The Obsessive Male Lead Is Actually Scary
Chapter 21: The Cliffhanger Was My Starting Line

Chapter 21: The Cliffhanger Was My Starting Line

* * *

’Alessio, that guy... how is he not tired at all?’

I dragged myself into my room, every step heavier than the last.

After a whole day of walking around the market, getting caught up in trouble, and returning to the inn only to dive straight back into that intense conversation with Alessio, I was completely spent.

I slumped face-first onto the bed, limbs sprawled like I’d been struck down by exhaustion itself.

I turned my head to the side, and in my palm sat a round, red pendant no bigger than a coin.

’A communication artifact, huh.’

After we parted ways with Khan earlier, I’d followed Alessio back to his room.

We picked up our conversation from the afternoon. But then, out of nowhere, the pendant around Alessio’s neck began to glow.

Clara’s voice came through it—shaky, tearful, clearly worried.

It completely caught me off guard. I hadn’t even known something like that existed here.

’A pendant that lets you talk over distance... isn’t this basically a phone?’

After the call ended, Alessio rummaged through his belongings for a moment before pulling out a pendant identical to the one he’d just used.

He handed it to me in silence at first, then said, ’I meant to give this to you earlier. Keep it with you. If anything happens, use it to contact me.’ Then he briefly explained how it worked.

Even though the last remnants of the world’s raw mana had been sealed away, magical artifacts still functioned. They were relics from an earlier age, crafted during a time when magic flowed freely.

Most of them had since ended up in the hands of the imperial family or noble houses, treated as treasured possessions but still actively used when needed. Their rarity only made them more valuable, not obsolete.

It was the same with magicians. There were still rare individuals born with magic in their blood—innate gifts that couldn’t be replicated or transferred.

The Great Archmage hadn’t erased magic from the world entirely; he had sealed away the excess to keep the world from tearing itself apart. What remained was just a trickle—barely enough to activate relics, but still enough for those rare few born with magic in their blood to wield.

And magic, in the wrong hands... was terrifying.

Without rules or responsibility, magic could corrupt, consume, destroy. That’s why its use had to be restricted, monitored. Controlled.

So the magic stone mine must be found by the imperial family first, before it falls into the enemy’s hands. Because the sealed core is hidden there.

I looked at the artifact in my hand.

’I wonder if Marius possesses artifacts too... and what he’s up to.’

I wasn’t exactly weak to begin with. And after all those drills back at Grandmama’s cottage, I could even defend myself now, at least well enough against street thugs or whatever trouble came my way.

But even so... this body still trembled whenever I had to face Marius.

It was certainly a deep-rooted fear, something instinctive I couldn’t control. It was probably trauma, left behind by the real Sonia and etched into the nerves and bones of this body.

’I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if I ever got caught by him...’

Just the thought sent a shiver down my spine, like cold water sliding beneath my skin.

I buried my face in the mattress, clutching the sheets like they might ward off evil thoughts. When that obviously failed, I rolled over and flopped onto my back.

"Haah..."

I mean, seriously. Don’t transmigrated people usually get a full cheat sheet from the original novel or something?

And yet... the novel I read feels kind of useless right now.

So many new revelations, none of which existed in the original story.

All I remembered from the novel was a string of noblemen trying to get close to Sonia, only to be gotten rid of by Marius.

Some noble ladies hated her, jealous of Marius’s devotion to her... which Marius conveniently dealt with every time, too.

And of course, there was the usual sprinkle of minor drama and clichés for the main leads.

Yeah... the novel ended right where I transmigrated, so now I’m basically winging it through an unscripted sequel. Everything I know? Completely worthless.

"..."

Argh, that cliffhanger’s still killing me!

And now, I’ve got no choice but to piece everything together myself.

’The only way forward... is to recover the real Sonia’s memories.’

If I could just remember everything she did, things would be so much easier.

