Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 66

Although it’s fragmented, the relationship between the crown prince and Belinda, revealed through the “first fragment of memory,” was more complex than I had expected.

The Blanche family was a traditional royalist central nobility for generations.

 Blanche, who had an abundance of money, and the royal family, whose power was somewhat weak.

Belinda, the youngest daughter of the Blanche family, and Crown Prince Mikhail, the legitimate heir to the throne, were pretty good partners in both political and personal terms.

While Mikhail was as delicate as spring flowers crushed by wind and rain, while Belinda was like a stubborn general who had to have everything her way.

 The two fit perfectly together like puzzle pieces that fill in each other’s shortcomings.

“They make a picture-perfect couple. Thinking that those children will be the future of our two families is truly reassuring.”

As a matter of course, Belinda became the Crown Prince’s attendant, which soon meant their engagement.

However, everything changed when Belinda’s biological parents died, and her uncle became the official head of the family.

The pro-royalist faction supporting the Crown Prince openly showed their discomfort towards her illegitimate uncle.

They believed that a collateral line was better than an illegitimate child.

In the end, her uncle had no choice but to change his political stance to protect the family and himself from the threats of the collateral line and the royalists.

What happened to their relationship afterward was unknown.

All I knew was that they broke off their engagement, and their relationship deteriorated to the point where the Crown Prince would one day behead Belinda with his own hands.

Despite this, the reason I attended today was not only because I couldn’t refuse the Crown Prince’s invitation, but also because I hoped that I might be able to change the future with him.

Just as I had changed the future with the Tower Master, who had killed Belinda the most, I hoped I could change the ending with him as well.

And that hope became a slightly more possible future the moment I faced the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince, whom I met for the first time in over a decade, had not changed at all from what Belinda remembered from her childhood.

As soon as the Crown Prince stepped out onto the terrace and drew the thick blackout curtains, he relaxed his shoulders and leaned languidly against the railing.

Should I consider it fortunate?

From his back, there was a vague sense of ease, as if he were meeting an old friend rather than adhering to formalities with a noble lady.

After a moment’s hesitation, I carefully stood beside him and leaned my arms on the railing.

“I heard the news. You accepted the proposal from Grand Duke Baluasten.”

“…That is correct.”

I kept my gaze firmly ahead, not giving the Crown Prince even a glance.

I felt uneasy in this awkward situation where my former fiancé was talking about my marriage.

Moreover, I was still unsure about what kind of person he was, so I had to be cautious.

“Do you like him?”

“Ha.”

That laugh came out so naturally that I couldn’t tell if it was mine or Belinda’s.

‘Is he being serious?’

I didn’t know much about the physiology of nobles or politics, but I understood well enough that they never married solely for emotions.

Especially not high-ranking nobles like Belinda.

Yet here was the Crown Prince of a country asking such an innocent question.

Wondering if he had some other motive, I subtly tried to gauge his true intentions.

“If I say yes… could the royal family expedite the engagement with the Baluasten family?”

“But Bel, you haven’t even met him. Didn’t you always say you wanted a handsome and obedient husband?”

His slightly indignant response made me realize that the Crown Prince’s question was purely innocent.

Just like ten years ago, the Crown Prince seemed like a gentle and delicate child.

“It’s a joke. As Your Highness said, I have never seen the Grand Duke’s face. I am marrying because it is necessary.”

“The North is a dangerous and barren place. Can’t you reconsider?”

How could a voice be so genuinely concerned?

With a slightly surprised heart, I looked at the Crown Prince’s face, which was filled with deep worry.

“I do not marry for love. Wasn’t our engagement the same?”

“Why do you think it was the same for me?”

I blinked for a moment.

Those words… But the relationship between Belinda and the Crown Prince, as seen in the fragments of memory, was nothing more than friendship.

The Crown Prince soon laughed as if it were a joke.

“Indeed, whatever the feelings were back then, it has been too long.”

There was a hint of bitterness in the Crown Prince’s tone.

And then, something like starlight sparkled in his eyes as he looked at me.

