Thought It Was ‘The End’, Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 22

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

Chapter 5. The Heroine is Dangerous (2)

Edelaine spent torturous time waiting for Genevieve.

She had to fill her stomach with dinner she didn’t even want to eat, and endure Edwin’s persistent chatter trying to dig into the circumstances of the past five years.

Most of all, Shane wouldn’t leave her side.

Is this really how one should act on their wedding day?

It was nice not having to worry about how to avoid the wedding night, but this didn’t seem right either.

I should at least drink some alcohol.

“Alcohol…”

“You already had one glass. No more.”

“Ah, why? There’s still some left.”

When she glared at him asking if he was being petty over one bottle of alcohol, Shane burst into a hollow laugh.

Then he pressed his large palm against Edelaine’s forehead and spoke. Shane’s brow furrowed as he removed his hand.

“You have a slight fever. You haven’t slept either.”

“And whose fault is that?”

“Alcohol is poison when you’re tired. I’ll brew you some tea instead, so be satisfied with that.”

“I’m sick of tea. Do you know how many cups I’ve had just today?”

“I’ll add a little milk.”

She thought he would call someone, but Shane got up himself.

Edelaine couldn’t bring herself to stop Shane, nor could she tell him to hurry up and bring it, so she awkwardly just opened and closed her mouth.

Edwin watched quietly and then said,

“It seems like you got a servant instead of a husband.”

“Shall I give him to you?”

She could offer him at a 99 percent sale price right now.

“I’ll pass. Even I couldn’t handle such a domineering servant—it would make my liver tremble.”

Is laughing alone at unfunny jokes a chronic disease of those in power? Edelaine thought coldly as she watched Edwin, whose eyes had turned slightly red from the alcohol, laughing by himself.

Her feelings were complicated.

She decided to stop asking what Shane was thinking.

Things had already reached a point of no return, and she had clearly understood his determination not to let her go easily.

Still, it wasn’t that she wasn’t angry, so when Shane was in front of her, sharp attitudes would unconsciously slip out. Of course, if they were comparing who was angrier, Shane would win, but that didn’t mean she could pleasantly swallow his bitter treatment.

‘I can understand the resentment though.’

Shane right after the kidnapping was easy to understand.

The betrayal of learning that someone he thought was dead was actually alive, and had pretended to die right in front of him.

Resentment toward someone he had genuinely worried about and poured his affection into.

His anger meant that Shane had treated her with that much sincerity.

This was why Edelaine couldn’t truly resent Shane, even after being kidnapped, confined, and forced into marriage through threats.

She couldn’t understand why revenge took the form of marriage, but the resentment was deserved, so she had planned to either be hated more and abandoned, or persuade him into divorce.

But that smiling face—that didn’t look like someone who resented her at all.

Even when she softened her sharp attitude, Shane returned the same reactions as before.

Just like back then, when he was kind and devoted even to a fiancée who tried to push him away.

It was more troubling.

Edelaine still couldn’t live by Shane Blancarde’s side.

“You look deep in thought, Edelaine.”

“That’s an insensitive thing to say to a bride who just got married today. I’m a new bride who just had a political marriage today. I should be spending my wedding night right now, so of course I have a lot on my mind.”

“If you two were ‘really’ a married couple, I wouldn’t have come. Aren’t you grateful? That I’m interfering.”

“Well, I’m just dying of gratitude…”

“I’ll add that to your debt.”

“You even force-sell debts.”

Edwin chuckled.

Edelaine tried to snatch his wine glass to drink from it, but was stopped by Shane, who had just returned at that moment. Such perfect timing must be the protagonist’s privilege.

Genevieve arrived just before midnight.

“I’m too late, aren’t I?”

“Late? You probably couldn’t sleep anyway.”

Shane, who had been trying to chase Edwin away since around 10 PM, raised his eyebrows. Edelaine pretended not to notice and hugged Genevieve.

“My goodness, Genevieve. You do eat meals, right? Why are you so thin?”

She had a body type like an idol from her previous life.

Her slender body that fit snugly in her arms was pitiful to the point of concern.

“You were attacked too! And you really went straight to work after that?”

“Ah, who told you that?”

Edwin raised one hand. Genevieve wrinkled her nose bridge as if she had expected as much.

“It was just a poisoned arrow for intimidation. I wasn’t even hurt…”

“You can’t say ‘just’ after intimidation and poison!”

“Well, yes, um, I was surprised but…”

“I can see you’re just being polite.”

“Honestly, I wasn’t even that surprised, and nothing happened after that. The only thing is that security increased unnecessarily, making things bothersome. That’s why I was late today too. I had to shake them all off to come here.”

“…And the culprit still hasn’t been caught…?”

“Um, well, no…”

“And yet! You don’t know fear! You snuck out alone!”

In this world too, safety insensitivity was a social problem following alcohol addiction.

Genevieve looked at the furiously angry Edelaine with a subtle expression, then smiled broadly.

“I was wrong. I’ll be more careful.”

“You’re promising.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t go around alone, don’t skip meals, and make sure to rest two days a week!”

