Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 172

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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 172

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Cesar didn’t know what expression Belinda was looking at him with.

“You really are… so oblivious.”

Belinda whispered in a voice mixed with slight laughter.

“Why do you say such things in a situation like this? That’s just like…”

A death flag.

Swallowing her words, Belinda noticed that Cesar had closed his eyes at some point and was breathing shallowly. His clasped hand was strangely cold.

“Cheri.”

“…Yes.”

“Cheri, are you alright?”

“I’m just… a little tired, it seems.”

Cesar slowly tilted his head toward Belinda and barely moved his stiff arm to bring their clasped hands to his chest.

Through the thin fabric, she could feel his firm chest muscles and the slowly beating heart within, transmitted through her fingertips.

“My lady, please don’t forget that I’m by your side.”

With those words, Cesar said nothing more.

Belinda also stopped calling to him and quietly focused on the heartbeat she felt through her fingertips.

The sound of a heart beating slowly, like a massive mammal swimming through deep waters.

In the terrifyingly cold silence of the forest, Belinda pressed her forehead against Cesar’s shoulder while holding his heartbeat in her hand.

The longest night of Belinda’s life had begun.

* * *

Cheri’s words that holding hands would help me were right.

I endured the chilling silence of the forest that made me question whether I was even alive, while clasping Cheri’s hand.

On the rare occasions when I felt I couldn’t bear it anymore, I buried my face in his chest and calmed my anxiety by listening to his heartbeat that sounded like waves.

‘It’s okay.’

Half a day makes four days. Even if a day passes, it’s only eight days.

Not even a full day has passed yet, so there’s still plenty of time.

Even as I calmed myself this way, whenever I touched Cheri’s body temperature that had grown cold from the poison, I couldn’t help but think of his fate in 【Hirome】.

In 【Hirome】, Belinda didn’t accept the arranged marriage with the Duke.

Therefore, Herington Mine still belonged to the Blanche family, and Cheri probably couldn’t shake off thoughts of Theodor while keeping it sealed.

And then? What happened after that?

Did Theodor never manage to escape from the mine?

Perhaps after Belinda died, the Blanche family tried to reclaim the mining rights to Herington Mine.

If Theodor was still alive then, would killing him have become Cheri’s responsibility once again?

No, maybe a landslide occurred like this time.

The endless chain of “what ifs” made me feel like I was going insane.

Still, time passed and it became deep night when even the moon had set.

When it became so dark all around that I couldn’t even see Cheri’s features.

Something white glimmered faintly through the distant trees.

At first, I thought dawn was breaking.

But then, a small noise struck down like lightning.

Crack.

I reflexively gripped Cheri’s hand tightly.

Crack, crack.

Something unknown was approaching through the darkness, breaking the thin ice covering the ground.

Like cracks in a frozen lake, the sound gradually drew closer.

I immediately checked my mana vessel.

Whether time really did flow slowly, even though it felt like less than a day had passed, my previously empty mana vessel was now full and rippling with mana.

I prepared to summon Cao at any moment while keeping my eyes fixed on the direction of the noise.

In the instant I blinked while maintaining my tension, the white light that had been flickering in the distance rushed toward me like a shooting star.

“…!”

I was about to summon Cao immediately but stopped breathing.

It was too small and delicate a light to be dawn.

A white weasel barely the size of an adult’s finger.

It looked up at me quietly from exactly one step away.

“Leo…?”

Was I dreaming? Maybe it was a hallucination shown by the forest. If so, wasn’t this too cruel?

I looked at Leo, who had appeared in the darkness following the messenger beast’s light, with disbelieving eyes.

Leo in the forest’s hallucination had a firmly sulking expression.

Even knowing I shouldn’t fall for the forest’s deception, I stupidly asked.

“Leo, are you angry?”

The Leo in the vision held the white weasel in his hand instead of answering me directly as usual.

Then, with an expression where I couldn’t tell if he was holding back anger or tears, he said to me.

“I don’t know.”

Slowly approaching me, Leo muttered as if sulking.

“Lady Belinda always… always lies… You said it wasn’t a big problem… that you’d be back soon.”

At that moment, the messenger beast in Leo’s hand disappeared with a puff, like blowing out a candle, and Leo’s face was buried in darkness.

