Thought It Was 'The End', Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 44
In this world, insensitivity to safety was as much a social issue as alcoholism.
Genevieve looked at the fuming Adeline with a subtle expression before she smiled bashfully.
“I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful.”
“Promise me.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t go alone, don’t skip meals, and make sure to rest two days a week!”
“Oh, resting will be a bit difficult. I already have a packed schedule…”
Still holding Genevieve, Adeline glared at Edwin and Shane.
Edwin said,
“Anyone would think, Adeline, that you gave birth to Genevieve.”
“In my heart, I did.”
The female lead who was born from her heart.
Adeline was not a particularly critical reader. She tended to accept everything as the author intended.
She cried at the sad parts and got angry at the points meant to provoke anger. Even if the book had some plot holes, she didn’t notice while reading and got immersed.
As a result, she naturally ended up cheering for the heroine in every story.
Moreover, Adeline had personally taken care of Genevieve. The miserable state she was in when they first met tore at Adeline’s heart.
If she had only tried to find her sooner, if she hadn’t been so bound by the setting that Shane had to bring her, maybe she could have rescued her earlier, a guilt that also played a part.
“Um, Adeline. I appreciate what you said, but then… That would make His Grace my father, and that’s a bit…”
“……”
“I would be grateful if you considered me your daughter born before your marriage.”
Two people who were supposed to be a couple becoming father and daughter… Adeline made a strange face.
“That’s not funny.”
Shane said coldly.
“If she’s Adeline’s child, then before or after marriage, she’s my child too.”
“Genevieve, greet your father.”
Edwin interjected. Adeline closed her eyes tightly and shouted.
“This is wrong, you two being father and daughter is weird! You two being a couple makes more sense!”
“I dislike both!”
“Then you didn’t give birth to Genevieve either. She’s not your daughter, so let go of her.”
Shane pulled Adeline’s arm to separate her from Genevieve. Though she clearly disliked Shane’s approach, Genevieve separated from Adeline without hesitation.
‘Could it be… their relationship is worse than I thought?’
There was no hint of a rosy atmosphere—only a cold, unforgiving chill.
In the midst of this unfunny situation, only Edwin was laughing. He said,
“Genevieve has had a lot of work recently. Like reviving people…”
Edwin looked at Adeline with narrowed eyes. Adeline glared at Shane.
It’s all that bastard’s fault. All of it.
“After the attack, people started questioning whether the empire is treating the treasure of humanity properly. Well, they’re probably just jealous that we’re monopolizing the saintess.”
“Treating a person like an object…”
Genevieve tightly held Adeline’s hand, as if to say she was okay.
“The Pope doesn’t seem likely to survive the winter and wants the saintess to stay close. So, after a meeting with the parliament, it was decided to cancel the saintess’s winter purification expedition.”
“As long as I don’t go far, it should be fine.”
“They say it’s for your safety, but actually they’re anxious that other countries might use this controversy as an excuse to take you.”
“Are they afraid other countries might kidnap me?”
“They’d call it a ‘rescue’, not a kidnapping.”
“Makes sense.”
Adeline had expected the saintess to be treated more like the hope of humanity. But once she peeled back the layers, the saintess was just another tool of power.
It felt awkward to see Genevieve’s indifferent face when she coldly agreed.
“Then what should I do? Will you give me a vacation?”
Edwin smiled broadly. Adeline could bet her wrist that he wouldn’t answer Genevieve’s question directly. As the master of collective monologues, he’d go off on another tangent.
“Since you two got married, I’m the only single one left.”
Since when were Shane, Edwin, and I considered a set? Leave me out of this…
“My mother has been nagging me nonstop. If I obediently returned to the palace today, she’d drag me in for a lecture, so I escaped.”
“Your Highness, don’t you have a fiancée?”
Wasn’t he engaged to a foreign princess? When Adeline asked, Edwin responded nonchalantly.
“Oh, I had one… but three years ago, there was a rebellion in that country.”
“What?”
“The marriage wasn’t beneficial enough to get involved in their civil war, so we just accepted compensation and broke off the engagement. It was a good deal. I heard she married the leader of the rebels a few months ago.”
“……”
Adeline wasn’t sure where things went wrong, but it seems that foreign country’s genre has turned into a resistance documentary.
“My mother is determined to marry me off as soon as possible. At the Winter Founding Festival, eligible young ladies from all over the continent will flock here.”
“Oh dear, you’ll be so busy.”
Genevieve’s response was so lifeless. Meanwhile, Adeline just nodded sympathetically at Edwin, feeling sorry for him.
With his good looks and high status, he’d be quite popular. He’d get married eventually.
Or not. It didn’t really matter to her.
“This winter, I’ll need both of you to help me with my work.”
“No way—”
“Genevieve, do you want to go on an expedition? There might be another attack, and you could get kidnapped. You won’t die anyway so it’s all fine and dandy, but…”
“Agh, really! Are you serious?!”
Adeline looked to Shane, hoping he’d intervene, but he just sighed, grimacing as he was likely thinking about the debt he incurred from rushing the wedding.
“Who told you to act uninterested in me?”
“Are you a child?”
Edwin smiled brightly.
They say the devil smiles like an angel, and he was the perfect example.