The Male Leads Were Stolen By The Extra [EN]: Chapter 13

After returning to her room, Celonia learned the full story from Ella.

“I was about to run to you, Miss, when suddenly he appeared and just blew all the beasts away, you know?”

Ella explained excitedly, her face flushed as if she had met a hero.

“Beasts?”

“Yes! What the young ladies said must be true. You know, how they said the Beast of the Night has terrifying power.”

*When did the Beast become ‘Lord Beast’?*

But Celonia couldn’t bring herself to correct her. Ella was admiring him with sparkling eyes.

“Anyway, after that, the beasts charged several times, but he just finished them all off with a thick tree branch he was holding!”

“I see.”

“Yes! Really, if it weren’t for him… Ugh, it’s chilling just thinking about it. I’m so relieved you’re safe, Miss.”

As a result, it was true that she owed her life to the man, but she didn’t know if that was his intention in saving her.

*Thanks to him using his strength indiscriminately on beasts and people alike, I was knocked away and my back went out.*

*If it weren’t for healing magic, my bones wouldn’t have healed like this.*

*I probably would have been bedridden for over a month.*

“He was so, so cool! You should have seen it, Miss!”

Leaving Ella, who was jumping up and down with joy, Celonia recalled the conversation she had with the young ladies this afternoon.

The Beast of the Night, or the Demon King, who had appeared several months ago, was said to distribute food to the hungry and crack down on criminals.

*I don’t even know how he’s alive, and he has amnesia, and he’s even acting like a righteous person.*

*What in the world is going on?*

Knock, knock.

“Miss, the Duke has returned.”

While she was racking her brain, news of her long-awaited father’s return came from outside the door.

Celonia headed straight to the study where her father was.

*‘Did he think I would just stand by and watch?’*

*Keeping him in the mansion was like holding a time bomb that could go off at any moment.*

*He is a dangerous man.*

*He even threatened to light a fire in front of me and burn my house down.*

“Father!”

Galloway, who was sitting at the large desk in the study, still in his outdoor clothes, flipping through documents, immediately looked up at his daughter’s visit.

“Did you properly convey your gratitude to the nobleman, Selly?”

“You kept that man in the mansion?”

“Yes. He saved your life, so we must repay the debt. It turns out he’s the protagonist who’s causing a stir in the capital these days. They call him the Beast of the Night.”

Her father said, chuckling that young people these days were amazing.

“Father, I have expressed my gratitude enough, so how about giving him a reward instead of keeping him in the mansion?”

Seeing that her father seemed to be leaning towards him, Celonia anxiously brought up another plan she had in mind.

If she gave him a generous reward, her father might agree.

“Of course, of course. We should definitely give him a separate reward.”

“Then I’ll do it right away…!”

“But it would be good to have him stay at the Duke’s residence for a while. I heard the nobleman doesn’t have a fixed place to stay and is wandering around.”

Celonia, who was the only one who knew everything, was frustrated by her father’s stubborn decision.

“Father, even though he is the benefactor who saved me, he might be a dangerous person. How can we…”

“Celonia.”

Her father’s gentle expression turned stern in an instant.

He called her by her name, not her nickname.

At times like this, he was not just a father but the Duke of Vesin.

“Don’t forget the duty of a noble. What would become of the Vesin family’s reputation if we didn’t repay this much gratitude?”

“But…”

“As much as we have, we must also know how to give.”

There was a reason why her father was doing this.

Perhaps it was because her father, who had been in aristocratic society since birth, had a firm belief in *noblesse oblige* [the moral obligation of those of high birth, powerful social position, etc., to act with generosity, honor, etc.].

It seemed like he wouldn’t change his mind no matter what she said now.

As Celonia was wondering what to do, she met her father’s ever-straightforward eyes.

Duke Galloway Vesin.

A father who truly loves his daughter.

A reliable figure who always gives Celonia infinite affection and unconditional trust.

*‘Then Father might believe me.’*

*It was something she herself found hard to believe, but if it was her father.*

After much deliberation, Celonia carefully broached the subject.

“Father, that man is… Ugh!”

“Celonia?”

“That human is, ugh, ugh…!”

Celonia, flustered, tried to open her lips, which were tightly closed like a shell.

She even tried to force them open with her hands, but her mouth wouldn’t open.

“Ah, ugh!”

It was the same no matter how many times she tried.

Every time she tried to reveal his identity, her mouth closed, as if trying to prevent her from making a sound.

*Crazy. What is this…?*

“Celonia, are you alright?”

Galloway rose from his seat with a worried look on his face at his daughter’s strange behavior.

Then she saw the fountain pen and documents on the desk.

