Thought It Was ‘The End’, Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 103

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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 18. Each Person’s Truth (7)

“Was being late really such a grave sin….”

They say regret always comes too late. Edelaine muttered gloomily while clutching her head.

Shane, who had brought a glass of water, sat down awkwardly on the edge of the bed next to Edelaine with a sheepish smile. One side of the bed sank deeply, tilting her body. Edelaine pulled the blanket to cover herself while glaring at him.

“Don’t come close.”

“Sorry. I was a bit too rough.”

Shane smiled smoothly. His smile was as benevolent as the Saint’s, but unlike his words, he showed no sign of remorse whatsoever.

“It was my first time too, so I couldn’t control myself.”

He looked like he’d play dead if it suited him. Her teeth chattered with grief and betrayal.

“I’m a patient who just got out of a sickbed, you heartless, tearless demon.”

“Didn’t you say you got healthy and were just sleeping?”

“That’s just a figure of speech! When someone’s crying and begging, you don’t even pretend to listen….”

“Ah, you were cute.”

“Shane Blancarde.”

“Yes. I’m listening.”

“I don’t mean just hearing sounds with your ears, you know? How could you do that when someone was gasping for breath?”

“Sorry. I was so excited I couldn’t hear well. I tried to listen to everything you said.”

No matter what she shot back at him, his grinning face didn’t crack even slightly.

It had been like that all night. Every time Edelaine said she’d reached her limit, he would tenderly comfort her and whisper.

That she could do more.

‘Even military training wouldn’t be this harsh.’

It didn’t feel like a wedding night but like she’d been on an all-night march. The tingling pleasure that numbed half her head was overwhelming enough, but Shane had pushed her relentlessly even when she’d reached her limit, leaving her memories fragmented.

Stop, no, I’ll die if we do more.

You won’t die, you can do more. Just hang in there a little longer.

I don’t want to, ah, I don’t want….

You know it hurts me when you say you don’t want to.

Then get hurt, you bad man.

Yes, I’m bad. Sorry. But don’t leave me behind, Edelaine.

Go away.

You promised to hold me, remember?

Every time she was about to fall asleep from exhaustion, Shane would bite and nibble her earlobe, ultimately making her cry.

He soothed the thrashing Edelaine and licked up all her tears, but never let go of the hands gripping her waist.

He showed no mercy while smiling with that face the entire time.

“You should consider the difference in our stamina….”

Not just stamina, but weight class and gender too. These were conditions that should never be matched up.

“I did consider it.”

“Think more. I’m like paper right now. Handle me wrong and I’ll tear. My durability is terrible….”

“Let’s exercise together.”

“I’ll do it alone. Let’s become the kind of couple that respects each other’s private time.”

“No. If I leave you alone, I’ll die of loneliness.”

“What are you, a rabbit?!”

Shane’s eyes widened.

“You mean I’m cute like a rabbit?”

“I know well enough that you’re not that kind of rabbit. No, don’t creep closer.”

“You said you wanted to drink water.”

However, Shane didn’t offer the glass to Edelaine. When she looked at him as if asking why he wasn’t handing it over, he smiled slyly and brought the glass to his own mouth.

“If you’re going to sneakily, mmph.”

He skillfully parted her lips and poured lukewarm water in. Edelaine swallowed the water along with curses that couldn’t form into words. She needed the water like sweet rain for her parched throat, and if she struggled too much, the blanket would slip down.

This was a strategic retreat. She’d just accept the water, take what she needed, then mercilessly push him away….

But even after she’d swallowed the mouthful of water, their lips didn’t part. As the kiss naturally tried to deepen, Edelaine bit down hard on his lips.

“Sthop it….”

“I underthand. I’ll sthop.”

He didn’t look hurt at all, but Shane obediently surrendered to Edelaine’s threat.

He seemed to sense like a ghost that she’d really get angry if he continued. With a regretful expression, he made smacking sounds and gave several light kisses before finally pulling away.

“I can understand emperors who abandoned state affairs because they were blinded by love.”

“Is that so….”

“I don’t want to be apart for a week or ten days.”

“Just kill me instead….”

“If you approach it with the resolve to die, physical training should be easy.”

Shane’s grin made him look like a tiger drill instructor. Edelaine swallowed her tears.

What kind of person approaches marital relations with the resolve to die….

However, Edelaine didn’t really dislike seeing Shane so excited either. It was cute how he was so thrilled just from finally having their belated wedding night that he seemed ready to fly. You could tell he was excited just from his back.

Edelaine buried her face in the pillow while lying prone. Now everything seemed cute.

‘I’m totally whipped.’

So I’m that famous whipped person.

She turned her head to the side and stared intently at Shane’s back. The excited mood radiating from his broad shoulders, thick chest, and the lean waist and hips sculpted with muscle was both very sexy and ridiculous.

