The Male Leads Were Stolen By The Extra [EN]: Chapter 141

Quiet corridor of the Imperial Palace.

MacRyan stood with his arms crossed and a tilted posture, while Leyev stood with his usual neat and composed demeanor.

In contrast.

“This is getting unnecessarily long. I should go.”

“Ah, come on! It’s only been a minute!”

Tan, who had been pacing back and forth restlessly, tried to leave abruptly, but MacRyan stopped him.

It had only been a minute since Celonia had left to talk to Ian.

Tan was acting like a dog that had lost its owner, fidgeting and throwing a tantrum.

MacRyan and Leyev were beyond dumbfounded; they were simply flabbergasted by the situation.

Was this really the Demon King they knew? This person acting like a dog needing to pee?

How could a person, no, a demon, change so much?

Besides, Gray and Galloway were dealt with, but what on earth were they supposed to do with this Demon King…….

“Haa…….”

As if thinking the same thing, Leyev and MacRyan simultaneously sighed.

From the start, it didn’t make sense for the three of them to be in the same place.

Things had turned out this way, and they had ended up joining forces, but it had been barely a year since they had been at each other’s throats, genuinely trying to kill each other.

The Demon King was the Empire’s archenemy and the number one person the Emperor feared and wanted to eliminate. That’s why the elite unit was formed, and eventually, the four saviors defeated the Demon King.

Everyone knew that the Demon King was dead. Until recently, they too had blindly believed it.

But here he was, alive and well. Moreover, he and Celonia were in love with each other.

What should they do from now on? Should they inform the Emperor?

“You. Don’t you trust Celonia?”

MacRyan, who had been quietly watching Tan, opened his mouth with a displeased expression.

In any case, from what they had seen so far, Tan and Celonia’s feelings for each other were unwavering. So, there was no reason to be so anxious just because she had gone to meet an old flame.

It was as if he was doubting Celonia’s conduct, which made him bristle.

“Ha.”

Tan scoffed at MacRyan’s words, as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had heard lately.

He stared intently at MacRyan with raised eyes.

“What, what is it.”

MacRyan was flustered by Tan’s gaze. His eyes seemed to be scolding him, as if saying, ‘Is that even a question?’

“I don’t trust you guys who cling to her even when she tells you to get lost.”

“…….”

“If I were you, I’d be too ashamed to show my face. Seeing all three of you acting the same, I guess thick skin is a virtue of the saviors.”

“That’s because we got caught up with that father and daughter……!”

MacRyan’s face flushed with embarrassment as he mentioned the past he wanted to forget, and he raised his voice.

However, he stopped speaking because Leyev blocked him.

“What kind of future are you envisioning with Celonia?”

Leyev, who had been quietly observing, stepped forward to face Tan confidently.

“I am a human being like Celonia. I live in the same time and age at the same rate. As an imperfect human, I cannot live forever, and when I fall ill or become frail, I should return to the embrace of God. But you.”

Leyev paused, his noble purple eyes more resolute than ever. As if what he wanted to say, what he was worried about, was clear.

“You are not.”

The unwavering final voice was as heavy as if it were representing the will of God. It was an undeniable truth.

This was a clear line. A declaration that they were different from him.

This also applied to MacRyan, the dragon, who was a transcendent being unlike humans.

However, Tan and MacRyan were different.

Dragons were revered as noble and sacred creatures in the Empire, but the Demon King was merely a monster that everyone feared and wanted to eliminate.

And Celonia had chosen that Demon King who was against the Empire.

“I believe you sincerely like Celonia. That there is no falsehood in that feeling. But if you are only keeping quiet now because of Celonia, what will happen after that?”

Leyev’s continued words were very sharp and insightful.

MacRyan, as if he hadn’t thought that far, watched the two of them with a struck expression.

“What do you mean, what will happen?”

Tan raised his eyebrows as if he didn’t like Leyev’s roundabout way of speaking.

“I mean when Celonia is no longer in this world. You will still be alive and well. Then, can you be sure that this peace will be maintained? Do you think we should just stand by and watch you now?”

“That’s fortunate. At least I won’t die before her. I didn’t want her to go through that again, being left alone when you guys left.”

Tan said with a dismissive laugh at Leyev’s words.

Once, when he was staying at the Duke’s residence, he had asked her. If she wanted, he would kill all those savior bastards for her.

She had replied then.

“It’s okay. I’m not interested anymore. I’ve just changed. They have too. That’s all.”

Celonia’s face had a fleeting look of loneliness as she said those words. A sadness that made his heart ache just to look at.

It was the emotion he knew best.

Tan didn’t like that dark emotion appearing on her clear face. He wanted to prevent her from feeling that emotion again if he could.

But now that she had chosen him, he would make sure she never experienced such a thing again.

“That’s not what I meant…….”

“Stop.”

Tan raised his cold eyes towards Leyev, who was flustered and about to ramble on again.

There was no way he didn’t understand what Leyev meant. In the end, he meant to explain why he shouldn’t reveal that he was the Demon King.

“……Why Celonia of all people?”

“What?”

“I mean, why Celonia among so many people?”

