The Male Leads Were Stolen By The Extra [EN]: Chapter 157

Lenia blended in with them so naturally, as if she had been with them from the start.

“So, when will you be returning, Marquis?”

“Tan.”

“Ah, yes. Tan.”

Every time she called him Marquis, he corrected her to use his name without fail, as if he wanted to be addressed only by his name.

A quiet park.

Tan sat next to Lenia, who was sitting on a rug spread over a cloth.

After meeting Tan at the restaurant, Lenia had been meeting him for days, without missing a single day.

During their meetings, she learned quite a lot about him.

Tan Carsick, Marquis.

He said he came to Bellano on a trip with his niece, Jenny.

What she learned while spending time with him was that Tan was different from ordinary people. He could use mysterious abilities that ordinary people could not.

Especially when she experienced teleportation for the first time, she was so surprised that she almost fainted.

When she asked him how he did it, he just chuckled.

The niece who came with him on the trip was Jenny Hershbrook.

She had heard the name Hershbrook somewhere; it was the Grand Duke’s family that ruled the North.

It was a famous family, so it was a family that was always mentioned when she went to tea parties.

“So, when are you going back?”

“Well.”

“Tch. What’s that supposed to mean?”

Lenia rested her face on her drawn-up knees at his lackluster answer.

A cool breeze blew.

The wind gently caressed Tan’s hair as he leaned back with his hands stretched out behind him.

Lenia couldn’t take her eyes off his serene face beneath his swaying hair.

Unlike her, who felt so disappointed, he seemed to have no particular emotions, which made her heart ache.

“I’m going back to the South next week.”

“…….”

At those words, his gaze reached her.

Lenia licked her lips, squeezed her eyes shut, and said,

“I hope we can see each other again even after I go back.”

Her heart was pounding so loudly that she could hear it in her ears.

If she went back to the South like this, the time she had met him would only remain as a midsummer night’s memory.

When the young ladies around her said they had fallen in love at first sight, she was always indifferent.

Because she didn’t believe in such absurd romance.

Many men confessed their love to her, but she had never been moved. Until now.

For some reason, a corner of Lenia’s heart was always empty.

It had been like that since her earliest memories.

Even when she was laughing and having a good time with her loving family, she was often overwhelmed by a piercing loneliness.

It wasn’t filled by her family’s love. It was as if the space in her heart was separated, as if only something else could fill it.

One day, she woke up crying in the middle of the night. She couldn’t figure out why, even as she shed tears.

She just suddenly felt anxious.

She felt like she was missing something.

What is it? What am I missing?

She tried to find it, but she couldn’t.

But a man she had met just a few days ago completely turned Lenia’s life upside down.

The more time she spent with him, the more she felt that her always empty heart was slowly filling up.

That saying that she didn’t believe in, falling in love at first sight. Now she had no choice but to believe it completely.

If not, she couldn’t explain why her mood was going back and forth between heaven and hell with just one expression from Tan.

‘Why, why isn’t he answering? Is it just me who’s thinking that…?’

Lenia swallowed hard and slowly raised her eyes.

In an instant, Lenia forgot how to breathe. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that her breath stopped.

“Anytime.”

He was smiling so brightly that she wondered if it was possible to smile so happily.

His smiling face, which she had only imagined and had been so vivid as if she had actually seen it, was right in front of her eyes.

“…….”

“What’s wrong? Are you sick somewhere?”

It was then.

His smiling face instantly hardened, and he raised his upper body.

“Yes? What…”

“You’re crying. Right now.”

His hand brushed her cheek.

It was true. Tears she didn’t know when had flowed were wiped away by his gently sweeping fingers.

“Ah… Th-this is just because something got in my eye.”

Lenia stammered, flustered by the inexplicable tears.

“Is something…”

“Ice cream!”

Seeing the worried look in his eyes, Lenia couldn’t hold back any longer and jumped up from her seat.

“I have to go buy some!”

She left the spot with quick steps, as if running away.

‘Embarrassing, embarrassing!’

Why did I cry there?

Am I crazy? Get a grip! That’s pathetic! Why are you suddenly crying!

Lenia’s face flushed with embarrassment.

How flustered he must have been…

Tan’s surprised face kept coming to her mind.

It was a shame. If she hadn’t cried, she could have seen him smile more.

As she walked down to the shopping district, blaming herself, she ran into someone.

“How much are you going to regret it later?”

“Excuse me? Me?”

Lenia looked around and pointed at herself. It was a stranger, but he was talking to her.

“Realize it quickly before you regret it more.”

Without answering, the man said only what he wanted to say and strode past her, heading towards the park.

“Huh… What is that guy? Why is he talking down to me like that when he’s never even seen me before? How annoying.”

