The Hero Stole My Lover, So I Decided to Steal the Hero's Lover Instead - Chapter 38-39

Chapter 38

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“I’ve come to deliver a package.”

The man smoothly held out a wooden box. It was a cube, each side about fifteen cm in length. Was it another communication crystal inside?

“Um, this is—”

“Yes, it’s a package from Hero Cain-dono. “He said to open it right away and check the contents.”

The man said the exact same thing as last time.

So, it’s from Cain again…

“Thank you very much.”

Alicia smiled and bowed her head.

“Excuse me.”

Just like before, the man bowed his head and left with unnaturally sharp and efficient movements. After closing the door, Alicia placed the wooden box on the table and opened it. As expected, inside was a communication crystal.

“Again?”

Sharon spoke with an exasperated tone.

“That guy… So he still hasn’t given up on Alicia.”

“What should we do?”

Alicia looked back and forth between me and Sharon. She was asking for our opinion. I looked to Sharon, wondering what we should do.

“Hmm…”

Staring at the blinking communication crystal, Sharon thought for a moment and then said.

“All right. This time, I think we should join in.”

“Join in?” 

I asked.

“Yes. Let’s inform Cain-dono—her ex—that Alicia and Luke have started dating.”

Sharon then smiled wickedly.

“I’m kind like that after all.”

She said while picking up the blinking crystal and placing it on the table. A projection appeared in the air. Cain was smiling at first in the image, but the moment he noticed me and Sharon sitting beside Alicia, that smile froze.

Cain didn’t know who Sharon was. But he should know who I am. Even if he had committed plenty of shady acts until now, surely he still remembered the face of his current lover’s ex-boyfriend (probably).

“Y-Y-You… You’re…”

“It’s been a while, Cain.” 

“You’re… Luke, the one who was Sheryl’s boyfriend…”

Good. I was relieved he still remembered me.

“W-Why are you at Alicia’s house…?”

“Let me explain that in simple terms.” 

Sharon cut in. Cain turned to look at Sharon, furrowing his brows. His expression clearly said: Who the hell is this?

“I’m a friend of these two.”

Sharon gave an incredibly simple self-introduction.

“If you need a little more context… I’m also someone who’s been stalking you.”

“Huh? Stalking?”

“But don’t get the wrong idea—I don’t have any romantic interest in you, of course.” 

Sharon said. 

“The reason I was stalking you was…”

Sharon pulled a recording crystal from their pocket and held it up toward Cain. Apparently, she had several recordings stored.

“That’s… A communication crystal—no, wait, a recording crystal!?”

He must have realized what had been recorded. Cain’s face turned pale. He quickly glanced at Alicia, but her eyes, staring at him, were cold as ice.

“No! This isn’t what it looks like! You’ve been misled! That woman is deceiving you—”

“You’re the worst.”

That was all Alicia said, spitting out the words. That single, cutting remark pierced Cain’s heart deeply. He already looked like he was on the verge of breaking—but the transmission wasn’t over yet.

This transmission was going to keep digging deeper into Cain’s heart.

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Chapter 39: The Hero’s POV

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“No! This isn’t what it looks like! You’ve been misled! That woman is deceiving you—”

“You’re the worst.”

Alicia only spat out those words.

“Ah, ahh, ahhh… Uuuuugh…”

Cain groaned like a newborn baby. Alicia’s eyes and expression remained cold. That gentle, modest, and kind Alicia was nowhere to be found.

She was angry—no, it was a feeling beyond anger. Disappointment. He had been completely abandoned, utterly despised. Her eyes looked at him as if he were trash. No, to her now, Cain might be something even lower than trash.

Luke wore a grim expression, and the other suspicious-looking woman was openly laughing at Cain, who groaned pathetically. She was like a demon. It was clear to see she wasn’t an ordinary person. Not normal by any means.

I have to clear up the misunderstanding… No, there’s no misunderstanding. She saw my wrongdoings with her own eyes. There’s nothing I can do now… Damn it.

Sweat, tears, and who knows what else—liquids welled up from within him. Even when he desperately tried to hold them back, the body was far more honest than the mind. He couldn’t clear up the misunderstanding. Because Alicia wasn’t misunderstanding anything to begin with. In that case, all Cain could do was make excuses, cover it up somehow…

“Ah—”

“Oh, right. That’s right.”

The woman cut in. Just as Cain was about to open his mouth to make an excuse, she deliberately interrupted him. She was stunningly beautiful, but terrifyingly suspicious—a mysterious woman with an unknown identity.

Who is this woman…?

He couldn’t stop wondering. She might not even be human.

“In fact—”

With a wide grin, she spoke slowly and clearly.

“—Luke and Alicia have started dating.”

“…Huh?”

“Oh, wait, that’s not right. They’ve already been dating for a while. Silly me, I forgot.”

His mouth hung open. Even when he tried to close it, it just opened again. If he looked at himself in the mirror right now, he’d probably punch it out of sheer idiocy.

Dating? Luke and Alicia? Why? Is this some kind of conspiracy? That’s it. This must be part of this shady woman’s plot…

If this woman hadn’t orchestrated something, Alicia would never be dating Luke. That was what Cain believed.

“You—what did you do to Alicia!?”

And so, Cain asked just that.

“Huh? I don’t get what you’re saying.”

The woman looked genuinely confused.

“What do you mean, ‘What did I do?’”

“You brainwashed her, didn’t you!?”

“…You…”

The woman was clearly exasperated.

“Don’t you feel pathetic, calling it ‘brainwashing’ or whatever just because something inconvenient happened to you? Face the reality, Hero. You were dumped by your girlfriend—well, I guess whether she was technically your girlfriend or not is a bit questionable.. Ahem! Anyway, Alicia, whom you considered your girlfriend, broke up with you. Then, Alicia, now free, developed feelings for Luke-kun, whom she had already liked for some time, and the two entered a romantic relationship. That’s the truth. That’s reality.”

That was the truth. This was reality. When reality was laid out that plainly, it became difficult to deny it completely. Even so, Cain still desperately wanted to find a way to reject it.

Ugh… 

He felt dizzy. His head was spinning, and he couldn’t think straight.

What should I do…? What should I say, what should I do, to make Alicia come back to me?

Cain thought desperately. And then, suddenly, he realized something.

Wait a second. Alicia and I never officially broke up in the first place!

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