This Time, I Choose The Alpha King Male Lead のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 21 - チャプター 30

MINTHEEscape Plan* * * Pierre looks at the wolf, then at me, then at the wolf again. Something is working behind his eyes—the calculation of a man who wants to be angry but is trying to find the version of this that makes sense.“What were you doing at the border, Minthe,” he says again. “At midnight. With a bag packed, and Cobalt.”The room is listening. Every person in it is listening.I think, very clearly, about the honest answer. I was leaving. I’ve been waiting for the right window to leave for a week and I finally decided tonight was it, so I saddled a horse and packed one bag and rode for the service gate, and I would be halfway to the capital right now if I hadn’t stopped for a wolf that your System apparently decided was my responsibility.I think about saying that.I think about what happens after I say that—Pierre’s face, the conversation that follows, the particular look of a man who feels abandoned deciding to do something about it before I can finish leaving.I thin

MINTHEDeath* * *I stare at the glowing letters, then at the smug expression on the brat’s face. All this time . . . he wasn’t a separate person. He had simply shifted back into his human form the moment the doctor left him alone.“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I whisper, my voice flat. “I risked a broken neck for a teenager with an attitude problem.”“Hey, I didn’t ask you to jump out of a window onto my spine,” he retorts, crossing his arms over his chest.Before I can hit him with a comeback, the heavy thud of boots echoes from the hallway outside the clinic doors. The sound is rhythmic, heavy, and closing in fast. The guards are returning.“Shit,” I hiss, grabbing the kid by the front of his oversized shirt and dragging him down into the shadows between the examination table and a tall metal supply cabinet. “Shut up and don’t breathe.”“What are you doing?” he mutters, his voice muffled against my shoulder as I press him against the wall. “You’re weirdly aggressive for a noble la

MINTHEEscape* * *“Hades sent a teenager to do his dirty work? And you’re his nephew?”“Nephew, messenger, whatever helps you sleep at night, noble lady,” he says, leaning casually against the rough wood of my wardrobe. The playful, bratty demeanor vanishes in a split second, “Uncle Hades doesn’t care about labels. He cares about results. And right now, the result is that you don’t need to worry about escaping this trash pack anymore. The Alpha King is already at the border gates. He says he’s giving you a week to get out.”“A week,” I mutter.Seven days.Before I can even process the timeline, a bright, translucent blue light flashes a violent crimson directly across my field of vision. The system’s digital interface pops up with a low, metallic chime that makes my temples throb.[BOND INITIALIZED. SYNC AT 10%.][HOST AND TARGET ALLY CANNOT EXCEED A 30-METER RADIUS UNTIL SYNC REACHES 100%.][PENALTY FOR VIOLATION: IMMEDIATE INSTANCE TERMINATION.]I stare through the glowing red t

MINTHECrazy, Fool-proof Idea* * *Dying because of a literal, floating proximity boundary is a special, unadulterated kind of bullshit.The black void doesn’t welcome me with a peaceful transition or a gentle fading of the senses.It spits me right back into reality with the violent, agonizing sting of a oxygen-deprived chest and the unmistakable, stale taste of copper coating the back of my throat.My lungs expand with a sharp, ragged gasp, sucking in the freezing, dust-laden air of my ruined bedroom.My eyes snap open.Directly above me, an inch away from my nose, is a face.Shit.I freeze, my vision blurry and unfocused as my heart hammers against my ribs like a trapped bird.Two wide, dark eyes stare unblinkingly down into mine.Messy, ink-black hair falls forward, brushing against my forehead.The kid—Hades’ fifteen-year-old nephew—is hovering so close over my face that I can smell the faint, cold scent of winter frost and mint on his breath.It is completely absurd, deeply uns

MINTHEThe Plans to Leave* * *“I understand, Pierre,” I whisper softly against his shoulder, keeping my voice entirely devoid of the screaming rage that a normal woman would let rip.I make my body look weak, letting my chin rest heavily on his leather collar for a brief second before pulling back.I’m giving him the perfect manifestation of the quiet, submissive patience he expects from me.I look down at the simple, low-effort bunch of red roses, treating them like a pathetic consolation prize given to a loyal dog who keeps the house running while the master dreams of a prize horse.The massive wave of relief that washes over his handsome features is almost sickening.Pierre doesn’t see the cold mockery behind my quiet acceptance.To him, I am just the safe, dependable girl who will sit quietly by the hearth and wait while he caters to another woman’s panic attacks.“Thank you, Minthe,” he breathes, as he presses a hurried kiss to my temple, his fingers trembling slightly as they