‘How can someone be so mature yet simultaneously childish?’

It was a fascinating harmony.

‘Well, so what.’

But yes, so what. As long as we’re happy.

*

She also confessed the truth to Lloyd.

Thanks to having told Shane once, she was able to explain a bit more coherently.

Lloyd, who initially listened with an expression wondering what crazy nonsense she was spouting, was twitching the corners of his mouth by the end of the explanation. He was clearly holding back the urge to curse.

Lloyd had listened obediently to her previous life, the true nature of this world, the content of the nightmares she’d constantly had, and even about the mage she’d tried to find while having nightmares after returning, but what finally broke his patience was when she got to the identity of the poison and antidote.

“You’re saying I killed you?”

“It was dream content, Lloyd. Not that you actually did it.”

“Of all poisons, I chose that one to kill you?”

“…Right, well. Yes. That’s what the dream was.”

The sound of grinding teeth was menacing. Edelaine said timidly.

“You’ll suffer if you dislocate your jaw, Lloyd….”

If you abuse your joints while young, you’ll regret it when you’re old….

“So just in case, you prepared an antidote and told me to carry it? Are you an idiot?!”

“Why would I be?!”

“You said they were prophetic dreams? What were you going to do if I betrayed you, giving me the antidote?!”

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“Are you naive or stupid?”

“I don’t particularly like either option….”

Even sharp sarcasm could sound pleasantly spicy once you got used to it. Edelaine laughed it off leisurely.

“If you’d made up your mind to kill me, the result wouldn’t have changed whether there was an antidote or not. I believed you wouldn’t do that, so I didn’t think about ‘what ifs.'”

“….”

“Weren’t you disappointed though? That I brought you along entirely for my own sake.”

“Why would I be? It’s a hundred times better than some noble youngest daughter’s sympathy.”

Lloyd snorted.

“Whatever the reason, it doesn’t change that thanks to you I didn’t have to grow up under Lucian. If I’d grown up under him, I’d probably be making more money than now by this point. Though I was surprised you knew about my past.”

Why is my kid so obsessed with money….

“I like how things are now.”

“Well, that’s a relief….”

“You don’t have nightmares anymore, right?”

“Yeah. Since the villain of the story was caught, it seems the nightmares have ended too.”

If Keith were still alive, they might start again at any time, but for now the possibility seemed slim.

“It would have been good if you had told us earlier.”

Lloyd muttered regretfully.

“If we had prepared together, we could have done much better. We would have been thoroughly prepared from the time we fled. You wouldn’t have had to struggle alone because of some damn mage or wizard bastard.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would… believe me so well like this.”

Following Shane, even Lloyd didn’t seem to doubt her even once.

She had thought she would face resistance and suspicion at least a few times, so she was bewildered. Lloyd glanced at Edelaine who was making excuses, then shook his head and said.

“It’s obvious. I suppose the person who shared the secret died?”

“My little brother, did you know how to read minds too?”

“Your thoughts are clear even without reading them. You must have struggled alone, trying not to get us involved.”

Who was trying to protect whom, really.

The reason for abandoning everything and hiding finally made sense.

He heard that she had also confessed the truth to Shane Blancarde.

Thinking of that man who couldn’t close his grinning mouth even while reluctantly leaving the manor, Lloyd felt his stomach turn. Anyone who saw that man today would surely be terrified.

Shane Blancarde grinning like that was like the sun rising at night.

Previous lives, novels—if anyone else had said such things, it would have sounded like absurd nonsense, but Edelaine had done things that proved it. If this weren’t the truth, there would be countless things that couldn’t be explained otherwise.

While his questions were resolved, he felt frustrated inside.

Lloyd knew Edelaine’s five years.

He knew all the time Edelaine had lived in hiding.

It was by no means short.

It was time she didn’t have to endure alone. For Lloyd, it had been a happy time, but it wouldn’t have been the same for Edelaine.

The reason Lloyd often told Edelaine to reclaim her status was because he knew that she, who had fled taking only him, was often lonely.

Unlike himself who was happy, he felt sorry for Edelaine who wasn’t.

“Why do you look like that? Like someone who ate something inedible.”

“I’m frustrated. If you had spilled everything earlier, we wouldn’t have had to live like beggars in that crumbling house in the countryside.”

“I… liked it there. And we didn’t live quite that much like beggars.”

“I told you I knew you were lonely.”

“Yeah. Sometimes I was, but you were there.”

“….”

“I was happy, even there.”

Even spending the same time, memories remain differently.

But if the same time and same emotions were shared, that becomes a bond.

Just knowing that he hadn’t been happy alone made his guilt disappear, and he felt choked up. Embarrassed by this, Lloyd spoke gruffly on purpose.

“I 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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