Chapter 24
The bright, kind, and lovable heroine.
The sunshine girl who captured the hearts of the sub male lead Sion, the main male lead, and countless readers—Genevia Lilo.
This was the moment her real personality was revealed.
Thud! Thud!
“Ah, this is all ruined. Completely screwed!”
“…….”
“…….”
After kicking the thugs for a good while with satisfying force, Genevia suddenly turned her head and strode toward Sion.
With eyes shaking left and right from barely contained fury, she snapped,
“…Who do you think you are, barging into someone else’s business like that!? Because of you, my entire plan is ruined!”
Pointing straight at Sion, she shouted in a voice packed with irritation and anger.
Watching her, I tried to organize the chaos in my head.
‘So… she’s yelling at the guy who just helped her? That’s what’s happening, right?’
It was a reaction that made absolutely no sense. No—forget the reaction—
‘Why is the heroine acting like that?!’
This Genevia Lilo was completely different from the gentle, lovable sunshine girl from the original story. I was in total shock.
“I thought you were in trouble. Was I mistaken?”
Sion asked flatly, glancing at the finger pointed at him.
Genevia shot back, clearly annoyed,
“What is it with the knights in this place? Why are they all so nosy? Is everyone desperate to play hero or something?”
“…….”
“Yesterday, the day before—someone kept interfering. I finally came all the way to this deserted alley, and now another knight shows up to ruin things?”
“…It seems I misunderstood. My apologies.”
Without hesitation, Sion turned his back.
Genevia scoffed.
“You mess everything up and now it’s ‘my apologies’? Give me a break.”
“…….”
She kept grumbling behind him, but Sion ignored her and walked away.
‘W-what is this.’
I bit my lip, watching the two of them quickly part ways with nothing but mutual dislike.
‘No, this isn’t it!’
This was supposed to be their long-awaited first meeting—the romantic, dramatic beginning!
I couldn’t let it end like this.
Thinking quickly, I started blurting things out.
“Sion, wait! I think she has some kind of situation she can’t talk about. She looks like she needs help!”
Without stopping, Sion glanced back.
Genevia was busy rummaging through the fallen thugs’ pockets.
“Doesn’t look that way at all.”
He added calmly,
“You may not know, Rin, but human society has all kinds of people. Many of them fall into categories that can’t be understood by common sense—like that woman.”
“…….”
Apparently, Genevia had already been labeled by Sion as “a person beyond common sense.”
‘T-this is bad…! At this rate, they won’t just fail to fall in love—they won’t even build any goodwill!’
“Hey, you—knight! Stop right there!”
Genevia’s voice called out from behind.
Sion kept walking, pretending not to hear, so she ran ahead and blocked his path.
“I said stop!”
“…….”
She stood with her arms spread wide, blocking the way, coin pouches dangling from her hands—clearly taken from the thugs.
“Seems they were the ones getting robbed, not you.”
At Sion’s dry remark, Genevia’s expression twitched.
“Think whatever you want, Mr. Righteous Knight.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Her soft, round eyes hardened with determination.
Despite her fierce tone, her delicate appearance made her far from intimidating.
“You ruined my plan, so take responsibility!”
“Didn’t it succeed? Looks like you profited quite well.”
“Th-this is—!”
She hesitated, then spoke seriously,
“This money… those guys collected it by forcing children to beg. It belongs to those kids, not them.”
“…Children?”
Sion’s tone sharpened.
“What do you mean? Child labor is illegal in this duchy.”
“Ugh… I can’t tell you more. How can I trust you…?”
“Answer me. If that’s true, this is not a personal matter—it concerns the entire North.”
“But—!”
“If you refuse, I’ll obtain the information another way.”
His cold gaze made her flinch.
‘Uh… they’re about to fight.’
I quickly flew out of his robe and positioned myself between them.
“Wait, wait! Time out, both of you!”
“…!”
“…!?”
Sion stiffened in surprise.
Genevia’s already large eyes widened even more.
‘They’re going to pop out at this rate.’
I waved my hands between them.
“Let’s calm down. Relax. Looks like we messed up the first impression—so let’s start over and talk like civilized people, okay?”
“…….”
“…….”
After a while—
“…That’s what happened.”
“So, to sum it up… Genevia, you were assigned as the next dedicated priest of the Lucier Ducal Castle and came to the North this year?”
“That’s right.”
“And on your way, you’ve been treating people for free and doing charity work?”
“Yes.”
“And then you discovered that some orphaned children under protection here had gone missing, and while following that lead, you ended up in Lafren?”
“Exactly.”
“…I see. That’s what happened.”
Now it made sense why the heroine was roaming back alleys before the original story even began.
“The thugs earlier are low-level members of the group that likely kidnapped the children. My plan was to get captured on purpose and infiltrate their base. I heard they also abduct young women.”
“That’s pretty reckless. Why not ask the knights you met for help?”
At my question, Genevia exploded.
“Knights? Do you know how many ‘righteous’ knights I’ve met in the past ten days here in Lafren? I asked for help at first—but not a single one stepped up!”
“Seriously?”
“They all said I had no solid evidence, or that they lacked manpower, or told me to file an official complaint and wait!”
I exchanged a glance with Sion.
Given the timing, the North must have been too busy with the merchant incident to respond properly.
Then Genevia muttered darkly,
“Well, of course. When have nobles or knights ever cared about poor children? Even if I file a complaint, it’d be a miracle if it gets processed before those kids grow old and die.”
“…….”
“I don’t need any of this rotten system. I’ll save them myself. No matter what.”
Her face shadowed with determination.
Watching her, I felt a strange sense of dissonance.
‘…The heroine is a dark type?’
Which meant the angelic personality she showed in the original story… had all been an act.
‘…That’s impressive in its own way.’
Still, regardless of this unexpected side, she was undeniably the heroine—and Sion’s destined love.
‘So… we have to help.’
I glanced at Sion.
Meeting his calm gray-blue eyes, I could tell he was thinking the same.
“Do you know where their base is?”
“…I found a clue while searching their pockets.”
She showed us a crude map.
After examining it, Sion pushed himself off the wall.
“Let’s go.”
“…What?”
Genevia looked at him blankly.
I zipped over and landed on Sion’s shoulder, then waved at her.
“What are you doing? Let’s go, Genevia!”
“…!!!”
