Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 32

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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 32

You could call it instinct.

‘Go to bright places, bright places, she said.’

I recalled the map of the Royal Capital I had obtained through ‘Belinda’s memory fragments’ in my mind.

Current location: Barjet Street.

Just past one alley, I could reach Gold Street where the parade was taking place.

‘Though it bothers me that this information is over 10 years old since it’s from Belinda’s childhood memories…’

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

“Jui-bam-tol, we’re going into the third alley!”

“Yes, yes!”

Leo shouted while running after me without understanding why.

I looked back to see if Leo was keeping up well, then immediately regretted it.

The identity of the thing approaching us while devouring light.

It was a giant crow.

No, it would be more accurate to say it was a flock of countless crows forming a swarm.

Dozens of bright red eyes glinted menacingly in the darkness.

Lord Penandel, who had his back to us, held a sword that glowed blue even in the darkness, but it seemed insufficient to face that massive thing.

But I couldn’t stop running.

I shouted at Leo, who was about to look back like me.

“Don’t look back and just run!”

I squeezed out all my remaining strength to move my legs, but my speed only kept decreasing.

Before I knew it, Leo, who had been behind me, quickly overtook me and began pulling me along as he ran.

To think I had worse stamina than a nine-year-old child.

‘If I get home safely, I need to start exercising.’

Gasping for breath, I barely managed to enter the alley.

From behind came the sound of crow wings flapping and terrible bird cries.

“Lady Belinda, I can see the street over there!”

Just as Leo shouted, bright light spread from the end of the dark alley.

It was the main street where the parade was taking place.

Ten steps ahead.

I heard the sound of birds pouring into the alley.

Seven steps ahead.

I heard the sound of crow wings flapping right nearby.

Five steps ahead.

The moment I unconsciously looked back, I had a premonition.

That it was already too late.

Before escaping the alley, we would eventually be surrounded by those things.

Three steps ahead.

I looked at Leo’s back as he ran ahead of me…

Two steps ahead.

I shook off the hand he was gripping tightly…

One step ahead.

I pushed his small back forcefully out of the alley.

“Lady Belinda?”

The bright light of the festival poured down over Leo’s forehead as he was pushed forward, stumbling.

‘Oh no, he shouldn’t get hurt from falling.’

I had that thought as I covered my head with my hands.

Come on, it’s just being pecked by birds – would I really die?

The moment I gritted my teeth and braced for the coming pain.

“Lady Belinda!”

Thud.

With the sound of something bursting, my vision darkened and a familiar scent wafted over.

“It’s alright now.”

The terribly low bass voice from above my head was strangely reassuring, and I almost lost strength in my legs.

I placed my hand on his solid chest to barely support myself.

Lord Penandel wrapped me tightly within his coat and continued speaking in a calm voice.

“Please don’t move for a moment. Those are called Shadow Crows, and they parasitize dark places. So you must protect the shadows.”

The voice that resonated through his thick chest helped me regain my composure.

I craned my neck to look up at Lord Penandel, but as always, all I could see was his masculine jawline and thick neckline.

I barely managed to squeeze out my voice and ask.

“What about Jui-bam-tol?”

“…The child is safe.”

Ah. Thank goodness.

Only then did the tension release, and I leaned my forehead against his chest and gasped for the breath I had been holding.

“You’re late.”

Oh, this isn’t right. I have so much I want to say. But reproachful words came out first.

However, Lord Penandel delivered a plain apology in his usual unreadable voice.

He carefully held me in his arms as he left the alley.

“Lady Belinda!”

As soon as I pushed aside Lord Penandel’s coat and pulled myself out, Leo ran to me and hugged me tightly.

“Mon-, monster crows swarmed over… Lady Belinda was like, so the knight! I, I ran too fast… and the feathers…!”

Leo babbled incoherently with tears welling up in his eyes.

The small hands desperately clutching at my skirt spoke for the anxiety and fear the child must have felt.

“Jui-bam-tol.”

I called Leo’s name softly and bent my knees to match the child’s eye level.

Then I gently wiped away the tears gathered at Leo’s eyes with my fingertips and softly comforted the child.

“Stop.”

“Sniff. Stop.”

Leo sniffled once and finally swallowed his tears.

His eyes were red-rimmed and his lips were pressed together pitifully, making me want to pull Leo’s anxiety-soaked body into a tight embrace and pat his small back to comfort him.

