Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 161

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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 161

At the knights’ report, Cesar dismounted from his horse.

Penandel glared disapprovingly at the knights as he confirmed that their faces showed respect mixed with a hint of fear and doubt as they cleared the way for their lord.

He couldn’t say he didn’t understand their feelings.

It was only thanks to Cesar’s ability that the demonic beast’s curse hadn’t deepened further—if he had been an ordinary knight, he would have long since succumbed to the madness caused by the curse and stained his hands with his comrades’ blood.

That’s how much red eyes were objects of rejection and fear in the North.

‘Even so, to openly display such disloyal thoughts.’

Penandel deliberately clicked his tongue loudly as if for the knights left behind to hear, then followed Cesar with a step’s delay.

The village, where not a single sign of life could be felt, was as quiet as a graveyard.

Cesar, who had insisted on confirming with his own eyes that there wasn’t even a single survivor, stopped walking in the town square where corpses lay scattered like carelessly discarded trash.

Thanks to the sword wound Cesar had inflicted, the casualties caused by ‘that thing’ over the past few months had been limited to the level of people from nearby villages disappearing one by one.

But now, having apparently fully recovered its body, it had brazenly massacred an entire village.

Even though Cesar was still paying the price for driving his sword into ‘that thing’s’ back.

“Why this village of all places, I wonder.”

Penandel, who had offered a brief moment of silence to mourn the dead, muttered in a sorrowful voice.

This was a village close to the castle where knights frequently patrolled.

If it was a demonic beast that moved according to its killing instincts but possessed intelligence beyond that of animals, it should have targeted remote villages first.

While closing the eyes of a village child who had died in its mother’s arms without even being able to close its own eyes, Cesar murmured.

“It’s retracing the habits from when it was alive.”

Cesar stood up after mentally organizing the route by connecting the times when missing persons occurred in the estate with the locations where the demonic beast was sighted.

When ‘that thing’ was still human, it used to go on village patrols frequently to check on the lives of the estate’s people, and that route matched exactly with the demonic beast’s tracks.

“If it’s instinctively following the habits from when it was alive, at least we can predict its next destination.”

Now that they knew the demonic beast’s next destination, it would be much easier to prepare defenses.

As Cesar turned away from the square with apparent resolve, Penandel’s anxious voice stopped his steps.

“Your Excellency, please promise me. That you will never take that thing’s life with your own hands.”

The power to purify the demonic beast’s curse, the House of Baluashten’s ability, is not perfect.

Even among the same direct lineage, each individual has different limits to the curses they can purify, and curses are like viruses lurking in the body.

Their patience is terribly persistent—they usually lie dormant as if dead, but the moment the host’s mental strength weakens, they surface to encourage corruption by inciting human desires and negative emotions.

Therefore, the people of House Baluashten were always forced to maintain impeccably pure moral standards. Because not even a hint of guilt could be offered as food for the curse.

Penandel continued pressing the silent Cesar.

“Didn’t you promise Marquess Blanche? That you would go to the Royal Capital. If you kill ‘that thing’ with your own hands, even you, Your Excellency, will become irreversibly lost.”

“….”

“Your Excellency, please don’t make me fulfill my duty. I don’t want to draw my sword.”

Penandel’s voice was quite earnest.

Cesar looked back at his aide and opened his mouth while staring at his own shadow that stretched grotesquely due to his mask.

“Penandel.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Did that child resemble Endymion?”

Penandel immediately gritted his teeth. He understood right away who Cesar was referring to.

To tell the truth, yes. When he saw the child called Leo, the first person who came to mind was young master Endymion.

If the five-year-old young master had grown up, he would have looked exactly like this.

However, the reason he deliberately pushed away that thought was because Penandel still couldn’t believe in the possibility of Endymion’s survival.

“I’m such a heartless person that I can no longer remember that child’s face.”

What he remembered was only the maple leaf-like hands that had gripped his fingers and their tender warmth.

“That’s not true. Isn’t it that your past memories aren’t intact due to the curse’s influence?”

The young master had lived like a dead person in the Twin Castles, hiding from people’s eyes for some reason.

Therefore, let alone people who knew his face, even the servants who knew of the young master’s existence could be counted on one hand.

For this reason, Cesar’s search for the child repeatedly hit obstacles.

“Even if it wasn’t the demonic beast’s curse, not a single portrait of the young master remains due to the fire at the castle. Six years is enough time to forget something.”

But isn’t there such a thing as blood ties? Even if you can’t remember the face, wouldn’t you feel something when you meet?

Those six years had been a realization of how truly futile such expectations were.

“I think Leo might be a distant member of a cadet branch of House Baluashten.”

“Really, not a single one?”

Why hadn’t he brought up Endymion’s story right then?

Retracing that reason, Cesar made an assumption.

‘If Leo were Endymion….’

And if the child found out.

He would probably never again see that look of sparkling eyes gazing up at him.

To the child, Cesar was the enemy of his parents and the cause of ruining the child’s life.

Even though he had so desperately wished for his nephew’s resentment to be directed at him instead.

Yet if Leo were to look at him with eyes full of hatred….

Only then did Cesar realize how his small disciple had filled the deep abyss that had settled in one corner of his mentor’s heart.

“Could I become as strong as you, Knight?”

“Knight, since when have you been a knight?”

“You know, I’m only telling this to you, Knight. You’re much, much cooler and way stronger than that Sword Saint person at the Academy.”

