The Male Leads Were Stolen By The Extra [EN]: Chapter 84

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Two days later.

Celonia, cloaked in a robe, was heading to the slum by carriage.

Finally, the Storm Guild had contacted her.

“Your Grace, you’re here again today,” Ella said, looking at Tan, who was sitting across from her with a bright smile.

Celonia chuckled, slightly bewildered by how naturally Tan was sitting next to her.

He really looked every bit the Grand Duke now.

A neatly styled hairstyle and a crisp black suit. The cufflinks and brooch in the center of his cravat looked expensive and extravagant at a glance.

He was no longer the man who used to wear torn clothes with a black cloak.

A lot had changed in the two days since the celebration.

For two days, the Imperial newspaper had been buzzing about Tan’s appearance.

The story of the rise of the Beast of the Night, who had roamed the streets, was a major topic in itself and a piece of gossip that the commoners of the Empire cheered for.

He, who was already a celebrity, had become even more famous.

Furthermore, Tan would no longer be staying at the Duke’s residence. Strictly speaking, the Grand Duke’s residence existed in the Imperial capital.

She heard that some of the maids of the Duke’s family shed tears upon hearing this fact. They seemed to have been secretly admiring Tan.

‘What a man with so many sins.’

Whether he was the Demon King or the Grand Duke.

The meals they used to have together at the Duke’s residence every day were now gone.

However, even with the change in environment, Tan had not changed.

His habit of stopping by the cafe every day to pick up food and distribute it to the slum was now continued in the form of sponsorship from the Grand Duke’s family.

She heard that they were providing high-quality meals three times a day to the people of the slum.

Holding her hand at midnight was also the same as before because Tan teleported to her room.

Even though they didn’t live in the same house anymore, he followed her outings as before.

“Doesn’t the Grand Duke have anything to do?”

“Capable subordinates do it for me.”

“…….”

He’s totally slacking off.

She chided him for seeming too idle, but Tan smiled shamelessly.

“Still, wouldn’t it be nice to spend time with your father? It’s been a long time since you met him.”

Ella asked with pure intentions, but an uncomfortable silence fell.

Neither Celonia nor Tan spoke, but they both knew that Ius Heersbrook was not his father.

They were just turning a blind eye and pretending not to know.

“Not really.”

“Ah, I see…….”

Ella, sensing the strange atmosphere, trailed off in embarrassment.

The three of them didn’t say anything more.

However, Tan naturally held Celonia’s hand next to him.

Celonia, who had been staring out the window, didn’t particularly reject the warm touch filling her hand.

The two of them held hands until they arrived at the slum.

Her ears were red, and Tan couldn’t hide his happy heart and twitched the corners of his mouth.

* * *

“I’ll go in alone.”

Standing in front of the dilapidated building again, Celonia slipped her hand out of Tan’s grip and entered the guild without looking back.

After realizing her feelings, it became a little difficult to make eye contact with him because her heart kept pounding wildly whenever she met his eyes.

Their relationship was ambiguous. It was a relationship that hadn’t been defined.

However, Celonia had no intention of developing her relationship with him.

She wanted to maintain this current state. This relationship that wasn’t clearly defined.

Because as long as she knew his true identity, she couldn’t promise any future with him.

If the relationship between him and her became clear, then she really wouldn’t be able to control her feelings.

Celonia was afraid. The hurt she would have to bear later when he regained his full memory.

She had already experienced people she trusted and relied on saying goodbye several times, so she didn’t want to experience it anymore.

So she wanted to pretend not to know his feelings and stay with him for a long time without revealing her own.

It was a selfish and foolish desire.

“Welcome, Princess.”

Passing through the path she had been to once, she was guided by an employee and entered the guild leader’s office. Daniel, the guild leader who had been waiting, smiled and offered her a seat.

“Did you find anything out?”

“Of course.”

Daniel nodded at her, who asked as soon as she sat down with an impatient personality.

“First, would you take a look at this.”

He handed over a document.

It was the Baron Bennett’s food order history.

Among the various foods, one stood out.

“Darjeeling.”

“Yes, that’s right. The order quantity is abnormally high.”

Daniel agreed with Celonia’s words.