But all I could do right now was…

“For a Jui-bam-tol, you did quite well. Running away like a little mouse was very brave.”

I could only speak words that were unclear whether they were sarcasm or praise in a prim manner while stroking the child’s small head.

And very, very carefully while radiating an aura that said ‘I won’t hurt you.’

“But… I couldn’t do it…”

Leo’s head gradually dropped as he muttered something.

I withdrew my hand with a disappointed feeling at his gesture that seemed to avoid my touch.

Then I awkwardly clasped my empty hands in front of me and called Lord Penandel.

He didn’t seem to be injured from what I could see, but he appeared quite shaken by the sudden attack, so I intended to ask him to carry the child as we moved.

“Carry Jui-bam-tol on your back.”

As always, the translator’s translation was merciless.

* * *

Preparing for a possible second attack, Belinda’s party walked along the bright main street toward where the carriage was parked.

The street was a cauldron of excitement with the festival and parade procession, but Cesar skillfully distinguished between the presence of people and non-people while escorting Belinda.

As expected, Shadow Crows that he hadn’t been able to cut down lurked in the darkness of every alley that spread out like tree roots in complex patterns.

In fact, Shadow Crows were magical beasts that caused headaches in extermination due to their characteristic of continuously multiplying unless the main body was eliminated, rather than the aggressiveness of individual entities.

Normally, they couldn’t be seen in the middle of a city like this.

Perhaps it escaped from a traveling circus that visited the Royal Capital during the Demon Sealing Festival period.

But if that wasn’t the case, the situation was more serious than expected.

Cesar’s gaze briefly swept over Belinda’s profile.

Her coldly settled expression exuded the same sharp and fierce atmosphere as usual, but now he knew.

“What about Jui-bam-tol?”

“It’s late.”

Even when she asked about the child’s well-being before checking on her own safety.

Even when she finally found a place to lean and felt relieved, her expression never wavered.

The mask Belinda wore was so solid that to guess her inner thoughts, one had to observe her actions rather than her words or expressions.

That was what Cesar had learned during his time with her.

Perhaps that’s why the smile she showed the day before, blooming unexpectedly like a spring flower in winter, remained so vivid in his memory.

‘What am I thinking.’

Cesar shook his head to dispel the distracting thoughts.

Then he spoke in a voice so quiet that Belinda couldn’t hear, opening his mouth somewhat awkwardly.

“Jui-bam-tol.”

The warmth clinging to his back flinched.

Leo, who had no choice but to be carried by Cesar under his master’s stern gaze, had Belinda’s shawl pulled over his head.

Belinda thought the child had fallen asleep peacefully, but Cesar knew that wasn’t the case.

He continued quietly.

“Today you very bravely saved your master from danger. You can be proud of that.”

“…But.”

A sob mixed into his whispered voice.

“I couldn’t protect Lady Belinda…”

The terror he felt when he lost hold of Belinda’s hand was still pounding fiercely at Leo’s small heart.

He knew that Belinda had shaken off his hand to save him, but still, he shouldn’t have let go of that hand.

‘And yet Lady Belinda stroked my head, and the knight praised me…’

He couldn’t lift his head as if he had used deception, but on the other hand, his face turned bright red from the desire to act spoiled.

Whether he knew Leo’s confused feelings or not, Cesar’s calm question continued.

“Why do you try so hard to protect your master?”

Why? Of course it was to become an excellent servant.

If he couldn’t become an excellent servant that would satisfy Belinda, he would become a useless person…

‘Then Lady Belinda won’t need me anymore.’

Then he would lose his place to stay once again.

However, even as Leo thought this, he couldn’t actually say anything.

“…”

Was that really all there was to it?

A small doubt began to sprout.

That day when thunder struck fiercely, when he accidentally witnessed Schubel and Belinda confronting each other.

Had he resolved to protect Lady Belinda with this same feeling that day too?

“I…”

Cesar’s low voice gently patted Leo’s back as he couldn’t continue his words.

“You can take your time finding the answer.”

Only with those words did the tension finally leave Leo’s body.

The child rubbed his forehead against his mentor’s back and groaned continuously as he pondered.

In doing so, he forgot to tell Cesar something.

The fact that he had witnessed a feather from an unusually red-eyed and large raven seep into Belinda’s shadow as if melting into it.

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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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