What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 549

Sub Male Lead’s Hiatus – Episode 549

#549

Cold Boot (3)

“Oh…”

François Mirlande D’Hiem swore on the Great Sun of the De L’Esther Empire and its two planets that he had never been so bewildered in his life.

His mind was in complete chaos, unable to immediately process the meaning of everything happening.

And in his life, ‘things that cannot be understood at once’ were extremely rare.

The man’s pink eyes darted back and forth, breathless.

“…What does that mean?”

-Thump!

The Crown Prince strode over and snatched the essay collection. The Duchess, as delicate as a tulip, shrugged, looking as if she had lost her country—though, of course, not the Holy Kingdom.

The three Divine Beasts, aghast, raised their tails protectively around her.

The black leather glove immediately opened the book and searched for the signature on the inner page.

The air became heavy in an instant, thick enough to feel the shift in the conversation’s flow.

François subtly observed the three men and women, craning his neck.

He made sure to bulge his eyes out, trying to perfectly memorize the signature’s handwriting and shape until his veins stood out.

He didn’t care that the father of his (prospective) godson sighed above his head.

In any case, the Marquis was a magician full of inquisitiveness and curiosity.

Hmm, so that’s what Benjamin Girardin’s signature looks like.

It seems like the initials B and G are geometrically combined.

It’s certainly not a common shape, nor is it an easy form to come up with.

“It’s… as I said. My brother is someone who can leave traces in this world in some way.”

“There are many ways to leave traces, Duchess. Could it be that your brother is inside Benjamin? Could it be that my brother is possessing him like us?”

Christel Rambouillet entered, following behind, and asked.

She also had a very serious expression, seeming anxious for some reason.

However, the amount of information provided by their short conversation was enormous.

François immediately formulated about a dozen hypotheses, then quickly discarded half of them.

He already knew that his dear Duchess Juliette was a different person from the former Venetian Prince and had temporarily borrowed his poor body.

However, the brilliant and brave Rambouillet was truly unimaginable.

If that’s the case, oh guardian of intellect, Alexandre.

Does someone from another world reside in the body of the young Holy Knight as well?

“No… No. Nikki said that day. That here…”

The Duchess’s purple eyes trembled.

François hastily reached for the white sugar bear jerky next to him to put in his mouth.

No, he tried to, but failed due to Sir Johann Haynes’ firm restraint.

A feverish, beautiful voice flowed incessantly from the bed.

“I’m the only ‘stranger’ here.”

“…”

“…”

At those words, the pink hair stopped abruptly, and His Highness the Crown Prince was as silent as a statue that had lost its words.

Even in the midst of all this, the Marquis’s brain was spinning like the magical tools in a laboratory, or bubbling like a cauldron.

Silence flowed for several minutes in that state.

Even the sacred objects and Divine Beasts were quiet, as if a natural disaster was imminent.

Then, a faint voice wandered through the air.

“That day… in the carriage. When I found out that the author of was Benjamin.”

François almost bit off his own tongue. Who wrote what?

“When I found out that he was writing for his nephew… I should have asked him then. What about writing for other people? With what heart does he create stories?”

“…”

“If I had, I might have caught a crucial clue. Maybe I would have discovered my brother’s traces sooner…”

The Duchess looked up at the Marquis with a faint smile.

The man couldn’t even remember what he was doing that day and only fluttered his eyelashes.

What story are you talking about from so long ago? Why didn’t I know that until now?

“A little later, Nikki… also said this to me.”

“…”

“This world is relying on me.”

Unable to contain his curiosity, François raised his right index and middle fingers.

But it was immediately grabbed by Johann’s hand and lowered.

He was disappointed, but he wasn’t officially Herrit’s godfather yet.

A faint trace of patience was visible on the Cardinal’s brow.

“I didn’t really know what that meant. They said the sky collapsed while I was gone… and holes opened up, and scary swords fell everywhere, but I couldn’t quite understand it. It was hard to accept the visible phenomenon with my head. Because I didn’t know the principles at all, I just…”

“…”

“I sometimes thought that Eunseo, my sister, loved this place. Because she sincerely cherished and liked this world and the people here… Maybe because of her…”

“Did we gain life thanks to Eunseo?”

“…”

There was no blame in that question, but the Duchess had a painful look, like a deer being hunted and dying.

His tone was like raspberries stewed in sadness.

The ensuing silence was so heavy that it was suffocating.

The man swallowed dryly and moved his lips again after a long time.

“The Prince and I had the same name, and his family environment… was subtly similar to our situation. The fact that his father passed away early, and that he had a mother who was unwell. Older siblings, younger siblings…”

His beautiful eyes were turning red.

François took out a handkerchief from his pocket, then glanced at Johann.

He nodded silently. Permission was finally granted!

“Everything was so similar that you thought it couldn’t be. You wanted to believe that.”

“…Yes.”

