The Obsessive Male Lead Caught Me While I Was Trying To Ditch My Ex-Husband

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Chapter 36 – Not A Monster

‘How?’

Erun could not understand this situation. How and why did Kaien enter the room? And,

‘Why do you look at Gloria with that kind of gaze?!’ Unable to hide his face reddened with anger, Erun glared at both of them.

‘Don’t touch what’s mine.’ He seemed to go crazy watching Kaien’s gentle gaze at Gloria as he kissed preciously a handful of coveted red hair.

“Duke.” Gloria, uninterested in Erun’s thoughts, called for Kaien. Her tone was harsh, but Kaien sighed softly at her scolding gaze.

“I apologize.”

“I’m disappointed.”

“From now on, there will be no such mistake.”

“Can I trust you?”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

“This… what is…”

‘Are these two crazy? It’s like they don’t even care about me, they look at each other and talk back and forth!’

Erun looked at the two, his lips twitching. His head throbbed even more at the moment he felt like he was witnessing an -owner with her big dog- kind of relationship. Erun stared at Kaien, who was nodding expressionless and spat out sarcastically.

“You are quite shameless. You can’t give up your friendship and covet someone else’s fiancée. The late duke must be crying in his tomb.”

“Ha.”

Low-level taunts. With a brief sigh, a smile began to form on Kaien’s lips. Contrary to the raised corners of his lips, the atmosphere was stifling, Gloria swallowed without realizing it.

‘I have never seen Kaien look like this.’ Gloria looked nervously at his back as he turned away. He was the most expressionless man. Amethyst-colored eyes and a tightly closed mouth. That was the Kaien that Gloria knew the most. Completely unaware of Gloria’s thoughts, he simply stared coldly at Erun in front of him. His amethyst eyes were as sharp and cold as a blade. However, because of the horrific bloodlust toward Erun, he unknowingly took a step backward.

“You don’t know my father very well, Marquis.”

“What?”

Erun was infuriated by Kaien’s mocking tone. Other people’s derision could be lightly dismissed, but not Kaien Ludenberg. He was a man who could not be ignored. Kaien chuckled like a monster showing his teeth.

“What…”

Erun was taken aback by his laughter while closing his eyes, inappropriate for the situation. Although he was still giving off that murderous aura, the smile on Kaien’s face was so dizzying that Erun didn’t even know the teeth of the beast came close to his neck.

Kaien strode closer to Erun. He came to his senses at the sight of the quick action but,

it was already too late.

Bang!

“Ugh!”

The beast grabbed his collar as instantly as he was captivated by his smile. Kaien approached swiftly and grabbed Erun’s neck tightly with his black-gloved hand, and his expression hardened as if he had never smiled. He spoke as Erun struggled with the momentum of cutting his throat at once.

“If it were my father, he would have already given you a lesson. I mean, he would have taken care of someone like you at once.”

“What did you say?”

“Lucky bastard.”

“…!”

Eryn’s eyes widened at the curses that flowed from Kaien’s lips. His neck was grabbed so tightly that he felt like his face was about to explode, but Erun didn’t try to budge until the end. Kaien lowered his lips to Erun’s ear and whispered in a bloody voice.

“What a shame, if it weren’t for your petty tricks of not allowing my sword in the Palace it would be rolling around the floor by now.”

“What?”

“Your damn head.”

“…!”

At the vicious malice that settled in his ear, Erun opened his eyes wide. The emotions that flowed from Kaien were cruel and creepy enough to trigger Erun’s survival instinct. Maybe it wasn’t only he who felt it, but Gloria behind him was also startled.

‘Tsk.’ Kaien glanced to the side. His mood worsened when he saw Gloria’s reflection faltering backward in a nearby glass pane.

‘I thought you were already used to it.’

Kaien frowned and applied force to his hand. Erun, who was held by it, was about to run out of breath, gasping heavily, but Kaien didn’t care. Because his nerves were already focused on Gloria, who faltered as if in fear. Since the loss of his parents, there had not been a single day without blood in the filthy fight for the Duchy. It may look calm now but it was just an interlude. It was only quiet because his opponents had lost support. If they found a gap, it was obvious that they would run back to him as if they had been waiting. That was why Kaien’s soul was soaked in red blood. And it was going to be soaked in more blood in the future. So he couldn’t dare hold her.

