Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 101
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 101
“Master, take my hand.”
It was merely holding her hand to escort Belinda as she stepped down from the carriage.
Cesar couldn’t understand himself for feeling a faint displeasure at such a natural escort.
He lightly clenched and unclenched his right hand, which Belinda had always held and relied on, shaking off the doubt.
Perhaps this was due to the awareness that he was doing something improper.
The sense of committing an unjust act makes the demon’s curse even more powerful.
Yet knowing this, Cesar couldn’t stop following Belinda after Terry, even if he stayed a few steps away from the group.
“Jui-bam-tol is doing well as we asked him to.”
Terry nodded with satisfaction.
Leo was following Terry’s advice very well to keep Chaser on his left and Belinda on his right so as not to lose the adults.
Then, when Belinda’s group stopped in front of a stall selling accessories.
“My eyes aren’t playing tricks on me, right? That mage is choosing accessories for himself, not figuring out what Master wants.”
“Uh, maybe what Lady Belinda wants is jewelry…!”
“Yeah, I like this one. I’ll treasure it forever.”
“…No, that’s not it.”
Watching Chaser put on the necklace Belinda paid for and smile as if he held the most precious thing in the world, Vivian quietly denied her own words.
While Vivian and Terry exchanged opinions and observed with eagle eyes what Belinda wanted and whether Chaser was up to something, Cesar showed no reaction at all.
As if his duty was to guard Belinda, he silently surveyed her surroundings, then suddenly began moving ahead of Terry.
“Huh? Huh? Knight, where are you going?”
“I must correct false information for the honor of the Marquess’s Daughter.”
False information?
Terry craned his neck and reviewed the recent situation.
Chaser had just naturally introduced himself to the merchant selling cloud candy as Belinda’s second husband.
‘It is false information, though.’
But to go out of his way to correct it.
“That merchant probably doesn’t even know Master is from the Blanche Family, so is it really necessary to go that far?”
“…That’s true too.”
Terry watched Cesar quietly backing down again at his single comment, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
Come to think of it, at the last dinner too, he had reacted unusually to the word ‘date.’
Though it was hard to read his expression due to the mask, he was a man whose inner thoughts were difficult to guess from his actions and attitude as well.
Terry observed Cesar carefully, then asked casually, like throwing a stone into a calm lake.
“Knight, are you perhaps jealous right now?”
“…Jealous?”
The reaction was immediate. As if hearing a foreign language, Cesar repeated Terry’s words.
Was there ever a word so unsuited to his life?
Cesar had never coveted what belonged to others, nor envied what he couldn’t have.
But jealousy.
Terry, who was guessing his inner thoughts from Cesar’s lips that seemed more firmly set than usual, asked like poking a hibernating carnivore’s back with a twig.
“I don’t think I have the wrong information, but Master is engaged to the Duke of Baluashten… isn’t she?”
“That’s right.”
“And Penandel is the Duke of Baluashten’s aide.”
“…That’s right.”
A melodrama unfolded in Terry’s mind.
So this was the development of a loyal knight falling in love with his lord’s woman?
“Wow, this place is a real gem.”
“…?”
“No, I’m just telling you to cheer up.”
Terry patted his shoulder quite familiarly.
She preferred the jawline of the knight before her eyes to the Duke’s jawline she had glimpsed before.
She also thought he suited Belinda better than the Duke, who was quick-witted but seemed slow to act, compared to this man who lacked awareness but had swift action.
‘Nothing’s decided until they’re married, right?’
Besides, from what she saw before, Belinda didn’t seem to have any personal relationship with the Duke.
It was surely a political marriage tied by some benefit, as nobles typically do.
‘Then Penandel doesn’t have zero chance either.’
Having thought that far, Terry quickly shook her head. Getting involved in other people’s romantic affairs never leads to anything good.
But she could give advice.
“I hate to say this, but Knight, you’re too much of a one-trick pony with ‘the day is cold.’ You can’t even use that in summer.”
At those words, Cesar lightly furrowed his brow.
Not understanding what she was saying, it felt exactly like talking to Penandel.
“So today, watch Chaser and learn well. That one is quite the charmer.”
Though he couldn’t understand her words, to ensure Belinda’s safety, he had no choice but to watch how Chaser treated Belinda.
The naturalness of standing beside Belinda rather than behind her.
The tender manner of laying his coat where she would sit.
