The Male Leads Were Stolen By The Extra [EN]: Chapter 68

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* * *

Last night.

Tann’s eyebrows twitched as he scanned the faces of the two men in the carriage.

These were the same men he’d seen earlier that day.

Celonia had called the old man the Grand Duke.

He’d sensed an unusual energy following the carriage, so he tracked it down and found the Grand Duke’s conveyance.

He hadn’t liked the look of them from the start.

“I’m asking you. Who are you? Why are you following her? Do you have a death wish?”

Tann glared at the two men, his expression suggesting he was ready to kill them at any moment. He naturally assumed they were tailing Celonia.

Normally, he would have simply strangled them without a word, but living with Celonia had softened him, made him a little more…socialized.

So, he was giving them a chance to explain themselves.

“W-well, that is…”

While Kelvin stammered, Ius, struggling to calm his racing heart, finally spoke, his lips trembling.

“Do you really not remember?”

“What?”

Tann’s face twisted in confusion at the unexpected question.

*What are these bastards playing at?*

“You really don’t remember us?”

Ius’s gaze, filled with resentment, locked onto Tann, his voice laced with hurt.

Tann felt a shiver crawl down his spine. It was unsettling to be stared at with such resentful eyes by an old man with white hair.

But as he considered Ius’s words, something clicked. The question wasn’t about a meeting today.

Judging by their expressions and tone, it was as if they had known him for a long time.

Furthermore, they seemed to have been quite close, judging by their shock that he didn’t recognize them due to his memory loss.

“Do I know you?”

Tann asked, not expecting much.

It was a question he had asked countless times since losing his memory and waking up a few months ago. And the answer had always been the same: nothing.

But this time, it was different.

“Of course, we know you! Knowing you is an understatement! You are our master!”

Kelvin burst out, his face streaked with tears.

He was overwhelmed that his master, whom he believed to be dead, was alive and well. But he was also devastated that his master had lost his memory and didn’t recognize them.

He couldn’t have felt more aggrieved.

“…You know me.”

Tann’s expression hardened at the unexpected answer.

It was the first time. Someone who acknowledged his existence.

*He thought no one remembered him?*

“I really, really wanted to see you, Master!”

Kelvin couldn’t restrain himself and lunged toward Tann.

“Get off me. Do you want to die?”

Tann wasn’t about to allow that.

Tann firmly planted his hand on Kelvin’s forehead as he charged in, maintaining a firm distance.

*How dare he.*

Just because they knew him didn’t mean he would welcome them with open arms.

There was someone else who owned his embraces. Not some disgusting guy like this.

“Keuh! I missed it! This rough behavior!”

Even with his forehead pinned, Kelvin grinned like a pervert, seemingly delighted by the rejection.

That only made Tann’s expression darken further, becoming even more ferocious.

“Tom, Your Excellency’s loyal subordinate, finally meets Your Excellency again.”

Ius pushed the overly enthusiastic Kelvin back and knelt on one knee, paying his respects.

“I greet Your Excellency.”

Kelvin immediately followed Ius, kneeling before Tann and bowing his head.

Tann’s eyes narrowed at the word “master,” which felt strangely familiar.

“Your Excellency is our master and the lord of all demons…”

Ius took a deep breath, overwhelmed with emotion, and continued.

“The deepest darkness that encompasses all evil in all dimensions, the great Demon King, Leonhardt Kailenus.”

* * *

“…”

Tann flinched at the sudden terror and indifferently wiped the water from his chin with his hand. He never imagined he would be splashed with water after asking a question.

The story he had heard from them last night was quite shocking.

The story that Grand Duke Ius and Kelvin were actually his subordinates, Tom and Jack. That their identities were disguises, and that he was the Demon King.

Demon King? *The* Demon King, really?

It was a past he could never have imagined.

He knew he was different, more special than others, but the Demon King?

*He* was the one the savior had killed?

