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Chapter 7
It’s Difficult to Handle the Obsession of the Male Leads
It was the height of a sweltering summer.
Lost deep within a dense forest, I spotted a plume of white smoke rising in the distance.
“Could there be a village over there?”
Half hopeful, half terrified, I ran toward it with only one thought in mind—to survive.
And there, I encountered a mysterious race unlike any I’d ever seen.
Hair the color of platinum, as though woven from pure moonlight.
Deep emerald-green skin, unlike anything found within the Empire.
Brilliant golden eyes that seemed to carry countless untold stories.
They were mysterious.
But just as beautiful.
I found myself completely captivated by the charm of this unfamiliar race…
“Aria, are you okay?”
Julietta’s voice finally pulled me back to reality.
She was simply too shocking to look at.
“Wow… that was seriously dangerous… No, how does she still look gorgeous even with green foundation on?”
At this point, maybe that foundation really did have some kind of magical effect.
Like… maybe anyone who wore it would look like a mystical forest race.
Unable to resist, I squeezed a generous amount of the green foundation onto the back of my hand.
Then I patted it all over my own face.
“Let’s see…”
I lifted a hand mirror and looked at my reflection.
Staring back at me was nothing more than an ordinary Frankenstein.
Yeah.
Figures.
There was no way some random foundation had magical properties.
Julietta simply looked beautiful because she was the heroine.
That’s just how heroines worked.
Chuckling helplessly, I revised my plan.
Operation: Seal Away Julietta’s Beauty — Failed.
I’ll just stick to the original plan.
Time to obsess over everyone as hard as I can.
***** ***
Located in the imperial capital of the Fertian Empire stood the Temple of Robenia.
Many priests blessed with divine power resided there.
Divine power was, quite literally, the sacred gift bestowed by the goddess Robenia.
Its primary purpose was healing illness.
Priests with especially powerful divine energy could even cure terminal diseases overnight.
“Of course… they charged equally miraculous donations.”
Under the pretense of healing, the temple collected enormous sums in donations.
As a result, most visitors were high-ranking nobles.
The temple claimed to welcome everyone, but ordinary commoners had no hope of affording the required donations.
“Wow… No matter how many times I come here, this place is unbelievably luxurious…”
I admired the dazzling white temple as I walked through it.
To avoid attracting criticism, everything had been decorated with restraint.
Even so, every object in sight was clearly expensive.
I’d even heard rumors that beneath the temple lay underground vaults overflowing with enough gold and treasure to last several lifetimes.
“Seriously… what kind of temple is this?”
It was obviously a setting created to grant Male Lead No. 3 both wealth and political power.
Still…
This was a bit excessive.
Clicking my tongue, I began searching the area.
“Gabriel Higgins… the lunatic with two faces.”
That was the name of Male Lead No. 3.
For now, he was only an ordinary priest.
Not long after the original story began, however, he would be promoted to High Priest.
Well, I supposed that was the privilege of being a male lead candidate.
Normally, nobody rose through the ranks that quickly.
After becoming High Priest, Gabriel abused his authority to obsess over Julietta.
By the latter half of the novel, he even tried to imprison her inside a secret chamber accessible only to the High Priest.
“That’s why I need to reform Gabriel before he becomes High Priest.”
A High Priest possessed authority comparable to that of an imperial duke.
It was much safer to settle everything while he was still an ordinary priest.
Back during my third life, when I was much more naïve than I am now…
I actually had a favorable impression of Gabriel Higgins.
Unlike the other arrogant, ill-mannered obsessive male leads…
He was surprisingly reasonable.
You could actually talk to him.
***** ***
“Sir Gabriel, I’d like to speak with you.”
During my third life, I frequently visited Gabriel under the pretext of offering prayers to the goddess Robenia.
Every time I saw him, I educated him on “How to Evolve from an Obsessive Male Lead into the Perfect Green-Flag Boyfriend.”
“First of all… if you can simply avoid kidnapping or imprisoning someone, you’ve already succeeded halfway. Even if you’re ever tempted to do something like that… never, ever act on those feelings.”
Like I was gently comforting a child, I patiently tried to persuade him.
Gabriel looked at me with a pale face.
“…Pardon?
W-What exactly are you talking about?”
“I understand wanting to see the face of someone you love every day.
But forcing them to stay with you or locking them away…”
“W-Wait a moment, Lady Ariadne!
Isn’t that a serious crime?”
…
Huh?