*‘Writing! Let’s write it down and show him!’*

Celonia quickly approached her father and picked up the fountain pen.

“Celonia, what’s wrong?”

“Father, please look at this.”

She quickly wrote on a blank piece of paper.

“That man is ughhhh?”

Galloway read aloud his daughter’s scribbled handwriting, which became more and more illegible towards the end.

“No. That’s not it, ugh, ugh!”

*I’m going crazy. I can’t speak or write.*

Every time she tried to write the words ‘Demon King’, her hand became stiff as if paralyzed and she couldn’t write the letters.

She tried to write it somehow, but only unrecognizable worms crawled on the paper.

“Hoo, Celonia. Stop playing around.”

Galloway sighed and rubbed his forehead.

He tried to listen to what his daughter was saying, but she wouldn’t speak and just drew worms playfully while pretending to write.

“Father, that’s… Ugh!”

Now she can’t even deny that’s not it.

She wondered if she should beg with tears in her eyes, but she couldn’t even do that.

*What on earth is going on?*

“Selly, he is the benefactor who saved you. Moreover, public sentiment is now leaning towards that nobleman. The Vesin family has benefited from such a person, so what would people think of our family if we just gave him money and sent him back?”

“…”

Celonia understood her father’s words at once.

Giving a reward was a matter of course.

However, if they only gave him a reward and sent him back, the people of the empire would think of the Vesin family as typical nobles who thought everything could be solved with money.

Bestowing grace was not all about money.

What ordinary people wanted from nobles was recognition.

Although the gap in status was high, they were still the same people, so they expected affection between people.

Her father wanted to show the human side and generous disposition of the Vesin family through this incident.

The Beast of the Night was voluntarily helping those in need on his own.

It was a perfect opportunity. *If he wasn’t the Demon King.*

But she couldn’t reveal to her father that he was the Demon King.

She wanted to tell him it was dangerous, but she couldn’t speak.

*‘This is so frustrating….’*

She didn’t know how things were going, but she couldn’t stand to see that dangerous man hanging around her father.

*Wasn’t he the one who threatened to open her mouth? So she had to deal with it on her own.*

“I! I will take care of him so that he can stay comfortably.”

In the end, Celonia blurted out something she didn’t mean.

For now, she planned to monitor him closely to prevent him from doing anything foolish and kick him out as soon as possible.

“Yes. You thought well. You are my daughter after all.”

“Hahaha…”

Celonia forced a smile.

Galloway patted Celonia’s shoulder affectionately with a satisfied expression.

“Selly, this father’s heart dropped today. I was afraid you would never wake up after you collapsed.”

She understood what he meant at once. Her father was afraid that she wouldn’t wake up for more than three months like before.

“You must not get hurt anymore. You must always be careful. This father only has you.”

“Yes. Father.”

Celonia first hugged her affectionate father, who opened his arms.

Even in the warm embrace where she could feel her family’s love, she wasn’t entirely happy. Because of that damn Demon King.

* * *

Midnight, when everyone was asleep.

He stood alone in the spacious room he had been guided to stay in, in front of the window where the dim ivory moonlight, obscured by clouds, was seeping in.

“Ugh…”

His fair face was contorted in pain, as if something hurt.

He clenched his teeth tightly to suppress the groans that were escaping.

His jaw twitched fiercely due to the strong bite.

His whole body was already soaked with cold sweat.

Nevertheless, he stood upright, holding onto the window with one hand.

Blue veins bulged on the back of his hand as he exerted force.

“Hoo…”

As if accustomed to the excruciating pain that had started again, he took a breath and his fierce eyes flashed red.

The woman from earlier came to his mind.

Confused blue eyes. Purple hair that reached her waist. Red lips that contrasted with her bloodless, pale face.

It was a woman he had never seen before.

If he had seen her, there was no way he wouldn’t remember. She didn’t have a face that would be easily forgotten.

However, unlike him, that woman knew about him.

She consistently feigned ignorance, but he was more than certain.

Because that woman had said this to him: *How are you alive when you were dead?*

*How are you alive?*

This was what came out when the conviction of someone who believed he was dead was shattered.

Was the ‘me’ that woman knew someone who had died?

Was that why everyone didn’t recognize me?

*‘I don’t care anyway. As long as I can regain my memories.’*

He intended to stay by this woman’s side.

A clue that might tell him about himself. So he couldn’t miss it.

If she didn’t speak, he would make her speak herself.

That would be much more fun.

Originally, anything easily obtained was boring.

“Damn it…”

He endured and endured, but in the end, the pain that made his whole body collapse made him utter an expletive and he slumped down against the window.

Today was another terrible night.