Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 166

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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 166

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‘…mion’

Someone called Leo by an unfamiliar name while gently caressing the child’s cheek with the back of their hand.

Leo mumbled in a drowsy state, intoxicated by sleep.

‘That’s not my name.’

But at the same time, he thought the warm touch stroking his cheek was heartbreakingly familiar.

The child even knew that the reason the person was stroking his cheek with the back of their hand was because they worried their rough, calloused palm might hurt his tender skin.

‘En…on.’

‘My name is Leo.’

It was the moment Leo answered like that, somehow feeling an inexplicable sense of guilt.

Someone gripped Leo’s shoulders firmly with both hands and whispered desperately.

“Endymion, don’t look back and just run forward. I love you, my baby.”

The scent of ash brushed past his nose, and with the whole world becoming a sea of flames as the last thing he saw, Leo woke from his dream.

“…”

In the middle of the night, the scenery of the room in Baluashten Castle that he had finally grown accustomed to was dimly visible in the darkness.

Leo fumbled as he sat up. His back was damp with cold sweat.

Was it because his sleeping place had changed? Ever since staying at Baluashten Castle, Leo often woke up in the middle of the night as if being chased by something. It was because his dreams were restless.

However, no matter how much he tried to recall, he couldn’t remember the content of his dreams at all.

‘It didn’t seem like a nightmare though…’

After sitting blankly and pondering for a moment, Leo quietly got out of bed and opened the door connecting to Belinda’s room.

He felt that seeing Belinda’s face would help calm his anxious heart.

However, Belinda’s bed was completely empty.

Was it because of the dream he couldn’t even remember?

Leo felt his heart sink as he opened the door connected to the corridor and poked his head out.

The room located in the innermost part of the main castle.

Belinda hadn’t noticed yet, but that place was the inner chamber where the Duke’s direct family members stayed.

Therefore, employees who stood night watch were always waiting in the corridor, and since demonic beasts had been spotted in villages near the castle, even knights had stepped forward to patrol the castle grounds every hour.

But for some reason, only on that day was the corridor completely empty and silent.

“Lady Belinda, are you there?”

Leo’s softly whispered voice echoed several times before reaching the end of the corridor shrouded in pitch-black darkness.

Even so, when there was no answer in return and he was about to close the door and return to bed.

As if responding to Leo’s echo, an answer came from the far end of the long corridor.

However, it was closer to the sound of a presence rather than human language.

The sound of something heavy stepping on the marble floor.

A chilling friction sound, as if a sword tip was being dragged across the floor.

Leo couldn’t tell what was lurking in the darkness.

But at that moment, all the hair on his body stood on end and he unconsciously recalled what had happened in the Siren Dungeon.

Back then, everything was unfamiliar and he had no time to prepare, but now he knew.

He knew that this eerie sensation was caused by raw, unrefined killing intent.

Leo quickly hid behind the thick blackout curtains in the room without even closing the door to avoid making unnecessary noise.

The slow, dull footsteps gradually approached.

Then suddenly the sound stopped right in front of the room where Leo was hiding. And.

Creeeeak.

With the sound of the door’s hinges twisting, the door slowly opened as if trying to cut through flesh and peer into his heart.

“…!”

Leo covered his mouth to prevent his ragged breathing from escaping.

Thud. Thud.

The footsteps of the intruder who had entered the room gradually approached Leo.

All that separated Leo from the intruder was merely a blackout curtain that could barely block a handful of sunlight.

Soon, an unbelievably sharp voice that sounded like blades scraping against each other muttered something in garbled pronunciation.

“…onyeong.”

At that terrible noise, Leo squeezed his eyes shut. The intruder’s hand slowly reached toward the curtain.

The moment its hand finally touched the curtain.

“…!”

Leo steadied his breathing and slowly opened his eyes.

The soft texture of the velvet curtain touched his cheek.

Someone had gently stroked Leo’s cheek from beyond the curtain.

That touch was so strangely familiar that he forgot his fear and was about to throw open the curtain.

Whoosh, bang!

A magical light shot up through the dawn sky outside the window behind him. Then a commotion shook the entire castle.

Leo, whose attention was drawn to the light, belatedly pulled back the blackout curtain.

However, beyond the curtain, only Leo’s shadow stretched out forlornly in the dim moonlight.

Shortly after, Belinda and Cesar came running through the open door.

