Why Do You Obsess Even After Death (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 14
I pressed myself against the corridor wall and watched people rushing about busily.
Everyone was so preoccupied that no one even noticed me stuck to the wall.
“A monster! Monsters are attacking! Knights, assemble at the gate!”
The running people shouted to alert everyone. The inhabitants of Violentus Castle, seemingly accustomed to this, quickly moved to carry out their assigned tasks.
The knights rushed toward the gate, while those who couldn’t fight secured their livestock in pens and evacuated to safe locations to minimize damage.
“So it’s true that monster invasions happen frequently.”
I carefully made my way back to my room, trying not to get in the way of the bustling crowd.
The slight buzz I’d felt earlier had long since vanished due to the cold wind blowing through. Just moments ago, I’d been so warm in that small room that my body had felt feverish.
As if that warmth had been nothing but a sweet dream.
“I need to get my medicine.”
Although I, too, needed to evacuate to safety, I first had to retrieve my medicine.
If the battle with the monsters dragged on, my eye color might revert—that was a serious concern.
I hurried quickly toward my room. And right in front of my door, I encountered the back of a man lost in despair.
He hadn’t uttered a word, yet his slumped shoulders radiated profound anguish.
“Laches?”
Why was the very person who should be at the gate commanding the knights standing helplessly right outside my room?
Moreover, unlike his usual sensitive self, he didn’t even notice me approaching—he didn’t stir at all.
“…I really should’ve killed him myself first. Maybe things would’ve turned out differently. Look—see? I really should’ve killed him myself…”
Laches kept muttering something incessantly, but his words were utterly incomprehensible.
Was he planning a strategy against the monsters?
“…Your Grace?”
I lightly tapped his broad back with my fingertips, as gently as if touching a ripe, luscious grape.
Though it was just a light touch, Laches startled and swiftly turned his head.
His eyes, meeting mine, burned with wild frenzy—what had he been thinking?
“Are you all right?”
Perhaps it was due to the monster invasion that he seemed so tense. His usual arrogance and haughtiness were nowhere to be seen.
“Everyone’s waiting for you at the gate…”
“Why… are you here?”
“…Well, because this is my room.”
Even though my answer was obvious, Laches remained silent. Was he perhaps wondering why I hadn’t evacuated yet and was still here?
“I came to fetch something. Once I’ve got it, I’ll head straight to a safe place.”
Only then did Laches exhale a deep, suppressed breath. The tension in his rigid shoulders finally loosened.
“I thought it was happening again… repeating itself.”
Laches reached out. His large hand moved without hesitation and cupped my cheek.
He’d teased me playfully before, but this direct, intimate touch startled me—it was the first time.
“Your Grace?”
“…Hah. Where did you go, leaving your room so late at night?”
“That’s… wait, please move your hand.”
I finally managed to push away his large hand, which kept rubbing my face. The cold wind on my way here should’ve completely sobered me up.
Yet my cheek, where his hand had touched, burned as hotly as when I’d drunk wine earlier.
“I went to see a knight.”
“…A knight?”
“Sir Ronan.”
At the mention of Ronan’s name, Laches’s eyebrows subtly twisted askew.
“Why again?”
“I had something to tell him.”
“You went to Ronan, drunk, this late at night, just for that?”
Saying it like that made it sound as if I’d gone to him in my cups, unable to forget someone I loved.
“It’s not like that. Count Deberti’s behavior seemed suspicious…”
“…Count Deberti?”
His eyes, which had darkened further at Ronan’s name, now flickered low again at Detor’s.
“A while ago, I saw Count Deberti sneaking off alone. It’s already so late—where could he possibly be going by himself? And it just felt wrong. I couldn’t let a guest wander around unsupervised, so I immediately went to inform the knight. Sir Ronan is the only knight I can comfortably talk to.”
“No wonder Ronan was missing.”
“Yes. He left right away with other knights to follow Count Deberti.”
It’d be even better if they stepped on Detor instead of just following him.
“…I thought you’d gone somewhere by yourself.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Well, you’re…”
Laches closed his lips. He seemed unable to give a proper answer.
“I can barely protect myself. I’m neither pure nor righteous enough to throw myself into danger.”
Stating a simple truth, yet Laches’s expression noticeably brightened.
“Exactly.”
While people urgently rushed past us in the corridor, Laches stood alone, quietly chuckling to himself as if amused by something.
“Yes. That’s the kind of person you are.”
“Huh?”
“Good attitude. Keep living like that.”
Keep living.
I blinked in surprise at those unfamiliar words.
Every time I’d died countless times before, it was always I who’d pulled myself back to life. Had anyone ever actually told me to keep living?
Not even when my terminal condition became gossip throughout the Empire.
All I’d ever received were tearful pleas to stay strong or pitying consolations about how unfortunate I was.
“They said the knights are waiting at the gate. Shouldn’t you go?”
At my question, Laches turned his head. I followed his gaze, but couldn’t tell what he was looking at.
He always acted as if he saw things others couldn’t.
“Fortunately, there’s no need to worry so much now. It’s thanks to you getting Ronan moving quickly.”
“Because of me?”
“Still, just in case, grab what you need and evacuate. It won’t take long.”
Laches patted my shoulder twice, then turned and disappeared.
The man who once contemplated killing me was now telling me to live.
What was this gap between us?
“…Strange.”
