The Male Leads Were Stolen By The Extra [EN]: Chapter 39

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“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Flower from Blanc County. May I inquire as to your name, sir?”

Just then, a young lady approached Tan.

“Um, Tan….”

Ella cautiously called out to Tan, who didn’t even spare the beautiful countess a glance.

She had lost count of how many times this had happened.

Since Tan had arrived at the birthday party, all the young ladies had been stealing glances at him, seemingly in collusion.

If it had stopped there, it would have been fine, but some of the young ladies, setting aside their pride, introduced themselves to Tan and asked for his name.

Each of them sported a shy blush on their cheeks.

Ella knew that in aristocratic society, it was considered quite bold for a woman to introduce herself to a man and ask for his name first.

Generally, it was the men who were expected to introduce themselves and express their interest to the women.

However, since Tan wasn’t taking the initiative, the young ladies were summoning their courage and stepping forward.

Ella understood the reason perfectly well.

Even just standing with his arms crossed, leaning against a pillar, Tan looked unreal, like a figure from a masterpiece.

His handsome appearance was so striking that it made even his jet-black hair and crimson eyes seem like deliberate charms.

Moreover, although he was attending the party as a guard knight of the Besin family, he was wearing clothes from Verondi Boutique, making him appear to be a noble gentleman to everyone.

Anyway, as Tan didn’t even give her a glance or an answer, the countess’s face grew redder and redder with embarrassment.

Ella, unable to watch any longer, carefully tugged at Tan’s sleeve as a signal, but the response she received was utterly insincere.

“None of your concern.”

“Ha! How rude.”

In the end, the words that another young lady had uttered earlier also escaped the countess’s lips.

The countess, glaring at Tan with all her might, her face flushed, turned around sharply enough to hear the whoosh of her dress.

She was so angry that her dress fluttered dramatically with her hurried steps.

“Tan… If you act so coldly, something bad might happen.”

Ella sighed deeply and voiced her concern.

Since nobles were the kind of people who might punish commoners just for looking at them, she was worried that Tan might get into trouble.

But Tan didn’t care and kept looking at only one place. Rather, he was glad that the woman with the terrible perfume had disappeared.

His red eyes were fixed on Celonia.

Celonia was talking to a small girl.

Dressed in a different gown from the one she had worn at the boutique, she was perfectly suited to this glamorous party.

Especially under the huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling, she was shining so brightly that she seemed like a different person.

It was as if she was the protagonist in the novel he had read yesterday, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

It was a scene that always appeared when the protagonist attended a glamorous party.

Tan realized that the world that had only existed in letters was real when he saw Celonia.

Then, the desire to stand next to her stirred within him, like the male protagonists in that book.

‘Why?’

Tan was unfamiliar with this strange desire himself.

But he didn’t dislike it. Everything he experienced for the first time because of Celonia was new and good.

Because his empty heart and memories were being filled up by her.

He stared at Celonia again.

Her smile never left her lips, as if she was very happy.

Watching her subtly upturned lips, Tan unconsciously smiled.

Beautiful.

The interior, which he disliked because of the terrible perfume and the crowds, felt like it was being ventilated by that one smile.

It was then.

Celonia, who was talking to the girl, looked this way and approached with a slight frown.

Tan pushed himself off the pillar.

He was about to approach her, thinking that her conversation was over, when suddenly a man appeared and spoke to Celonia.

Then, he took her hand and kissed the back of it.

Instantly, a hot lump bubbled up in his chest.

“Tan, that’s a kind of greeting…!”

Ella, who saw the scene with him, was startled and tried to explain to Tan, but it was already too late.

His eyes narrowed, emitting a ferocious aura, and Tan was about to step out to confront the man.

“Who is this?”

Ian, who had just arrived at the birthday party, spotted Tan and addressed him with a sneer.

His imposing physique was noticeable even from a distance.

Next to him was Grace, smiling brightly while holding Ian’s arm.

“That guy from back then. The one they called the Beast of the Night?”

“Oh my. It’s nice to see you again here.”

Ian, who had already investigated Tan, stood in front of him with a confident expression, and Grace covered her mouth with wide eyes.

“Grace, do you know this guy?”

Ian looked at his lover with dissatisfied eyes. Why did she know this guy?

