Thought It Was ‘The End’, Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 44

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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 9. The Perpetrator Forgets Quickly (1)

From the day she heard the news that Genevieve had been attacked, Edelaine was clearly not normal.

She wandered around looking for someone, or acted restlessly as if being chased.

In the past, Edelaine had been similar to how she was now.

He suspected she was trying to run away again, but there were no signs of that. Rather, her attitude had become much more compliant. She let him watch over her as if she couldn’t help it, and even seemed to not dislike it.

Shane deliberately pretended not to know, but he didn’t lower his guard.

Why was she being so compliant? Did she really pity him?

There were nights when he would hold her tightly while sleeping, afraid she might disappear while he slept, only to wake up in the middle of the night and stare at her for a long time. Each time, Edelaine would sleepily reach out her arm and pat his head.

Damn it, Shane crumbled so easily at that feather-like touch.

He had become so powerless before such a fragile being that he could kill without even needing to apply pressure. He even loved it so much that he spent every dawn tossing and turning. Hoping that the sleeping Edelaine would embrace him first.

Despite having given up on being loved.

When Edelaine closed her eyes as if she had no choice but to be held by him, whenever she leaned her body against him, hope grew like weeds.

Perhaps, if time passed like this, she might pity him and come to like him a little.

“Ugh, sob.”

Edelaine swallowed her breath and cried. As she clung to him, rubbing her wet eyes against his shoulder, Shane felt his breath catch with each of her gasps.

I don’t know you when you cry like this.

Young Edelaine had cried loudly as if she had taken Shane’s emotions. She was someone who expressed her feelings vividly.

She didn’t cry while biting her lips as if to burst them, as if the festering wounds inside were too painful to bear.

His heart was breaking at this sight he’d never seen before, and he didn’t know what to do. Shane could only embrace Edelaine.

He couldn’t even bring himself to tell her not to cry.

What on earth had happened to you?

What was driving you to such pain?

My color, my emotions. My soul.

If you would tell me, if you would just say one word asking for help, Shane could do anything.

But Edelaine would never ask for help.

Five years ago, Edelaine had been the same. Even when it was obvious she was struggling, she never once complained.

Yet despite that, she readily extended her hand when a man she didn’t even like clung to her pitifully.

Even with a face black as death, when he cried and clung to her, she couldn’t bring herself to be cold. Not knowing what hope that man might harbor from that small act of sympathy.

Did you cry alone like this back then too?

Shane stroked her thin back, hoping Edelaine would feel even a little comfort.

***

Exhausted from crying, Edelaine had fallen into a deep sleep.

Shane laid Edelaine on the bed, and Lloyd skillfully tended to her sleeping arrangements. After lowering her pillow and covering her with a blanket, he looked directly at Shane.

The face staring at Shane expressionlessly had features so bland they seemed ordinary at first glance, but upon closer inspection, they were quite refined. After studying Shane’s expression for a moment, he laughed with a deflating sound.

“What a murderous expression you have.”

“…”

“My lady should see this.”

Instead of responding to the impudent remark, Shane ran his fingers through his hair. He could guess what his expression looked like without looking in a mirror.

“If she had seen this reality, she would have believed my words about you being crazy long ago.”

“I’m still sane.”

“Isn’t your standard for sanity rather unique?”

“You really don’t back down from a single word. Did you learn that from Edelaine?”

“I suppose so. I only have one person to watch and learn from.”

For better or worse, Edelaine was the only person for Lloyd.

“To you…”

Shane frowned.

“Does she ask for help?”

“You’ve seen how badly behaved my lady is, haven’t you? Every time she opens her mouth it’s ‘do this for me,’ ‘do that for me,’ ‘I can’t live without you’…”

“…”

Lloyd twisted the corner of his mouth.

“Ah, but she wouldn’t say such things to you.”

“Damn bastard.”

“If looks could kill, I would have died the day my lady brought me here, but unfortunately that’s not possible.”

Lloyd smiled brightly, a rare occurrence. If Edelaine had seen it, she would have clapped her hands and made a fuss about designating it as a holiday.

Unlike Edelaine, who had unknowingly shown kindness by picking up a mere street urchin, Shane had seen through Lloyd’s origins and nature from the moment he first laid eyes on him.

Shane had tried several times to separate Lloyd from Edelaine’s side. After all, no one would want to keep a child who had been raised as an assassin near their precious person.

In the end, he had failed completely, unable to go against Edelaine’s wishes.

In fact, Lloyd felt the same way. The reason he had repeatedly told Shane he was crazy was because he wanted Edelaine to stay away from him.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re acting up knowing better than anyone that I can’t lay a hand on you.”

“You’re tormenting my lady, so you should endure at least this much.”

It was something he would never say in front of Edelaine. She even disliked it when Lloyd called her “my lady.”

“Aren’t you going to sleep? Should I bring you pajamas?”

“The thought of being attended to by you makes me sick. …Watch over her for a moment.”

The man who disliked everyone except Edelaine certainly talked big.

In Lloyd’s view, Shane bordered on misanthropy. He had no interest in anyone except one person, but that person wouldn’t look at him while only strangers coveted him—it was enough to make anyone sick. When something you’re not interested in persistently clings to you, you can’t help but hate it.

Lloyd watched Shane’s retreating figure as he left the bedroom with irritated steps, then looked at the deeply sleeping Edelaine.

‘How did you end up taming such a thing?’

And now you’re suffering for it.

When Lloyd met Edelaine, Shane was already in that state.

Lucian called him a demon, but in Lloyd’s opinion, he was even worse than that.

If it weren’t for that thing, Edelaine could have lived a much smoother life.

She wouldn’t have needed to abandon everything she had while overexerting herself and hole up in that shabby house.

And she wouldn’t have needed to suffer by being captured like this.

He was confident that Shane would have similar thoughts when looking at him.

Why did you have to tame such a creature? Surely there was something better than that thing…

However, unlike Shane, Lloyd had a clear promise.

“Come with me. I’ll become a place where you can belong. I’ll never abandon you.”

Why had his heart been drawn to those clichéd words?

Even while thinking she was someone who made promises she couldn’t keep, Lloyd had grasped that hand as if bewitched. In that moment, she had seemed like a goddess to him. He could kill her later if she didn’t keep her promise.

But now, eight years later, Edelaine had truly never abandoned him, not even once.

Even when she abandoned everything and left the capital, she had taken only him with her.

Edelaine would exaggerate that she would have died long ago without him, but Lloyd actually knew that she handled everything quite well on her own.

Edelaine was someone who could live perfectly well without anyone’s help. If left alone, she would manage somehow.

Even when running away, there had been no need to take him along, and no need to live together for five years. When he asked why she had brought him, Edelaine spoke as if she had heard a very foolish question.

“That was our promise.”

Lloyd looked down at Edelaine and sighed. Her eyes were red and swollen from how much she had cried. They would be puffy tomorrow. He should prepare some ice.

To Lloyd, Edelaine was his one and only master, parent, and sibling.

She was every relationship that existed in the world. He believed that the reason he was born into this world was to be of some use to Edelaine.

He didn’t know what Edelaine was thinking or why she was acting this way. He thought it was okay if she didn’t tell him.

As long as she kept her promise, as long as she didn’t leave him behind.

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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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