Cinderella is... the Male Lead? - Chapter 52
Rona avoided Cinderella’s gaze. She understood what he meant immediately, but the idea of using her body to repay a debt was repulsive.
It hurt her to think that Cinderella, whom she thought she had grown closer to, saw her in such a way.
She fought back the tears that welled up, her chin trembling as she spoke in a strained voice.
“I’ll do housework. It won’t come close to repaying all the money I’ve spent, but…”
“You’ll be old and gray before that happens.”
“Then what am I supposed to…hiic, w-waaah!”
Rona couldn’t finish her sentence and broke into tears. It was too much to handle, with so many things happening all at once.
Sneaking into the attic, seeing the missing underwear, Cinderella’s sudden arrival, realizing Cinderella was a man, crossing boundaries, and then learning he had known about her scam from the start.
It was overwhelming, a series of shocks that would have been hard to handle over days, but all happening at once overloaded her mind.
Seeing Rona crying like a child, Cinderella, who had been leaning against the wall, stood up urgently. He moved towards her, hesitated as if to put his hand on her shoulder, but then dropped it.
He wasn’t used to showing kindness, especially in his rare male form. The only men he had ever observed at a close distance were his father and a few rough mercenaries. He hesitated, then spoke in a drained tone, scolding her.
“Don’t cry. I hate the sound.”
Sniff. hiic, sob…
Telling her not to cry wouldn’t stop the tears. But Rona bit her lip to hold back her tears, not wanting to provoke Cinderella any further.
After a while, Rona stopped crying and looked at Cinderella, hoping he might show some mercy. But he just looked at her with his legs crossed, no longer even trying to appear gentle. He looked more like a thug standing there crookedly.
“Think about it. What would make me happy and pay back the debt quickly? If you’re a con artist, you should be quick-witted. You should understand by now.”
“…Okay.”
“And don’t think about running away. This mansion is special. If you try to escape…”
Recalling her previous attempt to run away in the middle of the night, Cinderella growled menacingly. His warning was no empty threat. The mansion was filled with magical artifacts like surveillance statues and enchanted portraits that could activate traps at any moment.
Rona shuddered.
“O-Okay, I won’t run.”
Cinderella’s threats continued for a while, perhaps to ensure she wouldn’t try to escape or to intimidate her further. After what felt like an eternity, Rona left the attic, looking as though she had aged ten years in mere minutes.
***
Returning to her room, Rona collapsed onto her bed, feeling as if she had lost everything. So much had happened all at once.
The only good thing was that the storyline had changed. Yesterday, she had been helping Cinderella prepare for the ball to secure a comfortable life, but today her life had plummeted into despair.
It felt unreal, like a rushed, unbelievable plot point in a poorly written novel.
‘No, it’s okay. I’m alive. That was my original goal.’
Her emotions were on a rollercoaster, soaring and plummeting repeatedly. She had thought she had tamed Cinderella, but it was more like she had repeatedly put her hand into a tiger’s mouth, thinking it was a kitten.
‘I suppose he’ll give me time to think.’
Cinderella’s intentions were clear. He wanted her to use her body to repay the debt. They had already done everything but the final act in the attic, but still, the idea of doing it constantly to repay the debt was daunting.
Rona tossed and turned, her mind filled with the image of Cinderella’s flushed face.
‘Admit it, it felt good. But it’s frustrating. I don’t even understand why I feel this way.’
Her imagination ran wild, and the memory of Cinderella’s blonde hair between her legs made her lower abdomen ache. Just thinking about it made her newly changed underwear wet.
Cinderella was attractive and skilled, and knowing he was a man made his previous appearance pale in comparison. If he were going to cross-dress, he should have been smaller. It felt unfair to have such a large thing and wear a skirt.
‘Crying about it seems ridiculous now. It’s troubling because if I keep seeing him, I might fall for him. And that’s sad…’
No matter how attractive he was, he was the male lead. There was no way Cinderella would end up with a villainess like her.
