Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 66

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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 66

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Though fragmentary, the relationship between the Crown Prince and Belinda that I learned through the ‘first memory fragment’ was more complex than I thought.

The Blanche family had been traditional royalist central nobles for generations.

The Blanches who had overflowing wealth and the royal family with somewhat weak royal authority.

Belinda, the young lady of the Blanche family, and Prince Mikhail, the legitimate heir of the royal family, were quite good partners both politically and privately.

While Mikhail was as delicate as spring flowers crushed by wind and rain, Belinda was like a stubborn general who had to have everything her way to be satisfied.

The two fit together perfectly like puzzle pieces that filled each other’s lacking parts.

“What a picture-perfect pair. It’s truly reassuring to think those children will be the future of both families.”

As a natural course, Belinda became the Crown Prince’s betrothed, which meant their engagement.

But when Belinda’s birth parents died and her uncle became the official head of the family, everything changed.

The royalists who supported the Crown Prince openly showed their discomfort toward the uncle who was an illegitimate child. Their opinion was that a cadet branch was better than a bastard.

In the end, the uncle had no choice but to change his political stance to protect both the family and himself from the threats of the cadet branches and royalists.

I couldn’t know what happened to their relationship after that.

All I knew was the fact that they broke off their engagement and that their relationship deteriorated so badly that the Crown Prince would personally behead Belinda in the distant future.

Nevertheless, the reason I came forward to this meeting today was not only because I couldn’t refuse the Crown Prince’s request, but also because I had expectations that perhaps I could change the future with him.

Just like I changed the future with the Magister who had killed Belinda the most, perhaps I could change the ending with him too – that expectation.

And that expectation became a more promising future the moment I faced the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince I met after more than ten years hadn’t changed at all from the childhood that Belinda remembered.

As soon as the Crown Prince came out to the balcony and drew the thick blackout curtains, he relaxed his shoulders and leaned his upper body leisurely against the railing.

Should I say it was fortunate.

His back showed vague ease as if meeting an old friend after a long time, instead of the formality of facing a noble lady.

After hesitating for a moment, I carefully stood beside him and rested my arms on the railing.

“I heard the news. That you accepted Duke of Baluashten’s marriage proposal.”

“…That’s what happened.”

I stubbornly looked straight ahead, not giving the Crown Prince even a glance.

I didn’t know what to do in this uncomfortable situation where my former fiancé was talking about my marriage.

Moreover, since I still didn’t know what kind of person he was, I couldn’t help but be cautious.

“Do you like him?”

“Ha.”

That hollow laugh came out so naturally that I couldn’t tell if it was mine or Belinda’s.

‘Is he being serious?’

Though I didn’t know much about noble psychology or politics, I understood well enough that they never married based on emotions alone. Especially high nobles like Belinda.

Yet here was a crown prince of a nation asking such an innocent question.

Wondering if he might have some other ulterior motive, I subtly probed his intentions.

“If I answered yes… would the royal family be able to process the engagement with House of Baluashten more quickly?”

“But Bel, you’ve never even met him. Didn’t you always say you wanted a handsome, obedient husband who would listen to you?”

At his slightly aggrieved retort, I realized that the Crown Prince’s words were pure questions without any ulterior motives.

Just like ten years ago, the Crown Prince was simply gentle and tender like a young child.

Only then did I answer with a much lighter heart.

“I jest. As Your Highness said, I’ve never seen the Duke’s face. I’m simply marrying because it’s necessary.”

“The North is a dangerous and barren place. Can’t you reconsider?”

How could there be a voice that conveyed such sincerity.

I looked at the Crown Prince’s face, which showed deep concern, with a slightly surprised heart.

“I don’t get engaged for love. Wasn’t our engagement the same?”

“Why do you think mine was the same?”

I blinked for a moment.

That statement… But the relationship between Belinda and the Crown Prince that I saw in the memory fragment was nothing more than friends.

The Crown Prince soon laughed as if it had been a joke.

“Well, whatever those feelings were, it’s been too long ago anyway.”

Bitterness tinged the Crown Prince’s tone.

