Thought It Was 'The End', Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 70

Given Genevieve’s outburst, anyone would think Adeline had narrowly escaped death.

First Shane, then Emma, and now Genevieve—it was embarrassing how they all acted as if Adeline had had a near-death experience.

This must be her karma.

“I can heal any wound without a scar, but there’s always that one-in-a-million chance!”

“……”

“If His Grace hadn’t been there, if he had been late, if the man hadn’t given up after losing his hand, if there had been someone else! You could have died!”

“Shane was there, and I was the first to notice. If not me, it would have been you.”

“I would have been fine! I’m not a Saintess just for show! I’ve faced such attacks multiple times!”

“What?!”

“Do you know how powerful the Goddess’s blessing is? Even if I’m strangled or beaten! I can recover quickly! I can go several days without eating and not feel hungry!”

“And you think that’s okay to say?! By that logic, if I get hurt, you can just heal me quickly too!”

“Do you think you and I are the same?!”

“What’s different?!”

Adeline fumed.

“I said I wasn’t planning to die! You’re there to heal me if I get hurt, Shane is there to save me! I had thought of everything, even if it was instinctive!”

“Is that something to brag about?!”

“What do you expect me to do if my body moves on its own!”

“……”

“I can promise not to act with a death wish. But I can’t promise anything else. It will probably happen again.”

“……”

“I’ll do the same.”

Adeline declared with her chin up. Genevieve’s face was drained of energy, as if she couldn’t remember why she had been crying in the first place.

“So shameless…”

“I can be like that.”

Being thick-skinned was one of Adeline’s strengths. You couldn’t pull off cons without a good dose of shamelessness. Without her acting skills, surviving as a villainess would have been a pipe dream.

Genevieve seemed to have a lot to say. She opened her mouth, closed it silently, then took a deep breath.

“Actually, I was angry with you, Adeline. But I was angrier with myself.”

“Were you? Why?”

“That man was probably being controlled by dark sorcery.”

“Oh… d-dark sorcery? Wow, I see…”

“You knew, didn’t you?”

“……”

Well, Adeline was the type to shine in acting when she had a script. She was highly vulnerable to surprises.

“Just that morning, his eyes were kind. He wasn’t that kind of person. If he had any murderous intent, he wouldn’t have been able to hide it from His Grace’s eyes. It’s obvious then…”

“I see…”

“Actually, I should have been able to neutralize that dark sorcery too.”

“……”

“I should have been able to heal without physical contact. The previous Saintess could do it. But I can’t.”

“You will.”

The response came out lighter than she intended, surprising Adeline herself.

‘Even if I know it, that sounds too trivial.’

It might seem as if she didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. Even though she knew Genevieve was far more remarkable, she mustered all her effort to craft a reasonable explanation.

“People controlled by dark sorcery can’t feel pain. But that man screamed as soon as his wrist was cut off. He even tried to claim his innocence.”

“…Ah…”

“He might have been controlled during the attack, but he regained his senses quickly.”

“Then, maybe it wasn’t dark sorcery after all.”

“You were the one who said it was dark sorcery. What are you talking about now?”

“I could be wrong.”

“You’re right. I believe you.”

To be precise, she knew the truth, so she trusted it. She did trust Genevieve, but protagonist Genevieve was a superhuman character with every possible buff.

Adeline flashed a smile. She felt like a con artist, but she pushed her conscience aside for a moment.

Genevieve’s voice trembled with tears.

“Adeline…”

“Yeah?”

“How can you believe in me so much…? Even I don’t believe in myself… No one believes in me…”

Genevieve burst into tears and threw herself into Adeline’s arms.

“Because I know how amazing you are, Genevieve.”

“Waaah…”

“Oh dear, your nose.”

Adeline patted Genevieve’s shoulder to comfort her.

‘If this were a romance game and Genevieve was the target character, it’d be a landslide victory…’

She thought this must be how a student felt after copying the answers and scoring a perfect grade.

***

While crying in Adeline’s arms, Genevieve recalled past events.

‘How can she be the same?’

Then and now.

How can she be so strong?

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