The Male Lead Is Targeting Me, Not My Younger Sister - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Male Protagonist Targets Me, Not My Sister — Episode 14
Time flowed on and on.
At last, the day of the banquet arrived.
‘Finally, it’s here.’
Before entering the Banquet Hall, Lydia conducted one final inspection of herself.
Dress check.
Shoes check.
‘Good. Now let’s go.’
After drawing a deep breath, Lydia descended from the carriage.
Tonight she arrived at the Banquet Hall alone.
Without a partner, without her sister.
Utterly alone.
Of course, before coming here, Silvia had thrown an absolute fit.
“I want to go to the Imperial Palace banquet too!”
Lydia had answered coldly.
“No. You need to be patient. I’ll take you somewhere better next time, I promise.”
“I don’t want to wait, I don’t! Take me with you!”
Watching her sister wail like that made her heart feel as though it might split in two, but—
‘Still, it can’t happen.’
The choice was between: giving in to her sister’s tears and bringing her to the banquet only to watch her die, or living with a heart torn to shreds.
Obviously, the latter.
‘Besides, hearts don’t actually break that easily.’
And so Lydia had left alone, turning a blind eye to her sister with puffy eyes and a jutting lower lip.
Having arrived deliberately early, the Banquet Hall was still relatively quiet.
Lydia made her way to a corner and quietly observed the atmosphere.
‘Let me think…’
According to the Original Story, here’s what’s supposed to happen today:
1. Four male protagonists gather in one place.
2. As the banquet reaches its height, an Ainsect appears and slaughters the guests.
3. The male protagonists attempt to engage the Ainsect, but for some reason their Superpowers don’t manifest.
4. They struggle unarmed until they happen to discover the Female Protagonist.
5. After receiving her Purification, their Superpowers somehow activate again, and the male protagonists safely subdue the Ainsect…
‘Hmm… complete chaos.’
At the very least, point 4 onward was going to be deleted from the script.
The Female Protagonist wasn’t coming.
‘I’d love to erase point 2 and everything after it, but that’s impossible.’
People needed to experience what was called “awakening”—the moment they recognized that an Ainsect, a higher being with intelligence rather than mere brute animal hunger, existed.
If people didn’t know Ainsects were real, how would the male protagonists ever formulate countermeasures for the future?
If this calamity was inevitable anyway, better an incident she could control.
So what needed attention was point 3.
‘Superpowers don’t manifest… hmm.’
When she’d first read that part in the Original Story, she’d vaguely assumed the Ainsect had done something to cause it.
But after possessing this body and researching Superpowers and Purification, her thinking had shifted.
‘It’s not that simple.’
Ainsects generally possessed strength superior to ordinary humanity, even surpassing the majority of Awakened Ones.
But to suppress the Superpowers of even Transcendents—that was an entirely different matter.
‘Someone must have done something to this banquet hall beforehand.’
An Ainsect that hadn’t even arrived yet couldn’t possibly do such a thing.
Which meant a human collaborator—in other words, the Mastermind—was present at this banquet tonight.
‘If I can just get the Superpowers working, the male protagonists should be able to subdue the Ainsect safely, unlike in the Original Story. So…’
Lydia clenched her fist tightly.
‘I’ll expose the Mastermind.’
She’d already devised a solution regarding the male protagonists’ Superpowers.
All necessary preparations were already in place; all that remained was to wait.
‘Just kill time quietly.’
She had no intention of drawing attention with obvious actions.
Ideally, no one would even notice she’d been here tonight.
Lydia sipped her Wine and surveyed the interior of the Banquet Hall.
Slowly, guests began to fill the space.
Soon, a few familiar faces caught her eye.
‘That one…….’
A strikingly beautiful face that drew the eye.
A head taller than everyone around him.
‘They’re the Male Protagonists.’
The Original Story had four Male Protagonists in total.
Ludwig and Ricardo, and the remaining two were these two standing before her.
Karl and Dietrich.
Incidentally, the Information Guild leader from before was Karl.
There was much to say about that man as well…… but for now I’ll skip it. It doesn’t matter.
‘Good thing they showed up as planned. I won’t be short on strength later.’
Lydia’s plan included the Male Protagonists fighting against the Ainsect, just as the Original Story dictated.
