I Adopt The Male Lead - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Karina stared blankly at Roland, forgetting what to say. She had to give him an answer, but her mind turned blank and she couldn’t think of anything.

“Sorry, I’m sorry!” the child’s big eyes began to fill with tears.

Only then did Karina come to her senses, breathing out a sigh and bending her knees to meet Roland’s eye level.

“Just once. Not twice, okay?”

Roland couldn’t answer correctly, perhaps because he was too surprised.

Karina smiled bitterly.

“Call me, Roland.”

“Mom…!”

Karina hugged the trembling Roland tightly, she felt a pleasant warmth.

She’s twenty three years old and too young to have a son this big, but it doesn’t matter if she’s called that once.

This is all Karina can do for him.

* * *

The next morning, Karina faced Lord Lenque with a stern face. He glanced over the papers on his desk without glancing at her.

“I have lots of eyes. Be careful about everything.”

“…Yes, I’ll keep it in mind.”

If someone who was not familiar with Lord Lenque had heard of it, they would have thought someone had witnessed Karina and Roland and worked for Lord Lenque.

But Karina knew more about her biological father than she had to. Lord Lenque has hidden magic servants for surveillance throughout the mansion.

They roamed the mansion and watched the people, and when they found something interesting, they told Lord Lenque.

Karina was not unaware of the trick of avoiding the magical minions.

But yesterday, she was so embarrassed that she seemed to have exposed her conversation with Roland without defense.

Lord Lenque’s words were a warning. A warning not to be involved with Roland and Melissa more than necessary.

Lord Lenque pointed to the room that Karina should need to clean with the tip of his chin.

“Get ready.”

“Yes, master.”

Karina had to go into the laboratory that Lord Lenque had spoken of, enduring surging nausea.

Even after hundreds of times, she never get used to the horrible smell after the experiment.

Karina wiped away the dirt she didn’t want to think much about with a mop, and poured clean water into it to remove the traces.

If this laboratory were to be used alone by Lord Lenque, it wouldn’t be so hard to clean it up.

Karina is the only one who enters the laboratory anyway, so she would clean it up roughly. But in a few hours, Roland and Mellisa will come into the room.

When she thinks about that time, she wanted to at least clean it up so that it looked like a room where people could stay in.

Karina sighed, looking at the wall covered with sticky purple blood.

‘He must have made Roland kill a poor thing again.’

Now the beast Lord Lenque used to train Roland was not as scary as it used to be.

It was just… pitiful.

They must have lived freely in their home.

Karina scrubbed the wall.

If these heterogeneous blood aren’t cleaned quickly, they will soon harden and can’t be removed.

After about an hour, she was able to remove most of the blood clinging to the wall thanks to her good fingers.

‘…?’

Karina blinked her eyes.

“Magic?”

When all the blood was removed, pulling out of the wall revealed strange magic.

Lord Lenque raised Karina thoroughly as a maid, and no magic was ever taught.

However, as long as you aren’t a fool, you will eventually have basic knowledge if you take care of small tasks.

Karina tried to match the magic on the wall with the poor knowledge that she knew, the blood has cooled down.

Putting together the parts that Karina can recognize, it was clearly a magical way of dealing with human body modification.

There was actually a story related to this in the novel, Lord Lenque seriously dreamed of transforming the human body.

The lifelong studies have been nothing but a magical stepping stone to creating the ultimate human being.

‘

If he wrote this to test Roland…!’

Karina wrapped her head around it.

She couldn’t think of whether Lord Lenque tested the magic of the human body in question to Roland or not.

‘In the novel… What exactly did it say?’

However, no matter how hard she wrung her brain, she only remembered a vague memory that there was content related to human alteration.

Of course, it was natural.

It is a book that she read only once in her previous life. There was no way she could remember it as vividly as a book that unfolded before her eyes.

Karina bit her lip. She bit it so hard that she could feel the taste of blood.

It was then-

The view turned white as if struck by lightning, and the red writing floated into Karina’s view.

