The Male Lead isn� Chapter 263: An Insect

Chapter 263: An Insect

Annora’s steps were hurried as she made her way back, the dim moonlight casting long shadows along the stone pathways. The cold wind bit at her skin, but she barely noticed it. Her mind was too preoccupied, thoughts spiralling endlessly in frustration.

Every move she made, every plan she put into action, it all felt like she was walking on a thin thread, constantly on the verge of falling. And now, of all people, she had to run into him.

Edward stood there, waiting as if he had known she would co this way.

His stormy grey eyes glead with sothing unreadable, sothing taunting, as he leaned casually against the marble column. He looked completely at ease, as if the world itself was rely a ga for his amusent.

Annora stopped in her tracks, her heart pounding against her ribcage. She swallowed down the overwhelming sense of unease that always ca with being near him. It was fear—true, undeniable fear—but she refused to let it show.

Edward smirked as she approached, tilting his head slightly in mock curiosity.

"Would this ti be any different?" he mused, his voice carrying that sa lazy amusent that always sent shivers down her spine. "I am curious."

Annora’s fists clenched at her sides.

She hated that voice. She hated the way he spoke, the way he looked at her like she was sothing insignificant, like she was a little insect struggling in his web.

This was the exact conversation they had years ago when she tried to kill him... Stab him in his sleep. And the events that occurred after that made her shudder.

She was the most miserable back then, but now things have changed.

Her voice was sharp, but there was an edge of exhaustion to it as well.

"What do you want, Edward?" she snapped. "You ruined

in my past life... Now I want revenge. Even soone like you should know that my behaviour is only logical."

Why... Why could her backers not assert control over him?

Why was fate so cruel?! Why could he escape the consequences of his actions like it was nothing?!

Edward chuckled. A slow, deliberate sound.

She knew he found her words amusing, that he saw her rage as nothing more than a fleeting emotion—sothing he had no reason to take seriously.

"Your desire is normal," he said, his tone smooth, almost bored. "But it’s not sothing that can be achieved."Annora’s nails dug into her palms.

"Why not?" she spat out. Edward exhaled as if this conversation was hardly worth his ti, as if her very presence was just another trivial matter in his never-ending amusent.

"You will succeed only as long as I allow you to succeed," he said simply. "Or have you forgotten how I killed your people?"Annora’s breath hitched.

Her vision blurred for a mont, rage threatening to consu her whole.

How could she forget?

The bodies. The blood. The screams that still haunted her nightmares.

Edward had stripped her of everything. He had torn apart the people who had once stood by her side, crushed them beneath his heel, and left her with nothing but bitterness and regret.

She wanted to kill him.

She wanted to rip that infuriating smirk off his face.

Her hands trembled with the effort to hold herself back, to keep her rage from spilling over."You hateful man," she hissed through clenched teeth.

Edward remained unbothered, his smirk never fading.

She hated him. She had dread of his death more tis than she could count and had envisioned a hundred different ways to end him, each more painful than the last. But she knew the truth.

She couldn’t touch him.

He was out of her reach, untouchable in ways that only made her anger grow stronger.

"So what do you want?!" she suddenly scread, her voice raw with frustration. "To torture

more?!"

She felt like she was descending into madness, her emotions spiralling wildly out of control.

Edward, as always, was unfazed. "You think too highly of yourself," he said, his voice as smooth as silk. "You are not worth my attention."

His words cut through her like a blade. Not worth his attention? After everything he had done? After everything he had taken from her? She was nothing in his eyes.

He let out a soft chuckle and took a step closer, lowering his voice."I am bored," he said simply. "And I like watching a good show. So don’t disappoint .

"With that, he turned and walked away, his presence vanishing into the night as easily as it had appeared.

Annora stood frozen, her body trembling with barely contained rage.

Her nails had dug so deep into her palms that she could feel the warm sting of broken skin. She released her fists, blood pooling in tiny crescent marks where her nails had pressed.

She loathed him. She despised every part of him, from his arrogant smirk to the way he looked at her like she was nothing more than entertainnt.

But...A terrible thought crept into her mind, one she hated herself for even thinking. She wanted him.

Not in the way she had before, not in the way she had once dread of when she was younger and na??ve. That version of her was dead.

But he had been hers. Once, in their past life, he had been the one by her side. He had been a force that belonged to her, even if he had never truly cared.

And now? Now, Adeline had taken him. Edward’s attention was on Adeline, and that was dangerous.

Annora knew what that ant—knew what kind of obsession Edward was capable of. He would protect Adeline, not because he cared, but because he needed sothing from her.

Annora clenched her jaw.

That was not a good thing for her, was it?

She wanted to ruin Adeline. To destroy her, to take away everything that had been stolen from her. But Edward... Edward would stand in her way.