Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 5

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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 5

Tiger-like energy surged through my drooping body.

I bolted upright to immediately hug Leo tight and ruffle his hair until it was a complete mess, but dizziness hit me and I clutched my forehead, groaning.

Oh my, what a headache. I’ve been rejuvenated to a twenty-year-old body, but my stamina has gotten even worse.

I waited for the flashing lights in front of my eyes to disappear, then looked at Leo again…

‘Why does he look like that?’

Leo was trembling like a rabbit facing a predator.

Only then did I realize how deeply furrowed my brow was.

I’m not angry though. So you don’t need to be scared…

If I hugged the child right now, he’d probably think I was trying to squeeze him to death and have a fit.

I had no choice but to try conveying my gratitude with words at least.

Thwack, crack.

At the sound of something being cut and split coming from somewhere, all the hair on my body stood on end.

Startled, I looked for the source of the sound and found it was a servant chopping firewood in the courtyard.

‘Phew, what was I thinking? For a moment I thought it was the sound of my head falling off like in that dream.’

I wiped the cold sweat from the back of my neck once and opened my mouth.

“…”

But my throat felt completely blocked, as if words were stuck.

“Lady Belinda?”

…What if I say something wrong and Leo gets hurt?

What if I’m later misunderstood as abusing the child and get my head chopped off like in Ending 1?

I ended up having to settle for timidly taking the rag from Leo’s hands.

After checking the synchronization rate that remained unchanged, I lowered my eyes slightly and opened my mouth.

Mr. Translator, please give me a righteous translation. Please!

“Jui-bam-tol, don’t do anything.”

Good, that was a gentle tone for Belinda!

…Or so I thought.

I’ll probably never forget it for the rest of my life.

Leo’s expression of shock at my words, like a child whose candy had been taken away.

‘Why on earth…’

I looked down at what I was holding absentmindedly. What I had taken was definitely a rag, not candy.

Was there actually a setting where Leo was a cleaning fairy?

He seemed to be misunderstanding something, but I couldn’t carelessly open my mouth.

I had no choice but to turn around with just the rag in my hand.

Even after that, Leo kept making faces like his candy had been stolen.

“May I dust the table?”

“Don’t do useless things, just go sit crammed in that corner over there.”

“Then what should I do today…”

“What?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

Why? I’m telling him not to work and to rest, so why is he so depressed?

‘Did he catch me secretly watching him?’

As days passed, Leo’s complexion only grew darker, and eventually he reached the point of desperately avoiding my gaze, afraid our eyes might meet.

On the fifth day since Leo arrived.

I realized it.

“He’s afraid of me.”

That there was no difference between me and the real Belinda who had tormented the protagonist.

Right, that makes sense.

With fierce-looking eyes, only saying mean things when I open my mouth, and even giving him a name that would be better not to have.

Looking at it this way, Leo has more reasons to fear me than to like me.

I sat with my chin propped on the windowsill, gloomily looking outside.

The estate’s backyard.

A young child with a round head was bustling about among the maids like a squirrel gathering acorns.

It was Leo looking lively for the first time in a while, but my heart felt heavy.

“The blankets… could I… shake them out?”

Leo spoke so earnestly that I couldn’t bring myself to say no.

As soon as I nodded, Leo hugged a blanket bigger than himself and ran out like a puppy going for a walk after a long time.

“This wasn’t the picture I had imagined of life with Leo.”

I had pictured watching the child munch on sweet snacks, or having daily fashion shows by dressing him in new clothes.

I was letting out a deep sigh when.

“Oh, oh!”

Leo, who had climbed onto a chair to shake out the blanket, slipped and fell.

I was so shocked that I pressed my face against the window, squashing my forehead and nose, to check on the child.

Fortunately, he quickly got up after rolling around, but it seemed he had fallen because his bangs were too long and blocked his vision.

‘Tidying his hair should be okay, right?’

Yes, I know it’s my selfish desire. But this is directly related to Leo’s safety.

So when Leo comes back, I’ll just say one thing about trimming his hair.

I started running simulations on how to speak so Leo could hear my words without misunderstanding.

