The Hero Stole My Lover, So I Decided to Steal the Hero's Lover Instead - Chapter 40-41

Chapter 40: The Hero’s POV

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

Cain thought desperately and then, it suddenly hit him.

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

He recalled the time he had a call with Alicia using the communication crystal.

“We should break up.”

So Alicia had said.

“I’ve spent a long time with you up until now. But I’ve never come to like you, Cain-san. So I don’t think I ever will.”

Hearing those words had dealt a massive blow to Cain. He had tried to stop her, tried not to let the conversation end—begged her to wait. But midway through, the communication crystal ran out of power and shattered into pieces.

So, yes, the breakup talk had definitely happened—but the breakup itself hadn’t. That was the key difference.

“You!”

Cain pointed at the woman smirking triumphantly on the screen and shouted.

“You just said, ‘Alicia is now free,’ didn’t you!? But you’re wrong! It’s true that Alicia… Sh-she did bring up breaking up with me, but I never agreed to it! Therefore, our relationship is not over! Alicia, we need to have a serious, sincere conversation about this!”

Partway through, Cain’s declaration turned from the mysterious woman to Alicia herself.

However, Alicia didn’t seem to be listening to a word he said. Her gaze was downcast, and it was as if Cain didn’t even exist. She looked more interested in the grain of the wood on the table than in his refined face. She had completely given up on him.

Her expression was one of near-total indifference, like she was being forced to listen to the woes of a complete stranger. It was as though she were someone entirely different just wearing Alicia’s body. Even so, Cain didn’t give up. Undeterred, he kept talking.

“Alicia, if we haven’t broken up yet, then dating another man is a serious act of betrayal. It’s cheating, plain and simple. A pure-hearted, upright, and innocent woman like you shouldn’t be doing something so shameless and cruel. But it’s not too late. I’m willing to forgive you. Just cut ties with that man and come back to me.”

No one was taking Cain’s rapid-fire speech seriously. The witch-like woman stood with her arms crossed, smirking bitterly as she shook her head. Her expression was full of exasperation. Luke had a similar look on his face.

“…Huuuuuh.”

Cain let out a deep sigh after finishing his rant all in one breath.

Trying to date another man.

He was subtly distorting the reality of the situation. And on top of that, he was conveniently ignoring all of his own actions. The words that came from the mouth of such a shallow man were, naturally, shallow themselves.

If, by some miracle (though there was absolutely no chance), Alicia did come back to him like he said, he planned to get rid of Sheryl as smoothly as possible. If he couldn’t get rid of her smoothly, he would force her out anyway.

Right, Sheryl…

Sheryl had once been Luke’s lover. Cain had taken her—stolen her away.

I’ll return Sheryl to Luke.

That was what he thought. It was a cruel way of thinking—treating people not as people but as objects. To Cain, most people were just tools or things. There were very few people he truly valued. One of those rare few had been Alicia.

I’ll give Sheryl back to you, so give Alicia back to me. Yes, that’s it! This is the perfect plan!

Cain believed his half-baked idea to be absolutely flawless. There wasn’t a single kind soul around to point out just how absurd he was.

“Luke-kun.”

“…What?”

Luke seemed slightly caught off guard, as if he hadn’t expected Cain to address him.

“Sheryl—your former lover. I’ll return her to you.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“So in exchange… Won’t you give Alicia back to me?”

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Chapter 41: The Hero’s POV

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“Sheryl—your former lover. I’ll return her to you.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“So in exchange… Won’t you give Alicia back to me?”

“…………”

Luke fell silent. Cain assumed he was thinking it over, but more likely, Luke was simply too dumbfounded to speak.

“What do you think? I believe it’s a good offer.”

“…What are you even saying…?”

Luke was not only stunned but also visibly confused.

“My relationship with Sheryl is already over. Even if she came back to me now, I wouldn’t know what to do. And besides, I doubt she has any interest in me anymore.”

“That’s not—”

“Please stop already!”

Alicia shouted sharply.

“I have absolutely no intention of going back to you. Please, just give up on me already.”

“Give up on you… That can’t be…”

Cain muttered in shock, then began to mumble under his breath like a man possessed.

“Alicia, you’re my girlfriend… You belong to me. You’re mine. Mine alone. My property… You can’t become someone else’s…”

“Treating someone like an object is the lowest of the low. Cain-san, I don’t want to hate you any more than I already do. So please, just stop talking.”

He snapped his mouth shut. He had muttered those words half-consciously. He had actually called Alicia “my property.” He had made an irreparable mistake.

Damn it! That slipped out. What should I do, what should I do…?

He tried to come up with something to cover for himself, but anything he said would only make it worse—so for now, he chose silence.

“Ahahahahahaha!”

The woman, who had been listening quietly up to that point, suddenly burst into laughter. She was clutching her stomach as if she couldn’t hold it in any longer. Her laughter infuriated him, but if he yelled at her now, Alicia’s opinion of him would only plummet further (though, in truth, it was already near rock bottom).

“Oh, how delightful! This is just too funny. Your idiocy far surpassed even what I imagined. How in the world did you come up with the idea of ‘returning’ a woman you stole from Luke…? Still, it seems Sheryl is still in love with you. Take responsibility and marry her already. Ah, and don’t worry about Alicia. Our dear Luke-kun will take good care of her.”

Cain opened his mouth to speak, but the woman cut him off, anticipating him.

“Oh, I just had a brilliant idea. Luke, Alicia—how about a kiss to commemorate your relationship?”

“Huh, a kiss?”

Luke blinked rapidly.

“A k-kiss…?”

Alicia, blushing furiously, brought her hand to her cheek.

“Come on, a kiss isn’t that big a deal.”

“Right here, right now?”

“Yes, right here.” 

The woman nodded. 

“Think of it as a kind of declaration.”

Cain had been biting his lip to hold back (he bit so hard that it began to bleed), but he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Don’t screw with me! There’s no way I’m letting you kiss her!”

“Stay quiet and watch, Cain. You have no say in this matter.”

Her gaze was cold enough to kill. Even so, Cain continued to resist.

“Even I, her boyfriend, haven’t kissed Alicia yet!”

“You’re her ex-boyfriend. And ‘yet’ doesn’t apply here, because you’ll never get the chance to kiss Alicia again. So just relax and enjoy the show.”

“Damn it aaaaaaall!”

“Oh, come now. Haven’t you been kissing Sheryl plenty all this time? One little kiss shouldn’t be a big deal.”

“That’s not the same as—”

“If you say another word, I’ll smash the communication crystal.”

Faced with that threat, Cain went silent. He had been completely overpowered. The woman nodded in satisfaction and turned to the pair.

“Now then, go ahead. Kiss.”

Alicia and Luke faced each other, shared a light embrace, and slowly brought their faces closer.

Luke looked just a little nervous, but Alicia was trembling with such extreme tension that her face turned bright red. Then… Their lips touched briefly. It was a kiss.

“Ah, aahhh… aaaaaaahhhh—”

With that, the image cut out. The communication crystal had shattered into pieces. In the final frame, Cain had seen their blissful faces and the woman’s smug, sadistic smile.

That alone was more than enough to shatter his sanity.

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