The Male Leads Were Stolen By The Extra [EN]: Chapter 121

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“Long time no see, Grand Duke?”

Titania spoke elegantly, holding a teacup while seated on a plush sofa. She didn’t even glance at Tan, who had just entered, maintaining a haughty demeanor.

However, she couldn’t hide the twitch at the corners of her lips. She was extremely pleased that Tan had visited her chambers.

Tan wasn’t offered a seat, but he plopped down on the sofa in front of the princess as if it were his own.

“What’s the matter?”

“Your Highness.”

The knight who escorted Tan entered and whispered quietly into Titania’s ear.

The princess’s eyes widened in surprise upon hearing the knight’s words.

“He came without a fuss? Good. Has the Grand Duke finally come to his senses?”

Her surprise was fleeting, and she wore a satisfied smile, speaking in an arrogant tone as if she had expected this.

She gestured to a corner of the room, and the waiting maids moved with practiced efficiency, soon bringing an antique teapot and teacups before Tan.

Pitter-patter. The sound of the empty teacup being filled rang out clearly.

Titania lowered her own cup, glancing sideways to confirm that Tan’s cup was full.

“We have much to discuss, so let’s have a cup of tea first. I prepared it especially for you, Grand Duke.”

“’Especially,’ you say.”

Tan tapped the toe of his crossed leg, looking at the teacup before him. A hazy steam rose from the transparent tea, which had a sunset hue.

“What are you doing? I said I prepared it for you.”

Titania urged impatiently, seeing that he only stared at the cup and made no move to pick it up.

“It smells nice.”

With an inscrutable expression, Tan picked up the teacup.

The princess stared intently at Tan’s hand with a mix of tension and anticipation. His elegant hand slowly brought the teacup to his lips.

‘Drink. Just drink it already,’ Titania muttered inwardly, as if casting a spell, out of frustration.

Finally, he was about to drink. Just as his lips were about to touch the teacup.

“That earring.”

Tan raised his crimson eyes and stared at Titania.

“Eh, uh?”

Titania, who had been swallowing nervously and waiting for the tea to enter his mouth, was flustered when their eyes suddenly met.

‘Did he perhaps notice something?’

As she was thinking this, Tan spoke again.

“The earring you’re wearing now.”

“Th-this? Why? Doesn’t it suit me?”

To hide her embarrassment, Titania turned her head to the side to show off the earring.

Thanks to that, the sapphire embedded in her earring was clearly visible. The gem emitted a mysterious color, so enchanting that it could captivate anyone.

Tan fixed his gaze on the gem with a sharp look, as if seeing through everything.

The way he held his head high was enough to make him look like a monarch, looking down on everything and reigning supreme.

“……”

Normally, she should have pointed out his arrogant behavior in front of the princess and gotten angry, but Titania couldn’t say anything. For some reason, his red eyes, now even darker, made her feel a chill.

Regardless, Tan flicked his fingers with a look of disdain.

Soon, a red light permeated the blue sapphire before disappearing.

* * *

“Lady Celonia.”

Leyeve, who found Celonia alone in the garden, approached her in a hurry.

Confirming that no one was around, Celonia quietly went behind a tree with Leyeve.

“Leyeve, what have you found out?”

“Although it hasn’t been officially announced yet, the Imperial Knights are currently searching for missing people.”

Celonia’s face gradually turned ashen as she listened to Leyeve’s words.

“Only dozens of missing people have been identified?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

According to Leyeve’s information, imperial citizens were disappearing, and the number of those identified was already at that level.

And all those who disappeared were from the slums. People with no connections, whose disappearances would either be reported late or not reported at all.

‘Wait a minute……’

‘Didn’t they say that the lives of the living were needed to use black magic……?’

And that Grayce and Galloway were using that black magic.

“……Could it be.”

In an instant, Celonia realized something and froze stiff, beyond just feeling chills.

“Lady Celonia, what’s wrong?”

Startled, Leyeve tried to grab Celonia’s arm but couldn’t bring himself to touch her, anxiously checking her complexion.

“Did you find anything else out?”

Celonia grabbed Leyeve’s arm urgently and asked.

“It seems there is nothing yet. However, seeing that the number of missing people continues to increase, they suspect human trafficking.”

