Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 155

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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 155

However, Belinda quickly erased her melancholy expression and met Leo’s eyes.

“Leo, this is sudden, but you’ll need to stay at the Magic Tower with Chaser for the next two weeks. Will that be okay?”

“…Yes.”

“During that time, you won’t be able to see me or go to the Academy. Chaser will be by your side, but you’ll only have strangers around you. Can you handle it bravely?”

Belinda’s face looked different from usual as she asked, so Leo deliberately nodded with a dignified attitude.

“Yes, I can do it.”

“Good, that’s my Jui-bam-tol.”

Finally seeming relieved by those words, Belinda hugged Leo tightly.

Leo immediately noticed that Belinda’s embrace felt different from usual.

It was a bit more desperate, making it hard to breathe. Something bad must have happened.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have killed that monster.

The child trembled with anxiety, and instead of asking what had happened, he quietly pressed his cheek against Belinda’s shoulder, soaking in her warmth.

Then he spoke carefully.

“Even if killing the monster in the dungeon was a very, very bad thing, I absolutely won’t regret it.”

Belinda pulled the child from her embrace and looked at Leo’s face.

His clear blue eyes sparkled like pebbles under the sunlight.

“You told me, didn’t you? That I bravely saved you. Since it was saving you, there’s no way I’d regret it. Never.”

Those words finally made Belinda smile.

“They say children grow up quickly.”

That smile was enough.

Leo felt like he could bravely endure the coming two weeks.

* * *

Though there are individual differences, it takes an average of two weeks for a demon beast’s curse to manifest.

During those two weeks, Belinda had to stay trapped in the Temple, under surveillance that wasn’t quite surveillance.

Of course, this didn’t apply only to Belinda.

Giuseppe and Ophelia also couldn’t step a single foot outside the Temple, being checked to see if their eye color had turned red or if they had developed violent tendencies.

Fortunately, they were granted freedom within the Temple, but Belinda grew sick of it after just one day.

“The food is terrible. Are they all herbivores? Why do they only eat grass?”

“Good heavens, surely you’re not telling me all the priests sleep in coffin-like beds like this?”

“Stop ringing the bell at the crack of dawn. Please, let me sleep.”

It truly felt like experiencing the daily life of a monk seeking enlightenment.

The Temple’s strict regulations emphasizing integrity, purity, and restraint had become this rigid since Giuseppe became High Priest.

The regular priests said their treatment had actually improved compared to before, but for Belinda, accustomed to the life of high nobility, each day was torture.

Among all the hardships, what was most difficult to endure was…

“Are you managing well?”

“Are you joking right now?”

The daily interview time with Giuseppe.

She had hidden herself in a secluded place for the interview time, but somehow he found her like a ghost.

“I only managed because they brought food from outside. Without that, I would have escaped long ago.”

“The Temple is not a prison.”

“Oh my, being locked up all day made me think it was a prison. Who would have thought it was a Temple.”

Belinda sarcastically retorted and turned her head away from Giuseppe sitting across from her.

Nevertheless, Giuseppe spoke casually without showing any sign of offense.

“The tea has a lovely fragrance.”

Belinda half-listened while quietly savoring the aroma of black tea brewed from premium tea leaves Terry had sent.

She didn’t even offer tea to her companion out of politeness, knowing he would refuse.

Now it was the last day of the second week.

Naturally, Belinda showed no symptoms whatsoever.

She confirmed through Chaser’s letters, which arrived at scheduled times daily, that Leo was the same.

Belinda would smile while checking Leo’s letter that arrived with Chaser’s multiple times, then stiffen her expression upon feeling a silent gaze.

Though the interviews had begun under the pretext of checking if Belinda was affected by the demon beast’s curse, the two didn’t exchange many words. They simply spent time doing their own things.

However, occasionally Giuseppe would observe her with strangely curious eyes.

“Is the child doing well?”

Belinda’s eyes immediately turned fierce.

“Mind your own business.”

That day in the dungeon, Giuseppe had stubbornly insisted that Leo’s safety should also be managed by the Temple.

She had rejected the opportunity to stay together and sent Leo to the Magic Tower because she was worried that Leo might actually be affected by the demon beast’s curse.

Fortunately, it was revealed that Leo was safe, but…

From that day through the past two weeks, Belinda had realized something.

Giuseppe in 【Hirome】 was an excellent patron who showered infinite affection on the protagonist, but his relationship with Belinda would forever remain parallel lines.

Giuseppe was truly a devout and upright priest.

His purpose was always in goodness, he extended his hand without hesitation to those who needed help, and he wouldn’t tolerate even a trace of corruption.

While Belinda could respect his beliefs and convictions, she also understood that he could no longer be Leo’s ‘patron.’

‘If it were the protagonist raised by Ophelia, it might be different, but as long as I’m taking care of Leo, there will be no common ground with him.’

