I Abandoned the Male Lead Who Cheated with the Villainess - Chapter 140

‘This is blind fanaticism.’

And it was fanaticism of the most extreme kind. Herix worshiped and praised Ivonne as if she was a God, perhaps even Novnie itself.

Right now, he was trying to observe every single detail—her gaze, the direction of her eyes, the tone of her voice, even the number of times she blinked.

‘So there’s no way he couldn’t have noticed that my soul has switched.’

Ivonne had never tried to imitate the original Ivonne, and even if she had, there was no way she could have calculated things like the exact number of blinks or the rise and fall of her chest when sighing.

After a month of living like this, there were times when it became suffocating. This wasn’t because Herix wasn’t taking care of her in a neat and thoughtful way. Rather, it was because he was taking care of her too well, and it was becoming uncomfortable.

“Hmm…”

“Should I open the window?”

See? She just sighed, and he immediately jumped to action. They say too much of anything is bad. It was clear that Herix’s excessive attention and obsession were slowly becoming toxic for Ivonne.

“No, it’s not that bad, really.”

“I’ve already told them to make a magic device that will circulate and purify the air in the room.”

“Where is it?”

“The Imperial Magic Research Department.”

Ivonne unconsciously made a disgusted face. The Imperial Magic Research Department had been created after Arnold dismantled the Magic Tower that had been spread across the four corners of the empire.

They gathered skilled wizards who had nowhere else to go, except for the Northern Tower, which remained under the control of the temple. Due to the resentment some wizards held toward Arnold, the department naturally came under the Crown Prince’s jurisdiction.

“Once it’s finished, we won’t have to worry about ventilating in winter; we’ll always have fresh air.”

Herix spoke with excitement. Ivonne knew exactly why he was so eager and why he was so focused on creating a device that resembled a modern air purifier.

‘Because he didn’t like me opening the windows.’

To be more precise, it was because he didn’t like sitting by the window and looking outside. He was afraid she might start longing for the outside world and feel trapped by her life in confinement.

‘They don’t realize that what they’re creating is just another tool to keep me more effectively confined.’

Ivonne smiled faintly. Despite the comfort of her confinement, she knew well that Herix had been making sure that the children’s visits had become scarce. She was sure he had a hand in that.

She reached out and patted Herix’s head, which had that look in his eyes, as if waiting for praise like a big puppy.

“Yes. I’m looking forward to it.”

Her touch was half-hearted, and her compliment even less sincere, but Herix beamed as though he had just received half of the Empire. He grabbed her hand, which had fallen, and rubbed it against his cheek.

The cheek that touched her palm was so soft, it seemed to reflect Herix’s youth, who had just turned twenty.

‘This is really unfair. To have such a sensual and decadent face with this kind of touch.’

There was a time when Ivonne sighed in exhaustion from his overwhelming obsession, but now, with his cute little gestures, her heart was starting to melt and race again. They say that when you fall in love, your heart no longer belongs to you but to the other person. That saying was spot on.

“Ugh.”

So, feeling a bit exasperated, Ivonne pinched his cheek, annoyed that Herix had taken her heart without permission and made it impossible to refuse him.

“Ivonne?”

Herix, still kneeling, looked up in surprise, his big eyes wide open. His giant frame, with the startled, bunny-like expression—how could she resist pinching his cheek like that?

‘I can’t even pinch him as much as I want!’

Ivonne was hopelessly soft when it came to Herix. In the end, she changed her plan of pinching him as hard as she could to just gently pinching him.

“It’s just… because you’re cute.”

“Cute?”

“Yes.”

Herix giggled like a child. The tenderness in Ivonne’s hand, which had softened, was now full of affection. Naturally, his smile grew wider.

Ah, it was really a peaceful confinement life, and it seemed like it would continue smoothly for as long as possible.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

A little time passed, and on a day when winter had fully arrived.

“Wow! It’s snowing so much outside!”

When Ivonne woke up, she saw that the ground outside the Tens Mansion was covered with thick snow.

In the midst of living a life that felt like being trapped in a cage, the drastically changed view outside the window had become an occasional source of amusement. Excited, Ivonne quickly washed her face and made her way to the living room window, the clinking sound of her shackles bright and cheerful.

“It’s really a blizzard.”

As she touched the firmly locked window with her fingertips, a pleasant coldness spread. But the view outside was anything but pleasant. The sky was a pale gray, and everything was covered in white. The snow, which was still piling up, seemed as if the world was entering an ice age.

“Ivonne, you should put on a shawl.”

Herix, who had been in the kitchen, had silently come over and draped a thick shawl over her shoulders. This shawl was one that Herix had knitted himself, after learning from the craftsman at the tailoring shop, who took knitting as a hobby.

“Thanks.”

By now, Ivonne didn’t react or say thank you for most things anymore. It was the same with the other servants. She had gradually become numb, worn out by it all.