What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 19

Starting with the large eyes that looked at me.

Not the bright sky blue I remembered, but a serious, blue-gray iris.

No… Wait a minute. I don’t think she’s serious.

“Lady Christel, is ‘Olivier’ a middle name, by any chance?”

“Ah, geez.”

She let out such a Korean exclamation. I gritted my teeth to maintain my composure.

She must not have been here long enough to be familiar with the ‘rules’ of this place.

“Middle names are only revealed to precious people, so I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“…Thank you.”

As I spat out the words through my teeth, she ran her hand through her hair and sighed in response.

I was just as miserable.

Why do I already have to know the protagonist’s middle name?

Isn’t the progress too fast?

This situation was too much for me, who had no intention of progressing at all.

“If you’re not here to confess, please leave. I’ll pretend this meeting never happened.”

I tensed my jaw and turned my gaze forward. I had to be strong.

In the original story, Yeser Fenetian was consistently kind and warm to Christel, unlike Cedric the Prince.

That was why Eunseo abandoned the Prince and supported him, and why Christel wavered towards the sub-male lead several times.

If so, I had to act the opposite.

Who in the world would want to be hated by others? But that was me.

I had to get on her bad side, so I wouldn’t get caught up in that crazy love triangle.

To survive.

“Your Highness, it will only take a moment. It’s just that my family…”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“My mother wants to confess. Not at the temple, but in private. Because…”

“I have no choice then. I’ll call the guards.”

“Just a moment!”

– Clink

A sound of water. I reflexively looked at the picnic basket on my left.

The glass bottle filled with peppermint tea didn’t move at all. Goosebumps rose.

– Clink, clink

“…….”

The sound came from the next compartment to the right, beyond the wooden window. I turned my head very slowly.

My whole body creaked like a tin woodcutter who had forgotten to oil himself.

“It’s because of this.”

On Christel’s small hand, an apple-sized water droplet floated.

A water-colored sphere, reminiscent of her eyes, moved, creating small waves.

I stared at it blankly.

I had no idea how to understand this scene, this development.

“No…”

“The sacred object that our family protects, the ‘Blessing of the Azure Sea,’ is no more.”

My eyes widened. Too many things struck and passed through my mind in an instant.

Blessing of the Azure Sea, Sarnese Territory, Sacred Beast, and the boy with orange eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s as it sounds. The Blessing of the Azure Sea has been absorbed into my body and no longer exists.”

Even after hearing the explanation, my head couldn’t process it quickly.

I opened and closed my mouth several times.

That couldn’t be possible. The Blessing of the Azure Sea was an item that appeared on the cover of ‘Retired Duke’.

The blue jewel that looked like a sapphire at first glance.

It was hard to accept that the sacred object, which seemed to play an important role between Christel and the Prince, had disappeared from the very beginning.

But….

-Clink…

The waterdrop spinning around on Christel’s palm, as if mocking me, was clearly a water-attribute power.

And as the name and color suggest, the Blessing of the Azure Sea was also a water-attribute sacred object.

Christel using Ether [magical energy/essence].

Eunseo had never even mentioned in passing that she used superpowers.

The story of two men and women who start with a political marriage cliché and become lovers from enemies.

That was all there was to the content of Retired Duke. It must have been.

“…You should visit Cardinal Boutier instead of me.”

I spat out the most rational answer I could think of right now.

I couldn’t think of any other way to defuse the situation.

“Visiting the Cardinal would be a political act. At least, that’s what my mother thinks. She said she wanted to confess to the Prince from the Holy Kingdom with a pure heart.”

“Lady Christel, I…”

“There’s also a story related to the sacred object that disappeared from the Temple of Boundary.”

“What did you say?”

-Thump!

With a heavy reverberation, the sound of the front door opening was heard.

It seemed that ‘real’ confessors were coming in.

Christel flinched and pulled the robe back over her head.

As she clenched her fist, the water-made sphere disappeared into thin air with a pop.

“The Spring Ball the day after tomorrow, when the clock strikes 9 PM. Please come out to the balcony at the far right of Stroda Palace. Please, Prince Yeser.”

She quickly left the confessional without even hearing my answer.

Every sentence that pierced my eardrums was bewildering.

In the moment of wondering whether to hold Christel back or not,

-Riiiip!

“Oh, shit.”

Along with the sound of fabric tearing, her small curse was heard.

It seemed she had accidentally stepped on and ruined her dress.

‘Adaptable, meticulous, but with a clumsy side.’

It was the same personality that Eunseo liked about her.

“Huh…”

While I was spacing out at the overwhelming circumstances, her presence disappeared into the back of the temple with quick footsteps.

