Thought It Was ‘The End’, Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 93

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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 17. There Was No Happy Ending (1)

The mage was captured.

Edelaine gripped the railing and stared blankly at Delmez port, bright as day.

The wind from the winter dawn sea was fierce and cold, so several layers were piled on Edelaine’s shoulders – Shane’s coat and blankets Lloyd had found somewhere. They reeked of sweat and mold, but it was better than nothing.

‘When I returned to Delmez, I also entered through this port.’

That was only a few months ago.

It felt like a previous life.

Even that morning when she looked at Delmez port after returning for the first time in 5 years, Edelaine had believed without doubt that Shane and Genevieve would safely reach their happy ending.

Since the male and female leads got married, what else could that be but a happy ending? Her choice for them had been right.

But there was no such thing as a happy ending.

The future Edelaine believed would come to pass had all gone awry, twisted and tangled.

The people she thought she knew had all changed like different people, and even the heroine’s marriage, which she thought was happy, met the worst ending.

‘Is it really over…?’

The villain was caught, but everything felt ruined in the end.

The endings Edelaine had seen in dreams were always only death, so the present where everyone was alive didn’t feel like an ending at all.

But ultimately, if there was no predetermined story, it was natural that life had no such thing as an ending.

A world without guaranteed future and happiness, but also without a predetermined end.

Only Edelaine found such a world unfamiliar.

Lloyd held out a steaming mug.

“You need to warm your body, so drink it all.”

“What’s in it? The smell is suspicious.”

“Fish soup.”

“…”

“If you don’t finish it, I’ll pour it directly down your throat.”

“You really think using formal speech makes everything okay…”

The fishy-smelling fish soup was the most terrible-tasting thing Edelaine had eaten in her two lifetimes. At least in the top three.

Edelaine almost cried because the soup tasted so awful.

She pressed her forehead against the mug and mumbled.

“I’m glad you’re alive, Lloyd…”

When she closed her eyes, she saw Lloyd collapsed.

The pool of blood that had soaked the floor like the sea.

His hand that had fallen limply.

Knowing Lloyd would hate it if she cried for no reason, she tried to hold back, but just thinking about it made her confident she could cry for three days and nights without stopping.

Lloyd watched Edelaine rubbing her reddened nose and eyes with the back of her hand, then said bluntly.

“I heard everything.”

“What?”

“That you tried to sell me off to Lord Lucian.”

“Huh?”

“I won’t forget this grudge.”

“No, that’s, Lloyd…”

Her tears dried up instantly.

“You said you wouldn’t abandon me.”

“It’s a misunderstanding! That’s not it, I was preparing for a possible situation…”

Lloyd glared at Edelaine with a sulky face.

“There’s no such thing as a possible situation, and even if there were, I would live well on my own. Don’t meddle unnecessarily.”

Edelaine realized why he had been sulking the whole time.

“Drink all of that. Otherwise I won’t forgive you.”

“I’ll drink it all…”

To forgive her just for finishing the fish soup, how soft of him.

When Edelaine obediently brought the fish soup to her mouth, Lloyd turned his gaze away from her to look around the deck.

Shane and Edwin were talking seriously about something with the knights they had brought. They were probably discussing Harrison, Kaitlyn, and the handling of the Kingdom of Brubewinn.

Shane tried not to leave Edelaine’s side.

He gently coaxed Edelaine, saying they should kill Harrison and Kaitlyn since killing them would leave no future troubles. When that became quite bothersome and Edelaine threw a tantrum, he reluctantly kept his distance.

If Edwin hadn’t dragged him away, he would still be stuck right beside Edelaine with a face full of complaints.

Genevieve was busily moving around the ship, taking care of the collapsed sailors.

Fortunately, none of the sailors who strangely had their heads cracked were killed.

She didn’t even glance at the husband whose life she had begged to save.

Harrison, kneeling and bound, sat with a dazed expression next to the unconscious Kaitlyn. The knights who had been his comrades until yesterday acted as if they couldn’t see him.