“Even if it’s a noble’s residence where guests come and go frequently, I’ve never seen an order quantity like this. The amount of Darjeeling ordered in a week is enough for other nobles to consume for more than half a year. I’ll show you the order forms of other noble residences for easy comparison.”

Celonia compared the order form that Daniel handed over with the Baron Bennett’s order form.

Indeed, the amount of Darjeeling ordered by the Baron Bennett’s residence in the capital in a week was nearly ten times that of other noble residences.

“I heard that Lady Grace often carries Darjeeling with her. She seems to have taken it to the victory celebration as well.”

“…….”

It was exactly what Reyev had said. Grace was using Darjeeling to seduce the male leads and others.

From the victory celebration that she had collapsed and couldn’t attend.

It was completely different information from Gillian’s case. Grace was trying to hide this.

“And I found something strange while investigating the Bennett family’s finances overall.”

“What is it?”

Celonia, who took her eyes off the documents, looked at Daniel with serious eyes.

“The Bennett baronial family’s expenses are very high.”

“Expenses?”

“Yes. The Baron Bennett family I know is barely making a living with one mine in Denpris. But from a certain point on, expenses skyrocketed, and now the weekly total expenses are the monthly household expenses of a decent noble family.”

“When is that point?”

“It’s from 10 months ago.”

10 months ago was around the time she possessed this body.

From then on, the Bennett family’s expenses suddenly skyrocketed? What does this mean?

“Did they take out a loan?”

“I checked, but there are no debt relationships involved. It’s not like their source of income has increased either. It’s still just that one mine.”

It was definitely strange.

Income is the same, but expenses have increased. But there is no debt.

“It seems they are receiving funds from somewhere.”

Daniel said the answer she had thought of first.

“Please find out more about that part.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“……Daniel, do you know anything about black magic?”

Celonia felt like all of this was connected to black magic.

Could there be a behind-the-scenes force with a source of funds?

“Ancient magic is a field I really want to explore. But there isn’t much data left, so we don’t know much about it either.”

“I see.”

“But I know what you’re suspecting, Princess.”

Daniel quickly grasped her intentions as she was about to be disappointed.

“The Darjeeling ordered by the Bennett family is said to be sent as a gift to Duke Cherbil, Count McRyan, and Sir Reyev.”

“That’s what I heard.”

“It’s definitely suspicious. And the speculation that it’s related to black magic makes sense.”

“Why is that?”

“Princess, do you know what is needed to use black magic?”

“No.”

Celonia shook her head.

She hadn’t found out anything about black magic through Henrik’s notes or the library either.

“To use heinous black magic, a price is required. That is, the lives of living people.”

“…….”

Celonia’s eyes widened at the fact she learned for the first time.

She froze at the completely unexpected reality.

“The number of people sacrificed varied greatly depending on the type of black magic. The more difficult and heinous it was, the more lives were needed, and some black magic had records of over a hundred victims. That’s why the Empire burned them all away.”

“I didn’t know…….”

“That’s all I know. But I recently obtained an interesting rumor.”

“What rumor?”

“It is said that the wailing never stops in the basement of the Bennett family’s mansion.”

* * *

After leaving the guild and leaving the slum, Celonia took off her robe and was walking through the shopping district.

A baronial family where wailing never stops.

If the lives of living people are really needed to use black magic, there is a high possibility that it is related to wailing.

Daniel said he would find out as much as possible about the source of funds and the basement of the baronial family.

“Celonia.”

“…….”

“Celonia.”

“Yes?”

Celonia snapped out of her thoughts at the feeling of someone waving their hand.

“How about this one?”

Tan said, pointing to a necklace with a blue diamond on display.

A necklace?

Celonia looked around.

Before she knew it, she was in a jewelry store. She was even holding hands with Tan in a place where there were many eyes.

She was walking blankly, so she didn’t even know that Tan was holding her hand or that she had been dragged into a jewelry store.

Already, all the employees of the jewelry store were politely paying their respects to her and him.

It was excessive kindness, but it was probably because they thought it was a big customer since it was Princess Besian and the Grand Duke who decorated the newspaper today.

“What’s with the necklace?”

“It looks very good on you.”

“I have a lot of necklaces like this. I’m okay.”

“Or do you like something else? Pick one.”

Tan said, gesturing from one end of the store to the other as if he was eager to buy her something.