Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 163

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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 163

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By the time I had become somewhat familiar with the complex structure of Baluashten Castle.

If there was something I naturally learned while staying at the castle, it was that most of the employees, excluding the butler and maid supervisor and other high-ranking staff, were excessively afraid of their master.

Lord Cheri did look somewhat intimidating, but he shouldn’t be such a frightening master that they’d be this scared.

Yet everyone treated Lord Cheri like some rabid dog! But our Lord Cheri doesn’t bite just anyone!

Everyone seemed to know far too little about Lord Cheri.

They acted as if they couldn’t see how he left the castle from dawn because he was so busy, yet somehow rushed back to have dinner with Leo and me, or how he squeezed time from his nonexistent schedule to watch over Leo’s swordsmanship.

‘The tea served after meals is the same. Lord Cheri loves sweets so much, yet they only bring bitter tea for his portion.’

If there was a problem, it needed to be fixed, but Lord Cheri always consumed the bitter tea slowly but steadily without complaint.

So the employees don’t even know their master’s taste properly.

I wrote down Lord Cheri’s preferences that I knew and handed it to the maid supervisor.

“From now on, prepare the items listed there in order as dessert after dinner. Of course, include His Excellency’s portion as well.”

For the first time, something resembling an expression appeared on the maid supervisor’s face as she saw the list containing cloud cookies, tea with sugar cubes, and desserts sweet enough to melt one’s tongue.

She suddenly squinted her eyes as if she had developed presbyopia, carefully examining the list, and answered while unable to completely erase her dubious expression until the end.

“I will prepare them.”

Only then did I examine the materials the maid supervisor had brought me.

As I had requested earlier, it contained information about the Harpers couple, and to conclude, they had no children.

However, six years ago, the Harpers couple suddenly brought a boy from somewhere, claiming he was a relative’s child, and began living with him.

The villagers were curious about the Harpers couple’s suddenly appearing child, but as if the couple feared people’s attention, they hurriedly left for the Royal Capital with the child that winter.

From the circumstances, it seemed the relative’s child the Harpers couple brought was Leo, but if he wasn’t their biological child, things would get complicated.

‘Did the Harpers couple kidnap the child?’

‘But if Leo was a branch member of House Baluashten, he wouldn’t have been able to leave the estate so easily.’

‘Perhaps the premise that he’s a branch member of House Baluashten is wrong.’

There was far too little information to untangle this tangled thread.

While I was pondering while tilting my teacup, I saw something like a bright flame shooting up across the sky outside the window in the corner of my vision.

It was the magical light shot up to indicate enemy positions that I had seen tediously while staying at the castle.

I could see the knights moving in unison after confirming the light shot up from a position closer to the castle than before.

As Ophelia had said, there had been a war-like tension among the knights since we arrived at the castle, and it grew thicker day by day.

Eventually, my thoughts inevitably anchored themselves to Lord Cheri once again.

“His Excellency was born with the strongest ability in history. Despite having beheaded hundreds of magical beasts, he has not been consumed by their curse.”

“So he will surely overcome a mere curse quickly. Without fail.”

The eloquent Lord Penandel spoke confidently, but what I read from his face and tone was desperation rather than confidence.

I opened my mouth while stroking Ker’s head as he crunched on magic stones.

“Maid supervisor.”

The maid supervisor who had been guarding my back answered. I continued speaking without turning to look at her.

“I’m going to ask you several questions, and if they’re difficult or you don’t want to answer, you don’t have to.”

“His Excellency has ordered me to fulfill whatever the Marquess desires. If the questions don’t harm House Baluashten, I will answer anything.”

It was a satisfactory answer. I finally turned to look at the maid supervisor and asked.

“What kind of person is His Excellency the Duke?”

“If you could be more specific about what information you want, I will tell you in detail.”

“Things like what he usually does, whether he normally stays at the castle for such short periods, or what he was like as a child.”

The maid supervisor, who had been answering everything immediately, hesitated for the first time.

I didn’t miss how her gaze briefly turned toward my hand.

When my gaze also turned to the used ring Cesar had given me as a token of promise, I heard the maid supervisor’s voice.

“His Excellency is very devoted to his duty of protecting the barrier forest and hunting magical beasts, so he doesn’t usually stay at the castle for long. Also, I apologize, but His Excellency spent the first ten years of his life only in the separate castle without ever showing himself to the outside, so I don’t know about his childhood.”

It was an unexpected answer.