Even the boldness of unhesitatingly taking Belinda’s hand and bringing it to his chest.
Watching all of this, Cesar often let out heavy sighs at the stuffiness that unpleasantly pressed down on his solar plexus.
Each time, Terry perked up her ears and observed Cesar’s reactions.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because it’s entertaining. For reference, what you’re feeling right now, Knight, isn’t guilt.”
“…?”
“And it’s definitely not arrhythmia either.”
“…I’ll keep that in mind.”
He probably didn’t even understand what she said, so would it be helpful?
Terry turned her head again to follow Belinda’s figure.
But Belinda, who had been visible all along, was nowhere to be seen.
“We lost them.”
While distracted by Cesar, they had lost them.
Terry clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes to search for Belinda.
Though the street was full of crowds, she was confident in her tracking skills and believed she could find Belinda quickly.
“Oh no.”
At Cesar’s sigh from beside her, Terry patted her chest confidently.
“It’s okay, Knight! We’ll find them and catch up quickly!”
“Who are you chasing after?”
“That’s obviously…!”
Terry, who was about to respond naturally, creaked as she turned around at the voice from behind.
The empty space Cesar had been looking at, as if he had noticed something from the start, shimmered like a mirage before revealing Belinda with her arms crossed.
Terry broke out in cold sweat upon confirming the faintly glinting gold in the eyes of Chaser, who appeared with her.
“What an amazing coincidence, Master!”
“Right, I think it’s an amazing coincidence too. To have the same route from leaving the manor until now.”
“Well, I don’t think it was the same the whole time?”
After Terry played dumb with a dismissive laugh, Chaser reached toward Vivian’s back as if removing something.
A thin butterfly fluttered along with his hand.
“Uh, um…?”
“I thought this might happen, so I attached my messenger to Vivian. How about it, Master? I’m right, aren’t I?”
“…”
Terry experienced being speechless for the first time in a very long while.
And that day, Chaser earned the resentment of a resting assassin.
* * *
Chaser and Belinda’s date had turned into a large-scale company dinner due to the sudden intrusion of unexpected guests.
Belinda, who had secured seats at Yongke Restaurant, made it clear that she was quite upset.
She cut off half of the dessert portions meant for the traitors and placed them on Leo’s plate.
“This is the price for daring not to trust me and following me around.”
“This is unfair, Master!”
Belinda’s words were reasonable.
Although they hadn’t followed her because they didn’t trust her, from her perspective, it was certainly something to be upset about.
However, Terry’s protest wasn’t because his dessert had been taken away.
Terry and Vivian had half of their portions taken away, but only a third was taken from Cesar’s.
“We all made the same mistake, so why does the Knight get to keep more of his dessert?”
Well, that’s because Penandel particularly loves sweets, and if he lost the same amount as everyone else, he’d feel even more disappointed…?
Terry, who couldn’t possibly understand Belinda’s peculiar calculation method, grumbled as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
“Looking at it carefully, Master seems particularly gentle with the Knight! It shows on your face!”
For a brief moment, Terry’s protesting gaze turned toward Cesar as if gauging the atmosphere, which even Chaser failed to notice.
Belinda was momentarily speechless at the unexpected comment.
‘I’m only gentle with Penandel?’
Well, they had spent the most time together, so that could be possible.
But if that showed on Belinda’s face, then perhaps…
“Penandel resembles Misha. That’s why I feel a sense of familiarity.”
Belinda spoke calmly, but the impact spread widely.
‘Misha?’
‘Who is Misha?’
‘It sounds like someone’s nickname.’
Unlike Chaser, Vivian, and Terry who were confused, only Cesar could think of one person.
“What do you think about Belinda?”
Mikhail Zenos Pondrich.
He remembered hearing somewhere that Mikhail’s nickname was Misha.
At that moment, Cesar felt a heavy discomfort, as if a weighty stone had been placed on his heart.
“I don’t know who it is, but they seem to be quite close.”
“Could it be Lady Belinda’s first love or something?”
“Master’s first love?”
He could hear their conversation as they whispered behind Belinda’s back.
Cesar couldn’t bring himself to touch his dessert. His heartbeat quickened and his jaw tensed.
This wasn’t paternal affection. As Terry had said, it wasn’t guilt or arrhythmia either.
This was probably… jealousy.
It was a negative emotion that Cesar should never feel.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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