Speechless, she muttered, looking at the back of the man who was walking away.

“Heh…”

The man was Mac Ryan.

Mac Ryan couldn’t hold back his laughter and burst out laughing. There was no way she couldn’t have heard that sound.

“Anyway, even if you’re reborn, your personality will be the same.”

He chuckled and stood in front of Tan, who was sitting alone.

“Stealing titles from your great-grandson. Is that what a great elder should be doing?”

Mac Ryan nonchalantly sat down next to him, as if he was used to Tan ignoring him without even looking at him.

He had to go back soon, but he couldn’t leave because he was worried about the two of them.

Besides, Tan’s actions these past few days were so amazing that they became quite an interesting amusement for his boring life.

When he was holed up in the Grand Duke’s castle as if he were dead, Tan suddenly snatched a title from his great-grandson, the current Grand Duke.

Humans value background, or something like that.

He probably didn’t want to look like a mediocre guy when introducing himself to Lenia.

“What are you going to do if she doesn’t regain her memories?”

Mac Ryan muttered, looking at Lenia, who had entered the store below.

Tan, who had been looking at the same place, lowered his gaze.

Tan looked at his hand. The one that had just wiped away Lenia’s tears.

* * *

That night.

“Hmm…”

Lenia’s brow twitched as she slept.

She was dreaming.

In her dream, she was standing in a garden.

Behind the well-manicured garden was a huge fortress-like castle.

Where is this?

She was cautiously walking through the garden when she saw a Rwen tree [a type of tree known for its vibrant berries and often associated with protection and magic in folklore] that magnificently decorated the garden.

And under it, two people were standing.

As she got closer, she saw an elderly grandmother and grandfather.

Under the cool shade of the tree, the grandfather was standing next to the grandmother, who was sitting in a chair as if she had difficulty moving.

‘What if I’m too late?’

At the grandmother’s worried question, the grandfather bent his knee to meet her eyes.

‘Time is not important.’

A gentle hand swept back the grandmother’s faded hair.

‘What’s important is that you come back to me.’

The grandfather’s hand then picked up the grandmother’s hand resting on the armrest.

His hand gently stroked the grandmother’s wrinkled hand, as if it was still beautiful.

‘So don’t worry.’

In a tone so affectionate that it brought tears to her eyes, with a gaze full of love in every corner, with a hand full of unchanging affection.

‘Just come back.’

The grandfather said that to the grandmother.

The two held hands tightly. The same ring was on the wrinkled fingers of the two.

A ring with a bright red ruby.

‘…….’

Lenia was standing there, watching the two of them.

At that moment.

The grandfather’s gaze, which had been directed at the grandmother, saw Lenia, who was standing a little further away.

Then, the grandfather’s faded hair gradually regained its original color, and his wrinkled face was returning to its former appearance.

Soon, as the grandfather’s face completely changed to his young face.

“Gasp…”

Lenia’s closed eyes flashed open.

“Haa, haa…”

Waking up from her dream, she gasped for breath.

Her heart was pounding. The grandfather’s appearance she saw at the end of her dream.

The grandfather’s face that had returned to his old self was someone she knew.

“Tan.”

It was Tan’s face.

What kind of dream is this? Who is that grandmother…

Lenia, unable to sleep any longer because her heart was in turmoil, lightly changed her clothes and strolled through the hotel garden.

She was walking, breathing in the night air under the dark night sky.

She saw a large figure that couldn’t be hidden hiding behind a tree.

“Are you trying to get caught by hiding like that?”

“…….”

After hesitating for a moment, he finally revealed himself in front of her.

Tan had come here because he was worried about her crying today.

“You’re being too sloppy.”

“Why did you come out without sleeping? Are you sick somewhere…”

“It’s not that. But you can’t come in here unless you’re a guest, so how did you get in here?”

At that question, he turned his gaze away as if feigning ignorance.

Teleportation. It’s teleportation.

Lenia opened her mouth with a dumbfounded face, watching him abuse his abilities without even looking around.

“What exactly is that ability? Are you a wizard or something?”

“Do I look like one?”

“Aren’t you? If you’re not a wizard… an angel?”

“…What?”

Tan’s eyes widened at the unexpected and absurd words.

He had never heard the word angel in his life. He used to be a demon king, so isn’t that too much?

“Ha, hahaha!”

Eventually, Tan burst out laughing.

Lenia was bewildered by his hearty laughter, but she liked it. Because she could see his smiling face.

Her lips, which had been rising along with his laughter, stopped as she discovered his finger.

Tan was wearing a ring on his hand.

So obvious that she wondered why she was only discovering it now.

And that ring was the same as the ring she had seen in her dream.