Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are Are So Dangerous! [BL]-Chapter 100: Shattered Facades

"...Are you scared, Rocco?"

The voice from above him caused Rocco to shake his head vigorously.

It was just a façade, a mere act of bravado.

The truth was, Rocco was terrified.

But still, he didn’t want to show his fear in front in front of them.

He didn’t want to appear weak in front of them.

As his body trembled, clearly betraying his emotional state, he squeezed his eyes shut and crouched down in desperation.

Then, out of nowhere, the same warm breath he had felt earlier brushed against his ear once again, and Sylas’s deep yet incredibly gentle voice wove through the air.

"I told you I would protect you. As long as I’m here, you have nothing to fear."

This time, he wouldn’t be fooled.

He knew that this was just like before, another lie meant to deceive and manipulate him.

He understood that, but despite that, tears still streamed down his face.

"Ugh...!"

Rocco slowly lifted his eyelids slightly.

Through the blurry vision caused by his tears, he saw the figures of his parents in this life.

His father and mother, were the ones who were trying to kill him.

They were nothing like the kind, loving parents from his past life.

But when he looked closer... he saw the unmistakable expression of his past father reflected on the face of the man in front of him.

’—We love you, our precious child. Forever, always.’

’Who said such terrible things about you, my dear? I’ll beat them up for you!’

His parents from the past, crying for him, laughing with him, getting angry for him.

"—What did you think you were doing to my son?"

The face his father wore as he glared at his mother was unmistakably the same expression Rocco had known from his father in his previous life.

From there, it was a blur, or perhaps it was just that Rocco was zoning out.

Sylas, seeing him in a daze, gently lifted him up and carried him outside.

Following them, his mother was restrained by the members of the organization and brought out as well.

Although Rocco was still firmly held in Sylas’s arms, it was nothing compared to the rough grasp with which his mother was being controlled.

The difference was night and day.

Rocco’s mother glared at him with hatred as she settled into Sylas’s arms, her voice filled with venomous words right until the end.

"It’s all your fault!"

"If only you had never been born!"

Her words were harsh and unrelenting.

When she first spat those words at him, Rocco froze, unable to move, but after hearing them repeated so many times, he had grown somewhat numb by the time his mother was being taken away.

Rocco caught a glimpse of his father bustling around in the corner of his vision, and he wondered how much time had passed since everything had started.

Now, his father was apparently looking for something his mother might have hidden in the annex.

Watching as his father issued commands to the members of the organization, Rocco felt the need to speak up, though it was quiet and sudden.

"...Brother, what about Laxus?"

It was a question that had been lingering in his mind, but Rocco had stayed silent up until that point.

His sudden words clearly startled Sylas.

He flinched, then looked down at Rocco with an expression that seemed to check if he was alright.

It was surprising to see Sylas looking like he was trying to gauge Rocco’s mood.

Maybe he was feeling somewhat guilty for deceiving and mocking him earlier.

...No, Rocco thought, Sylas probably wasn’t feeling guilty at all.

Maybe he was just fooling himself into thinking that.

"...He’s returned. When I noticed your reaction to leaving the main building, I had him leave the estate."

Rocco nodded his head slightly.

It seemed that Sylas had sensed trouble coming and before his father could catch on, had sent Laxus away.

As expected of Sylas.

After all, the Di Malvento family was facing a significant crisis right now.

"...Rocco."

It was a quiet call, and when Rocco slowly lifted his head a few seconds later, he was met not with an expressionless face, but with one that made Rocco’s chest ache painfully—an expression of deep sorrow.

Sylas held him tighter, almost as if to say he wouldn’t let him go.

The warmth was oddly comforting, and Rocco who was also feeling it, instinctively closed his eyes.

At that moment, a tear that had been collecting in the corner of his eye finally fell.

It was then that Rocco realized he had been crying all along.

And the tears still hadn’t stopped.

"Rocco, I’m sorry. It seems... I didn’t have enough words to explain."

Tears continued to fall, one after another, without seeming to end.

Sylas wiped them away tirelessly.

He gently cupped Rocco’s red, tear-streaked cheek and placed a finger on Rocco’s trembling lips, trying to soothe his sobs.

"I will have to settle things with that woman, for the Di Malvento family... but afterward, would you listen to me?"

There was nothing mechanical about Sylas’s voice—it was filled with a deep regret and longing that seemed almost painful. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

Rocco had been determined not to be fooled again.

He had planned to pretend he hadn’t heard anything, to shut it all out.

However, hearing his desperate, pleading voice, that expression like a stray dog, broke something inside him, and he couldn’t help but feel a pang in his chest.

"...I understand."

Rocco nodded his head quietly, and Sylas let out a relieved sigh.

Afterward, Rocco returned to the main building and listened to the reports from the staff.

According to them, it seemed that ever since his birthday party, his mother had been confined to the corner of the main building, almost under house arrest.

The excuse had been something along the lines of "house arrest" or "discipline."

However, despite the situation, his mother’s position as the lady of the Di Malvento family remained unchanged, so the surveillance was not overly strict, and it wasn’t as if she was being treated like a prisoner.