Leyev raised his voice more than before, as if questioning him, as if he was angry. It was as if the dissatisfaction he had been holding back had finally burst out.

“Fucking hell.”

Tan ran his hand through his hair with an annoyed expression.

They kept telling him to convince them. This was why he hated humans.

Why were they so talkative and calculating? They wanted to find a reason for everything that happened. Even though some things just happened without a reason.

“I don’t need to convince you guys. And it’s okay for you guys to like Celonia for no particular reason, but my feelings aren’t okay?”

“Hasn’t this never happened before?”

“So what.”

“This isn’t a simple matter. Don’t take it lightly. It’s a matter directly related to the security of the Empire.”

Leyev did not back down even in the face of Tan’s eyes, which seemed to glare at him as if he would chew him up and kill him.

“Okay. If you want to know so badly, I’ll tell you what will happen when Celonia is gone in the future.”

Tan opened his mouth again as he looked at Leyev.

And MacRyan and Leyev could no longer open their mouths at the words that followed.

* * *

Celonia and Ian were standing in the Imperial Palace garden.

Behind them, the building was under construction. It was the banquet hall building of the Imperial Palace that Ian had destroyed due to the side effects of black magic.

They had been silent for quite some time, and Celonia had also kept her mouth shut because of Ian. There was no reason for her to speak first if he didn’t open his mouth.

From the beginning, she had no intention of having a conversation with him. She had only followed him because of his desperate request that he had something to say.

“I heard about it.”

Ian cautiously opened his mouth, breaking the silence.

Only half a day since he woke up and regained consciousness, Ian had heard the truth of what had happened so far from his aide, Count Rudd.

“That you saved me.”

“Rather than saved, I purified you.”

Celonia corrected him accurately. She hated being thanked or anything like that on this pretext.

“I was able to get away with this much thanks to you, miss. Thank you. And I’m sorry. As you know, all the words I said were not sincere.”

Celonia stared at Ian without answering, feeling a strange sense of wistfulness.

Ian, free from the spell, had returned to the appearance she knew, the one she liked as a person, as a colleague.

Was that why? Suddenly, old memories of when they were together during the subjugation came to mind.

“Miss, I believe in the time we spent together. Even if the soul was changed, it was you who took the hand I offered back then.”

“…….”

“I was a little surprised to hear the story, but I thought it was fortunate. That the her I knew was you, not that woman.”

Ian’s deep eyes held Celonia.

At that moment, a cold and refreshing winter wind that seemed to reach the depths of her lungs passed through their clothes and mischievously shook their hair.

Celonia swept back her long hair with one hand, as if it were cumbersome.

Ian watched that scene without missing a single second.

It was just like the day they first left for the subjugation. That day, she had swept back her hair in the blowing wind and eventually tied it up in a ponytail.

He thought the white nape of her neck, visible between the strands of hair that swayed like a tail, was impressive.

After that day, she stuck to her tied-up hair. She said that long hair would only be a hindrance to the subjugation, along with an unexpected answer.

Ian realized for the first time then that Celonia was serious about the subjugation. And he became interested in her.

Why did she suddenly change? What made her change?

Before that, Ian had not understood why Celonia had said she would go on the subjugation.

Before the subjugation, when Ian had formally met Celonia a few times because of matchmaking, Ian was greatly disappointed.

She was outstanding in appearance, but she was not much different from a typical aristocrat.

No, it was even worse. The only daughter of the Bessin family was high-nosed, arrogant, and thought it was natural for everything to be provided for her.

Consideration and altruism were nowhere to be found.

But such a woman was going to participate in the subjugation. Ian was dismayed.

In group life, where they had to move with colleagues rather than individuals, Celonia’s selfish attitude would only be an obstacle.

But when the subjugation actually started, it was different.

She volunteered first more than anyone else and tried not to be a hindrance.

She didn’t even give MacRyan and Leyev, who were chasing after her, a single chance, even though she could have used their feelings to have a smoother subjugation life.

Such a woman, a woman who had never erased the line she had firmly drawn to anyone, had chosen Ian himself.

Ian loved such Celonia.

A woman loved by everyone. A man chosen by such a woman. Just that was enough to feel superior.

Of course, Ian had come to love her sincerely.

Not because of the story in that book that was revealed to the world at the same time as the black magic, not because he was the male lead and loved Celonia, the female lead, but because he had come to love her, whom he had directly experienced.

And she had to be by his side. Because that’s when she shines the most. After all, we are the main characters.

“I wonder what I should call you now, miss.”

Ian smiled as he looked at Celonia. It was a bright smile that bit into the sunlight, like the smile of a god in a hymn. As if the many things that had happened so far were not a problem at all.

“Duke.”

Celonia opened her mouth again with an utterly calm expression towards the man she had once relied on a lot.

“Just call me Celonia.”

“Don’t you remember your real name? Perhaps you don’t have any memories…….”

“No. I have it. But I don’t want to tell you.”

Celonia was firm as she looked at the flustered Ian.

Her eyes, colder than the blowing wind, without a trace of affection, stared at Ian.

She mercilessly brought him back to reality, who was immersed in old emotions.