“Ah, I’m so sorry! But suddenly asking that…”

Celonia hurriedly grabbed a napkin from the table and offered it to Tann.

Her mind was a whirlwind of confusion.

*How should I respond to this question? Could it be that his memory is returning?*

“Just curious.”

Tann took the napkin and wiped his face, his expression giving nothing away.

“Just? You’re just asking?”

*Are you telling me I should believe that?*

Celonia eyed Tann suspiciously.

In the few weeks they had been together, he had never once mentioned the Demon King. So why was he suddenly asking about him for no reason?

*Isn’t that a little too strange?*

“Yeah. You defeated him, right? That’s why everyone calls you the savior.”

Tann answered, meeting Celonia’s gaze directly.

Her undisguised discomfort was plain to see. *What is she so embarrassed about? A sudden question about the Demon King? Or is she afraid I’ve regained my memory?*

He had already heard the story from Maxwell.

To stop the Demon King, who had awakened after 100 years, four saviors had set out to fight, and one of them was Celonia.

The saviors eventually defeated the Demon King, and the Demon King died. That’s what everyone knew.

But *he* was that dead Demon King?

*Is it because I don’t have any memories? It just doesn’t feel real.*

But Tann clearly remembered what Celonia had said when they first met.

‘Y-you definitely d-died, so how are you alive…!’

She had said that, so shocked she was practically having a seizure.

Yes, it was like seeing someone you believed to be dead suddenly alive.

So she thinks she knows about him, who has no memory, and is stuck here.

‘Why is Your Excellency next to that woman? Isn’t that woman the one who killed Your Excellency!’

‘Is it for revenge?’

Yesterday, Jack and Tom had asked him, as if they couldn’t understand.

Revenge. How could there be revenge when he had no memory?

“I don’t have any particular feelings about it.”

Celonia carefully chose her words, watching Tann, who seemed different from usual.

*It doesn’t seem like he remembers, but what’s the intention behind this question? Is it really just a simple question?*

“Do you hate him?”

“That’s…”

Celonia hesitated.

Because she saw a faint eagerness flicker in his eyes as he looked at her.

*What is this look?*

*What does he want from me?*

The way he kissed her hand a while ago, asking what he should do to hold her hand whenever he wanted, and the genuine smile he showed every time their eyes met.

*Why? Why does he keep making me misunderstand?*

“Not necessarily.”

Unable to decipher his intentions, Celonia simply told him the truth.

It was sincere. She feared the Demon King, but she didn’t hate him.

Besides, she had only killed the Demon King to advance the original story and end her suffering. She didn’t have any grand ideologies or sense of duty in the first place.

“I see.”

Tann muttered to himself at Celonia’s answer and looked away.

Her answer brought a small, unfamiliar sense of relief to his heart.

He didn’t completely trust everything Tom and Jack had said.

How many people would immediately believe it if someone suddenly appeared after a few months and claimed they were the Demon King who had died?

But that didn’t mean he completely distrusted them either.

The mocking voice that came to mind when he faced demons, the strange ability to read their thoughts, this power that others didn’t possess, and the pain that came every midnight.

It was definitely not something that could be dismissed as simply being special.

Tom and Jack had advised him to return to the Demon King’s castle where he originally lived.

If he returned there, he would be able to regain his lost memories and stabilize his unstable powers.

“Tann.”

Then he heard Celonia’s voice calling his name.

Tann. Yes, that was his name.

The name she gave him. Different from the grand name Leonhardt Kailenus that Tom and Jack kept repeating.

He liked it best when she called him by that name.

It was a meaningless life, but when she called him by that name, it felt like it had meaning.

“Eat.”

Celonia urged Tann, who was still lost in thought, to eat the food that had been set before him.

“Okay.”

He picked up the fork from the table.

As he brought the freshly cooked, warm food to his mouth, Tann thought.

He could never let go of this time he spent with her.

*Then what do I want to do?*