Soon his eyes looking at me shone with a fresh color like newly sprouted buds.

“Though not your fiancé, I’m still your friend. So I’ll ask as your friend, Bel.”

The Crown Prince tilted his head slightly and continued with an innocent face like a young child.

“If you don’t like the Duke, there are other options. So…”

Suddenly the night wind blew and the leaves of the trees spread out in the garden below the balcony rustled noisily.

The Crown Prince’s voice gently anchored to me, piercing through the night’s commotion that sounded like waves.

“Won’t you marry me?”

“…”

I was momentarily speechless because Belinda’s childhood memories floated over the Crown Prince’s earnest face.

“It’s called Paffen, a flower from my mother’s homeland. Now it’s the only flower of its kind in this kingdom. I’ll make a ring with this, so will you marry me?”

“Hmph, I don’t want to.”

“Why… why? Do you dislike me, Bel?”

“It’s not because I dislike Your Highness, but I wanted to be the one to propose. Hey, Misha, you promised me! You said you’d let me do all the good things first!”

An age when we didn’t yet know how weighty marriage was. A time when we thought proposals were just promises to be friends forever.

I wondered whether the real Belinda would have accepted the Crown Prince’s proposal, or even if she would have come to this meeting today, as I answered.

“Unfortunately, there’s no proposal ring made of Paffen flowers.”

Paffen was a red flower known to have been brought by the Queen, a foreign royal, when she married into this country.

Many scholars tried to make it take root in this land, but it eventually couldn’t overcome the climate and completely withered away in this kingdom.

The day when the Crown Prince would propose to me with Paffen flowers like in the old days would never come again.

That was already the past, and those memories weren’t even mine.

The Crown Prince, who had smiled sadly for a moment at my rejection, gracefully backed down.

“I’ll make sure the marriage approval is processed as quickly as possible. His Majesty welcomes this marriage, so it won’t take too long.”

“Thank you. What an excellent wedding gift.”

“But are you going to keep addressing me so formally? How disappointing. I won’t make the same mistakes as before.”

What could those past mistakes be.

Afraid he might ask more questions, I quickly used his nickname.

“Misha.”

Mikhail’s, no, Misha’s expression brightened noticeably.

Seeing someone who was already bright smile like a child made me feel like I was basking in sunlight.

So I asked that question with a lighter heart than expected.

“If Your Highness’s sword were to point at me, what would be the reason?”

It had always been a mystery.

What would make this person’s hands bloody.

I couldn’t believe this was someone who would kill Belinda later.

Despite the sudden question, the Crown Prince answered without hesitation.

“When you stand in the way of my beliefs, I will point my sword at you. And I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

When I stand in the way of his beliefs.

I couldn’t understand why tormenting the protagonist was something that stood in the way of his beliefs.

I wanted to ask about that, but since it was about the future, I couldn’t even ask the reason.

Instead, I asked something else.

“What are Your Highness’s beliefs?”

Then the Crown Prince looked as if caught off guard. As if he hadn’t expected me to ask such a thing.

Eventually, he leaned obliquely against the railing and looked down at the garden buried in darkness without a single point of light.

He scrutinized the garden persistently as if trying to find some terrible monster lurking in that darkness, then casually threw out his words.

“Preventing destruction.”

Though it sounded like a mischievous joke, his face glowing gently under the magic lamp looked incredibly righteous and just, like a benevolent hero from a fairy tale.

So much so that I found myself unconsciously enchanted by that face and sympathizing with his beliefs.

Even though his belief involved beheading people, perhaps even those he considered close friends.

Only then did I realize that the man before me was different from the person in Belinda’s memories.

The young Crown Prince who would cry pitifully over even a small scratch had become a man who could kill people for his beliefs.

Just as Belinda, who had yearned for her uncle’s love, had become a woman who enjoyed watching people bleed.

This must be how it feels to discover flower petals you had carefully pressed between book pages to make dried flowers had turned black and withered to death.

To find out what had caused that flower to wither and die, there was no other way but to seek fragments of memory and steal glimpses of Belinda’s life.

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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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