Thought It Was 'The End', Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 85
“Lady Adeline, youâre here?”
Genevieve greeted Adeline warmly as soon as she saw her, wrapped in a blanket and sipping hot tea. Adeline approached her with brisk, long strides.
“Uh⌠are you angry?”
Adeline didn’t respond, instead looking Genevieve up and down with an expressionless face.
Fortunately, she didnât seem to be injured.
Genevieve, who had been walking by the winter lakeside with her husband, had faced the fourth attack.
It was more accurate to say she acted as bait for this attack. Thanks to thorough preparation, she ended up only getting soaked after falling into the winter lake, but they managed to catch the hidden culprit with the help of the imperial guards and Shane.
“No, Iâm just glad youâre safe.”
She wanted to scold her for putting herself in danger when she was the most important Saintess in this world, but she held back.
Genevieve wasnât the type to recklessly put herself in danger. She knew very well how significant and precious the role of the Saintess was to humanity, and she saw it as her duty to fulfill her role and die if necessary.
But forcing her to stay in a safe place all the time wasnât an option either. Genevieve was a person before she was the Saintess. She had the freedom to do what she wanted.
She wasnât being reckless or irresponsible; she believed she could do it, and that deserved respect.
Adeline swallowed her worries and said,
“I was worried. Iâm glad youâre safe.”
“Hehe.”
Genevieve widened her eyes for a moment, then bit her lip and smiled. Her face, filled with complex emotions, lowered as tears welled up.
Adeline hugged her and patted her shoulder, saying,
“Whereâs your husband? I heard he was with you during the attack.”
“Harrison returned to his unit. It’s a shame, I wanted to introduce him to you.”
“He wasnât hurt?”
“Of course not. My husband is very resilient.”
Genevieve naturally started praising her husband.
Adeline felt relieved. If he was a strange person, she would have tried to make them separate, but it seemed he was a good man.
Shane approached and, seeing the two hugging, pulled Adeline close by her waist and said,
“The culprit confessed, but we need to investigate further. He admitted to receiving orders from an insider within the church. Heâs a sorcerer capable of controlling people and, after two failures, got desperate and summoned a monster to the party.”
“Is he a citizen of the Empire?”
“Itâs not sure yet. I can find out now if you want.”
“No, thatâs fineâŚ.”
Please back off⌠Adeline pushed Shane away slightly. He raised his eyebrows, displeased.
“Why would an insider from the church want to kill the Saintess?!”
“Itâs complicated⌠Maybe because His Holiness the Pope favors me, and theyâre worried he might give me more as his time is running out. Many people donât like the idea of the Saintess holding real power.”
“Even though they use you for everything⌔
“The church would argue they have their reasons too. The imperial family and the Blanchard family hold the real power, so the church canât act as they wish.”
It was painful to hear Genevieve explain it herself.
“They probably didnât actually intend to kill me. It was likely just a threat.”
“And what would they gain from threatening you?”
“They probably hoped that I’d be too scared to continue my public activities and wouldn’t try to take over for His Holiness the Pope.”
“Such audacity, those bastards.”
“Lady AdelineâŚ.”
“We need to dig up everything about them and make them experience hell, those scum.”
Shane, who was once again hugging Adeline from behind and resting his chin on her head, said,
“His Highness Edwin will make sure of that, Adeline.”
“RightâŚ.”
Thinking of Edwinâs smiling face made her skin crawl.
The prince, who looked like an angel, was happiest when tormenting people.
Even though he wasnât as attached to Genevieve as he was in the novel, he seemed to care about her, and he took good care of his people in his own way, so he would undoubtedly exact revenge.
Therefore, there was no need to worry about how the culprit would be dealt with.
Adeline gave up trying to pry off Shane, who was clinging stubbornly to her.
Instead, she sat down on the sofa with him still attached to her. It ended up looking like she was sitting on Shaneâs thigh rather than the sofa, but it was comfortable. He adjusted his position so she could lean on him completely and tucked her stray hair behind her ear.
Adeline let out a deep breath. Throughout the time she had been trying to find the sorcerer without any success, she had always entertained the possibility that Shaneâs and Genevieveâs lives had diverged completely from the story.
She had hoped that maybe everything had ended a long time ago. She doubted and doubted again, thinking it was too convenient for everything to turn out so well. She didnât believe such a favorable outcome was possible.
But.
If the ogre that had been summoned had only targeted Genevieve by coincidence or mistake, then everything would be resolved without any lingering doubts.
âIs it really over?â
Even though she had thought she couldnât relax as long as the mage existed, even if the male and female leads had taken different paths, enough evidence had been gathered now.
Maybe it was time to believe.
The story set by the author had failed, and each character had branched off from the story, walking their own paths.
Adeline as Adeline, Shane as Shane, Genevieve as Genevieve.
Finally freed from the force that tried to steer their lives.
Living their lives like anyone else, not being controlled by a story, just like any fully independent human being.
That was the wish Adeline had harbored since she was nine years old.