At the same time, the cautious footsteps of believers were heard from the front door.

I tried to somehow control my mind, which wouldn’t calm down.

What the hell is going on?

*

After Christel left, I canceled the afternoon’s confession schedule and returned to Juliet Palace.

To sort things out, I finally used the excuse that I was sick.

I didn’t want to use it like this, damn it….

“Countess Isabel de Sarnese is Lady Christel’s stepmother. She is the person Duke Simon de Sarnese remarried after his wife passed away.”

Benjamin stood in front of the table and explained.

It was a fact I already knew, but I gestured for him to continue.

Then, Ganael followed.

“The Countess rarely engages in social activities and doesn’t leave the territory often. So there are few rumors related to her. Some whisper that she is a typical stepmother, while others praise her for her kind and elegant nature… In fact, there are hardly any nobles who know her well enough to confirm the truth.”

I nodded and stared at the April 1st issue of [a fictional magazine] spread out on the table.

The headline ‘The Treasure of Sarnese Awakens’ was prominently displayed.

It was a special report on Christel’s awakening from a three-year slumber.

「…Even in this situation, Countess Isabel de Sarnese seems to have never given up hope. According to sources entering and leaving the Duchy, she expressed a strong desire, saying, ‘I will get my daughter back no matter what.’」

「It is said that the Duke and Duchess couldn’t stop crying for a while after Lady Christel opened her eyes. In particular, Countess Isabel cried out, ‘My sin is great,’ which even made the servants’ eyes red. Gossipers speculate that she was blaming herself for not treating the Lady well as a mother.」

I had already read the article nine days ago because I had even subscribed to .

But after experiencing the shocking encounter with Christel, all the sentences began to look unfamiliar.

The Duchess who declared, ‘I will get my daughter back no matter what.’

The disappeared sacred object, ‘Blessing of the Azure Sea.’

Christel who opened her eyes.

The Duchess’s cry of ‘My sin is great.’

It’s a bit far-fetched, but if I force myself to put the puzzle together, this picture comes out.

There was a high possibility that the order of events was not this, but it was the most plausible for now.

So, the Duchess consumed the family’s treasure for her daughter, who seemed unlikely to survive.

Putting aside the question of ‘how’ for now… She absorbed the sacred object into her daughter’s body.

Then Christel woke up from her sickbed, and the Lady manifested the sacred object’s attribute as Ether.

If all of my hypotheses up to this point are correct, what is the reason the Duchess wants to confess to me?

“If you use a sacred object privately, it would be a great sin, right?”

Ganael’s eyes widened at my sudden question.

It looked like they would spill if touched.

“Wouldn’t it be obvious? Sacred objects are treasures that the Main God directly bestowed upon the continent.”

“Is there a law enacted to punish such people?”

“There probably isn’t a law. But…”

Benjamin’s voice became lower as he took my words.

“The people of the families who protect the sacred objects all have high pride, regardless of the Empire or the Holy Kingdom. That’s because they believe they are at the forefront of upholding the Main God’s will. They will risk their lives to protect the sacred objects from those who seek personal gain.”

“If someone uses a sacred object for personal use, they won’t stand still.”

“That’s right. But I believe that even if no one comes forward, the Main God will show their will first.”

I pondered Benjamin’s words.

In this environment, it seemed possible that the Duchess would seek forgiveness from a clergyman while feeling guilty.

There were too many pieces forced together, so I wasn’t confident….

It seemed certain that the Blessing of the Azure Sea had disappeared, and I had evidence for that part.

“That Sacred Beast. If not in the Sarnese Territory, where would it have gone?”

The three Lesser Pandas who couldn’t sense the sacred object even after entering Sarnese, crossing the border of the Imperial Capital.

And one child leading them.

If the Blessing of the Azure Sea had already been destroyed at that point, it was natural that Sadie and the Sacred Beasts had lost their way.

Even though I changed the subject to an irrelevant topic, Benjamin answered without panicking.

“If not Sarnese… The second closest sacred object to the Imperial Palace is the ‘Comet Sword of Mars’ in the Diem Marquisate’s territory.”

“How long would it take to get there by land without using a portal?”

“If you run without rest, it would take two days, or four days if you take it long.”

I bit my lip. Four days. It was the same period that Sadie and the Lesser Pandas had disappeared.

It was too coincidental to see it as just a coincidence.

So, assuming Sadie took the Lesser Panda group to the Diem Marquisate….

“Benjamin, Ganael.”

I carefully called the two.

Perhaps noticing that the atmosphere had changed, their expressions became more calm.

I needed more help now. Because the protagonist had suddenly fallen from the sky.