Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 40

The silent war amongst them continued at the dinner table.

“Would you like to eat some more soup?”

“Sure, as long as you add pepper rather than sugar.”

“This is a 50-year-old vintage wine. It was made during good harvest, so the flavor is incredibly rich.”

“Would you mind swapping it with yours? For some reason, I have a hunch that there’s something with my glass.”

“Tsk.”

Terry tried to put on a facade of a polite butler, but Cheshire kept slipping away from all their silly plots with a smiling face.

Then it was time to serve the roasted vegetables as a garnish.

Terry, who heard something from Vivian in a whisper, smiled ominously.

Soon, Cheshire’s plate was filled with bell peppers, more bell peppers and some more bell peppers.

“I heard from Vivian that you like bell peppers. Enjoy as much as you want.”

“W-well, if you say that, yuck!”

“…….”

“I, I, I didn’t say that Cheshire. I don’t know anything.”

For the first time, the smile disappeared from Cheshire’s face.

Taking a small piece of bell pepper that was small enough to be eaten in one bite, he deliberately chopped it into smaller pieces before picking it up with a fork and putting it in his mouth.

After gulping down what was in his mouth with no sign of chewing, Cheshire’s smile returned.

“It’s been a long time since I cured my picky eating habits. What do you think of a man fixes even his own weaknesses, esteemed customer?”

“Ha, I can’t believe he thought his only weakness was his dislike for bell peppers. Whoever he is, what a petty and an arrogant man.”

“And what if he looks this handsome?”

“….Damn it.”

Terry shook her fist in frustration, and Vivian cheered her on from the sidelines.

After watching the scene in silence, pretending to examine the invitation, I spoke up.

“Is it true?”

All their eyes turned towards me.

I tore my eyes away from the invitations and swept my gaze over the people gathered around the table, finally nailing my gaze on Cheshire and asking him again.

“Without a shred of falsehood?”

Cheshire answered with a bright smile that he probably only would have displayed in front of me.

“Of course.”

I asked Cheshire again, who looked straight at me.

“Even those words, where you said you liked me?”

“Pff!”

Clang!

Thunk.

Ignoring the sound of Vivian’s spewing meat, something breaking and Terry who was slamming her meat cleaver onto the table, I stared intently onto Cheshire’s face.

“Ah…”

He was looking somewhat awkward and rolled his eyes as if finding it difficult to answer. Later on, he half-lowered his head and scratched his cheek with a look of embarrassment and whispered.

“Is it, by any chance, clearly visible on my face?”

“Y-you, you, you cunning fox!”

Though Terry swung the meat cleaver dangerously towards him, Cheshire didn’t even look up at her.

I lifted my chin haughtily, warding off Cheshire’s equally haughty attempts.

“Answer me.”

Cheshire stammered, as if he was too nervous to answer, then smiled sheepishly again.

“That’s right…..”

“Master! Don’t be fooled by that face!”

“C-C-Cheshire! That, that expression! You are using your face and that’s cheating!”

“…….”

The entire room buzzed with loud shouts.

It was then that Leo, who had been rolling his eyes and scanning the murderous atmosphere throughout the mealtime, spoke up for the very first time.

“Miss Belinda.”

I turned my head to look at Leo.

“I, I also eat bell peppers really well.”

For some reason, Leo seemed to think that I took eating bell peppers seriously and as a very important quality in a man.

With trembling hands, Leo put a piece of bell pepper in his mouth and chewed it like a nutcracker, while moving his jaw back and forth.

“I ate it.”

As Leo whispered with a strange smile, his cute face caused some false lie detection waves to fluctuate wildly.

As to praise him, I placed Leo’s favorite shrimp on his plate.

Only then did I take off the lie detection glasses I had been wearing and pressed my forehead as if I was tired.

At this gathering today, there were two people who remained calm amidst the waves of lies.

One was Sir Penadel, who neatly finished his meal without any disturbance despite the series of commotions.

And the other one was…

“Thank you for the invitation, Dear Customer. It was a meaningful dinner in many ways.”

Cheshire whispered, leaning his upper body towards me.

The calmness of the waves meant that either he spoke only the truth, or he was an extremely skilled liar, he was so adept that even physiological reactions wouldn’t show whether he lied or not.

And Cheshire was the latter type, unlike Sir Penadel.

He is a shameless liar who felt no remorse.

Only then I could face reality a bit more seriously. Those who favored me may not have pure motives all the time.

Mainly because Belinda had an enormous dowry.

Cheshire might have undoubtedly aimed for that.

‘They said there are some forced majeures which is practiced in mage tower, but I can’t believe my heart was stirred for a moment by that trick.’ (E/n: it’s basically a type of forced contracts)

I guess their efforts to exploit the human minds would be fierce for a few days.

‘…I certainly thought so, but that didn’t mean that I would make fierce advances with my own hands.’

In front of me, Cheshire, as sweet-looking as a sugar doll painstakingly crafted by a master craftsman, lay unconscious and tied to a chair.

He was currently kidnapped and imprisoned.

By my orders, no less, waiting for him to wake up, sitting cross-legged like a third-rate villain.

I clasped my hands over my face as the gravity of the situation suddenly hit me.

“How did this happen?”

Knocking a man out, kidnapping him, and imprisoning him!

* * * *

On the dinner day, What I wanted to verify with the lie-detection glasses was, ‘Is Cheshire truly a liar?’ and whether he really liked me.

The principle of the lie-detection glasses was to discern lies through physiological reactions, but sometimes those reactions themselves could indicate the truth or falsehood.

For example…….

“Even that one where you said you liked me?”

“That’s right…….”

Even though Cheshire confessed his feelings as if he were embarrassed, the quiet waves showed that he did not feel any emotional disturbance.

However, Cheshire, who did not know that his true feelings were revealed to me, was visibly depressed by my suddenly cold attitude.

“Master, if I’ve done something wrong, please let me know. I’ll fix it.”

“By any chance, does Seedo have no interest in magic anymore?”

“Customer, can you give me some time?”

The gloomy, shadowy face was so pitiful.

Even though I knew it was all an act, I had to suffer from guilt, as if I had plucked the only flower of this world.

And in the end, I, who was unable to bear the guilt, finally exploded.

One after afternoon after Leo’s class.

I stood behind Cheshire who was packing up his things and spoke up, with a heavy voice.

“Cheshire, doing all this won’t get you what you wanted…”

Leo was diligently following Cheshire, and his stats were steadily improving under Cheshire’s guidance.

But I couldn’t leave him by Leo’s side like this when he approached me in order to take advantage of me.

So, I issued my own ultimatum.

“This is my last warning to you, and I know what your true intentions are.”

Upon hearing this, Cheshire, who was busily moving his hands, turned to look at me.

He smiled faintly and leaned back against the desk.

“You speak as if you know what I want, master.”

 Look at this…

I was taken aback and crossed my arms while glancing at Cheshire.

His face was clearly unchanged, but somehow it felt like I’d finally seen his real face.

“Then, Master, shall we be more honest with each other?”

His tone was light, as if he was proposing a game.

As the slender sunlight streamed through the window, sharply delineating the boundary between Cheshire and me, I willingly joined that game.

“You didn’t accept my proposal for money.”

“I didn’t take this request just to earn a few coins.”

“You must have had other motives. Cheshire, are you after me?”

“Yes. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have taken this job. The first day I saw you, I knew it was meant to be you.”

“That doesn’t sound like fate.”

“Well, I immediately figured out your secret, Master.”

“My dowry is not a great secret.”

“Well, talking about the upfront fee sounds disappointing. I was talking about the secret that you have dabbled up in the form of black magic.”

“……What?”