Thought It Was 'The End', Only to Return to a Changed Genre - Chapter 7
<The Fake Saintess Turned out to be Real> was a novel set in a romance fantasy world.
It featured gods, magic, spirits, and monsters, elements commonly found in any fantasy novel.
Humans had to defend their territories against monsters.
Fighting monsters was one thing, but the problem was the miasma that flowed from their corpses.
The miasma seeped into the ground, gradually contaminating the world.
That’s where the ‘Saintess’ became necessary.
The Saintess was the only being capable of purifying the tainted land, water, and air.
Naturally, she was revered as humanity’s savior, and countries with a Saintess were promised prosperity.
The female protagonist, born as a ‘Saintess,’ had a tragic fate. She was a noble’s illegitimate child, abused and mistreated until she was coincidentally discovered by the male lead, who realized her true identity as the Saintess and took her to the palace, thus beginning their story.
Of course, the ending involved the male and female leads getting married and living happily ever after.
‘The happy ending determined by the culmination of the couple’s relationship, can it really be achieved even amidst such a flower garden?’
When reading it as a novel, it seemed natural, so Adeline didn’t think much about it. But now that she has become a part of that world, it feels absurd.
It was convenient to have such a simple criterion.
‘As long as the female lead becomes happy, it’ll bring the story to [The End].’
The world is saved by that, but Adeline, the villainess, wasn’t included in it.
‘F**k, I used to always empathize with the female lead! I was the kind of reader who always sided with the female lead no matter what I read.’
Adeline realized this with a sigh.
Besides the male lead, there were several men who loved the female lead.
A villainous sorcerer manipulating monsters, the boss of a criminal organization doing shady things in the underground, a prince standing at the pinnacle of power weaving schemes as easily as breathing.
To demonstrate a good example of even such people becoming captivated by the female lead, the author presented various male characters.
Among those male characters, it wouldn’t be surprising if any of them had ‘Adeline’ killed.
Even the strongest villains typically meet a bittersweet end, lingering until the very last moment, yet Adeline’s fate was to exit prematurely.
Whether it was poisoning or something else, her death was disguised as suicide, so the cause of death was never properly investigated.
Isn’t it too cruel a fate for a girl betrayed by her beloved fiancé since childhood? Even if she attempted murder herself.
It seems like Adeline also attempted to poison the female lead, but…
‘…The novel seems to have crossed a line here….’
Adeline decided never to harm the female lead under any circumstances.
The villain Adeline from the beginning of the novel wasn’t just someone tormenting the female lead.
Adeline’s awakening as a saint began in earnest after she was killed by someone who loved the female lead.
Perhaps out of guilt and responsibility for failing to save Adeline, or something else.
‘What bullsh-t. Feeling guilty or responsible for messing with a man who has a possessive streak…’
Adeline, who lost her fiancé to the female lead and was poisoned by a potential suitor, and then used as a catalyst for awakening, felt bleak about her fate.
‘Wasn’t Adeline in the novel too conveniently useful?’
If only she hadn’t played a role in awakening the female lead, she could have quietly disappeared.
Knowing the future and just standing by as a tool would have likely led to being poisoned.
Divorce seemed to be the only solution no matter how much she thought about it. Adeline had no interest in what belonged to others. Even if Shane Blancard was handsome and charming, and even if he kindly courted a potential fiancée.
‘So what? Are you going to devour his charm and live off of it?’
To Adeline, who had died once, charm held no value. Even rolling in the mud seemed better than the afterlife.
From then on, she began investigating the characters in the novel.
The information she obtained from her parents after begging and shaking them a few times was quite thick.
“The young Prince should be in the palace so there’s no need to search separately, and as for the whereabouts of the female lead who is not yet a saint… still under investigation. We can’t know until the sorcerer causing the monster rampage appears, and we’re still figuring out the structure of the criminal organization… As for the male lead, the information…”
The quality was unbelievably good considering it was requested because of a child’s curiosity.
The information about Shane was particularly detailed. It seemed to be regarded as a sign of interest and curiosity towards his fiancée.
“That’s why rich people are scary. With just the slightest malice in them, anything can happen.”
‘Adeline Bertrand’ was the youngest daughter of a prestigious family befitting of an engagement with the son of a duke.
The Bertrand family’s title was that of a marquis, which was lower than a duke, but still a highly respected noble in the empire.
With a long history and prosperous territory, especially with a solid financial foundation.
‘I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, so I thought life would be a piece of cake.’
Adeline contrasted the faint memories of the novel’s contents with reality.
However, no matter how much she delved into the research material, she couldn’t figure out who the murderer was. This was never revealed in the novel either. It wasn’t worth the trouble.
Adeline became increasingly anxious.
She didn’t know who the saint was, or whether she should date or love her fiancé, but she wanted to avoid being dragged into a situation where she would die midway.
‘My nightmares are becoming more vivid…’
She had thought that the novel she had read in her past life remained in her head and appeared in her dreams.
But it seemed that wasn’t the case.
Adeline recalled the events of this morning.