「 There has been no more human blood in Roland’s veins since that day. The Great God, Cypheric Mana Inducer took the place.」

She couldn’t take her eyes off the handwriting even though it felt ominous. That was, obviously, the text of the book she had read in her previous life.

Her throat was burning hot. She couldn’t afford to think about why and how the handwriting in front of her appeared.

If she doesn’t move right away, Lord Lenque will take the fake blood out of Roland’s little body and give him a cold mana inducer.

* * *

Karina burst opens the room where the children were staying without notice.

While Lord Lenque takes a nap from eleven a.m. to two p.m., the magic servants don’t move. She had to do things as fast as she could.

It was past eleven a.m., but Melissa was still covered in blankets. It was no surprise, she always had no energy because she didn’t eat properly.

Roland dragged the chair by his sister’s bed and sat down. The children’s big tired eyes looked towards her.

Karina wasn’t hurt because she knew the fear in the two pairs of eyes was not directed at her.The children were just afraid of Lord Lenque’s words she usually would deliver.

And that will be over by today.

“Ka- Karina.”

Roland stuttered with a tense face.

Experiments in the morning are rare, but they were more difficult than usual and took a very long time to do. He seemed to have eaten up his fears even before he started.

“I- I will get ready and go. My uncle doesn’t like to wait…”

“Don’t worry. You’re not going to Lord Lenque today.”

Karina cut Roland’s words.

“Then, are you here to see us?”

Roland’s voice lit up in an instant.

The pure twinkle made her want to cry for a moment. Melissa still kept her mouth shut, but her eyes glistened with joy as much as Roland.

“No, I am not.”

Karina gulped down her dry saliva. As soon as she says the word, she crosses a river that she can never return to.

“Let’s run away, now.”

Karina no longer uses honorifics to the children. From the moment she will leave the mansion, she’s their guardian. It should show a proper attitude.

“R-run away?”

The frightened eyes of the two children showed. Karina paused for a moment. She didn’t want to scare the barely eight year old children.

“It’s hard to explain… you have to run away. Both of you.”

Her heart has already been fixed the moment she runs down the hall. Karina will run away with the children from the mansion she has never left in her life.

Melissa asked, still with her head sticking out of the blanket.

“Where are we going?”

“…We’re going to a safe place.”

Karina changed her mind when she tried to say honestly that she didn’t know. She couldn’t scare the children who only trusted and followed her. Fortunately, Melissa didn’t seem to notice her hesitation at all.

“I’ll go, I’ll go!”

“Get dressed quickly. I’ll start preparing right away.”

Karina got out of bed and looked at Roland, unlike his bustling younger sister, still immobile.

“What about you, Roland?”

Since a little while ago, Roland has been wiggling his hands as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t say it. Finally, a word of hesitation flowed out of Roland’s mouth.

“How about Karina?”

The one-word emotion made her feel bitter, but Karina smiled nonetheless. Now, above all, she had to keep these children out of the mansion.

“Of course I’m coming with you. I’m sick and tired of this house.”

Roland nodded sharply instead of answering. Standing on the face of two children, fear was lifted and expectations and hopes were gifted.

“Listen carefully, both of you. There is no time. So hurry up and change your clothes, and get the things you need.”

“I have nothing but clothes,” Roland’s answer immediately returned.

Karina looked around the room and confirmed it.

‘It’s the truth.’

The children were not given any common doll or a toy soldier. Probably from the time when they were growing up in an orphanage.

Karina smiled bitterly, recalling her desolate young self.

‘We’re similar, I and you.’

She helped the children to dress up. Fortunately, the children’s clothes weren’t worn by aristocrats, so they didn’t have to worry about being noticeable.

It was thanks to Lord Lenque’s carelessness with the children’s clothing.

“It’s cold at night, so wear your coat.”

“Are we leaving now?”

Roland’s voice was filled with indescribable anticipation.

Karina shook her head.

She ran in a hurry, so she couldn’t make any other preparations.

“Wait a minute here. I also have some things to prepare.”

“…Can we go with Karina too?”