Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 106

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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 106

 

Along with Ru’s exchange request, the red sealing stone arrived at Master Servator’s workshop.

 

He was an excellent jeweler.

 

Though he didn’t know about sealing stones, he instinctively recognized that it wasn’t a simple ruby. It was like the instinct of someone who had handled gems for decades.

 

However, the problem was that he was too excellent a jeweler.

 

I was aware that I was participating in some conspiracy. However, at that time, I became deeply absorbed in the work of drawing out the maximum brilliance from a mineral I had never encountered before.

 

He didn’t accept the suspicious commission because of the promise to pay with his uncle’s ruby as the price for guaranteed secrecy.

 

It was purely because of his pride as a jeweler.

 

To not forget my sin, I have kept the ruby that Jonas Blanche commissioned all this time. To express my apologies, however slight, I enclose the ruby I was first commissioned to work on.

 

I took out the ruby from the letter envelope and touched it with my fingertips.

 

The cold touch of the gem seemed to painfully pierce my heart.

 

I do not know about the client. However, I remember the face of the person who came to find me and that he carried proof of being from the Blanche family.

 

His eyes and hair were brown, and he had a faint but long scar on his left cheek.

 

I could vividly picture the criminal’s face revealed at the end of the letter.

 

It matched the description of Schubel’s aide, a former Stray.

 

I put away the letter and took a deep breath. Then I summoned the Quest window.

 

[Quest] Where am I? Who am I?

 

▼[new] Obtain the final reward

 

Once I obtained this reward, I could deactivate the translator.

 

I had been understanding Belinda through all sorts of unreasonable antics for this purpose, but my steps slowed as I approached the goal.

 

For the first time, I was afraid to see Belinda’s memories.

 

I feared being swept away by the storms of the past and losing myself like last time.

 

‘But I can’t stop now.’

 

To decide whether to execute ‘that plan’ or not, I had to obtain the final fragment of memory.

 

After hesitating for a moment, I quietly turned to look at Penandel, who was guarding behind me.

 

“My lord, won’t you come here and see the flowers your disciple has grown?”

 

“I am…”

 

He was about to refuse my suggestion when he suddenly paused as if discovering something. Then he immediately stood beside me.

 

“I shall do so.”

 

Due to the rain, even the moonlight was dim and the surroundings were dark, but Penandel’s massive figure had a distinct presence even in the darkness.

 

Using his presence as an anchor, I quietly closed my eyes.

 

‘Obtain.’

 

As I whispered this, my eyelids trembled as if I were having a shallow dream, and for just an instant, my consciousness sank into the swamp of the past.

 

* * *

 

“Miss Belinda, what on earth were you thinking when you insulted Erenko’s heir! He was someone who should never be made an enemy. His family was one of the few that supported your succession to the Marquess title!”

 

Belinda looked with an annoyed expression at Silvio Viscount, who had suddenly come to find her and was lecturing her.

 

“He’s just a second son, isn’t he?”

 

“Even as a second son, he’s the legitimate heir of Erenko. The head of the Erenko family will never overlook this matter.”

 

“Silvio Viscount, stop barking like a stubborn old dog and look at this instead.”

 

Belinda waved her hand as if shooing away an annoying fly and pointed to two hats with elaborate decorations on their brims.

 

“Which one suits me better?”

 

“…”

 

“The dress code for the masquerade party I’m attending is Rococo style. Wasn’t this fashionable when you were young, Viscount? Which one do you think is better?”

 

At those words, doubt appeared on Silvio Viscount’s wrinkled face.

 

Why does this person keep destroying herself like this? She used to be clever and never treated her subordinates carelessly.

 

The Viscount spoke again with a sorrowful expression.

 

“Miss, you are the legitimate heir of the Blanche family. Please secure your position as successor…”

 

“Viscount, what did I ask you? Didn’t I ask you to help me choose a hat?”

 

“When was the last time Rachel and the Dukoff family came to see you?”

 

Despite Belinda’s irritated words, Silvio Viscount did not lower his voice.

 

Silvio, Rachel, and Dukoff.

 

These three were vassal families that had followed the Blanche family since the old days when the Blanche family was a Count family with vast estates.

 

Even when the Blanche family’s fortunes declined and they had to sell all their estate lands and live like fallen nobles in an old manor in the Royal Capital, they never lost their loyalty to the Blanche family – truly the most loyal of loyal retainers.

 

Adelia Blanche, who never forgot their loyalty, distributed important business rights to the three families as soon as she restored the family.

 

Therefore, to become the head of the Blanche family, one could never ignore the influence of those three families.

 

Silvio Viscount was saying that among them, the heads of the Rachel and Dukoff families had abandoned Belinda and sided with Schubel.