I soon left my room, taking the bottle of medicine and my robe—just in case I couldn’t take the medicine and needed to cover myself if my eye color changed.
“If my eyes change color and I can’t take the medicine, I’ll need the robe.”
“Take me to the safest place! I’m a guest—it’s only right!”
My steps toward safety halted at that sharp, demanding cry. It was that unforgettable voice.
“Get out of my way! What good is it for vermin like you to even live? This world benefits far more from me alone than from all of you combined!”
“Eek! Miss!”
“You’ll serve as bait to lure monsters away when I’m in danger!”
Heading toward the voice, I saw Delia hurling abuse at Violentus Castle’s staff.
Despite the cold, she stubbornly wore only a thin indoor dress with nothing over it.
“Miss, the shelter prepared for emergencies has plenty of space.”
“Just because there’s plenty of space doesn’t mean I have to share it with you! Do you even know who I am? I’m descended from the Guardian who helped found this Empire—the Palo Family!”
She seemed to be throwing a tantrum, insisting on staying alone in the shelter meant for everyone.
“The Duke ordered that the shelter be available equally to anyone during a monster invasion…”
“If something happens to me, a guest, wouldn’t the Duke be in trouble too? Your job is to protect me so not even my fingernail gets hurt!”
To think I’d once considered someone like that a friend. It was simply embarrassing.
“If she was so scared, she should’ve stayed safe in the capital, hiding in her brother’s arms.”
I subtly lowered my head and quietly approached Delia. Oblivious Delia didn’t even notice I’d come right up beside her.
I briefly considered shoving her from behind.
After all, the worst that could happen was her falling face-first onto the corridor floor in front of a few maids… but it’d feel satisfying, if only for a moment.
Just for a moment.
I took a deep breath and whispered softly behind Delia.
“I heard Count Deberti spent the whole night with some woman. I wonder if Miss Palo knows about that?”
Though my whisper was quiet, it was enough to reach Delia’s ears. At those words she couldn’t ignore, Delia whipped her head around.
I quickly moved to the opposite side of where she turned and blended naturally among the maids.
“Who—who just said that?”
Delia’s face turned deathly pale. Apparently, her lover’s infidelity frightened her more than monster invasions. Understandable, really.
“I said, who just said that!”
Detor was the man who’d whispered sweet nothings to Delia while meeting me.
Which meant there was no rule against doing it twice—he was clearly the kind of man who could whisper love to another woman while seeing Delia.
Judging by Delia’s reaction, she seemed aware of that fact too.
“Just pushing her once wouldn’t be fun enough.”
If they’d had an ordinary relationship, a remark like that would’ve been laughed off as nonsense—but these two were different.
Even if they married, Delia would never let go of her suspicion. She’d spend her whole life eating away at herself in anxiety.
All I had to do was wait for the seeds of doubt and unease I’d planted in Delia’s heart to sprout.
Betray me and spend your life devouring yourself.
“Detor… Where is Detor right now? Has anyone seen Count Deberti, who came here with me?”
No one answered Delia’s question. Detor had slipped out alone late at night—it was only natural no one knew his whereabouts.
Realizing no one had seen Detor and that arguing with maids wasn’t the time, Delia hurried off in a panic.
“Detor! Detor, where are you!”
Once Delia disappeared, the maids who’d been subjected to her tirade gathered around me.
“Um… thank you for helping us, Lea.”
“I’ll definitely keep what just happened a secret. Thank you—I was so scared…”
“Me too… When she called us vermin, I wanted to cry.”
I’d done it more to get back at Delia than to help the maids.
Yet their gratitude made me oddly awkward.
“…You don’t have to thank me. I just couldn’t stand the noise. Just keep it secret that I was the one who spoke, if anyone asks.”
I’d spoken the truth—it wasn’t something to be thanked for—but strangely, the maids’ eyes shone even brighter as they looked at me.
As if they were gazing at a hero who’d saved them.
“You… you’re really amazing, Lea.”
“Of course! Miss Palo isn’t even my master. I’ll absolutely keep it secret.”
It seemed a serious misunderstanding was piling up. Just as I was about to correct it—
—Pwooooo!
A loud horn blast echoed from afar.
Everyone who’d been moving hastily suddenly stopped and looked out the windows.
Instinctively swept along, I, too, leaned out the window.
“Thank goodness. Looks like it ended safely.”
Someone sighed in relief, murmuring softly.
Though it was night, the outside was brighter with light than darkness.
Blazing fires burned fiercely, driving away the shadows.
People who’d locked their livestock in pens were now releasing them, and those who’d fled in panic were laughing joyfully.
“Looks like Sir Ronan handled it!”
Ronan’s golden hair fluttered in the wind. His face and clothes were spattered with monster blood.
“But… wasn’t Ronan supposed to be following Detor?”
Then why was monster blood staining the sword Ronan held?
“What on earth happened?”
Ronan approached Laches and exchanged a brief conversation. As Laches listened to Ronan’s report, his expression grew increasingly grim.
Then, following the path Ronan had taken, other knights who’d accompanied him—and someone else—came shuffling hesitantly forward.
It was a familiar face.
“…Detor.”
Detor returned, clutching a large goat horn, his face pale with fear.
The goat horn—the flute used to summon monsters.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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What abilities do they even have??? We just know FL can read people’s memories through touch
Lmao they’re both losers, even if they do marry they’ll never be happy
LMAO of course he did, he’s such a loser 😭😭😭😭😭😭