Thought It Was ‘The End’, Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 115

In front of Lucian lay a man who had passed out, his eyes rolled back.

Lucian nudged the unconscious man with his foot. There was no response.

“Handle them gently, without leaving any marks.”

“You didn’t exactly handle them gently yourself.”

“There are no external injuries.”

Lloyd set down another man he had carried like a sack of potatoes. While it was true he didn’t leave any visible injuries, his handling was quite rough.

There were fifteen in total.

Men, women, and even children were included. All had fallen unconscious under the influence of dark sorcery.

Those afflicted by dark sorcery could only regain their senses by either perfectly executing the spell caster’s command or receiving a purification blessing from the Saintess.

Ordinary people could not easily meet the Saintess, and even the Saintess could not always perform a purification powerful enough for such a cure. Thus, unless someone had the mental strength or magical power to resist from the start, once cursed, they couldn’t be freed until death.

However, these people were lucky.

Adeline had said that if they were gathered in one place, she would bring the Saintess to perform the blessing.

“How did she even know?”

Adeline had provided the exact locations and descriptions of the individuals. All Lloyd and Lucian had to do was have people watch them simultaneously and knock them out when they showed any suspicious behavior.

“I don’t know.”

“Just when I start to lose interest, she does something like this.”

“…….”

Lloyd looked at Lucian as if he were something disgusting.

“My master is not your toy.”

“Of course, she’s not something so trivial.”

Lucian smirked. Toys were for playing with until he got bored and then discarding.

He and Adeline were equals.

When in debt, they each repaid it, and they compensated for what they used. Whether it was money or something intangible, they provided something mutually satisfactory. It was not a one-sided relationship like a toy and its owner.

Whenever Lucian thought he was done, Adeline would surprise him with something unexpected, as if asking if it wasn’t interesting enough.

The timing was always coincidental.

Even this time, Lucian thought he wouldn’t see Adeline again once she was taken away by Shane. It wasn’t a lie that he planned to relocate.

“When will she show her limits….”

“She’s already at her limit.”

There was irritation in Lloyd’s tone.

She couldn’t sleep peacefully for a single night, wasting away—if that wasn’t hitting rock bottom, then what was?

A swamp, perhaps? A swamp seemed fitting, as she looked like she was about to suffocate.

“Adeline doesn’t tell you much either, does she? There’s still a long way to go.”

“Don’t interfere. If you saw my master’s condition, you wouldn’t be so cheeky. If I had known it would be like this, I would have stopped her from returning to this cursed land….”

Lloyd kicked the ground in frustration.

Lucian watched Lloyd’s tantrum with an amused expression, finding him adorable. To Lucian, Lloyd was like a kitten batting its tail in annoyance.

Raising a child without a sense of self into such an adorable creature showed how much Adeline cherished Lloyd.

Had Lucian raised him, he wouldn’t have grown so humanely.

Lloyd probably sensed that Adeline was hiding something. But he would never ask what it was, and Adeline kept him close because she knew that.

That’s why Lloyd was kept, and Lucian was cut off halfway.

Losing the chance to solve a mystery twice was infuriating.

If he couldn’t solve it, he would at least see it through to the end.

He wouldn’t be left alone in a room where no one came.

Lucian hummed a tune to himself as he made up his mind.

***

“Why are you so annoyed?”

Empress Viola looked at her son with a slanted smile.

“What’s the point if the main character is so sullen?”

Edwin, in turn, sneered.

“Am I even the main character?”

“That’s a surprisingly lackluster statement for my son.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint, but I have no interest in competing with that bizarre spectacle.”

“…….”

Viola and Edwin both looked in the same direction.

It wasn’t just them—everyone at the welcoming party had their eyes fixed on the spectacle.

Even Viola had forgotten her dignity and stared with her mouth wide open when she first saw it, so she understood why people couldn’t look away.

Shane Blanchard, smiling foolishly.

Was it someone else?

Did Duke Blanchard have a twin? Or was it an illusion?

A sweet smile on his handsome face seemed to make it shine.

But those who were mesmerized by his beauty were only the foreign guests.

Those who knew Shane Blanchard were too shocked by the bizarre sight to look directly at his face.

Viola never thought she would see such a thing before she died. She didn’t even want to see it, if she were honest.

She wondered if the departed imperial princess—Shane’s mother—might have loved her child a bit if she had seen that face. But Viola shook her head. If she had been alive, Emma would have hidden her daughter from that family long before seeing such a sight.