* * *

“What? You’re asking what assistance means?”

Toma’s face showed displeasure as he asked back.

He was very displeased with the small roommate who had suddenly appeared one day.

Therefore, his answering voice was quite blunt.

“Assistance means doing what your superiors tell you to do, and sometimes protecting your master. What’s so difficult about that?”

“Well… Lady Belinda only tells me not to do anything.”

Leo answered with noticeably deflated spirits.

Because being told not to do anything sounded exactly like… being told he wasn’t needed.

Meanwhile, Toma’s eyes narrowed upon hearing Leo’s words.

He had some idea about Belinda’s sudden change in attitude.

With the marquis dead and no one left to look after her, she was probably keeping a low profile for now to see how things went.

Once the young master became head of the family, it wouldn’t be strange if she was immediately sent to a convent.

‘Of all times to become a noble’s personal servant. This orphan has such good luck.’

As someone who often took on the task of helping newcomers adapt as a senior, he was actually a very narrow-minded man.

‘In my day, apprentice servants had to sleep in the stables.’

But this orphan who had nothing but luck dared to share the same room as him, a senior!

Could there be anything more unfair in this world?

It seemed necessary to show the newcomer the bitter taste of working life, for the sake of world fairness.

Toma’s voice instantly became magnanimous.

“Hmm, hmm. I see. You’re wondering why the young lady doesn’t give you any work to do, is that your concern?”

“Yes.”

If this fool got scared and made mistakes, that nasty-tempered woman wouldn’t just let it slide, would she?

Toma hid his vile smile and put on a seemingly sympathetic face.

“I think she’s not giving you any work because you’re completely useless.”

“Ah…”

Dark clouds gathered on Leo’s face. He couldn’t dare to refute that it wasn’t true.

After all, the words he heard most often at the orphanage were ‘useless brat.’

Moreover, Belinda would often watch him silently with cold eyes.

As if gauging his usefulness.

Toma’s blunt hand patted the dejected Leo’s shoulder.

“Tsk tsk, I feel sorry for your situation, so let me give you a few words of advice. You know I’m saying this for your own good, right?”

“Y-yes.”

“First, you need to know what kind of person your master is.”

Soon, Leo’s face grew increasingly pale as Toma told him stories about Belinda, mixing truth with exaggeration.

* * *

Hearing others’ malicious gossip every night tends to create prejudices that didn’t exist before.

Toma’s stories about Belinda were so horrifying that Leo lost sleep every night and eventually even had nightmares.

Thanks to this, the child now trembled nervously and became intimidated whenever he stood before Belinda.

Whenever he tried to work as a servant while reading the mood, Belinda’s frosty warning would immediately follow.

“Jui-bam-tol, I told you not to do anything, didn’t I?”

And so his rag was taken away, his broom was taken away, and finally even his last cleaning tool, the duster, was confiscated.

Now there was nowhere left to retreat.

Leo finally pleaded.

“The blanket… could you let me… beat it clean?”

That was exactly why Leo’s feet were now bouncing rhythmically as he ran down the corridor.

The child ran toward the rear of the mansion, clutching the blanket in his arms as if it were a treasure chest.

‘Lady Belinda gave me work to do! Now I’m a useful servant!’

All his worries seemed to melt away like snow.

Though it was work he had to plead for, if he proved his usefulness, wouldn’t she entrust him with various tasks in the future?

‘Today I’m just beating blankets, but tomorrow I’ll do the blanket laundry!’

He would sweep rooms, wipe them down, and even do wet cleaning.

He wanted to become a proper servant like Toma as soon as possible.

‘So I absolutely, absolutely cannot make any mistakes.’

Leo clenched both fists and climbed onto a chair to hang the blanket under the sunlight.

It was purely by chance that he glanced up at the manor’s second floor while hanging the blanket on the clothesline.

‘What’s that?’

A dark silhouette standing by the window of Belinda’s room.

The moment he discovered that the silhouette’s piercing blue gaze was glaring at him.

“Eek!”

So startled that his legs gave out, Leo tumbled right off the chair.

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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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