Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 222

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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 222

Even though Chaser was the one who came to find me, his face looked like he wanted to turn around and run away immediately.

I answered carefully, as if dealing with a cat that had raised its fur in full alert.

“Then is there someone else you call Protagonist besides me?”

Even though I deliberately spoke lightly as usual, Chaser remained unmoved.

Only then did I notice Chaser’s unusual state.

His disheveled clothing and unkempt, messy hair.

His gaunt body and pale complexion made me worry whether he had been eating properly.

He looked as if he hadn’t taken care of himself for the past two years.

“Chaser, are you okay?”

Worried, I approached him and brushed away the bangs that cast shadows over his eyes.

Chaser flinched and trembled, then whispered blankly with an expression like someone awakening from a long nightmare.

“Warm.”

Then he brought my hand to his cheek, rubbing against it and whispering again.

“It’s not like a hallucination. It’s really Protagonist.”

At the same time, a single tear that had been clinging to his thick eyelashes dropped and flowed down his cheek.

Chaser cried and smiled like that.

I was so flustered that I froze, not knowing what to do, when Chaser carefully pulled me toward him.

It was such a weak force that I could have pushed him away if I wanted to, but I couldn’t resist at all and was embraced by Chaser.

Because Chaser’s expression was exactly like that day.

The day when, after killing the Magister, he said he could no longer find a reason to live.

Holding me so tightly I couldn’t move, Chaser said.

“Protagonist, I won’t be greedy for anything else anymore. So just let me stay by your side. Please?”

I hesitated, then slowly embraced his back like I did that day.

Had Chaser still not found a purpose to live for?

Had I meant so much to him that all the human relationships he had built as Magister scattered and became meaningless in an instant?

Various thoughts and worries piled up like snow, but there was only one thing I could say.

“What kind of talk is that? There’s nothing you need to give up to stay by my side. You’re already here in front of me.”

“Yeah… I know… But I still won’t be greedy anymore…”

Chaser said those incomprehensible words and held me for a long time.

* * *

The time remaining until the countdown to destruction was roughly three years.

It was a short time if you considered it short, but it was quite ambiguous that it wasn’t completely without time to respond.

What was ambiguous was.

‘Why did it have to be the Sahara Dungeon?’

The point that Ophelia’s purpose wasn’t clearly visible.

I could easily guess that the reason Ophelia sent me to the dungeon was to prevent me from interfering with her plans.

When I first fell into the Sahara Dungeon, I thought her purpose was to prevent me from attending the Five Nations Conference.

But now that I realized there were three years left until destruction, I began to suspect that Ophelia’s aim might not have been that.

‘If it were me, I would have sent them to a dungeon where they could only return about ten years later, after everything was over.’

Yet Ophelia deliberately chose the Sahara Dungeon.

Was it because she was confident that no matter how hard I tried for three years, I wouldn’t be able to stop her?

Or maybe Cheri and I simply cleared the dungeon faster than Ophelia expected.

Still, I couldn’t help feeling uneasy about it.

The opponent was someone who had repeated 38 regressions and knew this world better than anyone.

However, my headache-inducing thoughts were instantly dispelled by the news Terry brought.

“What happened to the Crown Prince?”

In the drawing room where the annex residents sat around, excluding Leo.

It was Terry who answered my question about the results of the Five Nations Conference.

“He was permanently expelled from the peace talks for speaking ominous and inaccurate prophecies of destruction that threatened continental peace. When that spread to the Kingdom, the Crown Prince completely fell out of the King’s favor.”

Now I understood why Terry knew about the prophecy, and why Mikhail hadn’t shown his face despite hearing news of my return.

Good heavens, could things get this tangled?

When I looked at Chaser with eyes demanding a more detailed explanation, Chaser shrugged.

Though fatigue was piled up under his eyes from staying at the annex last night, his complexion had improved a bit, showing the worth of a good night’s sleep.

“When Protagonist went missing and couldn’t attend the Five Nations Conference, the first to back out was that religious bastard. He said the Holy Empire wouldn’t move without one who isn’t bound by fate.”

Still, Mikhail didn’t bend his will, and eventually, despite Chaser’s dissuasion, he spoke of the prophecy of destruction at the conference to receive military support from other countries.

Naturally, the Holy Empire side dismissed it as groundless.

