The Male Leads Were Stolen By The Extra [EN]: Chapter 3

<3>

“Did you perhaps investigate me?”

MacRyan, who had been staring at her strange smile as if it were odd, suddenly raised his voice.

He was extremely suspicious that Celonia knew about Grace, whom he had never mentioned even once.

“Of course not. Did you forget I haven’t been awake for long?”

“Ah, right… Are, are you feeling alright?”

Celonia, who had abruptly stopped smiling, spoke correctly, and MacRyan scratched the back of his head, feeling awkward.

He seemed sorry for scolding someone who had been bedridden until recently.

“Thanks for your concern.”

Celonia’s mind was clearer than ever as she replied to his belated concern without any emotion.

Was this what it felt like for reason to cool down coldly?

As unexpected events rushed in all at once, her mind calmed down, and her perspective on the situation broadened.

“You asked for the heart back, right?”

“Huh? Uh, uh…”

Celonia’s expression was so calm that it was hard to believe she was the same person who had been laughing like a madwoman just moments ago.

It was MacRyan who was flustered instead.

His eyes were helplessly shaking with confusion, as if the expected scenario he had envisioned in his head was not this.

“Ella, could you get the black pouch from my vault?”

Celonia handed the key she had to Ella.

As Ella left the drawing-room with quick movements after receiving the key, only the two of them remained in the space.

“Sit down and wait.”

Celonia offered MacRyan the seat across from her and calmly picked up the teacup in front of her.

What could she do when he asked for it back? She had to return it.

MacRyan was the last remaining dragon in this empire.

A dragon’s heart disappears the moment the dragon vanishes.

In other words, the heart he had given as a gift was now the last and only dragon heart that could no longer be obtained.

The heart, which dragons had given only to their beloved since ancient times, had the power to protect its owner from any threat.

The heart was the source of the dragon’s power.

Dragons were immortal beings who could live without a heart.

However, there was a world of difference between having a heart and not having one.

Without a heart, they could not use even one-tenth of their original power. Even that power was several times greater than that of an ordinary person.

Thanks to this, Celonia had never been hurt since receiving the heart.

She wished she had received it sooner.

However, the reason she had collapsed and not woken up for three months despite having the dragon’s heart was probably due to an internal problem rather than a physical attack or external factors.

She could avoid monster attacks when she had the heart, but she still suffered from stomachaches and minor illnesses.

She drank the cold tea and recalled the day she had received the heart as a gift from him.

* * *

“Celi!”

MacRyan, who had transformed into a dragon to save her from falling off the cliff, hurriedly flew up.

Even though he knew that transforming in the Forest of Monsters, called the Nest of the Fallen, would erode his life [shorten his lifespan].

He didn’t care about calculations. His eyes only saw Celonia falling.

MacRyan, who had turned into a giant dragon, quickly glided down to catch Celonia.

‘Ah… So, I’m going to die like this.’

The moment Celonia, who was falling, gave up, a shadow larger than the sun fell over her.

At that moment, she clearly saw MacRyan flying up to save her with all his might. The dragon’s yellow eyes were more desperate than ever.

MacRyan safely caught Celonia, put her on his back, and landed safely on the ground.

Thanks to his quick judgment, she was unharmed.

“Are you crazy? Do you want to die so badly?”

He immediately turned into a human, confirmed that Celonia was safe, and then lashed out.

She understood why he was angry.

She had found a Silkia flower blooming on the cliff.

The flower was very effective in treating wounds, so it was an essential flower for them who were adventuring.

Of course, it was necessary, so she went alone to pick the flower.

She never dreamed that the ground she was standing on would suddenly collapse, and that she would fall off the cliff.

Because in the original story, she succeeded in obtaining the flower without any problems.

“I’m sorry…”

“You really! Haa…”

MacRyan couldn’t bring himself to get angry at Celonia, who was apologizing gloomily, and sighed deeply.

He roughly ruffled his hair, looking like he was frustrated and didn’t know what to do.

“Humans are too weak.”

“…”

“That fragile life can be shattered for various reasons.”

“Mac, I’m sorry. I just…”

“That’s why I’m more worried about you.”

Celonia looked up in surprise at his confession.

Then, yellow eyes, which had already taken on a deep light, were staring at her.

“Because I don’t know when or for what reason you will leave me.”

MacRyan seemed to have realized something.

His expression was detached, unlike before, and therefore looked all the more sad.

Unlike himself, who was a transcendent being, Celonia was human, and human lives were fleeting and fragile.

“Even if I’m not by your side, this will protect you for the rest of your life.”

MacRyan brought his blue-tinged hand to his chest.

The large hand pierced through his flesh and went inside without any hesitation.

Beneath his silver hair fluttering in the wind, eyes distorted with pain could be seen.