Well, what else could they do but turn away? There wasn’t a single word to give to a traitor who couldn’t even be pitied.

Lloyd felt the same way.

He had been ambushed and his shoulder pierced, but that was due to his own lack of skill, so there was nothing to resent.

It was just that the traitor who had pretended to serve someone and ended up losing his heart looked pathetic as someone who lived as a tool just the same.

Betrayal happened the moment one’s heart was stolen.

Whoever Harrison’s original master was, that person must have understood the heart of a servant they didn’t even know they had.

They read his lukewarm desire to make the fake real and accepted his futile betrayal.

So they didn’t use him when he was there.

Whether that was a path wishing for the tool’s happiness, or simply abandoning him, was up to interpretation.

At least Lloyd interpreted Edelaine’s intention to prepare for a future without him as abandoning him.

It was unacceptable, and he didn’t want to accept it.

‘Of all people, you’d abandon me to Lord Lucian?’

You might as well throw me in the trash…

He was so angry he couldn’t possibly keep his eyes closed.

When Lloyd’s eyes snapped open, Lucian told him that Edelaine probably knew about Lloyd’s past too.

That’s why she asked him, he said.

It was horrible enough that the first face he saw upon waking was Lucian’s, but every word he spoke made him feel worse. He rushed over to confront her angrily right away, but as soon as he saw her face, his anger fizzled out.

‘What’s with that face?’

Despite trying to abandon him, as soon as she saw him alive, she called his name until her voice broke. Even when the blade cut into her neck and wounded her, she didn’t care.

While pouring out the tears she had tried to hold back in front of Shane.

“Lloyd!”

He had been so angry, but with just that one word, he forgave everything.

The fishy fish soup was just him being petty.

Without Edelaine, there was no Lloyd. That was the life he had chosen for himself, and his pride.

‘The Kingdom of Brubewinn will probably just have its royal family replaced.’

And it would become a vassal state of the Greenwinsor Empire.

The princess of the Kingdom of Brubewinn was already imprisoned in the underground prison.

Since they had officially held her responsible for the poisoning of the Duchess Blancarde, they couldn’t cover it up as if nothing had happened.

The Empress wouldn’t allow a sword once drawn to be sheathed without results, so some outcome had to emerge.

‘If she had only targeted the Saint from the beginning, it wouldn’t have come to this.’

If Kaitlyn had only targeted Genevieve as was her goal, things would have been easier.

If she had ordered Harrison to assassinate Genevieve from the start instead of taking a roundabout approach, even if it had failed, it might have ended without involving the Kingdom of Brubewinn.

But Kaitlyn chose Edelaine as a means to torment Genevieve. As if simply taking her life wouldn’t be satisfying enough.

That misguided desire for revenge ruined everything.

Edelaine, who returned alive, was a sore spot for many people.

Shane Blancarde went without saying.

The Bertrand family, as well as Edwin, Genevieve, and even Lucian were all on edge, wondering what trouble Edelaine might cause next. Touching her was no different from poking a hornet’s nest.

‘Only Shane Blancarde had gone mad before.’

Now they had all gone mad.

Lloyd looked down at the top of Harrison’s head and said.

“There’s no need to trouble your precious hands with discarding useless tools.”

Harrison’s sturdy shoulders flinched slightly.

“Tell me if you need help.”

“…The Saint wants my life, so I can’t give it to you.”

“Well, that’s just luxurious whining.”

Lloyd shrugged his shoulders as he looked down at the silent Harrison.

The ship reached the shore.

The Bertrand family, who had been waiting on shore, embraced Edelaine as soon as her feet touched the ground.

Comforting her mother who burst into tears, Edelaine could neither make excuses nor offer comfort, only breaking out in cold sweats. She couldn’t even open her mouth and kept it tightly shut.

‘Because she would reek of fish.’

Lloyd smiled maliciously.

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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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