Human trafficking. That made sense too.

But in Celonia’s mind, a certain and strong suspicion had already taken root.

Galloway’s charity work for the poor. It provided a free haven for those who had nowhere to go.

She had thought it was just a business to practice noblesse oblige [the responsibility of privileged people to act with generosity and nobility], but what if it wasn’t just a charity business? What if it was a means for black magic?

“This is crazy……!”

“Lady Celonia?”

Leyeve’s eyes widened at the curse that came out of her mouth, not to mention her ever-changing face that turned white and then blue.

But she couldn’t hear Leyeve’s voice. The puzzle pieces fit perfectly.

Grayce would want to turn her body back, so she would have to use black magic again, and if so, she would need the lives of the living.

Before, they kidnapped people, but now it was different.

There was a powerful way to gather the poor together voluntarily. And now they might be trying to use that business.

‘Crazy, crazy…… crazy!’

Celonia, whose suspicions had become firm, clenched her fists and cursed inwardly, again and again.

‘This isn’t right. Still, this is……!’

She scrunched up her face at their plan, which made her feel like she was going to gag.

‘I have to find them before they do.’

If Galloway was involved in these disappearances, he would definitely need a space to hold the kidnapped people.

For now, Galloway’s business was the most suspicious.

But to find out for sure, she had to check the forbidden books in the Central Library, which only the Emperor could access.

“Leyeve, this contains my healing power. Use it in case Grayce tries to do something foolish.”

She took out a crystal bottle she had put in her bag and handed it to Leyeve.

The bottle containing the power of healing was shining white.

This was the same as the one she had made as a gift for the Denroha Marchioness’s birthday before. It wasn’t certain if it would work, but it might be helpful.

“Thank you. But Lady Celonia, this isn’t the end. About the side effects of black magic that McRyan mentioned before. It seems that it is really happening. Duke Ian recently killed the late Duke’s beloved dog in front of the late Duke.”

“……The late Duke’s dog?”

“Yes. Even in front of the knights, without regard.”

What was this all about?

As serious as Leyeve’s expression was, Celonia’s face was also full of surprise.

“I heard that there are side effects if you are under black magic for a long time. It rots from the inside. You become no longer human. You can’t control your reason and move only by instinct like a beast.”

McRyan’s words from before came to mind.

‘Unable to control reason and only by instinct……’

No matter how out of his mind Ian was, he wasn’t stupid enough to commit patricide in front of others.

As Leyeve said, she couldn’t help but think that the side effects were really in progress.

“Leyeve, we need to hurry. You said you got the holy water?”

Celonia raised her head with a desperate expression.

There was no time to be like this. She had to move quickly. It would be a disaster if she delayed any longer and the healing didn’t work.

“Yes. I got three bottles.”

Leyeve took out three long, finger-sized glass bottles that he had been carefully keeping in his arms.

“We have to use it on Ian today. Right now.”

* * *

Click.

Tan, who came out of the princess’s room, felt that the hallway was so quiet that it was eerie, and he smirked.

“Such clumsy tricks won’t work. Come out.”

At Tan’s chilling voice, which sounded like a warning, a presence was heard. Right behind the pillar.

A man who had been hiding behind the pillar slowly revealed himself. It was McRyan.

Of course, there were knights standing in the hallway to guard the princess’s room, but they were met with a desolate hallway due to the dragon’s barrier.

But unfortunately, Tan noticed too quickly.

“You shouldn’t be doing this so openly. Your actions are worse than a newt, now and then.”

“You…….”

Even at Tan’s sarcasm, McRyan could only tremble with surprised eyes, unable to retort.

The man in front of him had eyes that had turned completely red. Even the whites of his eyes were all red.

As if he had no intention of hiding it.

“A demon king…….”

The moment McRyan uttered those words, he felt his suspicion turn into certainty. Because Tan was giving him a more cruel smile than ever before at his words.

“How are you alive? No, what are you up to? What are you trying to do by sticking by Selly’s side! Are you trying to use innocent Selly and take revenge on us? Huh?!”

After a moment of absurdity and disbelief, McRyan asked Tan with a fierce face.

But at the answer that flowed from Tan’s mouth, McRyan’s face turned white and hardened.