me in a blur.
Running aimlessly like this was dangerous. I could run into a wild beast, or fail to notice a cliff and fall to my death.
But my mind was consumed by a single thought: I have to get away from Kaiden.
“Wait!”
I heard Kaiden shout from behind me.
I hadn’t forgotten that I could run into the male leads by chance. Still, such a sudden encounter was disorienting.
In the end, Kaiden caught up to me. I struggled, and the two of us rolled across the ground together. He ended up on top of me, pinning me down and restraining both my wrists.
“Hey, stop struggling!”
I thrashed violently—and ended up getting hit on the cheekbone by a pendant that had fallen from his robe.
“Ah!”
My vision flashed white.
“Are you okay?”
Kaiden carefully examined my face. Only then did I realize what had struck me—the pendant I’d just smacked my cheekbone against.
It was a metal pendant shaped like a shining sun. It was surprisingly heavy, which meant I’d probably end up with a bruise on my cheekbone. It throbbed fiercely.
After silently observing my face for a while, Kaiden furrowed his brow and tilted his head.
“I’ve seen your face somewhere before.”
I deliberately avoided his gaze and kept my mouth shut. I tried putting strength into my wrists, but his grip was monstrous—I couldn’t move at all.
“I’m sure of it. You look familiar.”
Kaiden stared at my face for a long time. His blood-red eyes were unsettling, and his entire presence was downright terrifying.
An uncomfortable silence stretched on.
“Ah—sorry. That must’ve been rough. Get up.”
Only then did Kaiden get off me and help me sit up—without letting go of my arm.
“Try to understand. Out here in the middle of nowhere, suddenly running into a woman who looks like a noble? Anyone would find that suspicious.”
He smiled as he spoke, asking for my understanding. Rationally, I could see his point, but that didn’t make me any less annoyed.
At least right now, he didn’t look like someone who’d already met the female lead. From the looks of it, he was alone, without any companions.
Clink.
As he moved his head, the sound of earrings colliding rang out. My gaze was drawn to the earring hanging from his right ear—the one that was repeatedly described in the original story.
After being kidnapped by a temple and subjected to experiments as a child, he became unable to control his mana without that earring.
When it was revealed that the kidnapped boy was the second son of the Rohade family, the world was thrown into an uproar. But the incident was absurdly smoothed over after the Marquis of Rohade struck some kind of deal with the temple.
Kaiden alone was left as the unjustly sacrificed victim.
Because of that past, he came to despise both his family and the temple. He went around tearing down any experiments conducted by the temple or funded by his family.
Unfortunately, Margaret had gone ahead and promoted and sponsored the temple’s “Love Potion” experiment during that very period.
As a result, Kaiden stormed into the Flone ducal household and caused a scene. Even so, Margaret refused to bend her will and pushed the experiment through.
That incident was what made Kaiden come to loathe Margaret.
“I can’t remember. No idea where I’ve seen you.”
After a long while, Kaiden finally took his eyes off my face and flashed a crooked, charming smile.
Thank goodness—it seemed he didn’t remember Margaret’s face.
“But you’re really pretty.”
…Is that something a sane person would say in a situation like this?
If it were me, I’d have asked, ‘I didn’t think anyone else was here,’ or ‘How did you even get here?’ or ‘Who are you?’
Or, like Enoch, I might’ve demanded, ‘Did you do this?’
But Kaiden didn’t ask any of the questions I’d expected.
“Why did you run?”
He asked, his eyes gleaming ominously.
I decided to keep my mouth shut. I didn’t want to draw his attention unnecessarily or get on his nerves.
“You can’t talk? That’s weird. You screamed just a moment ago, didn’t you?”
He seemed determined to make me speak. Seeing the madness shimmering in his red eyes, I tensed.
He’s not going to go berserk like Enoch, right?
If I remembered correctly, in the original story his mana-control earring malfunctioned as soon as he woke up on the island.
Because of that, his mana couldn’t circulate properly and began to stagnate, causing problems. He’d suddenly run high fevers, and at times completely lose control of his emotions.
And the only person who could calm him down was Yuanna. The method, of course, was the same as with Enoch.
…Love, obviously.
I was lost in thought when he suddenly leaned in close.
Hot breath tickled my sensitive ear.
“Or do you just not want to talk to me? Even if you don’t want to, you’ll have to. Or should I make you open your mouth myself?”
“…What do you want?”
I had no choice but to speak. At my question, Kaiden finally smiled sweetly, his eyes curving beautifully.
He was strikingly handsome. Maybe it was his light-colored hair, but his unrefined gaze—sharp eyes paired with an untamed look—made him resemble a wild animal that had never been domesticated.
His gaze slithered over me again, like a snake.
“Your voice is pretty too.”
“I’m pretty all around, actually. But why are you talking down to me?”
At my retort, Kaiden shrugged as if it were no big deal.
“It’s more friendly this way. You talk casually too.”
Why would I want to be friendly with you?!
Still, it didn’t look like he had any intention of using polite speech.
Kaiden had always been the type who believed the world revolved around him—but we hadn’t even exchanged names yet. Normally, he should be using honorifics.
With Enoch, we knew each other’s status, so informal speech made sense. But with Kaiden, it didn’t.
Well, since he started talking casually first, it was only fair that I did the same.
“Let go of me.”
“Nope.”
It didn’t seem to matter to him whether I spoke formally or not.
“But no matter how I look at you… you really resemble someone I know.”
Kaiden studied me closely, as if examining something fascinating.
Come to think of it, it had been quite a while since Kaiden had visited the Flone estate to ask Margaret to stop sponsoring the experiments.
And even then, Margaret had flatly refused and disappeared almost immediately, so the time they’d actually spent face to face was fleeting.
It wasn’t strange that he didn’t remember her face.
“Who are you?” I asked, trying to stop him from thinking any further.
“Kaiden Blake Rohade.”
He looked down at me with a charming smile, dimples appearing in his cheeks.
“Do you know who I am?”
“No.”
I shook my head firmly.
He examined my face in silence, tilting his head—then suddenly froze and stared straight into my eyes. A bad feeling crept over me, and I avoided his gaze.
“Ah—wait. I’ve got it. You kind of look like that crazy young lady from the Langrid Empire.”
Crazy? Excuse me?!
“Don’t you know it’s rude to say things like that to someone’s face?”
“Are you really the Flone young lady?”
Frowning, he seemed to think it over, then shook his head and dismissed the idea.
At that, Kaiden smiled as if pleased.
It didn’t look like he recognized me and was pretending otherwise. But his next words made me swallow hard.
“Really? That’s a relief. I really hate that woman.”
He said it lightly, almost playfully—but my blood ran cold.
This was on a completely different level from Enoch’s threats. Kaiden was someone who could actually kill me.
I was tense, feeling the danger acutely, when—
“Huh? But…”
He suddenly tilted his head and buried his nose in the back of my neck.
“There’s a sweet smell coming from you. That’s strange.”
His hot breath grazed my nape, so close it felt as if his lips might brush against my skin.
