Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 68

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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 68

“Is Marquess’s Daughter Blanche’s fiancé finally going to be revealed here today?”

“But the Acting Head has never shown any such signs…”

I straightened my back at the words I caught and stepped forward, one step ahead of Schubel.

Now all eyes were fixed entirely on me.

“That would be right. Schubel is still merely an ‘Acting Head,’ so he couldn’t possibly take precedence over the Marquess’s will. Everyone remembers the Marquess’s will, don’t you?”

Schubel had not yet held his succession ceremony, so he had not received the King’s decree.

While he could practically act as the head of the family, officially he was not yet the head of the Blanche Family.

“Marquess’s Daughter Blanche, so who is this lucky man?”

Ah, finally this question came up.

They looked around as if suspecting each other.

I opened my mouth, grateful that the Duke was not present at this gathering.

“It is His Grace the Duke of Baluashten.”

For a moment, the sound of people swallowing could be heard, then.

“What!”

“You mean that Duke from the North?”

“Good heavens.”

The commotion spread like falling dominoes, too fast to stop.

By tomorrow, news of my engagement would probably spread throughout the entire Kingdom.

I hid my impatient heart and looked back at Schubel as if expecting his reaction.

This time, he seemed to lack even the patience to hide his expression, his jaw bulging as he clenched his teeth.

I approached the man standing beside Schubel slowly, without taking my eyes off Schubel.

“I believe some of you have already seen him. His Grace, who will become my husband, has sent a knight from the North as one of his early gifts. So if you wish to step on my shadow…”

Before the dance, the shoes of the man who had stepped on the hem of my dress were polished to a shine.

I wore a clearly menacing smile and slowly, deliberately trampled on the man’s pristine shoes.

“Remember that there is a northern beast behind it.”

“Ugh.”

The man before me gritted his teeth and showed signs of enduring pain, but dared not pull away.

And immediately, the people surrounding me stepped back a full meter.

“You’re all such cowards.”

Just as I looked around at them with an amused smile, the system window I had so eagerly awaited appeared.

Synchronization rate increased by +1.

Synchronization rate increased by +1.

Synchronization rate increased by +1.

Synchronization rate increased by +1.

50% Synchronization Complete

Obtain ‘Quest Reward: Belinda’s Memory Fragment (Second)’ as a reward.

You will receive a special reward upon obtaining the memory fragment.

However, I had no mind to examine the memory fragment.

After lightly greeting the Crown Prince who was watching from the second floor, I left the ballroom without looking back.

* * *

At the entrance of the palace where the ball was being held.

The waiting room where knights without titles and servants and coachmen of nobles attending the ball stayed was thick with cheap tobacco smoke and the smell of alcohol.

The men who had been exchanging trivial or crude jokes suddenly turned their attention to the commotion heard outside the door.

“My lady, that area is only for gentlemen!”

The noisy waiting room instantly fell quiet.

Dozens of pairs of eyes watched the door to see who this bold visitor was, fearless enough to set foot in this place full of rough men.

At that moment, a knight who had been leaning against the wall like a statue without saying a word suddenly moved.

He looked like a pet dog recognizing its master’s footsteps from afar and going out to the front door to greet them.

And finally, the moment the waiting room door burst open.

“Pe…!”

“Let us leave. The air here is not good.”

Thanks to Cesar’s massive frame completely blocking the waiting room door, all the men in the waiting room could confirm was a high-pitched voice.

Cesar left the waiting room, perfectly shielding Belinda until the door was completely closed.

“What is the matter?”

Belinda looked up at Cesar, who had rushed out before she could even call him, then spoke with a much calmer expression.

“We need to return immediately. I think Schubel has done something.”

Afraid that voicing her speculation would make her inner anxiety become reality, Belinda deliberately said no more.

She simply urged the coachman to race without rest at a speed that wouldn’t have been surprising if the carriage had overturned.

“You should have at least had no weaknesses, Bel.”

Belinda couldn’t understand why Leo came to mind at those words.

On this night of the ball.

Terry was away from the manor, saying he had something to investigate about Schubel’s aide.

Therefore, only Vivian and Leo were currently guarding the Blanche Family’s annex.

The fact she had carelessly overlooked now made her strangely anxious.

Hoping this would become something to laugh about as excessive worry later, Belinda opened the carriage door and jumped out before it even stopped.

Cesar caught her several times when she almost fell, barely preventing her from suffering a terrible fate.

But there was no time for relief. The moment she discovered the annex’s main gate was open, Belinda’s heart dropped.

Cesar stopped her as she tried to rush inside.

“I don’t sense any presence inside, but just in case.”

Belinda followed Cesar, who had drawn his sword, into the manor.

The inside of the manor was literally a mess, as if swept by an earthquake.

In the middle of the manor that had become a wasteland, as if deliberately leaving traces of intrusion, Belinda called that name.

“Jui-bam-tol?”

Her voice echoed through the empty hall. No answer came.

“Vivian!”

Belinda searched and searched the manor until her anger subsided. But Cesar’s words were right.

The manor was completely empty.

Just as Belinda’s breathing was about to become rough.

【Bel! Bel!】

“Suga!”

She had been so frantic that she had completely forgotten Suga was there.

Suga frantically circled above Belinda’s head like a siren, screaming.

【Smelly humans came in droves! And they threw things! Suga saw everything! Then bang! Boom! The small human went whoosh! Then the door, crack!】

Belinda sent mana to Suga, then snatched her up like catching a flying insect.

“Calm down and explain properly.”

Belinda quietly listened to Suga’s explanation.

Eventually, she released Suga and spoke.

“I found out where Vivian is. But Jui-bam-tol’s whereabouts are unclear.”

Though Belinda’s expression was cruelly expressionless, Cesar noticed her hands were trembling.

“Commission the Sewer Rats. Tell them to release all the rats.”

* * *

Vivian’s daily routine had changed 180 degrees since coming to the Blanche Estate.

At the Magic Tower, it was routine to stay up for days and nights immersed in magical device research, then collapse into sleep when she could no longer endure it.

However, now that Belinda had restricted her caffeine and stimulant intake, she had inadvertently become a morning person, often nodding off from late evening hours.

That day too, Vivian was desperately fighting drowsiness while crafting a mana bullet firearm.

‘Just one cup of bitter black coffee loaded with stimulants, yawn, and I’d have no other wishes in the world…’

As she moved her hands while yawning continuously, a strange sound caught her attention.

Creak. Thud.

It was the sound of hinges creaking from the wooden door used by the servants.

Late at night. It was time when all the employees should have returned to the main building.

‘Who came?’

Normally Terry would have checked the situation, but tonight she was away from the mansion.

Therefore, instead of Terry, Vivian rubbed her heavy eyelids and poked her head outside the door.

“…”

“…”

And she came face to face with an unknown man walking boldly down the corridor.

Perhaps due to the long scar running across his cheek, his expression looked extremely menacing.

“Wh-who are you?”

“…I came from the main building. Is there a servant named Jui-bam-tol in this mansion?”

A servant from the main building at this hour?

Moreover, she had definitely locked the doors, so she couldn’t understand how he had gotten in.

‘Come to think of it, I think Lady Belinda said she was going somewhere today.’

Naturally assuming Leo had followed along, Vivian swallowed her yawn and answered nonchalantly.

“He went out with Lady Belinda.”

“That can’t be right.”

The other party’s confident muttering awakened Vivian’s brain like a stimulant.

‘Why is he so certain that can’t be right?’

In the past, back when she only did research at the Magic Tower, she would have dismissed it as nothing important.

But hadn’t she learned something from living with Belinda?

That the world isn’t made up of goodwill alone.

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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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