I was Reincarnated as an Incompetent Leader with Zero Popularity who met his downfall early on. Instead of banishing the hidden cheat Protagonist, I decided to embrace him, and somehow, I ended up being treated like a Hero instead. - Chapter 44

Chrono’s hands were surprisingly delicate, hardly what one would expect from someone with such immense strength.

They weren’t as slender as Mian’s, but they still belonged to a child who was still growing.

Yet, as a warrior, her abilities had already surpassed mine—though she hadn’t realized it yet.

“You’re not useless.”

“…What?”

“You have talent in both swordsmanship and magic. You have the potential to become stronger than anyone else.”

Chrono’s eyes widened in surprise at my words. Her large, crimson eyes grew even rounder.

The words I had just spoken were originally meant to be Noah’s.

A powerful encouragement for Chrono, who had been cast out of her party and had lost sight of her own worth.

And a fact, seen through the objective eyes of a hero.

Chrono Nightray would one day surpass Noah Brightless as a magic swordsman.

A figure so great that people would call her a hero or even a legend.

Even now, looking at the boyish girl in front of me, I still found it hard to believe.

Perhaps sensing my doubt, Chrono shook her head slightly.

“…That’s a misunderstanding. I’m not that amazing.”

“You might not be the strongest yet, but if you keep training, you’ll only continue to grow stronger.”

I responded to the girl, who seemed uncertain of herself.

Under Noah’s guidance, as a hero himself, Chrono’s swordsmanship and magic would undoubtedly develop at an extraordinary pace.

But she didn’t accept my words.

“I appreciate your encouragement, Alva. But…”

“But?”

The usually energetic Chrono hesitated. Impatient, I pressed for an answer.

But the words that came out of her mouth were completely unexpected.

“My father is the captain of a knight order in one of the kingdoms. He personally trained me in swordsmanship for nearly ten years.”

She gave a strained smile, as if to say, At the very least, I’m confident in my stamina.

I struggled to process her words.

Was that always part of her backstory?

Suppressing my inner turmoil, I desperately searched my past-life knowledge for any mention of this.

“Your father… was a knight captain?”

“Yes. Though he wasn’t formally married to my mother, he still acknowledged me as his child.”

Otherwise, there was no way a busy knight captain would have taken the time to personally train me.

Chrono spoke with a nostalgic look in her eyes, but as she continued, her voice grew somber.

“But I betrayed my father’s expectations. I had no real talent for the sword.”

One day, when she went to the training grounds as usual, her father wasn’t there, wooden sword in hand.

Instead, waiting for her were his legal wife—whom Chrono had barely spoken to—and several maids.

Without a word of explanation, they took her to the estate, stripped her down, and scrubbed her clean as if she were a stray cat.

Still unsure of what was happening, she didn’t resist as the maids dressed her in fine clothes and brushed her hair.

And when she finally looked in the mirror—what she saw was herself, wearing a dress for the first time.

“My father’s wife said he had entrusted me to her… to be taught the ways of a proper lady, not a swordsman.”

From that day forward, she was told she no longer needed to train with the sword.

Chrono’s expression remained calm as she spoke, but her gaze was vacant.

“I suppose he had given up on me. He must have decided that no matter how much I trained, I would never amount to anything. But I couldn’t accept that.”

Even if she was told to live as a lady, she couldn’t abandon her dream of becoming a swordsman. Of becoming an adventurer.

And for some reason, she had always believed she could.

She spoke softly, as if recalling something distant.

“As a child, I had the same dream over and over again. A dream where I traveled the world as an adventurer.”

Defeating bandits, slaying monsters, vanquishing an evil dragon.

Diving into dungeons, searching for treasure with companions.

“It felt like a dream,” Chrono murmured, a wistful smile crossing her lips.

“But… the me in that dream was a boy. That’s how I knew it was just a dream.”

Still, the dream left its mark on her.

She longed to be a strong, courageous swordsman.

She endured grueling training, forced herself to act like a boy.

To become like the person she saw in her dreams.

Chrono closed her eyes, as if reliving the past.

“So when they told me to live as a lady, it was a shock, but… I also realized something.”

She finally had a reason to leave home.

She didn’t belong there.

Just like in her dreams, she would embark on a journey of freedom.

Without hesitation, she left behind a single note and abandoned her home.

And that journey had led her here.

With a sigh, the girl finally finished her story.

“In the end, I was just a runaway kid. But I was just a child—one who was drowning in secrets and lies, without money, without talent for the sword. There was no one who would go on an adventure with someone like me…”

The harshness of training and the struggle of surviving alone were completely different things.

Even securing a safe place to rest was a challenge.

During her journey, Chrono experienced true hunger for the first time—the kind that gnawed painfully at her insides. She learned what it meant to be deceived by others.

For the first time, she realized just how privileged her life had been.

Chrono laughed as she spoke, a strangely mature smile crossing her lips.

“When you picked me up, Alva, I had just been betrayed by a girl I thought was my friend. She tried to sell me to someone she knew. I fought back with everything I had and barely managed to escape.”

Despite recounting something so cruel, the girl’s eyes gradually softened as she spoke.

I had no idea why.

I could only continue listening.

“That day, when the snow was falling so heavily, I collapsed in this town… and you kicked me, didn’t you?”

“Don’t just drop dead in the middle of the street, you little brat. You’re in the way.”

Chrono chuckled as she mimicked my words, her laughter unsettling in its amusement.

Alva Greyblood.

What a despicable person.

Kicking a child who had collapsed in the snow? No—child or not, who kicks a person at all?

Yet the way Chrono recounted the event, as if it were a precious memory, sent a shiver down my spine.

There was something almost unhinged about the way she spoke.

“At that moment, I decided to cling to you. I told myself I’d do anything. Clinging to your leg like that… Heh, it’s funny, isn’t it?”

“You were a man, and I was a girl. I had barely escaped being assaulted as a woman before reaching the city.”

“And yet… I was certain that you wouldn’t look at me that way.”

She spoke with conviction.

Somehow, she had found certainty in the cold, condescending gaze that had looked down at her.

Unlike before, there was a strange warmth in her direct stare.

“And I was right.”

“That’s…”

Perhaps it was because I, too, was unknowingly bound by the rules of this world.

Just as Chrono longed to become a male adventurer, I was incapable of seeing her as the opposite s3x.

That was all there was to it.

But I could never bring myself to tell her that.