Since each Transcendent was a significant force, she couldn’t afford to lose even one.
‘Think of it as Original Story karma and struggle well.’
What mattered to Lydia was only her sister, Silvia.
The rest, honestly, she barely cared about. Whether they suffered or not.
“My lady?”
Then, at the sound of someone’s voice, Lydia snapped out of her thoughts.
“Yes?”
A man she’d never seen before was grinning sickeningly.
Who on earth was he?
“That dress suits you remarkably well.”
The man winked with an oily smirk.
Pitifully enough…… he was just a lunatic.
Lydia relaxed her narrowed eyes, which she’d kept guarded, and her expression turned vacant.
But unfortunately, the man was persistent.
“When I happened to turn my head, you caught my eye, my lady. Just as a bee is drawn to a flower, your beauty has guided me to this very spot. Isn’t this fate?”
It wasn’t worth listening to.
‘He must think I look easy prey standing alone.’
She rarely engaged in society activities, but she knew roughly what happened at banquets like this.
Ruffians preying on powerless, innocent noble girls.
Of course, the man’s fatal error was not knowing that Lydia was far removed from being either ‘powerless’ or ‘innocent.’
‘Should I trip him? He’s clearly the type who preys on women—a rotten bastard.’
Lydia herself wouldn’t fall for such crude advances, but if she left him unchecked, wouldn’t some unfortunate victim end up harmed?
Wasn’t it one’s duty to dispose of garbage when one spotted it first?
‘Let me find out who he is first.’
In an instant, Lydia shifted her demeanor and smiled sweetly.
“Is that so.”
The man’s face brightened.
“I knew, of course, that you would share my feelings, my lady. I felt fate at first sight. The moment our eyes met, I felt a spark run through me. If this isn’t fate, then what on earth could it be?”
“Oh…….”
He really did talk a lot…….
Lydia genuinely regretted her decision.
“Don’t you think, my lady, that since our hearts seem to have connected, we might move to the next stage? Before this night ends, we could make new memories…….”
“With someone whose name I don’t even know?”
“What matters isn’t something as superficial as a name, is it?”
Yes, it had been the wrong choice after all.
Lydia subtly leaned back.
“But with someone whose name I don’t know, it might be best if I…… excuse myself?”
Thinking he was about to lose the fish he’d nearly caught, the man hastily opened his mouth.
“Hassel.”
What?
As Lydia stopped, the man grinned.
“Julian Hassel, that’s my name.”
……Wait.
This changed things somewhat.
‘Now that I think about it, wasn’t the second son of the Hassel family supposed to be a libertine?’
Lydia unconsciously furrowed her brow.
Marquis Hassel.
He was one of the villains in the Original Story.
‘Of all people, why did it have to be Hassel.’
To be precise, the man before her was not what mattered.
What mattered was that his father, Marquis Hassel, served under the Original Story’s final antagonist—Duke Kronbelt.
‘How deeply was Marquis Hassel entangled in this affair?’
Unfortunately, the man seemed to believe that Lydia had taken the bait because of his family alone, and his strutting grew all the more insufferable.
“Well, I understand, of course. It must have been quite sudden. This is precisely why I’ve tried not to reveal it—I needed a woman who truly understood me, not one who came running after my family name alone.”
She needed to think about important matters, but the fool beside her kept spewing nonsense, shattering her concentration.
‘I can’t afford to act rashly here. But couldn’t I squeeze some useful information out of this man as well?’
The Original Story was already full of holes.
The more sources of information, the better.
Though the thought of approaching such a lunatic made her stomach turn.
When Lydia fell silent, lost in thought, the man grew impatient and leaned closer.
“Enough of this tedious talk. Shall we find somewhere only the two of us can be?”
His breath brushed against her ear, and her skin crawled.
‘No. Just shoot him.’
Without hesitation, Lydia reached for her Self-Defense Ring.
But that was when it happened.
“My apologies, but I had business with her first.”
The voice came from behind, and a chill raced down her spine.
This time, for an entirely different reason.
‘Surely not.’
Both Lydia and the man spun around at once.
And the instant they saw who it was, they both went rigid.
Ludwig.
He was standing there.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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