Please Kill Me - Chapter 100
Thinking about Leonid, who had lost their loved ones just like Yuri did, the irony becomes even sharper.
“I fought to stay alive on the battlefield, only to come back and find out that everyone I cared about had died. And my only remaining cousin has decided to either kill or be killed in a battle for the throne. Isn’t that hilarious?”
The more Leonid fought for his life on the battlefield, the more death surrounded him.
Leonid let out a dry laugh, recalling those times.
“I even wondered if I was the odd one. Was it strange that I wanted so desperately to live?”
“….Of course, it’s not strange. I lived the same way.”
Desperately clawing to stay alive, ignoring the deaths she’d witnessed, just to see another sunrise. That’s why Yekaterina could genuinely affirm Leonid’s words.
“Thank you for saying that. Back then, I had no one to tell me that. So, I just did things the way I always had.”
Survival at any cost.
If he was indeed the odd one out, if he was the only one who saw things differently.
Maybe the solution was to make everyone see things the way he did.
“So, I started helping Yuri, and I still plan to drag him by his hair to the throne. I’ll use any means necessary to achieve that.”
“Then you need to use me, don’t you?”
“Yes. But there’s no need to use you directly.”
Leonid snapped his fingers lightly. Of course, it was his unbandaged hand.
“The important thing is what those guys are obsessed with. I can use you without you even being involved. Does that answer your question?”
But Yekaterina still seemed unconvinced.
“So… I’m not necessary?”
“That’s right.”
“That’s a loss for you.”
“Must I calculate the profit in showing some compassion?”
Leonid spoke nonchalantly, but Yekaterina’s expression remained unchanged.
He narrowed his eyes in thought, then tousled his hair. With a slightly awkward tone, he spoke.
“Well then, Yekaterina. If you’re really worried about me taking a loss, how about staying at Rostislav?”
“…Rostislav?”
“Yes. The Rostislav territory is always in need of people to deal with monsters. Someone like you would always be welcome. Besides, once everything here is settled, I plan to return, and the monster outbreak season is approaching.”
“…”
“When spring comes, some of this accursed snow will melt. There might even be some moss growing. The only downside is that it’s close to the contaminated land… but it’s quite livable. So,”
Let’s go back together.
His low voice felt like it was making the ground beneath her fall away.
It felt like someone had hit her hard on the head.
She was just dazed and more dazed.
How had she not realized this before?
Yekaterina raised her eyes to look at the man in front of her.
Blond hair and golden eyes. Not similar to her at all, yet very much like her.
At first, she thought he was completely different from her. She could understand his lack of understanding.
But now, she knew he was like her. And what she knew, Leonid also knew.
His gaze felt unfamiliar. He no longer saw her as an ice shard fished out of boiling water.
So you can no longer look at my death with ‘those eyes’.
Sudden thoughts brought with them a flash of realization.
Leonid, you.
You have no intention of killing me.
* * *
Meanwhile, at the Offenbach mansion.
“So, you still haven’t found Yekaterina?”
“I apologize.”
“You idiot!”
As Dmitry bowed his head, Sergei, sitting across the desk, roared and threw a desk ornament.
Crash!
With a loud noise, the ornament shattered, and a long stream of blood flowed from Dmitry’s forehead where it was struck.
“Have you forgotten that if you fail to find her, you won’t be able to have your succession ceremony?”
“I apologize. We searched the entire forest but found no trace of her. It seems she’s not hiding there.”
Sergei’s expression darkened at Dmitry’s words.
“Yekaterina has nowhere to go, and if she’s not hiding in the forest, then where on earth could she be?”
Bang! Sergei’s fist hit the desk, causing it to shake violently, yet his anger was far from relieved.
“I took her in and raised her, and this is how she repays me? By running away?”
His muttering voice was laced with a chilling anger. There was so much betrayal.
Sergei wasn’t the type to lose his temper over a mere subordinate’s actions. Normally, if a lower-ranked individual ran away, he would simply order their swift cleanup to prevent any fallout.
But Yekaterina was different.
Sergei had invested years in raising her, molding her into a weapon solely for the benefit of the Offenbach family.
She was, in essence, the very embodiment of what Offenbach stood for.