“Though we are not engaged, I am still your friend. So as your friend, I ask you, Bel.”

The Crown Prince tilted his head slightly and continued with an innocent face like a child.

“If you do not like the Grand Duke, there are other options. So…”

For a moment, the night wind blew, causing the leaves in the garden below the terrace to rustle noisily.

The Crown Prince’s voice gently anchored in me, cutting through the night’s noise like the sound of waves.

“Would you marry me?”

“….”

The reason I was momentarily at a loss for words was because Belinda’s childhood memories surfaced over the stern face of the Crown Prince.

“It’s called Papen, it’s a flower from my mother’s homeland. Now, it’s the only flower of its kind in this kingdom. I’ll make a ring out of it, so will you marry me?”

“Hmph, no.”

“Why… why? Do you dislike me, Bel?”

“It’s not because I dislike you, Your Highness. I wanted to propose first. Geez, Mikha, you promised! You said you’d let me do all the good things first!”

At an age when we didn’t yet understand the heavy significance of marriage.

When we thought a proposal was just a promise to remain friends forever.

I wondered if the real Belinda would have accepted the Crown Prince’s proposal, or if she would have come out here today, as I responded.

“Unfortunately, there is no proposal ring made of Papen flowers.”

Papen is a red flower known to have been brought to this country by the queen, who was a royal from another nation when she married into this kingdom.

Many scholars tried to root it in this land, but it ultimately withered away completely in this kingdom, unable to withstand the climate.

The day when the Crown Prince would propose to me with a Papen flower, like in the old days, would never come again.

That was already a thing of the past, and moreover, that memory wasn’t even mine.

The Crown Prince, who had briefly smiled sadly at my refusal, withdrew gracefully.

“I’ll ensure the marriage approval is expedited. His Majesty is pleased with this marriage, so it won’t take long.”

“Thank you. It’s the best wedding gift.”

“But will you keep calling me so formally? I won’t make the same mistakes as before.”

What mistakes from before?

Worried that he might press further, I quickly called him by his nickname.

“Mikha.”

Mikhail, no, Mikha’s expression visibly brightened.

Even though he was already a cheerful person, his childlike radiant smile made me feel as if I were basking in the sunlight.

So, with a lighter heart than I expected, I asked that question.

“If Your Highness’s sword were to be pointed at me, what would be the reason?”

It had always been a mystery.

What would cause this person to stain his hands with blood?

He was someone I couldn’t believe would kill Belinda in the future.

Even though it was a sudden question, the Crown Prince answered without hesitation.

“If you stand in the way of my beliefs, I will point my sword at you. And I will regret it for the rest of my life.”

When I stand in the way of his beliefs.

I couldn’t understand why tormenting the protagonist was something that stood in the way of his beliefs.

I wanted to ask, but since it was a matter of the future, I couldn’t even ask the reason.

Instead, I asked something else.

“What are Your Highness’s beliefs?”

For a moment, the Crown Prince looked as if he had been caught off guard. As if he hadn’t expected me to ask such a thing.

Eventually, he leaned his body against the railing and looked down at the garden, which was shrouded in darkness without a single point of light.

As if he were persistently trying to find a terrible monster lurking in that darkness, he scrutinized the garden before casually speaking.

“Preventing destruction.”

It sounded like a mischievous joke, but under the magical lights, his face, which glowed gently, looked extremely righteous and just, like a virtuous hero from a fairy tale.

For a moment, I was so captivated by that face that I almost agreed with his beliefs.

Even though his beliefs involved killing people, perhaps even someone he considered a friend.

Only then did I realize that the man before me was completely different from the person in Belinda’s memories.

The young Crown Prince who used to cry sorrowfully over even a small scratch had become a man who could kill for his beliefs.

Just as Belinda, who once craved her uncle’s love, had become a woman who enjoyed seeing the blood of others.

It felt like discovering a flower, which I had carefully pressed between the pages of a book for preservation, had dried up and turned black.

To understand what had caused that flower to dry up and die, the only way was to find the fragments of memory and steal glimpses into Belinda’s life.