It seemed Leo’s mana vessel had hit rock bottom, unable to maintain even one messenger beast.

Then I heard Penandel chattering about something from behind.

Even if it was a vision shown by the forest, it was fine. I spoke toward the direction where Leo had been just moments ago.

“Leo, it’s too dark to see your face. So…”

I was about to ask him to come closer.

Fortunately, white light appeared again at Leo’s fingertips.

But it was different from the messenger beast’s light. Like a firefly, no matter how much I stared at it, it didn’t hurt my eyes, and I felt no magical power from it.

I could see Penandel, who had been approaching us, hesitate.

A system window appeared above Leo’s head, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the enchanting light gathered at the child’s fingertips.

Even without checking the system window, I knew all too well what this was.

But Leo himself seemed unaware of what he had done.

“I hate Lady Belinda.”

Standing exactly one step away from me, Leo looked at me with his lips pressed tightly together.

I couldn’t help but know how much deep desperation and worry was hidden beneath those words of hatred.

Aura that awakens when one desperately desires something to the point of feeling a threat to life.

What resided in Leo’s hand was the light of that very aura.

Facing Leo, who had awakened his aura not to protect his own life but simply to chase away the darkness, I couldn’t say anything for a long while.

Even though it was a chilly night, Leo was drenched in sweat and his shoes were a mess of crushed grass and dirt.

I finally realized.

That the Leo before my eyes wasn’t a hallucination shown by the forest.

“Leo, I’m sorry.”

“…I don’t know.”

“I was wrong. I won’t disappear and leave you alone again. So…”

Before I could ask him to forgive me, Leo suddenly pulled me into his arms.

The ‘Hero’s Star’ has awakened the Aura of Light.

Some condition locks have been released, activating linked Quests.

While the pink system window sparkled above Leo’s head, I hugged the heavy warmth clinging to me with all my strength.

* * *

Thanks to Penandel and Leo, who wandered through the forest countless times searching for us, Cheri and I were safely rescued.

Though we hadn’t even spent a full day in the forest, a whole week had already passed in the outside world.

So as soon as I arrived at the castle, I focused on recovering my strength and health by eating and sleeping without leaving my bed, then eating and sleeping again.

It was Cheri who had been half-dead from poison, but annoyingly, he got up and about in just three days with his monstrous recovery ability.

He spent his mornings busily running around to deal with the damage caused by Theodor, but every afternoon he would visit me with Leo, checking my condition with very, very serious expressions and personally attending to me.

And so, on the day that marked two weeks since we escaped the forest.

Having finally recovered my health, I sat Cheri and Penandel down in front of me and faced a very serious fact.

“So you’re saying Leo seems to have figured something out.”

“Yes. We asked the young master for help in finding you and my lord, and he seemed to have vaguely caught on then.”

I couldn’t hide the sigh that escaped me.

Having seen him move so freely in the Barrier Forest, it was certain that Leo was of Baluashten blood and was Endymion.

The problem was that Leo had also come to realize this.

Of course, since he didn’t know about the tragedy surrounding House of Baluashten, he probably just thought he was from a cadet branch.

At present, I wasn’t certain whether it would be right to tell the child about his parents’ situation.

‘He’d be shocked to learn that his father became a demonic beast.’

I glanced at Cheri.

He too had a very troubled expression. He probably had many thoughts of his own.

Just then, somehow knowing that the adults were conspiring together, Leo peeked through the door and entered.

“Lady Belinda, are you very busy?”

Leo, who had entered the room, fidgeted while glancing at Cheri and Penandel.

“I… have something I want to tell only Lady Belinda in secret.”

The adults’ gazes met in midair.

I realized instinctively. That what Leo wanted to tell me was about his birth.

“I’ll wait outside until the conversation is finished. Please call me if you need anything.”

After Cheri left with Penandel, his face showing he was prepared for anything.

Leo, who had been pondering with a tense expression, opened his mouth.

“Lady Belinda, I think I’ve discovered an incredible secret.”

“Yes, you finally figured it out.”

At my words, Leo’s eyes widened and he nodded.

“As I thought, you knew, Lady Belinda.”

Then Leo cupped his hands around my ear and whispered.

“I’m of the First King’s bloodline, aren’t I?”

“…?”

Huh? That’s not it though?

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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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