If the original novel had actually gone into detail about Marius’s past, I would’ve known about his mother, Verenze, and everything else from the start.

But nope, of course I’m only finding out now!

Based on what Alessio told me, all former citizens of Verenze, including the noble class, were made part of the empire after the war.

However, since most of the nobles had participated heavily in the war, they were stripped of their titles and reduced to commoners.

A few of the neutral nobles voluntarily accepted this result, yet others from the loyalist faction who had backed the war kept trying to find means of sparking rebellion, even though their king, Esteban Verenze, had already been eliminated along with the rest of the royal bloodline.

Eloina, Marius’s birth mother, was an illegitimate child of King Esteban—something the Aurenfeld empire hadn’t known at the time, since her existence had never been made public.

’They say she’s just as ambitious as her father.’

People around the slums, where Eloina and Marius once lived, said she used to work at a small tavern, the kind frequented by traveling merchants and men with money to burn.

She was known to flirt with wealthy-looking men, and it was there she met Duke Wittelsbach the First.

One night, he stopped by the tavern, got drunk, and ended up spending the night with her.

When she realized she was pregnant, Eloina was thrilled. She boldly approached the duke’s carriage one day, intercepting it on the road to the capital.

Of course, the duke didn’t believe her and coldly ordered her away.

But she didn’t give up.

After giving birth to Marius, she came to the duke’s estate, carrying her baby in her arms. She caused a commotion at the gates, shouting at the guards that the child was his and demanding they check for resemblance.

The guards were stunned and quickly reported it to the duke. He ordered that she be taken to a place he normally used for interrogations.

There, he told her to stay out of sight for some years and handed her a pouch of money to raise the boy. He said he’d come for them when the time was right—though whether he meant it or not was anyone’s guess.

Eloina, blinded by ambition, believed him. She raised Marius with the dream that he’d become heir to the Wittelsbach family.

But fate had other plans.

Seven years later, Eloina passed away. After her death, Marius was brought into the Wittelsbach estate.

The duchess, who still hadn’t conceived even after years of marriage, accepted Marius’s presence—but only because she had no choice. The fact that he was born from her husband’s affair only made her resent him more. She never treated him like an heir.

And the servants weren’t any better. They never bothered to hide their contempt. From the moment Marius arrived at the estate, they gossiped about him, mocked him, and bullied him. To them, he was nothing but the bastard child.

"Even that wasn’t in the original novel," I murmured, loosening my grip on the pendant.

My eyes felt heavy—maybe the day’s fatigue was finally catching up to me. Bit by bit, drowsiness crept in, and I drifted off without even realizing it.

* * *

Knock, knock.

Someone rapped on the door to my room.

I opened my eyes, groaned softly, and slowly sat up in bed.

"Just a second," I called as I stumbled toward the door.

It was Alessio.

"I see you just woke up."

I blinked at him, still half-asleep.

’Wait... I thought it was one of the inn staff bringing breakfast!’

I hadn’t even fixed myself up. My hair was probably a mess, and I was definitely not dressed to receive guests.

In a mild panic, I tried to close the door halfway to hide my disheveled state.

But Alessio caught the edge of the door before it shut.

"Get ready after breakfast," he said calmly.

"Huh? Are we going somewhere?"

"We are."

"Where exactly?"

"To continue your training, of course."

Training...?

I blinked. That’s when it hit me.

TRAINING?!

’Wait—does he mean those awful drills back at Grandmama’s cottage?!’

My eyes widened as the memory hit me like a flying teacup. The endless running, the repetitive motion drills, the way my legs screamed betrayal with every step. I still had nightmares involving lunges and buckets of sweat!

My face must’ve gone pale. I could already feel the ghost of exhaustion crawling up my spine.

’No, no, no. Please tell me he means some calm, meditative kind of training. Like... sitting still. Or visualizing energy. Preferably while sipping tea.’

But judging by the glint in Alessio’s eyes, I knew better. There would be no tea.

There would be pain!