He frowned at the severe pain, swallowed it, and slowly pulled out his hand.

Already, a heart beating wildly was held in his hand.

The heart was beating very strongly, as if expressing that it was alive with all its might.

The heart thumped in his grasp, gradually slowing down, and then suddenly turned into a red and hard gemstone.

Celonia was completely frozen by the eerie but beautiful sight that she couldn’t take her eyes off of.

MacRyan approached her closely. And then he grabbed her hand and placed his heart on it.

“I hope you live with me a little longer.”

I hope your time doesn’t stop.

With that wish, MacRyan folded Celonia’s fingers and made her hold the heart.

* * *

“You’re not asking for the reason?”

“Where would there be a reason for a person’s heart to change?”

Celonia, who had finished reminiscing, put down the teacup, ignoring MacRyan.

The man who had cut out his heart and given it to her, saying that he wanted to be with her even a little longer, was now saying that he liked another woman and wanted it back.

She was so confused as to whether all the things she had experienced directly for half a year had really existed.

“You’ve been keeping it in the vault all along…?”

It was MacRyan who was restless because of her attitude, which didn’t reveal her emotions to an uncomfortable degree.

He seemed flustered by Celonia’s calmness.

“I was afraid I would lose it. It’s precious, after all.”

“Precious…”

MacRyan’s heart ached at the word ‘precious.’

He fidgeted with his fingers like a guilty person and glanced at Celonia. Like someone hesitating as if he had something to say.

“I, so I…”

Knock knock.

MacRyan, who had been hesitating for quite a long time, opened his mouth with difficulty, but was startled by the sound of knocking and shut his lips tightly.

Like someone who was about to say something he shouldn’t.

“Mac, thank you for always protecting me.”

Celonia held out the pouch she had received from Ella towards him, who no longer opened his mouth.

“…Okay.”

MacRyan stared blankly at the black pouch placed on her hand and reached out with a weak hand.

The heart had returned to him. It meant that there was no longer any reason for him to be here.

“Be careful on your way. I won’t see you off.”

Celonia said goodbye first and took her eyes off him.

She should be used to this repeated farewell, but her heart wasn’t.

She felt sad, regretful, and angry.

So, she had to send him away before she showed him these feelings.

“…You too. I’ll be going.”

MacRyan stared at Celonia, who had turned away from him, and turned around with a dejected look.

He left the drawing-room with a listless gait.

Celonia bit her lip tightly, not even looking at him until he closed the drawing-room door.

“My lady…”

Ella looked worried at Celonia’s expression, as if she was holding back tears.

“How can they all be like this? It hasn’t been long since our lady woke up… It’s really too much!”

Ella, seeing her as if she had forgotten how to be angry because the shock was too great, got angry instead and grumbled.

“…”

Celonia was silently watching MacRyan’s back as he mounted his horse beyond the window.

Ian, Reyev, and even MacRyan had all left her. Saying that they had fallen in love with another woman.

“Ella.”

“Yes, yes! If you need anything, just tell me! I will never leave your side, my lady!”

Ella answered quickly and tried to cheer her up.

“If you climbed a mountain and risked your life on a cliff to get ingredients, and then someone ate them all up, how would you feel?”

Celonia’s eyes, which had already turned away from the window, were blazing.

“Yes? Uh, um… I would be very, very angry, right? I would feel wronged and annoyed. I probably wouldn’t leave the person who took it alone…”

“That’s right. That’s how I feel right now. I’m speechless?”

She clenched her fist.

That’s right.

Celonia wasn’t feeling upset and wanting to cry right now, but was boiling with anger.

It had been nine months since she possessed this body.

While everyone was comfortably waiting at home for the Demon King to die, she parted the forest, climbed the castle, held a sword, shed blood, and contributed to the peace of the empire.

Instead of elegantly enjoying tea parties as a duchess, she filmed a survival movie in hell and came back to finally live like a human, but what the hell?

Love Grace Bennett?

You spineless bastards.

“M, my lady…?”

Ella shuddered at the brutal aura emanating from Celonia.

It was hard to get close to her because it felt like an invisible fire was burning all over Celonia’s body.

“Ella.”

“Yes, yes! My lady!”

“Request information about Grace Bennett from the Finest Guild [an information broker network].”

Celonia’s sharp eyes flashed.

What on earth had happened during the three months she had been unconscious that all three men were saying they loved the same woman?

Could this be dismissed as a simple change of heart, just a coincidence?

Capturing the male leads as if waiting for the Demon King to die and peace to come?

Could such a coincidence exist?

“Lady Grace, you mean?”

“Yes. In great detail about what she has been doing recently, whether she has ever died and come back to life, and whether her behavior or speech has suddenly changed.”

So, she had to find out.

Whether this was a simple coincidence or something else.