Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 33

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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 33

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Late at night.

After confirming Leo was asleep, I slipped out of the room and headed straight to the study.

‘I was too complacent.’

When Terry informed me that assassination requests for Belinda came in quite frequently, I honestly didn’t take it too seriously.

Belinda meets her death around the middle of 【Hirome】 for various reasons, but that also meant she would be safe until 【Hirome】 began.

But I only knew one thing and was ignorant of two.

My goal is to change Belinda’s ending.

I failed to consider that my actions to change Belinda’s fate might endanger her life, which should have been safe originally.

The real Belinda would never have gone out to watch a street parade full of commoners.

‘I almost shortened my lifespan by wandering around carelessly.’

I let out a tired sigh as I opened the study door.

Three shadows cast in the dim study.

My hair stood on end and my whole body froze at the unexpected visitors.

“Master, you’ve arrived?”

“Be, Belinda-sama!”

Click. A candle on the table was lit, revealing the faces of the figures huddled together.

I asked with the feeling of letting out a belated scream.

“What are you all doing here in the middle of the night?”

I almost had a heart attack!

Vivian was one thing, but the combination of a resting assassin and a northern knight wearing a demon mask was quite menacing and very bad for my heart.

“We naturally gathered to hold a strategy meeting. I heard you were attacked by a magical beast at the festival. Please, come sit here.”

Terry gently coaxed me and seated me in the head chair.

While I was touched that they gathered without sleep for my sake in the middle of the night, why were they sitting here like villains plotting without even lighting a candle?

As I kept my mouth shut to calm my still-pounding heart, Terry brought several documents and spread them out in front of me in a fan shape like dealing cards.

It seemed to be the list of ‘people who commissioned Belinda’s assassination’ that I had requested.

Soon Terry, who had taken out glasses from his vest pocket and put them on, cleared his throat with an “Ahem.”

“Then I’ll begin the briefing.”

His well-fitted suit and polite manner made him look quite like a butler.

When I nodded, the explanation immediately followed.

Those who commissioned Belinda’s death were nobles who held grudges against her.

While some sent her marriage proposals and passionate love confessions to obtain her dowry, others stepped forward to settle old grudges like this.

‘Another reason to emigrate has increased.’

To have my life threatened for something I didn’t even do.

“The creature that attacked Master this time is a magical beast called a Shadow Crow. Assassins mainly tame them for tracking purposes. If you feed them part of the target’s body as their first meal, they’ll track down and attack the target even if they’re at the edge of the continent.”

Rustle.

“However, their attack power isn’t particularly outstanding. So this attack wasn’t really intended to kill Master outright… it’s better to see it as a kind of warning.”

Rustle. Munch munch.

“Since they failed to devour the target with this attack, they won’t give up and will aim for the next opportunity. Especially at night…”

I raised my hand to temporarily stop Terry’s mouth. Then I turned my head toward Vivian, who had been constantly rustling something.

“Vivian, what have you been fidgeting with so noisily?”

Vivian, with both cheeks bulging, opened her eyes wide as if she’d been suddenly attacked.

While watching my expression, she moved her mouth to chew and swallowed the food in her mouth, then made an excuse in a dying voice.

“I, I was anxious… so I was calming my heart with meat pie.”

I don’t know why she soothes her anxious heart with meat pie, but that’s not the problem.

When I glared at Terry, meaning why did you bring the faint-hearted Vivian, she shrugged as if she had no choice.

“When she heard about Master’s attack, she insisted on following along, so I had no choice.”

I said to Vivian, whose complexion had drained like she was about to faint as soon as magical beasts were mentioned.

“Bring a salad.”

“Sa, salad? Yes, yes!”

Without even asking why, Vivian scurried down to the kitchen as I instructed.

I used that gap to continue the briefing.

To summarize, this attack was indeed aimed at me, but it was more like harassment rather than direct assassination.

And because we failed to eliminate the Shadow Crow’s main body, the magical beast was probably still wandering around the Royal Capital.

Finally, Terry pointed to one document spread before me and pulled it out like drawing a joker from an opponent’s hand.

“This is the person presumed to be the culprit of this attack. The boss of the Sewer Rats hasn’t fully recovered his strength yet, so we couldn’t get confirmation. Would you still like to check?”

I looked down indifferently at the document that stuck out prominently.

I hadn’t read the document, but somehow I felt I knew who the culprit was.

“Why do you think this person is the culprit?”

“We confirmed that a traveling circus brought Shadow Crow eggs into the Royal Capital. They delivered them to the Strays. And three days ago, the magical beast eggs were sold to a certain noble. Can you guess where the eggs ended up?”

I picked up the document with the culprit’s personal information and answered.

“Here, I suppose.”

Schubel Blanche.

That was the name written on the document and the culprit’s name.

The document contained not only basic personal information but also newspaper articles related to Schubel.

In the current situation where the king of the Sewer Rats hadn’t fully recovered his health, such credible newspaper article materials seemed to be the limit of information the rats could gather.

My eyes fixed on the very last article as I examined the old scrap materials.

The paper, yellowed with age, was dated ten years ago.

Shock! Unfortunate Accident Befalls Blanche Heir

I read through the half-torn article.

…Many people probably questioned that Schubel Blanche, who was talented in swordsmanship, would slip and fall down the stairs.

According to witnesses of the accident, on the day of that unfortunate ‘accident,’ Schubel Blanche and his sister, Belinda Blanche, were having an argument at the top of the stairs where it happened…

The article described how Schubel, who suffered aftereffects from this accident, gave up the path of knighthood and quit the Academy.

Reading the testimony of an employee who saw Belinda push Schubel, I put down the document with a heavy heart.

Perhaps the accident that day was the beginning of everything.

From then on, Belinda began acting outrageously like mad, and her name frequently appeared in the newspapers.

“How should we handle this?”

At Terry’s quiet question, I organized my priorities in my head.

The top priority was the safety of my life.

Cornering the rat bastard who stole part of my body without me shedding a single drop of blood and delivered it intact to Schubel was naturally a later matter.

“First, we need to start with canceling the assassination requests on me.”

“Hehe, it’s been a while since I had field work!”

Terry answered with a somehow excited expression.

I don’t know how he plans to get my assassination requests canceled, but he seemed so confident that I didn’t ask further.

Then, the study door quietly opened and Vivian entered carrying a salad bowl.

Just in time, all the talk that would be uncomfortable for Vivian to hear had ended.

I picked out celery pieces and carrots from the salad bowl she brought and stuffed them into the meat pie full of meat.

I understand she’s a carnivore, but Vivian eats too much meat. She’s pickier than even Leo.

“Eat.”

Vivian took the special vegetable meat pie I made with a dejected expression.

And like a carnivore chewing soy meat, she chewed and swallowed the remaining pie with soulless eyes.

By the time she finished eating all the remaining pie, the strategy meeting was concluded.

There was still a long time before sunrise.

Though the streets were bright with all kinds of lights since it was the first day of the Bonmaje Festival, it wasn’t enough to completely drive away the darkness.

I heard that while Shadow Crows primarily target me, when their hunger reaches its peak, they abandon their instincts and fill their bellies with whatever easy prey appears before their eyes.

If those things were targeting people from within the darkness….

“I’ll be going now.”

Lord Penandel, who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly spoke up.

I looked up at him with a slightly surprised heart.

He seemed to know what I was worrying about.

“…Where are you going at this hour?”

“Weren’t you concerned about the Shadow Crows?”

“….”

How did he know.

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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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