Giuseppe’s priority was always absolute good and justice, without a single exception.

So having met Giuseppe as ‘Belinda,’ and with him having seen Belinda’s past misdeeds through his power of insight, their relationship was already irreversible.

Therefore, Belinda boldly gave up on earning Giuseppe’s favor.

“You asked me before. Whether I had memories of another world.”

“That’s correct.”

“I don’t know what basis you had for saying that, but you were wrong.”

Even without Giuseppe’s patronage, Leo could obtain what he wanted.

Most importantly, she didn’t want to send Leo to Giuseppe’s side when he prioritized his own justice over a young child.

Belinda finished organizing her thoughts cleanly and poured another cup of tea, placing it in front of him as if offering a final courtesy.

“I hope today is the last time we’re disgustingly entangled like this.”

With those final words, Belinda rose from her seat.

Giuseppe remained in that spot for a long time even after Belinda left the room.

He stared blankly at where Belinda had been sitting, then tilted his head slightly and muttered.

“I can’t understand it.”

The Belinda that Giuseppe saw through his power of insight was undoubtedly a wicked person.

Since divine power always revealed only the truth, Giuseppe had never doubted the truth his power revealed.

But regarding Belinda… very occasionally, he found himself impiously doubting his power.

How she had immediately put her own shoes on Leo’s bare feet upon finding the child in the dungeon, how she worried about others’ lives more than her own.

And most of all.

“I stabbed the demon beast’s heart.”

That she had spoken such a lie.

Giuseppe had immediately recognized, upon checking the angle of the weapon that pierced the demon beast’s heart, that it was an attack delivered from a young child’s eye level.

So it must have been Leo, not Belinda, who stabbed the demon beast.

Yet Belinda had held the child who could become a demon beast at any moment in her arms to protect him, while lying that she had killed the demon beast.

After thinking about Belinda for a long time, Giuseppe unconsciously brought the tea in front of him to his lips.

The fragrance of the tea Belinda drank during every interview swirled in his mouth.

As if Belinda were still here, Giuseppe unconsciously checked the empty seat across from him, then shook his head.

* * *

When I came out after leaving Giuseppe behind.

As if she had been waiting for me, Ophelia stood hesitantly in front of me.

“Marquess, have you finished your meeting?”

Since Ophelia had been avoiding me all this time, this was the first proper face-to-face encounter we’d had in two weeks.

Ophelia cleared her throat awkwardly and carefully held out a paper bag she was carrying.

“I baked some cookies. I remembered that Leo likes lemon flavor, so I also baked plenty of lemon madeleines.”

As soon as I received the paper bag, a savory aroma wafted up.

Ophelia continued with a dejected expression.

“I couldn’t speak to you properly that day… I was grateful in the dungeon. And I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you properly again.”

Had she been constantly worried about that day when the barrier collapsed due to the Siren’s song?

I silently watched Ophelia’s dejected appearance before opening my mouth.

“Ophelia, are you satisfied with life at the Temple?”

In fact, I too had been continuously concerned about what happened in the dungeon.

Breaking free from the nightmare brought on by the Siren’s ‘Song of Death’ isn’t difficult. You just need to recall happy memories.

Giuseppe had also earnestly reminded me several times to prepare for any possible situation.

Yet Ophelia couldn’t wake up from the nightmare.

As if she had never been happy even once.

I couldn’t know what kind of nightmare was weighing her down so heavily, but it must have been so terrible that Ophelia would rather wish for death.

Ophelia pondered for a moment before answering my question.

“Before coming to the Royal Capital, the only path laid out before me was to marry a complete stranger and start a family. I hated that more than dying, so… well, one thing led to another and when I ran away from home and came to the Empire, I was honestly at a loss. I was free, but I felt like I was lost.”

I know how much pain was contained in what she casually mentioned. Because I had investigated her background without her permission.

“Though it’s a power I gained by chance, now each day is fulfilling. The fact that I can save people with my own strength makes each day meaningful. How should I put it… I feel like I’ve finally found my purpose in life.”

The reason I felt sorry while suspecting her all this time was because I could see all too clearly that her goodwill toward me was sincere and genuine.

And the past two weeks had been enough time to observe what kind of person Ophelia was.

Perhaps she has some secret hidden away.

But I had no right to carelessly dig into it.

Having seen Ophelia block my path with her bare body to protect me, moving before she could even think, just like when she said her body moved first when the demon beast tried to attack me.

“Ophelia, or rather, should I call you Saint now?”

“Please don’t call me that. When you call me that, it feels like we’ve grown distant and it makes me sad.”

Ophelia answered gloomily.

I looked into her eyes and smiled faintly.

“I feel the same way. So please call me Belinda instead of Marquess.”

At my words, Ophelia blinked, then soon smiled as brightly as if she had gained the whole world.

As if she couldn’t be any happier than this.

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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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