Thought It Was ‘The End’, Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 42

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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 8. Find the Real Villain (4)

 

The owner of the hand that tapped her shoulder was Shane.

 

“What are you doing, Edelaine.”

 

“People watching.”

 

Edelaine wasn’t surprised either.

 

She couldn’t tell if she felt relieved or disappointed.

 

In the novel, it was the mage who tapped the female protagonist Genevieve’s shoulder.

 

‘Right, I’m not Genevieve.’

 

So she wouldn’t be able to meet the mage after all.

 

Was the mage trying to kill Genevieve really not the villain from the novel?

 

When she took out her watch to check, about three hours had passed since she left the Bertrand Estate with Lloyd. This meant it took about this much time for them to notice her absence and find her.

 

Edelaine looked up at Shane standing behind her and said.

 

“I thought you were busy.”

 

“I still need to eat. It’s lunchtime.”

 

Shane kept his hand on her shoulder and stroked Edelaine’s neck and chin with the back of his hand. Then he pulled out the chair next to her and sat down, saying.

 

“Your fever has gone down.”

 

“It wasn’t that severe.”

 

The medicine was quite effective. Edelaine swallowed her words.

 

It was early morning when she had taken the medicine Lucian prepared and told Emma she had a fever.

 

‘So he knows everything I do and where I go.’

 

Still, it seemed her contact with Lucian hadn’t been discovered. Since he didn’t know about the medicine she took.

 

Shane furrowed his brow and looked at Edelaine, then gently pulled her nape with his large palm and kissed her. Edelaine pulled her head back and said.

 

“Don’t commit indecent acts in public.”

 

“It’s an affectionate kiss.”

 

“The kid is watching.”

 

Shane glanced at Lloyd.

 

“How old is he this year?”

 

“Seventeen.”

 

“He’s all grown up. How about making him independent now?”

 

“You used to tell me not to go around alone.”

 

“If you wanted to come out to play, there was also Brother Jeff. He would have kept you company.”

 

“No. He’s in cahoots with you.”

 

Edelaine snorted.

 

It wasn’t just Jeff, but all the family members were the same.

 

They wouldn’t let her attempt anything that seemed dangerous, and they would keep a vigilant watch to prevent suspicious people from approaching.

 

She didn’t want to worry them, but when she was with them, Edelaine couldn’t do anything.

 

That’s why she needed Lucian and Lloyd.

 

“Are you angry? Edelaine.”

 

“Not really?”

 

“You look angry.”

 

Edelaine rubbed her brow.

 

“This is just how my face looks.”

 

All villainess faces are like that… Objectively speaking, Edelaine’s appearance was on the pretty side.

 

But perhaps because she was a villain role, her image was closer to a cat than a puppy. Her eye corners were sharp and when she kept her mouth closed, she looked angry.

 

“I thought your family home would be better than confinement, but it seems that wasn’t the case either.”

 

“Don’t you think the problem is that you keep trying to confine me?”

 

“Don’t be too angry.”

 

Edelaine really wasn’t angry.

 

Even if he had confined her, she had become too soft toward Shane to be truly angry. Even when she thought Shane belonged to the female protagonist, she was like that, so how much more now.

 

She was scared of herself because it seemed like she would forgive him no matter what he did.

 

‘If I just find and kill the mage, I’ll be able to tell him right away that I’ve actually liked him all along.’

 

I’ve given up on being loved by you.

 

I just can’t let you go, but I’ve given up on being loved.

 

It was a pitiful and miserable declaration of love.

 

Edelaine was frustrated that Shane kept speaking on the premise that she disliked him, but she didn’t yet have the right to correct that misunderstanding.

 

Confessing her feelings to Shane would only be possible after she was certain she could live a decent life from now on.

 

Death was frightening, but if she was going to die shortly after confessing, it would be better never to say it at all.

 

If she couldn’t escape the story and had no choice but to die, Edelaine was determined to make Shane hate her terribly this time.

 

She would do something so cruel that he couldn’t even reminisce fondly, making him think he must have been crazy to love such a woman.

 

Perhaps that was the purpose of ‘Edelaine’ that this world desired.

 

‘And since my credibility has already hit rock bottom, I don’t know if he’d even believe me if I said I liked him now…’

 

It was her own doing.

 

If Shane had liked her consistently since childhood, then what she had done was truly the worst.

 

She had arranged, recommended, and urged him almost forcefully to not worry about their engagement and try to get along with other women.