And Giuseppe…

“He didn’t rage like the Holy Empire, but he didn’t lend weight to the prophecy either. He just remained silent throughout the meeting.”

Since the person with the power of foresight acted that way, Mikhail’s opinion was naturally ignored.

The fact that the First King possessed the power of foresight wasn’t known, and the memory fragments that could serve as evidence had long since shattered, unable to withstand time.

Therefore, there was no evidence anywhere to support Mikhail’s words.

“That incident dealt a fatal blow to the royalist faction. As a result, the royal court is currently dominated by the noble faction led by the Queen and Prince. The influence of Master’s absence also plays a part.”

With Terry’s final words, I ended up holding my forehead.

Giuseppe, that bastard wouldn’t be satisfying even if I ground his teeth!

Though it seemed daunting to figure out where to start explaining, I soon easily identified the starting point of this matter.

“Before sharing the information I know, everyone needs to understand this fact. First, Ophelia isn’t just a simple traitor. Like me, she’s also one who isn’t bound by fate.”

Just as I had changed the fate of everyone here, Ophelia too would have changed the fate of ‘those who lift the world’s veil’ and made them her allies.

Her purpose was probably.

“Ophelia also seems to be trying to prevent the world’s destruction in her own way.”

“Ha, is she going to use dark magic? By sacrificing half the kingdom’s people like the First King?”

At Chaser’s sarcasm, I glanced at Terry and Vivian.

Terry seemed to be interpreting Chaser’s words by combining information in his head, but Vivian blinked, not understanding the situation.

However, I didn’t send them away. I desperately needed their help to prepare for the coming destruction.

Therefore, I immediately spoke my next words.

“I don’t know the details. But she seems to have quite a powerful trump card. Because…”

At that moment, for some reason, the oath Giuseppe had made to me came to mind.

“So as the Marquess said, there’s no falsehood in my conviction to prevent destruction, and I can do anything for that purpose.”

For the first time, resentment and regret mixed into my heart boiling with anger and betrayal.

A more devastating voice than I expected came from my mouth.

“Because Giuseppe has gone over to Ophelia’s side.”

* * *

Sharing the information accumulated over one year and eight months was quite time-consuming.

By the time the meeting with the annex residents ended, it was already dark night.

Instead of going to my bedroom, I headed straight to the study in the main building.

The study, which had been two months for me subjectively but actually nearly two years, had changed slightly from when I was there.

I sat in front of the study desk and pondered the changed parts.

Next to the swan quill pen I used to favor, Leo’s peacock quill pen was neatly placed, and on the documents stacked on one side, the casino’s net sales for the last quarter were recorded in handwriting that was definitely Leo’s.

‘Leo worked hard.’

I deliberately didn’t clear away Leo’s traces and spread out the map where I had marked Ophelia’s movements.

Her plan to prevent destruction should be fully recorded on this map, but no matter how much I looked, nothing stood out.

If there was one thing that bothered me, it would be that every winter, and sometimes regardless of season, she headed to the Northern Barrier Forest.

Each time she went, she stayed for at least three months.

Among the Priest’s duties are maintaining the Barrier Forest and subjugating demonic beasts, but someone of Ophelia’s position could have easily refused.

And yet she deliberately wasted time on it.

Thinking this part might be a clue, I was quietly examining the green line crossing through the North.

Knock knock.

I could tell from the knock alone that it was Leo. I hurriedly folded up the map and told him to come in.

“Leo, did you have a good time meeting your friends?”

“Yes.”

Leo’s cheeks, having gone out with a carefree mind for once, bore traces of joy he couldn’t hide.

Though his body had grown considerably, the youthful expression on his face naturally brought me relief.

Then Leo spoke to me with the face of an honor student who had finished all his homework and was eager to move on to the next lesson.

“You’ve been in meetings all day, is there anything I can do?”

Even knowing that Leo was no longer looking for work to prove his worth, those words still painfully pierced my heart.

So I smiled even more brightly, deliberately so.

“Of course. Just protecting the Blanche Estate all this time has been more than enough.”

“But…”

Leo, who had been hesitating and fidgeting with his hands clasped in front of him, let out a small sigh and looked straight at me.

That moment felt like time had stopped, partly because Leo’s face looking at me was more mature than I had ever seen.

“But I’m the Star of the Hero.”

But it was also because the words that followed were so shocking.

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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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