Imprinted with the Obsessive Male Lead - Chapter 44

Chase, who had been staring down at me blankly, gave an order as if he had reached a conclusion.

“Try it.”

It was something that, at a glance, could even sound like a suggestion. I met his eyes straight on. Amid the strengthening wind and rain, my heart pounded heavily. Chase said nothing more, but there was a different atmosphere than before. A change, however slight, that he had begun to consider keeping me by his side.

When I lightly bit my lip and nodded firmly, Chase was about to hand me the lantern, then suddenly stopped his hand.

“Ah. You don’t need something like this, do you?”

“Yes. It’s fine.”

Without a light, it would be a little frightening, but once I went inside, something like a lantern would only be a hindrance anyway.

I quickly turned around and took a few steps toward the mana. Then I suddenly stopped. When I looked back, he was quietly watching me.

“Why? Are you scared? Want me to go with you?”

As if testing my courage, Chase raised and lowered one eyebrow while watching me.

I lightly shook my head from side to side. Saying I wasn’t scared would be a lie, but the reason I had looked at him just now wasn’t because I wanted him to come with me. I needed a definite answer. Not a feeling or a guess, but a clear answer that if I accomplished this, I would be allowed to stay here.

Gripping the robe hood that was being whipped mercilessly by the wind with all my strength, I asked,

“Then, Chase.”

“Mm.”

“Will you let me stay here?”

“…”

Chase, whom I had thought would hesitate, easily gave a small nod. It was a quick answer, as if he had already made his decision.

“Do what you have to do.”

Crazy. In that instant, emotion surged up to the tip of my throat. The relief of finally not having to worry about being caught by Michael made my nose sting, as if I might burst into tears. But at times like this, I should smile. Long live the mana storm!

“Just trust me! I’ll do my best!”

I answered loudly, smiling brightly. At that moment, Chase’s eyes widened slightly and wavered. Then one corner of his lips lifted faintly. Whether it was a smile of liking it or a smile of disbelief, it was an expression I couldn’t tell. He lightly lowered his head and pressed his thumb firmly against the space between his brows, and in that moment, I turned around and ran quickly toward the mana. The wind and rain lashed about, but right now, I felt like I could overcome all of it.

The closer I got to the mana, the calmer the wind became. It was a strange sensation. As I approached the rippling black mana, I manifested my power. There was still some distance left, but the mana reacted to me like a magnet. The black darkness began to be drawn into my body and, in an instant, surrounded me.

As I was completely enveloped by the black mana, the raindrops that had been falling one or two at a time disappeared, and the surroundings grew quiet. It was like the eye of a storm. Even then, the mana continued to flow into me endlessly, centered around me. But the more it did, the brighter the light within my body shone.

Slowly blinking, I lifted my head and looked up at the sky. It was a world filled entirely with black. If not for the dirt beneath my feet, it would have felt as if I had fallen into another world. Just as I couldn’t see my surroundings right now, I probably couldn’t be seen from the outside either. Amid the raging mana and the particles of purifying light, I quietly closed and opened my eyes.

That was the moment.

Suddenly, my vision blurred, and the once-quiet surroundings began to spin rapidly as an unfamiliar illusion rose before my eyes. I didn’t know why, but I immediately realized that it was Chase’s past, something that had never appeared in the original story.

They were the people here in this very place. Logan, his subordinates, and Chase. The quiet mana, at some point, transformed into a storm and expanded in all directions.

And it swallowed everyone present.

Everyone except one person, Chase. Unaffected by mana, Chase faced Logan and the subordinates who had turned into monsters after the storm subsided. In this very place where he had lost his parents, he killed all the subordinates he cared for with his own hands. He had no choice. And then, amidst the pile of corpses of the subordinates who had become monsters, he collapsed.

Watching the illusion of a situation so vivid and bleak that it made it hard to breathe, I gasped, letting out a ragged breath. In that moment, everything disappeared.

So this was it. The reason Chase’s personality had not felt gentle. It wasn’t that the Chase I knew now was strange. That man had always been like that.

Steadying my breathing, I recalled the situation from just before.