 

Edelaine suddenly realized. Wait a minute…

 

‘…Am I perhaps a piece of trash?’

 

She was undoubtedly a piece of trash.

 

Her brow furrowed deeper as she reflected on the past. Shane removed her finger that was rubbing her brow and kissed that spot.

 

“Even if you get angry, there’s nothing I can do about it… but not getting angry makes you feel better, doesn’t it?”

 

“…”

 

What was this sweet nonsense.

 

Shane had also become quite a bastard.

 

Trash who casually engaged in confinement, restraint, and stalking, then smiled prettily while soothing her, saying there was nothing she could do even if she got angry…

 

The problem was that she didn’t dislike it.

 

Edelaine burst into a hollow laugh, and Shane smiled back.

 

Lloyd was watching this with a look of disdain.

 

***

 

The outings continued for several more days.

 

Edelaine would leave the manor in the morning and spend time at the Cafe Terrace until afternoon.

 

Sometimes she had lunch with Shane or Jeff.

 

And in the evening, she would return home to dine with her family. Gregory, Emma, and Patrick all knew about Edelaine’s outings but pretended not to know. Edelaine also stopped taking the fever-inducing medicine.

 

Today’s lunch was with Jeff.

 

“There’s a legend about a mage who controls monsters in the eastern frontier region of the Kingdom of Brubewinn.”

 

“Where is the Kingdom of Brubewinn again…”

 

“A kingdom attached to the far western frontier of the Empire. It’s at the end of the Mipan Mountain Range, so 70 percent of the country is mountainous. That’s why it’s poor.”

 

“You probably haven’t been there, brother.”

 

“Why do you come to that conclusion?”

 

“You’re not interested in poor countries, brother.”

 

“How impudent. Trying to figure me out.”

 

Jeff flicked Edelaine’s forehead with his finger. The sound was loud but it didn’t hurt.

 

“I barely managed to find it, but it’s just a legend. That region has barren and rough land with many monsters inhabiting it, so I think it might be a story reflecting people’s wishful thinking.”

 

“Is controlling monsters such an amazing ability?”

 

“Of course. Monsters are numerous to begin with. Think of them all becoming military forces. Mages and knights who have reached mastery are only a few.”

 

“How terrifying…”

 

“It is terrifying.”

 

Because it was so dangerous, it could become a real villain in the novel.

 

She decided to cherish Genevieve more.

 

The investigation team led by Shane was investigating around the summoning circle in the hall.

 

Shane would casually tell her all about the internal affairs whenever they had lunch together.

 

When she asked if Genevieve was being properly protected, he said that she was taking this opportunity to enjoy walks with her husband at the secluded lakeside or spending vacation time at a forest cabin. He said she seemed quite delighted, actually.

 

‘I’d like to see her husband’s face at least once…’

 

Strangely, the opportunity never seemed to arise.

 

The cafe terrace was also very quiet. Even when Edelaine waited alone, there was no sign that anyone would approach her to talk. There were no suspicious people among the customers either.

 

Even though she knew it was excessive, she investigated all the customers who visited the cafe on the first day.

 

Nothing came up. There were a couple of mages, but they were all white mages, and more importantly, they were women.

 

She really hoped there was no mage around.

 

Just like how the female lead married a knight guard and the male lead married the villainess, how wonderful it would be if the mage also failed to reach the great heights described in the novel for some reason and had already been defeated by someone.

 

“Sigh…”

 

“You’re scaring away your luck, Edelaine.”

 

Edelaine only lifted her eyes to look at Jeff.

 

“If luck runs away from sighing, it would run away even if I stayed still…”

 

“Even so, you shouldn’t chase it away.”

 

He looked like someone who would never believe in superstitions.

 

‘Maybe because the author is Korean, there are some Korean-style superstitions in this world too.’

 

Such things were also elements that made her realize this world was a creation made by an author.

 

Jeff, who had been observing Edelaine’s dark complexion, looked over her shoulder. From the mischievous look that appeared in her second brother’s eyes, Edelaine realized who he had spotted.

 

“Edelaine.”

 

A large hand wrapped around her neck and pushed her chin up. As Edelaine tilted her head back, her gaze met Shane’s blue eyes. Edelaine closing her eyes and him pressing his lips to hers happened almost simultaneously.

 

Their lips touched and parted with a soft sound.

 

Shane grinned. He looked at Edelaine as if seeking praise, like a beast that had brought back prey, and said.

 

“I caught the culprit.”

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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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