Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 17

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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 17

* * *

“Don’t answer.”

It was the coldest and most ominous voice I had ever heard from Belinda.

Leo thought she was extremely angry because he had stepped forward recklessly.

If he hadn’t felt the trembling in her hand that gripped his tightly, Leo wouldn’t have even thought to look at Belinda’s face.

A cold, expressionless face like marble.

Fierce eyes staring straight ahead.

A cold and desolate atmosphere with no trace of fragility.

Nowhere could Belinda’s anxiety or fear be seen, except for her faintly trembling hand.

Only then did Leo realize that he hadn’t misheard.

“You haven’t even managed to kill me yet.”

Belinda’s voice rang out quietly.

Leo couldn’t understand the complex situation contained within those words, but he could at least understand one thing.

That Belinda was in some kind of danger.

And that was probably…

Leo glanced back, but Schubel had already disappeared.

Suddenly, Toma’s advice that he had heard once echoed in his mind.

“Being an aide means doing what your superiors tell you to do, and sometimes protecting your master.”

Being an aide meant protecting one’s master.

It seemed like he had finally found what he needed to do here.

‘I want to protect Lady Belinda.’

Leo’s hand tightened as he gripped Belinda’s hand in return.

* * *

The rain that had been falling tediously all afternoon finally stopped in the evening.

Leo couldn’t concentrate on his studies at all. And for good reason.

When a woman who had cracked someone’s skull was sitting right in front of him saying ‘Now, let’s begin the test,’ even I would have been trembling with anxiety, wondering if my own skull would be cracked if I failed the test.

Of course, clever Leo scored a perfect ten out of ten and received sweet dessert as a reward.

Anyway, Leo seemed very anxious mentally, so I put cleaning tools—Leo’s healing items—in the child’s hands and slipped out of the manor.

When I recalled what had happened in front of the study that morning, my hands trembled.

Wow, even thinking about it now, I was pretty amazing.

In that moment, I poured it all out so naturally that I couldn’t tell if I was Belinda or if Belinda was me. It felt like I had found a calling I couldn’t find in my previous life.

‘To think I had the makings of a villainess from a game.’

Savoring this new realization, I opened my mouth.

“Quest window.”

[Quest] Where am I? Who am I?

▼[new] Obtain Intermediate Reward

The “new” part sparkled particularly brightly.

I checked once more to make sure there was no one around.

This was the rear courtyard of the annex, the graveyard that looked even more gloomy because of the rain.

I had deliberately come to this deserted place because I didn’t know what kind of disturbance might occur when obtaining the reward.

I passed the eerie tombstones and stopped near a tombstone that didn’t look very old.

“A fragment of Belinda’s memory.”

Just from the name, I could tell what kind of reward it was. What I was actually looking forward to was the special reward that would be given upon obtaining the memory fragment.

I whispered “obtain” with a light heart.

Immediately after, as if someone had struck the back of my neck, my vision went completely dark.

* * *

The rain that had started falling steadily since dawn hadn’t stopped even in the afternoon.

Young Belinda, dressed in a jet-black dress, was heading to the annex to avoid the bothersome adults.

That’s when she discovered it.

The back of a middle-aged man crouching in a corner of the garden without an umbrella.

Though it was hard to hear over the sound of rain, it seemed like there were sniffling sounds.

He looked so pitiful.

Belinda approached him and asked.

“Mister, are you crying?”

“Aaah!”

The man was so startled that he fell backward, getting his clothes covered in mud.

With a pale face, the man pointed at Belinda and shouted.

“Gh, gh, ghost…!”

“There are no ghosts here. Everyone believes in things that even little kids don’t believe in.”

As if he had come to his senses at those words, he stared at Belinda’s face for a while before turning his back and crouching down again.

Then he muttered a crude excuse that even a child wouldn’t believe.

“This isn’t… tears… it’s rainwater.”

“I’ll go along with that.”

Belinda answered indifferently and glanced at the wet back of the sniffling adult.

Belinda knew who he was.

The general manager in charge of the casino business, which was the Blanche Family’s biggest enterprise.

No one had told her about the man’s background, but clever Belinda had already figured it out.

The fact that he was her father’s half-brother.

How could she not know? He looked exactly like her father and had inherited all the characteristics of the Blanche family.

After wandering around the area for a moment, Belinda tilted her umbrella over her crouching uncle.

And she said something she would never normally say.

“Uncle, don’t cry.”

The man was startled and turned to look at Belinda.