 

At the Viscount’s weighty admonition, Belinda’s hands finally stopped fiddling with the hat.

 

“Miss, you must face reality. Currently, the Marquess is not mentally sound. If he wrote a will with a demented mind…”

 

“Stop it, Viscount.”

 

“No, perhaps everything was planned from the beginning for this moment. Perhaps he has been deceiving you all along to pass the family headship to his own child…!”

 

Crash!

 

Finally unable to bear it, Belinda threw the teacup on the table to the floor.

 

“It seems the Viscount is the one who’s demented. You can’t even grasp what I just asked. If you won’t help me choose a hat, please leave now.”

 

“…If you send me away now, I will never come to see you again.”

 

Silvio declared this was the last chance.

 

However, Belinda paid no heed and urged the innocent maids and servants.

 

“Didn’t you hear me? Silvio Viscount is unwell in body and mind due to old age. You should escort him out. Do I have to give detailed instructions for something like this too?”

 

“I understand your will, Miss.”

 

Silvio Viscount, his face reddened, stood up abruptly from his seat.

 

He brushed off the servants’ support and left, limping while leaning on his cane.

 

Belinda watched silently as Silvio Viscount’s carriage left the manor.

 

Only after his carriage disappeared from view did she speak.

 

“I’m going to see Father. Prepare for departure.”

 

* * *

 

The head of the Blanche family was recuperating at a villa in the outskirts of the Royal Capital.

 

Belinda visited her uncle from time to time, but she could count on her fingers the times she had seen him awake.

 

Because his mental confusion and headaches were so severe, he was drugged all day long.

 

Belinda dismissed everyone, took a deep breath in front of her uncle’s room, composed her expression, and opened the door.

 

“Father.”

 

Inside the room, where the smells of withered flowers and death were mixed in chaos, an indescribable nauseating sweet stench wafted.

 

Nevertheless, Belinda took a seat beside her sleeping uncle without losing her smile.

 

“You’re always lying down whenever I come.”

 

It wasn’t this bad just two years ago.

 

The illness that even priests couldn’t cure began eating away at her uncle from the inside.

 

The person who had been so gentle became irritable from pain, but he never once got angry at his niece.

 

Belinda tightly grasped her sleeping uncle’s emaciated hand.

 

That day, her uncle had believed Belinda’s words that she hadn’t pushed Schubel down the stairs.

 

However, he also believed Schubel’s words that he had been pushed by Belinda.

 

He wasn’t cruel enough to believe only one of his two children.

 

Uncle was that kind of person, which was why she had chosen him and ultimately accepted him as family, but at that moment, Belinda couldn’t forgive Uncle.

 

Thinking that he too would prioritize his blood child, Belinda caused all sorts of trouble to confirm Uncle’s affection.

 

Even when Belinda did things that harmed the family’s reputation, Uncle always gently embraced his niece.

 

“Bel, you weren’t hurt anywhere, were you?”

 

“This uncle will solve everything. You don’t need to worry about anything.”

 

“I’m sorry for being such a pathetic father, Bel.”

 

Even knowing it was foolish behavior, she couldn’t control herself.

 

Despite going to such lengths, this is how it ended up. Dozens, hundreds of times a day, she finds herself doubting Uncle.

 

‘Did Uncle really orchestrate all of this to put Schubel in the position of family head?’

 

‘Why is Schubel so naturally taking Uncle’s place when he’s collapsed?’

 

‘I’m the one who received heir training, so why does Schubel know about all the family’s affairs?’

 

Perhaps…

 

“Maybe everything was planned from the beginning for this moment. Maybe he’s been deceiving you all along to pass the family headship to his own child…!”

 

Perhaps Silvio Viscount’s words might be right.

 

Even those tears shed while hiding in the thicket on Father’s funeral day might have been false.

 

But.

 

“Still, it’s okay.”

 

She could forgive him.

 

If she believed Uncle’s affection was real, then even if it were false, it would become truth to her.

 

“So just say one thing, Father. That you love me like before. Just those words and I’ll be fine.”

 

At those words, Uncle’s eyelids trembled like a miracle.

 

His drowsy eyes, dulled by medicine, hazily surveyed the surroundings before turning toward Belinda.

 

Then his gaunt hand, like a dry tree branch, caressed Belinda’s cheek.

 

“Bel, poor thing.”

 

She knew. That Uncle’s mind wasn’t sound.

 

“Won’t you become my daughter?”

 

That present and past were jumbled together, and he couldn’t even properly recognize the person in front of him.

 

That the words Uncle was uttering now had no meaning or intention.

 

Even so.

 

“What… what do you mean? I’m already Father’s daughter. So why are you saying such things?”

 

Belinda ended up shouting.

 

“Tell me. Tell me why you needed me!”

 

She couldn’t bear it without asking.

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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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