Every word the child had innocently whispered echoed multiple times in the deep abyss, soothing Cesar’s guilt over failing to protect his nephew.

Perhaps that was why. Why he had unconsciously denied the possibility that Leo might be Endymion.

Because he didn’t want to lose the echo of the child’s whispers, the eyes that sparkled with admiration whenever he looked at him.

“Everything is just speculation. But never, Leo must never encounter the demonic beast. Don’t let the child see even its shadow.”

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

“We can’t return to the castle today since we must hold a funeral for these people. Send word to the castle.”

“Understood.”

“Penandel.”

“Yes.”

Cesar faced the one who had protected him from childhood and spoke as if somewhat troubled.

“I cannot make that promise. I’m sorry.”

Eventually, Penandel would have to wield his duty that he had never once drawn from its sheath.

Cesar looked back at Baluashten Castle visible in the distance, gripped by such a vague premonition.

He could speak so calmly of both his apology to Penandel and the end he would face.

‘Why can’t I be honest in front of that person?’

He always became cowardly, selfish, and ended up deceiving Belinda.

Even knowing it wasn’t right.

Cesar turned his gaze away from the castle with difficulty and repeated his own oath.

Nothing is more important than duty.

But was that really true?

He thought of Belinda’s hair in the redness of camellias blooming in the garden, found her eyes in the evening stars of the night sky, and dreams that came in his sleep brought waves of time spent with her.

As if nothing was more important than his promise to her, Cesar thought of Belinda in every single moment he lived and breathed.

So very occasionally, he wanted to leave all these duties behind and just go to where Belinda was….

‘No, this desire is because of the demonic beast’s curse. I mustn’t waver.’

Taking another step forward after stopping, Cesar repeated obsessively.

Nothing is more important than duty.

Even if it meant burying himself in the mire.

* * *

-That’s all I have to report this week.

The mechanical bird in the cage opened its beak with chirping sounds and spoke in Terry’s voice.

I skimmed through the paper where I had written down Terry’s words, then nodded.

“Good, handle the casino matter that way, and leave the rest to Marquess Rachel. I’ve asked Ian to keep watch separately, so he won’t dare cause trouble with his son watching.”

After conveying the decisions on urgent matters that needed to be handled through Terry, I tapped the cage.

Then the mechanical bird’s neck bent downward and the connection with Terry was severed.

“Truly remarkable, I tell you.”

Thanks to the magical device ‘Twin Songbird’s Nest’ that forms a pair, I could converse with Terry without any time delay even from this distant North.

I heard that the twin magic stones essential for crafting the ‘Twin Songbird’s Nest’ are so precious that no amount of money can buy them, but what money can’t accomplish, connections can.

I was able to borrow the ‘Twin Songbird’s Nest’ with the Archmage’s official certification, and I was making very good use of it.

The only regret was that since the twin magic stones were consumables, it was too extravagant to use them for trivial chatter.

Having finished today’s work, I stretched and opened the window, then immediately closed it due to the terrifying cold wind that blew in.

“To think this is spring weather – I could never live in the North.”

I rubbed my arms that had gotten goosebumps in that brief moment and summoned the Cash Shop.

I hadn’t actively used the Cash Shop before to avoid wasting coins that could only be obtained by completing Quests, but it was also because I had realized something peculiar about the Cash Shop.

Through the ‘Spring of All Things,’ I learned that cash items were ultimately also objects made by someone in this world.

Along with that, I discovered one new piece of information: it was possible to purchase items from the Cash Shop that hadn’t even been made yet.

For example, the works of Madam Oleng, who only supplies clothing to the Royal Palace.

I had seen the clothing she made through Mikhail, and many of the items in the Cash Shop were still in an unmade state.

In other words, even clothes that Madam Oleng hasn’t revealed to the world are implemented in the Cash Shop.

‘It’s as if it knows what will be made in the future.’

Given this situation, I was cautious about purchasing items from the Cash Shop, not knowing what incidents or accidents they might be connected to later.

I could be falsely accused of stealing designs for clothes meant to be supplied to the Royal Palace.

‘But it’s better than hoarding and having it go to waste.’

As I ended up staying in the North longer than expected, Leo’s winter clothes became insufficient.

My clothes are fine – I can just buy and wear anything, but I can’t dress our Leo in just any clothes.

I bought several winter outfits from Madam Oleng’s works without hesitation, and they suited Leo incredibly well.

“And right then! Asillia’s wooden club went swoosh! A red light appeared and the monster went roaaaar! That’s how the Academy’s youngest aura awakener in history was born!”

When I finished work and headed to the drawing room, Leo was enthusiastically explaining what happened in the dungeon, alternately becoming Asillia and then a monster like he was telling a fairy tale.

The audience was surprisingly Lord Cheri, who had been so busy these past few days that it was hard to catch even a glimpse of his face.

As soon as Leo finished his explanation, he awkwardly clapped and added his review.

“If it’s a red light, that would be the Aura of Flames.”

Aura of Flames!

Leo’s eyes sparkled exactly like a child who had heard a heroic tale.

“Do you know what kind of aura I’ll awaken later, Knight? Well, if I can awaken an aura, that is.”

“Unfortunately, no one can predict that.”

Leo’s shoulders drooped in disappointment.

I had to bite my tongue to resist shouting that I knew the answer.

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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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