I’m In Trouble Because The Darkened Heroes Are Obsessed With Me Chapter 68

Behind the mask was the face she had expected.

Tousled silver hair. Blood-red eyes.

The man before her was undoubtedly Rashiel.

Even though she had already suspected it, seeing his face with her own eyes sent a wave of confusion through Elsez.

Her grip on his arm unconsciously tightened.

Rashiel, who had been silently watching her, pried the mask from her hand and let it drop to the floor. Then, he gently clasped her empty hand in his.

In his gaze, Elsez saw emotions so deep and unreadable that she couldn’t begin to decipher them.

But at the center of all those emotions, was her.

Rashiel stared at her, still dazed, then slowly parted his lips.

“Hello, Ruel.”

His low, languid voice brushed against her ears.

Elsez’s lips trembled.

He had called her name.

Not Anna Ritz, not Elsez Rohen—but Ruel. And his voice was entirely different from how he had spoken to her before.

She had already suspected that Rashiel had realized her identity, ever since they faced each other in the imperial palace days ago.

But hearing Ruel’s name pass from his lips made her heart pound.

For the first time, someone recognized her.

In this world, where no one had ever known who she truly was.

Elsez bit her trembling lip before asking,

“…How did you know?”

“I watched your actions, your speech, your preferences—I put the pieces together. I wasn’t completely certain, but…”

That day at Count Lort’s estate, when they had fought each other, Elsez wasn’t the only one who had felt a strange sense of familiarity.

Rashiel, too, had sensed something eerily familiar about the mysterious woman who spoke like Ruel.

And so, he had begun to investigate her.

A woman who, a month ago, suddenly started acting like a completely different person.

Her conversations with Tezette.

While Rashiel was still piecing together his suspicions, Cedric had framed him as the mastermind behind the demon god’s resurrection.

He had used that accusation to his advantage, drawing Elsez in as his assistant to observe her up close.

But even then, intuition alone wasn’t enough to be sure. He needed final confirmation.

“So I leaked information about the gathering.”

Rashiel reached out and tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

That one wisp of hair, obscuring her gaze as she looked up at him, had been bothering him.

“If you were Ruel, I knew you would come to stop me.”

He hadn’t expected her to throw herself into the chaos so recklessly, though.

As he recalled the moment she had leapt onto the stage, his expression darkened.

Listening to his words, Elsez suddenly remembered the conversation she had overheard between Rashiel’s butler and the masked man at his mansion.

That had been when she first realized he was deliberately trying to lure her in.

“But it doesn’t make sense. A dead person returning in someone else’s body—how could you even consider that?”

“Of course, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Then why did you believe it could be me?”

“Because you told me yourself.”

“What?”

“You once told me that you were from another world.”

“…I said that?!”

“Shh.”

Startled, Elsez had unknowingly raised her voice.

Rashiel pressed a finger against her lips, glancing warily toward the door.

Realizing her mistake, Elsez quickly checked for movement outside before lowering her voice.

“And you believed that absurd story?”

She could understand anyone else dismissing it, but for Rashiel—logical, rational Rashiel—to accept such an impossible claim was hard to fathom.

But Rashiel, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, answered plainly.

“Because you were the one who said it.”

He had to believe it.

After Ruel died, he had needed to believe that she hadn’t actually perished—that she had simply returned to another world.

Because that was the only way he could hold on to the faint hope that they would meet again.

Elsez’s heart ached.

He had waited for her, believing in her words.

“…I’m sorry, Rashiel. I truly thought you might have done all of this.”

Every piece of evidence Cedric had fabricated had pointed to him.

Even though she had wanted to believe in him, she had been forced to doubt.

But now, standing face-to-face with him, all that suspicion melted away.

Because the man behind the mask—

Was still the same as before.

She still didn’t know the whole truth, but at this moment, she wanted to trust him.

Elsez had thought Rashiel would be hurt by her mistrust.

But his response was entirely unexpected.

“No, you did the right thing.”

“What…?”

“Blindly believing would have been reckless. You were right to doubt and be cautious.”

