Oh No, I Possessed a Male Character! (13 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 7
Surprisingly, daily life here wasn’t all that spectacular. It had only been a few days since I possessed this body, yet living as Muzel was already starting to feel quite natural.
Even so, a corner of my heart still felt adrift. This wasn’t my home, and the thought that I had to quickly persuade Rumi so we could hold hands and return to our real world together kept nagging at me.
What happened to “Eojin” now? The more the name Muzel felt familiar, the more anxious I became.
The maid Gretchen, whom I had grown rather close to over the past few days, greeted me again today.
“This really is a fantastic workplace! I get to see the empire’s most handsome men standing side by side every single day.”
“Ahaha.”
All I could do was smile awkwardly. Actually, I’m not a handsome man. You should call me a beauty.
Not knowing what was in my heart, Gretchen’s eyes sparkled brightly.
“Nothing satisfies my fantasies more than the existence of you two!”
Huh? What is she talking about now? Fantasies? What kind of fantasies exactly?
Yet before I could even ask, Gretchen fluttered away again like a butterfly.
“Ahh, forbidden love!”
Leaving behind that enigmatic final remark.
In truth, I was also fully enjoying the fantastic “male employee benefits” just like Gretchen. Namely, Klaus’s breathtaking beauty.
“This should be sufficient response to the questions that will arise at the state council. Well done, Muzel.”
“Thank you, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
It’s no secret that I stayed in the library until late preparing those documents. Still, hearing a single word of praise from my superior made the fatigue melt away considerably.
Then the next words snapped me wide awake.
“And today, you will accompany me to the state council.”
“…Yes.”
Caught off guard, my reply came a beat late. My extremely sensitive boss narrowed his eyes.
“That was a slow answer.”
Tch, he noticed.
“I apologize. I hesitated without realizing it, wondering whether it would truly be all right for me to attend.”
Apologize as quickly as possible—that way you avoid unnecessary blame. It was a social survival skill I had picked up while living as Eojin.
Klaus gave a hollow laugh.
“I like your honesty.”
Rather than making clumsy excuses and preparing to be scolded, being straightforward was far easier on the mind.
He looked at me for a moment.
“By the way…”
“?”
Wondering what he was about to say, I met his gaze. He lowered his eyes slightly.
“So even you have moments when you lack confidence?”
Ah, so that’s what this is about. I answered with a bitter smile.
“Of course. No one knows better than I do that I am far from perfect.”
As I replied, memories of my life in the modern world came flooding back.
When I was little and my family was my entire world, I believed whatever Mom and Dad told me—that I was the best in the world.
I thought I drew the best pictures, that I was the best at studying.
But once I entered school and gradually started this thing called “social life,” I began to realize.
I wasn’t actually the best at everything. There were always a few kids better than me.
Then I graduated, became a working adult, and faced a much wider world.
Only then did I have to fully accept it. I was truly an ordinary person, not exceptional at all. My level was such that just keeping up with everyone else was already difficult.
That was how I learned “humility.”
Becoming an adult wasn’t anything else. It was acknowledging that there is always a wider world than what I am currently experiencing, and that there are still things I have yet to learn.
That the rights and wrongs of the world cannot be decided by a few internet posts I read or a couple of lines floating around on social media.
That an answer which seems undeniably correct to me can be wrong to someone else.
That because my own thoughts and actions are imperfect, I must maintain an attitude that can accept things different from myself. Those were the things.
That’s why I never confidently insisted I was right in everything. Rather, I acknowledged that I might make mistakes and humbly accepted my own shortcomings.
Klaus asked without taking his eyes off me.
“Isn’t admitting you’re imperfect something to be proud of?”
“You are absolutely right. Yet because of that, I can strive to improve myself. Tomorrow’s me will definitely be better than today’s.”
It was a little embarrassing to say it myself, but that was how I had always motivated myself.
I can make mistakes. I can fail. But as long as I don’t collapse completely, I can definitely become a better person.
It’s okay if I mess up an exam. It’s okay if I fail the college entrance exam. It’s okay if I make a huge mistake at work.
Because next time, I absolutely won’t repeat the same mistake.
I smiled gently at Klaus.
“I am truly grateful that you are allowing someone as inadequate as me to accompany you to today’s state council. I will observe, listen, and learn a great deal.”
Klaus’s deep violet eyes lingered on me for a long while. Finally, he spoke.
“Good. That’s the attitude fitting for my aide.”
“I will certainly live up to Your Highness’s expectations.”
I answered energetically.
At the same time, a corner of my heart stirred with unease.
Is it really okay to just leave the perfectly fine life I had been living in the real world like this? Wouldn’t it be wiser to stop worrying about Rumi and simply reclaim my own life? That thought was the cause.
“…”
I suddenly felt gloomy.
[This is the timeline separator]In my imagination, a state council was a place where the emperor and his ministers calmly exchanged opinions and discussed state affairs with dignity.
But in reality,
“No way! That is not what Duke Mecklinger meant at all!”
“Are you saying I can’t even understand simple words right now?!”
“Everyone be quiet! His Highness the Crown Prince is watching—aren’t you ashamed?!”
I barely held back the hollow laugh that threatened to escape.
As Klaus had instructed, I observed the state council from behind his seat. It was so noisy it felt like a marketplace; it was astonishing that state affairs were actually run in a place like this.
The agenda that had the ministers currently shouting without regard for dignity was the proposal that each noble house contribute a fixed amount of funds for the flood recovery in the southern regions.
I had stayed in the library until late preparing materials to put this agenda forward, and Klaus had calmly explained its necessity to those who raised objections.
And this was the result.
“Is it not only natural that those who possess more should bear greater responsibility?!”
