Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 105

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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 105

 

Hundreds of roses as a birthday gift.

 

It was clearly a gift from Chaser, the icon of showing off.

 

When I glanced sideways to observe, Chaser, who had somehow become as lively as spring flowers blooming after receiving sweet rain when midnight arrived, grinned at me and playfully winked.

 

Why does that guilty human even wink so refreshingly?

 

I ignored Chaser’s wink and reluctantly caressed the soft petals that were like a child’s cheek.

 

Well, it’s romantic in its own way, but for someone like me who values efficiency, it’s not particularly useful…

 

“…?”

 

Just then, I felt something cold and hard touch my fingertips as I caressed the petals.

 

When I pulled my hand out, I could see a butterfly sitting proudly on my index finger, which was covered in rose fragrance. Its brilliant purple patterns were so gorgeous that it looked like an expensive piece of jewelry.

 

‘Judging by how heavy it feels, it doesn’t seem to be illusion magic.’

 

The moment I flicked my finger to shoo away the butterfly, a lukewarm warmth flowed through my fingertip into my body. Just like when Chaser poured his mana into my empty mana vessel.

 

So this magic stone that supplies me with mana like Leo’s Tori is Chaser’s real gift. It was much more practical than flowers, so I was quite pleased with it.

 

Unlike when I was examining the roses, as I spent quite a while fondling the magic stone, Chaser’s voice mixed with laughter reached me.

 

“It seems the magic stone has found something more beautiful than hundreds of roses.”

 

“Oh my, what to do with that cunning mouth of his. Master, don’t mind him and please hurry up and open the next gift too.”

 

I agreed with Terry’s words, but currently, Chaser’s gift ranked higher than Terry’s free assassination voucher.

 

Hiding such thoughts, I chose a gift box about the size of my head this time and untied the ribbon.

 

Inside were about five or six mirrors that filled the box completely.

 

Thanks to the magic stones embedded like decorations and the magic circle carved on the back, I could guess that these mirrors were magical tools and Vivian’s gift, but…

 

‘I have no idea what they’re used for.’

 

Vivian wouldn’t have made simple mirrors for me.

 

While I was examining the mirrors this way and that like someone who’s bad with machines.

 

Vivian, who had been restlessly fidgeting with her fingers, suddenly raised her hand and shouted.

 

“I heard that when you were taming Cerberus, Chaser summoning mirrors was helpful. So I made these! They float in the air when you inject mana into them.”

 

“…So you’re saying you prepared this gift.”

 

“Ah.”

 

Vivian belatedly covered her mouth, but it was already too late.

 

“Disqualified.”

 

Terry mercilessly declared Vivian’s disqualification.

 

Terry seemed to be quite serious about this judging of unknown purpose. However, unfortunately, the disqualified Vivian’s gift ranked higher than Terry’s free assassination voucher.

 

Now there were two gifts left.

 

One was a thin and simple letter envelope made by folding colored paper, and the other was a thick maroon envelope that looked like it might contain contracts.

 

I could tell at a glance which one was Leo’s gift.

 

‘I should eat the delicious thing first.’

 

I carefully opened the colored paper letter envelope that was clearly Leo’s gift.

 

Let’s see, is it a letter?

 

I carefully read through the crooked handwriting.

 

It seemed he had written his name out of habit, then belatedly remembered that the gift should be delivered anonymously.

 

This letter alone is enough, but what kind of gift did our Leo prepare?

 

Chaser’s illusion magic had brought daylight inside the mansion, but just poking my head out the window a little brought night to my bedside. The garden outside the window was trapped in a rainy night.

 

If it’s this dark, I won’t be able to see Leo’s gift.

 

However, contrary to my worries, I was able to discover Leo’s gift without difficulty.

 

In the flower bed that had been empty last autumn due to Leo’s failed magic, bright yellow flowers like evening primroses were in full bloom.

 

No, those weren’t flowers.

 

They were lights like fireflies that would never wither even in the middle of the night. And Leo’s Tori was busily flying above them, pouring out mana.

 

Seeing that, my heart suddenly swelled with emotion.

 

It felt like just yesterday that he was losing sleep from guilt over burning the flowers.

 

When on earth did Leo grow enough to make flowers bloom for me in the middle of winter?

 

I couldn’t say anything for a while, then finally managed to speak.

 

“…Not bad, Jui-bam-tol. Very, not bad at all.”

 

May this overwhelming feeling reach Leo. And I tore open the seal of the last gift, the maroon letter envelope.

 

Actually, I had the least idea about Lord Penandel’s gift.

 

Inside the envelope I opened without much expectation were a ruby and a couple of sheets of paper.

 

The ruby was deep in color and transparent, and the craftsmanship was so exquisite that it would be fine to string it up and wear it as is.

 

It was excellent enough to satisfy the aesthetic sense I had gained through Belinda’s memories, but the fact that he gave just the gem alone rather than in accessory form was very much like Lord Penandel.