To think he stayed only in the separate castle for ten years.

“Was His Excellency perhaps frail as a child?”

“I was just a maid at the time, so I don’t know the details. However…”

The maid supervisor trailed off meaningfully, then raised her gaze that had been cast down to meet my eyes.

“By His Excellency’s order, you may enter anywhere in this castle, Marquess. Even places that the butler and I cannot go.”

Anywhere in this castle.

I nodded while mulling over her words.

“That was a sufficient answer. Thank you.”

* * *

Noble families with long histories typically had a separate place where they kept historical materials recording the family’s lineage and history.

For the Blanche family, that would be the Velvet Room where Suga had been confined.

Baluashten Castle also had a place like the Velvet Room.

I stood in front of the door to the Black Swan’s Room, which supposedly hadn’t been opened in several years.

The maid supervisor who had been following me held out an intricately crafted key.

I took the key and immediately inserted it into the keyhole.

The massive door opened remarkably smoothly despite its weight.

After receiving a lamp from the maid supervisor and taking a step inside, the maid supervisor bowed politely and said.

“I cannot enter, so I will wait here. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

Through the slowly closing door, I caught a glimpse of the same desperation I had seen in Lord Penandel’s face on the maid supervisor’s face.

I stared at the door for a while as if looking at the maid supervisor beyond the closed door, then straightened up.

As soon as the door closed, magical lamps lit up all at once, and I couldn’t help but sigh at the overwhelming sight that unfolded beneath them.

“This is truly enormous.”

Naturally, the historical materials were incomparably more extensive than those of the Blanche family, who had lost their estate. It was vast enough to be called a hall rather than the Black Swan’s Room.

Without even glancing at all kinds of gold and silver treasures, sacred objects, and gems beautiful enough to rival national treasures, I headed straight to the bookshelf where records of successive family heads were collected.

There were two things I needed to find.

Whether there were any missing branch family members of House Baluashten, and detailed information about House Baluashten’s abilities.

And this was personal curiosity, but it would be good if I could examine Lord Cheri’s childhood.

So I grabbed anything that seemed even slightly related to the information I was looking for and moved it to the table.

I examined family genealogies and ability dictionaries until my eyes grew dim, but while I wasn’t getting any significant results.

The phrase ‘cursed child’ particularly caught my eye.

Perhaps because hunting magical beasts was their profession.

Occasionally, the curse of magical beasts was passed down through generations to Baluashten descendants, and in such cases, it was written that the eyes of the born child were red from birth.

The maid supervisor’s words suddenly came to mind.

“His Excellency spent the first ten years of his life only in the separate castle without ever showing himself to the outside, so I don’t know about his childhood.”

Relying almost on intuition, I searched for and examined literature about ‘cursed children.’

The records in the literature were brief and cruelly dry.

In early summer of the 130th year of the Demon Sealing Era, a child cursed by magical beasts was born.

The red-eyed child transformed into a magical beast on the 1,302nd day of life, harmed five people, and was killed.

In winter of the 214th year of the Demon Sealing Era, a child cursed by magical beasts was born.

The red-eyed child transformed into a magical beast on the 967th day of life, harmed his grandmother, and was killed.

In late spring of the 301st year of the Demon Sealing Era, a child cursed by magical beasts…

.

.

.

In the summer of the 677th year of the Demon Sealing Era, a child cursed by a demon beast was born.

When the red-eyed child reached 3,660 days of age, those eyes turned blue.

Finally granted permission to bear a human name….

When I read that far, I forgot even to breathe and recited the following content aloud.

“He became Cesare Baluashten.”

The record didn’t end there.

Early spring of the 692nd year of the Demon Sealing Era. A child cursed by a demon beast was born.

Before it could even be confirmed whether he had become a demon beast, he lost his life in a fire.

A resolute line drawn through the sentence that determined the child’s life or death.

Below it, written in Cheri’s handwriting that was all too familiar to me from our year-long correspondence, was a certain phrase.

Missing, with no way to know whether he lives or dies.

The current year is 703 of the Demon Sealing Era.

The red-eyed child born 11 years ago whose life or death remains unknown, and the rebellion from 6 years ago.

Leo who resisted the demon beast’s curse, and the Harpers couple who suddenly appeared one day with a child and left for the Royal Capital.

The moment all those pieces found their rightful places with meaning.

I could almost hear the sound of gears that had been spinning aimlessly in my head finally clicking into place.

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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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