His deathly pale face watched Belinda for a very long time before he began to wail.

“Sob, sniff, brother. How could you leave this young child behind and go so quickly…”

This time, even the sound of rain couldn’t hide his crying.

This was the first time she had seen an adult cry so openly.

Flustered and confused, Belinda somehow began to feel sad as well.

Only then could she accept reality.

That her mom and dad had really died.

Her parents would never come back. All of this was reality, not a nightmare.

“Sob, sniff. Mommy, waah, Daddy!”

“Brother!”

That day, the two of them held each other and cried for a long time.

And after that day, Belinda couldn’t see her uncle for a while.

The relatives she had never seen before prevented her uncle from even attending the funeral because he was an illegitimate child.

Then they flocked to Belinda, who had become the sole heir of the Blanche Family, whispering sweet words and explaining how suitable they were to become Belinda’s guardian.

‘Hmph, those maggot-like creatures. Who do they think they’re fooling, trying to stick their proboscis into my family like mosquitoes?’

Without being swayed by all sorts of sweet words, Belinda calmly assessed the situation.

‘I need someone who will just be my guardian.’

Someone honest, timid, and compassionate.

Someone so gentle-hearted that they couldn’t steal her wealth and would return it all intact.

‘And someone who loved our parents and would… treat me well too.’

As soon as she listed the conditions, the right person came to mind.

‘Uncle was the only one who cried for my parents.’

And he did it secretly, hidden in the thicket.

So Belinda chose her uncle.

“I’d like Uncle to become my guardian.”

Uncle made a face like he was going to vomit from the burden, and then actually started retching.

In the end, Belinda’s choice was right. Or perhaps it might have been wrong.

On a bright summer day when her parents’ memorial day came around.

Despite being busy, Belinda spoke to her uncle who had made time to have dinner with his niece.

“Uncle, become my legal father.”

Clang.

Uncle, who had been cutting Belinda’s steak into bite-sized pieces, dropped his knife.

“Uh…”

With a face that had lost all words, but still dutifully putting steak into Belinda’s mouth, Uncle broke out in cold sweat and shook his head.

“You can’t say such things carelessly.”

As if afraid someone might hear, he even looked around. Fortunately, no one seemed to have heard her words.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Uncle spoke to Belinda soothingly.

“Bell, I’m already satisfied enough just having you call me Uncle…”

“No! No no no!”

Suddenly Belinda let out a shriek. Normally, he would have thought it was just his young niece’s whining and would have granted anything.

But this particular request couldn’t be taken lightly.

He quickly sent the servants away, then shook his head with a stern expression.

“No. Belinda, this isn’t such a simple matter. Me becoming your legal father means the succession rights of this family…”

“Please please please, don’t be Uncle, be Daddy!”

Belinda threw herself flat on the floor and began thrashing her arms and legs in a tantrum.

It was the method she used as a last resort to get what she wanted when her parents were alive.

…Though her parents had always looked annoyed and were busy summoning the nanny to dump her on them.

But it seemed to be effective on Uncle. He stayed by Belinda’s side, not knowing what to do, breaking out in nervous sweat.

Belinda was making an even bigger scene when her arm accidentally hit the table leg.

“Belinda!”

Uncle raised his voice for the first time. Belinda was so surprised that even her fake crying stopped.

“What if you get hurt! Let me see, you didn’t get a bruise, did you?”

Uncle helped Belinda sit up and carefully examined her arm.

“It’s dangerous to throw tantrums like this. So from now on, throw your tantrums on the bed.”

Her arm, which had hit the table, started to hurt belatedly.

Feeling like real tears might burst out, Belinda bit her lower lip hard.

“I’ll wait until you’ve calmed down and feel like talking with me. But Belinda, this time I can’t grant your request.”

Uncle’s gentle words hurt more than her bruised arm.

Belinda hung her head low and mumbled.

“…treat me?”

“What?”

His young niece suddenly raised her head, her venomous eyes brimming with tears.

“If you were going to do this, why did you treat me so kindly!”

Why did you stay by my side all night when I was sick?

Why did you always insist on eating dinner together?

Why did you kiss my forehead every night saying good night? Why, why…

“Why did you make me this weak! I, I would have been fine alone if Uncle hadn’t been there!”

Belinda knew very well what becoming his family would mean.

Since Uncle had a son, her succession rights might be pushed back.

But it didn’t matter.

If only she could call Uncle “Daddy” and gladly be family within his embrace.

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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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