“Ah, resting will be a bit difficult. There are already scheduled appointments…”

Edelaine glared at Edwin and Shane while holding Genevieve tightly.

Edwin said,

“Anyone would think you gave birth to Genevieve, Edelaine.”

“I gave birth to her in my heart.”

My heroine, born in my heart.

Edelaine wasn’t particularly a critical reader. She tended to absorb everything as the author intended.

She cried at setups meant to make her cry, and got angry at points meant to provoke anger. Even when the plausibility was somewhat lacking, she didn’t notice while reading and became immersed.

As a result, she naturally ended up cheering for the heroine in any story.

Moreover, Edelaine had personally cared for Genevieve. The miserable state she was in when they first met had torn Edelaine’s heart apart.

Guilt also played a role—if she had just tried to find her, if she hadn’t been bound by the setting that Shane had to bring her, couldn’t she have saved her a little earlier?

“Um, Lady Edelaine. I’m very grateful for those words, but then… His Excellency would become my father, which is a bit…”

“…”

“I’d be grateful if you could make me your daughter born before marriage.”

The two people who were originally supposed to become husband and wife, now father and daughter… Edelaine made a subtle expression.

“That’s not even funny.”

Shane said coldly.

“If it’s Edelaine’s child, whether before or after marriage, it’s my child.”

“Genevieve, greet your father.”

Edwin interjected. Edelaine squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.

“This isn’t right, it’s weird for you two to have a father-daughter relationship! Maybe if you were husband and wife!”

“I hate both!”

“Then you didn’t give birth to Genevieve either. She’s not your daughter, so step away.”

Shane pulled Edelaine’s arm, separating Genevieve from her embrace. Genevieve, seeming to dislike Shane coming close, moved away without hesitation.

‘Could it be… their relationship is worse than I thought?’

Far from any rosy atmosphere, only a cold wave blew through.

In the atmosphere where no one could laugh, only Edwin was smiling. He said.

“There have been many incidents with Genevieve lately. Resurrecting people and all….”

Edwin looked at Edelaine with narrowed eyes. Edelaine glared at Shane.

It’s all that bastard’s fault. Everything.

“Getting attacked too. People are starting to say whether the Empire is really treating humanity’s treasure well. Well, they’re probably just jealous that we monopolize the Saint.”

“Treating a person like an object….”

Genevieve squeezed Edelaine’s hand tightly. As if to say she was fine.

“The Pope also said he hoped the Saint wouldn’t go far away, as if he might not survive the winter. So the Council of Elders decided to cancel the Saint’s winter purification expedition.”

“It would probably be fine if she just didn’t go too far.”

“They say it’s for your safety, but they’re actually anxious that other countries might take you away using these recent controversies as an excuse.”

“Are they worried other countries might kidnap me?”

“They’d write ‘kidnapping’ but read it as ‘rescue.'”

“That makes sense.”

She had thought being a Saint would be treated more like humanity’s hope. But when she peeled back the layers, the Saint was ultimately just a tool of power.

Edelaine found it awkward to see Genevieve’s emotionless face as she coldly answered that it made sense.

“Then what should I do? Will you give me a vacation?”

Edwin smirked. Edelaine could bet her wrist that he wouldn’t answer Genevieve’s question. Being a master of collective monologues, he’d probably say something else entirely.

“Since you two got married, I’m the only one left single, aren’t I?”

I have no idea when Shane, Edwin, and I started being treated like a set. Please leave me out of it….

“Mother’s nagging is no joke. If I obediently return to the Palace today, I’ll just be called in to listen to lectures, so I ran away.”

“Your Highness, didn’t you have a fiancée?”

Wasn’t he engaged to a foreign princess? When Edelaine asked, Edwin said nonchalantly.

“Ah, I did… but a rebellion broke out in that country three years ago.”

“Oh my.”

“The marriage wasn’t profitable enough to get involved in civil war, so we roughly received compensation and broke off the engagement. It was a decent deal. I heard she married the man who was the rebel leader a few months ago.”

“….”

She didn’t know what went wrong to reach this point, but apparently that country’s genre was now a resistance documentary.

“Mother is determined to sell me off as soon as possible. Young ladies of marriageable age from across the continent will flock to the winter founding festival.”

“Oh my, you’ll be busy.”

Genevieve’s response was soulless. Edelaine also just nodded while looking at Edwin as if feeling sorry for him.

With good looks on the surface and great status, he’d be popular, sure. He’ll manage to get married somehow. Or not, it doesn’t matter.

“This winter, you both need to help me with some work.”

“No way.”

“Genevieve, want to go on an expedition? There’ll probably be more attacks and you might get kidnapped, but you won’t die so it’ll be fine.”

“Ah, really! Are you going to be like this?!”

She looked to the side hoping Shane would intervene, but Shane, who owed a debt from rushing the wedding, just sighed with a sullen face.

“That’s what you get for acting like you’re not interested in me.”

“Are you a child?”

Edwin smiled brightly.

They say demons smile like angels, and he was exactly that type.

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