 

I chuckled and examined the enclosed papers.

 

Thinking it might be a quality certificate for the gem, I carelessly skimmed the first sentence, when I realized it was a letter that began like someone’s confession.

 

I swear I have never forgotten that incident for even a single moment. It would be proper to visit you directly and tell you about the events of that time in detail, but please understand that this humble person’s body has grown old and frail, unable to endure a long journey.

 

And when I was halfway through reading the letter.

 

“Lady Belinda?”

 

My expression began to gradually harden.

 

“Is there some problem?”

 

“…I was just checking if it was a forged quality certificate.”

 

I forced my expression back to normal and hurriedly folded the letter back into the envelope.

 

Terry, who had been looking back and forth between my expression and Lord Penandel, made a suspicious face but then said.

 

“Now you need to make your choice, Master.”

 

I liked all the gifts except for one person’s, but the answer had been practically decided from the beginning.

 

“I choose Jui…”

 

But Terry quickly cut off my words and raised his voice.

 

“Before that, let me mention that I was the one who told Jui-bam-tol about the tradition that children under 15 must wear ribbons in their hair when attending a noble’s formal birthday party.”

 

Hey… there’s no such tradition…

 

Leo, who didn’t know he’d been tricked by Terry, just nodded earnestly, and each time he did, the ribbon strings hanging by his face fluttered wildly.

 

“Now, please hurry and choose the gift you like most, Master!”

 

My heart naturally went to Leo’s flowers, but my gaze kept drifting to the ribbon Leo had tied in his hair.

 

Leo’s flowers, or Terry’s cunning trick of carefully packaging Leo?

 

Just when I was pondering until the very last moment about what choice to make.

 

“This is the first time I’ve heard of such a tradition…”

 

The clueless tin can opened his mouth. In my urgency, I quickly pulled Leo into my arms.

 

“This is what I like most.”

 

“…!”

 

Leo, who had been pulled into my embrace unexpectedly, peeked his head up to look at me and said.

 

“B-but I’m not a gift…”

 

“If you’re wearing a ribbon, you’re all my gift.”

 

Is that how it works?

 

Leo, who had been pondering deeply over my words, chattered like a recorded doll.

 

“H-happy birthday, Lady Belinda.”

 

It was the fifth time I’d heard those congratulations.

 

Though the time had long passed midnight, in this mansion where night never came, these were words of congratulation I could hear anytime.

 

* * *

 

After the gift-giving ceremony ended, we had simple refreshments accompanied by expensive wine.

 

Whether expensive things are indeed good, what started as sipping one or two mouthfuls somehow became emptying one bottle, then two bottles, and when I came to my senses, Terry and Chaser had become half-drunk.

 

Watching the two men whose faces had flushed red as they began exchanging “you bastard” and “that bastard” compliments with each other, I went out to the balcony to get some fresh air.

 

Suddenly my vision darkened completely and I found myself standing in the middle of the night.

 

I looked back at the manor that held the eternally unsetting sun, then lightly leaned against the terrace railing.

 

Raindrops splashed onto my cheeks from the driving rain, but I enjoyed the night breeze and sound of rain that cooled my slightly flushed cheeks.

 

After cooling my cheeks in the night breeze for a while, I opened my mouth.

 

“Since when did you know that the pendant I wear is a magic-sealing stone?”

 

“….”

 

The answer didn’t come immediately.

 

When I turned around, I could see Lord Penandel, who was holding an umbrella over me, hesitating.

 

How strange. He looked like a large dog desperately avoiding its owner’s gaze after causing trouble.

 

Looking back, Lord Penandel had shown an almost obsessive interest in the choker I wore from our very first meeting.

 

Now I know that was his way of being kind.

 

Since a noble lady was wearing a magic-sealing stone that’s only used on vicious criminals, he must have intuited there was an unpleasant reason behind it.

 

‘He could have just ignored it or told me the truth.’

 

He wasn’t callous enough to carelessly meddle in another person’s affairs.

 

“…I apologize. I just thought it would be good to know about the young lady’s enemies, so I investigated on my own. I didn’t intend to give you such information as a gift….”

 

“I’m not blaming you. It’s just….”

 

I trailed off and took out the gift he had given me.

 

The letter, crumpled from being hastily stuffed away, was something like a memoir written by Master Servator.

 

Once the most famous jeweler in the Royal Capital, he reportedly returned to his hometown and lived in seclusion after his eyesight was damaged in an unexpected accident.

 

It must have been great fortune for Lord Penandel that Master Servator’s hometown was in the Northern Territory.

 

I still vividly remember the day I received a commission for rare, high-grade ruby work from the late Jonas Blanche.

 

Not long after that, I received a subsequent request to replace the ruby.

 

The letter calmly recounted the events of that day.

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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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