“So you thought he couldn’t be your brother to us either…”

Christel’s voice wandered far away. Her eyes were tracing some memory.

“You said that at the beach. That there’s no way your brother would do such a cruel thing. Because that would be something he couldn’t do to himself, or to Eunseo.”

“Yes…”

“And to Yeseo.”

“…”

“Look at you. You’re about to cry.”

She snatched François’s handkerchief away.

The magician, who suddenly missed his chance to shine, gaped.

Christel came right up to the bed and looked at her friend.

And continued to speak without hesitation.

Unlike someone who had been silent all along.

“I’m… I’m okay. Really.”

“Gain.”

“Of course, I don’t mean that everything is great. I’m definitely not happy that I’m the main character of the novel, and I definitely don’t like it. I’m not happy that Yeseo’s brother ‘created’ me. Honestly, I still can’t believe it.”

“…”

“But Yeseo said that, right? She wants to hear my story directly from me. I really liked that.”

“…”

“That’s enough for me.”

A bright smile appeared on her lips, then disappeared like sea foam.

Although her eyes were red and her voice trembled, Christel Rambouillet seemed very solid.

Like a breakwater that doesn’t collapse even in a tsunami. Or like a huge mountain range submerged in the deep sea.

“…Isabelle also knows that I’m not Christel. But she’s living for me. I’m so grateful for that. It really touches my heart. I want Isabelle to be happy too.”

“…”

“So I’m going to live harder here. So that I won’t be ashamed of the already dead Christel. So that even if she comes back later, I can live proudly in this body.”

“…”

“That’s not going to change just because your brother is the author. It’s my life, it’s mine. I’ve been stubbornly living it, no matter what anyone says. Elizabeth also said that’s right.”

Christel quickly wiped away the tears that flowed down with the palm of her hand.

And covered the back of the Duchess’s hand with her dry hand.

The sweaty forehead had a faint golden glow.

He smiled bitterly and slowly pulled out his hand.

Then he said this.

“…A few more things.”

“Yes.”

“My ether is also not mine.”

That confession was enough to shock everyone in the tent.

Turmoil arose in Christel’s water-colored irises.

François gagged his mouth with his fist, almost making a loud noise. Good Lord!

“I was going to tell you this last time… but I forgot. My brother said that. ‘If you don’t remember, it’s not really important.'”

“…”

“But it was a lie. It was very important.”

The priest smiled as if he would disappear at any moment.

The Marquis witnessed the Crown Prince clenching his fist tightly.

“Then…”

“In the Temple of the Boundary, the ‘Wishing Grail’ [a holy artifact]. I think I absorbed the holy water of the Grail without even knowing it. When I first came over here.”

“…”

The Duchess looked up at the two companions with cloudy eyes.

One was still silent, and only Christel shook her head quickly.

“I don’t care.”

“…”

That was already about two years ago.

“So what? I also carry the blessing of the Blue Sea in my body. I didn’t want that to happen. But it’s worth living. I can help others, and how great is that?”

“Gain’s sister.”

The young man asked her with a gasp.

His flushed cheeks were faintly trembling.

“You said she married a German.”

“Yes.”

“The grandmother who lives upstairs from us… Her son-in-law is German.”

“…”

“You know what I mean.”

He was barely, really barely, able to continue speaking.

The surrounding air felt hot, as if the fever that had subsided was rising again.

François hurriedly moved his hands and dipped the towel back into the basin.

-Splash…!

“…”

But this time too, Johann blocked him. The Marquis looked at him with surprised eyes.

Even in that moment, the Duchess’s words continued.

He was confessing almost through gritted teeth.

“The parts that make up Gain and the Crown Prince… Memories, wounds, maybe things that are very precious or important to you two. That they were sometimes made very… lightly and easily by my brother. And that I didn’t not know that fact.”

“You didn’t know.”

“No.”

The young man replied firmly. Christel flinched.

“‘Maybe’, ‘If’, ‘Just in case’… I can’t lie that I didn’t have those thoughts. I’m not innocent.”

“Since when…”

“I’m sorry.”

‘I’m really sorry.’ With his last whisper, a transparent drop of water drew a long line across his cheek.

The Divine Beasts in his arms were trembling as if they were about to suffocate.

Tite and Lopi were the same.

Christel blinked, unable to find the words for a moment.

It was then.

-Thud!

Benjamin Girardin’s essay collection fell to the floor as it was.

Everyone’s gaze reached the man who was holding it.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Cedric L’Esther was silently sinking and boiling in the silence.

His crimson eyes, which had planted a flame, swallowed the darkness and emitted a bright red light.

It was a dark color like pigeon’s blood.

His white jade face was pale and had no vitality at all, and the jaw muscles, which were tightly strained, were vibrating almost imperceptibly.

François instinctively knew that something was going wrong.

“Your Highness, Cedric Your Highness…!”

-Flutter!

He hurriedly got up and tried to grab him, but he was several beats too late.

The man left the tent and never returned.