He closed his mouth tightly and slowly released his strength. Then, Erun, who had reached a dangerous point due to Kaien’s grip, slumped to the floor with a big cough. However, his ugly appearance didn’t reach Kaien.

“Kaien.”

Before the engagement ceremony, on a day he couldn’t even remember. The scene of Gloria calling his name for the first time in her life with a lovely appearance flashed into Kaien’s eyes.

“Kaien.” Behind him, Gloria called out his name. Her voice was subdued, but he reflexively turned around at the soothing call. Then, what Kaien saw was a white hand reaching out toward him.

“Your Majesty?” His eyes widened at Gloria’s action which seemed slow motion. The call that flowed through his lips was filled with a feeling of disbelief. At Kaien’s reaction, Gloria smiled bitterly. And she endured the throbbing pain in the corner of her heart.

‘You must not become a monster because of that beast.’ Seeing Kaien’s surprised look, Gloria kept her mouth shut. In return for becoming the emperor’s husband, she made a deal that she would take care of his sister’s well-being, but she didn’t want him to turn into a monster.

‘It’s time to get my hands dirty.’ Gloria bit her inner lip hard. She bit so hard that a salty taste spread in her mouth.

Since we were young, you got too much blood on your hands. So don’t dirty your hands anymore. I will protect you and Diana on the condition that you become my husband.’

Even if the red letters of ‘tyrant’ are engraved in history next to her name. Gloria barely held back the tears that dangerously wanted to escape her eyes. But she did not withdraw her hand from him. She never wanted to see him lose his reason for dirtying his hands with that trash’s disgusting blood. Gloria hated seeing that beast’s blood soil Kaien’s white skin. She couldn’t see Kaien, who had already bled through an unwanted fight, commit more sins.

He looked at her with an expressionless face. He knew that many eyes were staring at them, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Gloria. Gloria Blake was the only thing he could see in this splendid and messed-up imperial palace. She was the only one.

“…”

Kaien still stared at Gloria’s white hand and moved. Unlike when approaching Erun, Gloria smiled softly at Kaien’s calm approach. This beautiful, ferocious man who grabbed his prey’s neck in an instant as if thirsty for blood.

He closed his eyes as he grabbed Gloria’s hand, which was still in the air. Gloria’s little hand was gripped in one hand. Her hand was soft, yet warm enough to melt his hardened heart.

And,

in a different sense, it woke the beast inside him. Gloria smiled at the sight of him, who had lost his ferocious expression and calmed down.

And was it because of her smile? Kaien instinctively placed his hand on her cheek. Gloria’s body temperature, which felt hot on her cold cheeks, squeezed him. It was a hand that would break if he applied a little bit of force, but at the same time, its gentle warmth restrained the inner beast. A wild male desire soared with the lust to cherish her.

Kaien’s lips touched Gloria’s palm. She shuddered at the sudden kiss. His kiss, which brushed the palm of her hand, pounded hard on her heart. Kaien grinned at the sight of her reacting like a startled little animal. She said in an angry voice realizing the teasing intention in his bent eyes.

“Don’t provoke your emperor. I can send you to jail.”

“Prison it is.”

At Gloria’s protest, Kaien muttered with his eyes closed. Gloria’s heart sank at that sight.

‘Who did I say I’ll send to prison now?’ It was the woman who bit her tongue hard with a heart-throbbing sensation. ‘Talking to a man who had been in prison for a ridiculous slander of treason!’

Seeing Gloria turn her head, Kaien slowly lowered her hand. The hand that fell from Kaien’s ice-cold skin wanted to return to its owner, but-

“Kaien?!”

Gloria shouted in a hoarse voice as he placed her hand on his chest, far from releasing it. ‘Why the hell is this guy doing this to me?’

His amethyst eyes seemed to be quite amused as if he liked Gloria’s reaction. He said, smiling with his eyes as he looked at the precious little emperor struggling to pull her hand away with a blushing face.

“If it’s a prison Your Majesty makes for me, I’ll gladly take it.”

“Wh, uh, what…!”

“Ah. My heart has already been imprisoned by Your Majesty. All that is left to take is my body.”

“…!”

This guy must be really crazy!

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