“Then… this whole incident…”

“It wasn’t me.”

“You got caught up in the crown prince’s scheme, and by coincidence, we ran into each other?”

“That’s right.”

“Then why didn’t you defend yourself?”

“…Because at the time, I didn’t care.”

That day, Rashiel had infiltrated Count Lort’s estate, pretending to be the crown prince, to uncover the method for opening a dimensional rift.

A way to open the rift and find a path back to the world where Ruel had originally lived.

That was why he hadn’t cared when Cedric framed him as the culprit.

Because he had never intended to remain in this world without Ruel.

“…But now, it matters.”

Rashiel gazed at Elsez and spoke softly.

“Because my world is here.”

That was why he had decided to expose Cedric’s crimes.

Because he couldn’t leave this world—the world she lived in—under such a threat.

Elsez tilted her head slightly at Rashiel’s cryptic words, then, catching something in his crimson gaze, her lips parted.

“The prince in that play… That was you, wasn’t it?”

Rashiel didn’t answer, but she already knew the truth.

“…You used a magic artifact to suppress your eye color? That’s why you lost the ability to see colors?”

When she had first met the young Rashiel, he hadn’t been colorblind. Which meant it must have happened later.

“When I first met you, my eyes were the purple ones you remember. But as I grew and my mana recovered, they began turning red…”

Rashiel idly touched his earring, and before Elsez’s eyes, his crimson irises shifted into a deep violet.

“That’s when I started using the artifact.”

“……”

“For the first few years, there were no side effects. But just before I joined the campaign against Lezantia, the symptoms began.”

“……”

“And after that battle… when you died… my world lost its color.”

His voice was calm and steady, but suddenly, he fell silent.

“…Ruel?”

Tears dripped from Elsez’s eyes.

“…Damn it, this is so unfair.”

She turned her face away, trying to wipe them, but once they started falling, they wouldn’t stop.

Her chest ached. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the weight he had carried alone all these years.

Rashiel cupped her cheeks, gently wiping away her tears.

His cool fingertips brushed against the warmth of her skin.

Strangely, that warmth felt… welcome.

Rashiel muttered under his breath as he looked at her tear-streaked face.

“You’re crying… so why does this make me happy?”

Because in this moment, she was right in front of him.

And she was crying because of him, for him.

But the moment he finished speaking, Elsez’s fist slammed into his stomach.

Caught off guard, Rashiel doubled over slightly, gasping from the unexpected blow.

Then, through the pain, a chuckle slipped from his lips.

Elsez glared at him, furrowing her brows.

“What’s so funny? How can you laugh? Do you have any idea how much of a mess you made of—”

Her angry words were abruptly cut off when he pulled her into an embrace.

Stunned, she stood frozen in his arms.

Then, near her ear, his languid, low voice murmured—

“I missed you.”

“……”

“I missed you so much, Ruel.”

His voice, his arms around her—both were trembling ever so slightly.

She couldn’t bring herself to push him away.

“…When we get out of here, I’ll hit you again.”

Despite her words, her hand moved on its own, patting his back lightly.

His heartbeat, loud and strong against her palm, gave her a strange sense of comfort.

But even as time passed, Rashiel showed no sign of letting go.

Pressed into his embrace due to their difference in height, Elsez squirmed and muttered,

“Rashiel. Don’t you think we should leave now?”

“We could just stay like this forever.”

What is wrong with this guy?

…Maybe that punch to the gut hurt more than I thought.

She finally managed to push him off, though with the cramped space of the storage room, they were still practically pressed together.

Checking for movement outside, Elsez retrieved a pair of gloves from her inventory and slipped one on.

“Let’s go.”

“…Go where?”

Rashiel’s expression tensed with unease.

The moment they stepped outside, they would be surrounded by enemies. Staying here wasn’t an option, but he also didn’t want to drag Elsez into danger.

But as she bit down on the second glove to pull it on, she answered in an almost casual tone—

As if the answer were obvious.

“To kill the bastard who did this to you.”

Whoever hurt what’s mine…

I won’t let them off easy.