That was…
unexpectedly sensible.
“The Holy Scriptures strictly forbid depriving another person of their freedom and rights.
Anyone who commits such shameless acts could never receive Lady Robenia’s blessing.”
“…”
“Lady Ariadne.
As a faithful servant of Robenia, I swear before the heavens that I would never commit such an unforgivable atrocity.”
His eyes were astonishingly firm.
“Oh… this wasn’t what I expected.”
Like every obsessive male lead, I’d assumed Gabriel had simply been born insane.
But before the original story began…
He was far more normal than I’d imagined.
“At this rate… reforming him should be easy.”
For the first time, I saw hope that Gabriel might become a genuine green flag.
So whenever I had time, I followed him around, doing my best to guide him down the right path.
“Sir Gabriel…
If the person I love doesn’t love me back…
What should I do?”
I quietly whispered the question while he prayed reverently.
“L-Lady Ariadne…”
As if already accustomed to my interruptions, Gabriel slowly opened his eyes.
For some reason, during the early part of my third life, he’d jump in surprise every time he saw me.
Eventually…
He stopped reacting that way.
He gently lifted the white veil that covered part of his face.
Then he looked at me with sincere eyes.
“My lady…
Love is not something that exists equally between two people.
Simply because you offer someone your love…
does not mean they are obligated to return it in equal measure.”
After that…
Gabriel spent the next three full hours lecturing me about love.
His words were idealistic.
Perhaps even overly philosophical.
Yet somehow…
They warmed my heart.
*”Wow…
This guy would absolutely crush it as a motivational YouTuber…”*
Maybe it was because he was a priest.
His words flowed effortlessly.
He wasn’t saying anything particularly groundbreaking.
Yet somehow…
You couldn’t stop listening.
In the end, his entire sermon could be summarized in a single sentence.
Love others.
But never expect love in return.
It was something everyone knew.
Yet almost no one could truly accept.
And in the end…
Gabriel himself failed to live by those very words.
Wasn’t that exactly why he ended up leaving Julietta with wounds that would never heal?
I looked at him skeptically.
“And what about you, Sir Gabriel?”
“…Pardon?”
“Could you truly love someone without expecting anything in return?”
“Ah…”
His eyes widened.
He stared silently at me for a long moment before smiling bitterly.
“That is how it should be.
As a faithful servant of Lady Robenia, I ought not to harbor special affection for anyone besides Her…
However…”
“…”
“If I were ever to fall in love…
Then all I could do would be to quietly support that person from afar.”
For some reason…
He looked strangely lonely as he said it.
*”What…?
Does he already have someone he likes?”*
That couldn’t be right.
In the original novel, Gabriel had never shown the slightest interest in any woman besides Julietta.
And at this point…
He hadn’t even met Julietta yet.
Her debutante ball hadn’t happened.
“Sir Gabriel…
Please never lose the kind heart you have now.
Even if you someday fall in love…
Please continue treating that person with the same kindness.”
Thinking of Julietta, I gave him that advice.
It became the last advice I ever gave him.
After following Gabriel around for several months…
I’d concluded that he was much more normal than expected.
In fact…
It was hard to believe someone like him could ever become an obsessive madman.
So I decided that my reform project was complete.
There wasn’t much left to reform anyway.
If he ever started showing signs of obsessing over Julietta later…
I’d deal with it then.
That was what I believed.
Smiling, I bid Gabriel farewell.
He gazed at me quietly before replying in a gentle voice.
“Yes.
I will carry your words in my heart…
for the rest of my life.”
Then…
He smiled shyly.
It was an innocent, awkward smile unlike anything I’d ever seen from the other obsessive male leads.
*”Yeah…
The current Gabriel can be trusted.”*
Feeling reassured…
I stopped visiting him.
Looking back now…
It was an unbelievably foolish decision.
The kind and innocent Gabriel completely changed on the day Julietta made her debut in society—the very day the original story began.
As though he had become an entirely different person…
He began obsessing over Julietta without the slightest trace of morality.
“Damn it…”
Unable to stand by and watch any longer, I eventually used my authority to meet Gabriel.
I intended to remind him of all the conversations we’d shared before…
But instead—
“Hmm…”
“So it’s you.”
“You’re the one who belongs to… him.”
Muttering words whose meaning I couldn’t understand…
Gabriel suddenly grabbed my chin.
Then…
With searching golden eyes…
He slowly examined every inch of my face.