“Look here! Baron Kisling sitting over there has far greater wealth than our house, so why must we pay the exact same amount?! The one with more should pay more!”
“Your Highness the Crown Prince. I, Kisling, have said nothing.”
I quietly lowered my gaze to the back of Klaus’s head.
I’m worried. In this chaos, what on earth will he say?
“Ahem…”
“Hm, hm…”
As the Crown Prince remained silent, the commotion gradually died down. The ministers’ eyes turned one by one toward Klaus.
Only after complete silence fell did he open his mouth.
“Duke Mecklinger. How do you view this discussion?”
I nearly let out a snort. Discussion? So even screaming at the top of their lungs still counts as discussion?
“Your wise Highness the Crown Prince.”
Duke Mecklinger—the father of Princess Elfride, into whom Rumi had possessed—slowly raised his head.
With gray eyes and red hair exactly like Elfride’s, he was still quite handsome, revealing that in his younger days he had been a considerable heartthrob.
“The ideal solution would be to clearly assess the actual wealth of each house and have them contribute recovery funds proportionally.”
His ash-gray eyes coldly swept over the ministers.
“However, we lack the budget and manpower required to investigate each house’s assets. Even if we were to conduct the investigation, an excessive amount of budget and manpower would be wasted on the investigation itself.”
“Hm.”
“Mmm.”
Those who had just been loudly insisting on differential contributions based on wealth all turned their heads at once.
Mecklinger looked back at Klaus with an expression devoid of any smile.
“Yet I also believe it unfair for all noble houses in the capital to bear recovery funds equally, as Your Highness has proposed. Even among nobles, the scale of wealth varies immensely.”
Klaus’s voice rang out dryly.
“Then what is your opinion?”
Duke Mecklinger straightened his shoulders.
“All houses except ours will contribute equally according to Your Highness’s will, and our ducal house shall pay twice the average amount.”
The moment his words ended, silent admiration spread through the room.
Yet I could not admire it freely.
Duke Mecklinger’s answer was certainly clever, but for some reason it raised my guard.
While appearing obedient to Klaus, he clearly intended to push through his own view in the end.
And despite having no obligation to pay double, by deliberately doing so he displayed an attitude as though bestowing a favor upon the imperial family.
If someone says I’m being oversensitive, I have no particular rebuttal. It’s simply what my instincts tell me.
Above all, he is the father of the original story’s villainess. Like father, like daughter.
“…”
I looked down at the top of Klaus’s head and thought.
If the male lead possesses the brilliant mind he had in the original story, he must have felt something off about Duke Mecklinger’s attitude. Since even I—who am not as smart as the original protagonists—noted it, there’s no way he missed it.
After a brief silence following the duke’s statement, Klaus spoke again.
“Hm, I see.”
His voice was as dry as a cold sovereign’s.
My Arch-enemy Sealed My Memory and Said That He is My Husband
This is an incredibly captivating story that you absolutely shouldn’t miss! I’ll give a brief introduction here, and below you’ll find a detailed synopsis of the plot.
The female lead is a fierce and powerful demon king. The male lead is a once-in-a-millennium celestial lord, admired by the entire cultivation world.
They are equally matched, legendary rivals who have battled for centuries.
In the final duel, the female lead is gravely injured. The male lead saves her, seals her memories, and hides her true identity. He tells her that he is her fiancé. His entire life has been flawless—except for the one thing he never expected, never controlled, and never wanted to control: falling for his greatest enemy. She is his inner demon, his obsession.
When the female lead regains her memories, she is furious at his deception.
She makes his life a living hell.
And somehow, the male lead—possibly a total masochist—doesn’t mind at all. In fact, he’s happy she’s paying attention to him.
Yep, we’re back to my favorite trope: male lead suffering. If you love this kind of story, jump into the pit with me now!!!
Intro
Dong Xia lost her memory.
Her handsome and extremely powerful fiancé Li Qing comforted her: “It’s okay if you can’t remember. I’ll always be with you.”
Everyone thought Dong Xia’s ancestors must have burned incense to get such a perfect fiancé. He was the number one person in the immortal realm, yet he remained chaste and only loved her.
…
The day before marrying her fiancé, Dong Xia finally remembered everything.
She wasn’t suffering from memory loss at all.
Her arch-enemy had made her fake her death, destroyed her cultivation, replaced her memories, and pretended to be her deeply in love fiancé.
No wonder he said, “It’s okay if you can’t remember”!
Dong Xia laughed coldly as she pulled out her long knife: Li Qing, prepare to die 🙂
*
Li Qing, as the supreme being of the immortal realm, was the people’s shining beacon.
The only unknown stain in his life was his affection for Dong Xia, the ruler of the demon realm.
In the final battle of the war between immortals and demons, the sky collapsed and the earth shattered. The ruler of the demon realm was finally slain under the sword of the supreme being of the immortal realm, and everyone in the immortal realm applauded.
The cultivation world lost a ruler of the demon realm.
And in the back mountain of Li Qing’s cave dwelling, he secretly hid away a fiancée.
Notes:
1. The female lead is white on the outside, black on the inside, and the queen of flattery; the male lead repeatedly tests the edge of darkness, a VIP guest at the crematorium.
2. Fantasy cultivation world setting.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
Waiting for rumi to either mature up for once or to just get out of the picture 🫠
Waiting for rumi to either mature up for once or to just get out of the picture 🫠
“If he had never learned that Muzel was a woman, he might have mistaken it for deep friendship”
I had this thought, and this semi confirmed it for me: Klaus seems to like Muzel no matter the gender. He maybe bi, but it maybe only for Muzel. Like Shang from Disney’s Mulan