She approached Leo, who was standing blankly in front of the window, and carefully examined the child.

“Leo, why are you awake instead of sleeping? Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare? Why is your face so pale? Hm?”

Leo, enveloped in an indescribable strange feeling, looked up at Belinda in a daze.

After confirming that Leo was safe, Belinda exchanged a few words with Cesar.

Eventually Cesar left the room, and Belinda sat Leo on the couch and handed him a glass of water.

Only after moistening his parched mouth did Leo seem to come to his senses and speak.

“There was something…”

“What?”

“It was in this room just a moment ago…”

That thing’s chilling voice echoed in his ears.

A beast-like cry that couldn’t be called human language. Originally, there would be no way to understand what it had said.

However, that name sprang from his lips without going through thought.

“Endy…mion.”

Belinda looked back at Leo as if she had heard something unbelievable.

Leo whispered blankly like someone who had left their soul in a dream.

“It definitely… said Endymion.”

The strength left Belinda’s hands as she was taking the glass from Leo.

Crash.

The glass shattered with a loud noise, but because the castle was so chaotic, no one came running to the room.

“Leo, where did you hear that name?”

According to Cesar’s story, there were now few people left in the world who remembered that name.

Because they had all died on the night of rebellion.

“It looked at me… and said that.”

Leo looked up at Belinda with eyes that seemed confused but showed no trace of fear as he answered.

“It seemed like a demonic beast, but it didn’t seem like a bad demonic beast…”

There was only one thing she could say to Leo, who was rambling incoherently.

“It’s okay, Leo. Everything will be okay.”

Belinda hugged the child tightly and whispered that everything would be okay, then bit her lower lip hard.

She felt like she finally understood the identity of the sense of unease that had felt like a thorn caught under her fingernail.

Belinda had always wondered.

The Barrier Forest was the last line of defense created by the First King to prevent demonic beasts from setting foot on human land.

So how could demonic beasts be roaming around the Northern Estates?

Why had Cesar’s eyes, which had remained fine even after beheading hundreds of demonic beasts, turned red now of all times?

When it was merely facing just one demonic beast.

As an answer to that question, a single sentence from a book describing the abilities of House Baluashten came to mind.

The curse of demonic beasts grows stronger as one accumulates evil deeds. The worst among them is committing acts against one’s family.

Therefore, descendants of Baluashten. Never stain your hands with the blood of family.

If such sins against family truly fueled the demonic beast’s curse beyond redemption, then how could Cesar, who had killed his parents and brother, have returned to being ‘human’?

All those questions led to a single answer.

Only then did Belinda realize what secret Cesar had been hiding.

On the night of rebellion, it wasn’t Cesar who massacred his parents and brother.

‘It was Theodor Baluashten. He couldn’t bear the demonic beast’s curse and killed his family, ultimately becoming a demonic beast himself.’

The truth of that day, finally revealed, tore at Belinda’s heart as well.

However, she couldn’t just sit there and collapse.

“I’ll go resolve the situation.”

Cesar had certainly said that.

She could imagine what that foolishly stubborn man must be feeling, and she simply couldn’t remain still.

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The Verdant Forest that crossed the North had several names.

Among them, the most familiar to the people of the North was the ‘Wandering Forest,’ because those who entered the forest would wander it forever and eventually become nutrients for the forest.

Thus the forest devoured all living things without distinction between demonic beasts and humans, but it was infinitely generous to those who carried the blood of the royal family and Baluashten.

Therefore, the descendants of Baluashten earned the nickname ‘Forest Guides,’ and they were free from the forest’s illusions and traps.

So Cesar often felt a secret freedom and comfort in the forest, and thought others would feel no different from him.

But he realized on the night of rebellion that this was only his own thinking.

From long ago, Theodor had been overexerting himself.

From the day he underwent an early coming-of-age ceremony to embrace his only younger brother, his soul must have been gradually consumed by the curse.

At the entrance of the Barrier Forest.

Upon discovering the demonic beast tending to its arrow-pierced body, Cesar spoke ‘that’ title aloud for the first time in a very long while.

“Brother.”

He had tried to think of it as a demonic beast, but ultimately couldn’t deny it.

The fact that what stood before him was a brother who shared his blood.

To the extent that merely stabbing a sword into his transformed brother’s back hadn’t been enough to wash away the curse for several months, the demonic beast before Cesar’s eyes was still Theodor, still his precious blood relative.

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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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