“I saw him once before when he was with the Princess. His name was Tan, right? Tan.”

Grace answered with a flirtatious smile.

“No need to be polite. No need to stand on ceremony. He’s just a street urchin.”

Ian snorted and looked Tan up and down again.

Sensing something different, he frowned and scrutinized Tan from head to toe.

Come to think of it, Tan’s appearance today was quite different from the beggar-like appearance he had seen when they first met.

Neat clothes and a tidy hairstyle. He was all dressed up as if he was trying to pass himself off as a noble, which only made him look more unpleasant.

Even if he covered it up with clothes, the stench of a commoner couldn’t be masked.

“Did you think your origins would be hidden just because you dressed up?”

Ian sneered with contemptuous blue eyes.

He had assumed Celonia considered him a guest, so he must be of noble status, but he was the Beast of the Night?

He was furious as soon as he found out that a lowly person, who didn’t even know his own parentage, dared to stand up to him.

Ian figured Celonia was trying to use him to make him jealous.

So he thought he might be someone important, but he was just a rootless vagrant. How dare he look at me like that.

“Have you become a mute in the meantime? Why is your babbling mouth so quiet?”

Ian ridiculed the silent Tan, looking down on him.

Surely he wouldn’t be able to act as presumptuously as he did back then now that he knew who Ian was.

However, Ian’s expression hardened.

Tan was still looking down at him arrogantly and haughtily without bowing his head, just as he had done before.

What kind of eyes are those…….

Tan’s eyes were still very cold.

Even the eyes, burning redder than flames, seemed to be sparking.

Ian couldn’t suppress his anger and opened his mouth.

“How dare you.”

“Get out of my way.”

Tan easily pushed Ian, who was blocking his path, aside and walked straight toward Celonia.

“Don’t……”

“Oh! Duke, you’ve arrived.”

As Ian, enraged by the rising sense of insult, raised his voice and tried to grab Tan’s shoulder, Marquis Denroha smiled and spoke.

“……Marquis Denroha.”

Ian bowed to Marquis Denroha. His cheeks were twitching in barely suppressed anger.

However, he couldn’t display such a sight to the Marquis. The Marquis was a close friend of his father and a family with power and wealth comparable to any ducal family.

“It’s been a while…… Ah, nice to meet you. I’m Grace Bennett. I’m honored to be able to attend such a joyous occasion.”

Grace corrected her words and paid her respects to Marquis Denroha with an affable expression.

Her face was full of joy as she faced Marquis Denroha.

“It seems you came after working. Thank you for coming even though you must be busy. My daughter will be very happy. She is very fond of the saviors [referring to the Imperial Knights].”

However, unlike Grace, who was delighted, Marquis Denroha only paid attention to Ian, who was wearing the uniform of the Imperial Knights, and laughed heartily.

Clearly, Grace had greeted him, but he ignored her.

Marquis Denroha was closer to Duke Besin than Duke Cherbil.

“…….”

Grace was smiling nonchalantly, but she couldn’t control her trembling lips.

Her eyes were twitching with the sense of insult rising from within.

“It’s an honor if my daughter is happy.”

Ian clenched his fists tightly and bit his teeth, then slowly raised his head.

Before he knew it, he was wearing the beatific smile he was known for, the one people called his anthem.

With his relationship with the Besin family severed due to the annulment of the engagement, he couldn’t afford to be disliked by Marquis Denroha.

The Denroha Marquis family was not as powerful as the Besin family, but it was still prestigious and one of the leading wealthy families in the empire.

Moreover, the current Marquis was a man with considerable political influence.

He was not foolish enough to raise his voice at the party and upset Marquis Denroha because he could not control his personal feelings.

However, Ian was so consumed with the emotions boiling within him because of Tan, who had ignored him and passed by, that he didn’t even realize that his lover was being ignored by the Marquis.

“Haha. How is your father doing these days?”

Soon, Marquis Denroha and Ian began to talk about the late Duke Cherbil.

Clearly, she was standing right next to them, but Grace was treated as if she didn’t exist to the two of them.

Grace bit her lip tightly and turned her head away. Her gaze naturally followed Tan.

And when Grace saw someone standing where Tan was heading, she chuckled and excused herself, moving her feet in that direction.