After the Ending, I Received the Second Male Lead as a Gift

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Tibon’s brows furrowed. He lowered his head slightly and replied gloomily.

“I clearly felt your absence, Sister. And how inadequate I am.”

He seemed to genuinely believe this, which left me rather flustered.

‘I-I didn’t want this answer.’

Still, I didn’t give up and asked again.

“Uh, well. But you’re enjoying it, right?”

“…Yes.”

He averted his gaze with a slight blush on his cheeks. It seemed he was embarrassed to answer honestly. It was adorable, really.

But fortunately, this time, it was the answer I wanted. So, I explained my reason.

“I wasn’t enjoying it at all.”

“What?”

Tibon looked as if something had broken inside.

He seemed to struggle to understand what I meant and managed to ask, barely,

“But you’ve dedicated so many years to it. I’ve seen how hard you worked…”

“Yes, it was really, really tough.”

I’d truly worked myself to the brink of death.

“Then why…? Oh, it’s because of the successor position.”

Tibon seemed to have asked himself the question and then nodded like he understood.

Of course, I immediately denied it.

“What are you talking about? You’re the Vice Count, Tibon. Why would I want such a bothersome role?”

“Uh, but why do you keep calling me the Vice Count?”

Tibon turned pale. Seeing him, who was always so proper, flustered, was genuinely cute.

I used to tease him often for that reason when we were younger. But now he’s grown up, so pinching his cheeks might be inappropriate.

“I only did what I had to. Not because I wanted to.”

It was the same reason I trained key talents for the businesses.

To avoid the original story’s ending, I did everything I could, but I also had to prepare for failure.

What if the main characters of the original story failed to get married and ended up hating me?

If the original story’s ending came to pass no matter how I struggled…

I had to use the family’s power as a shield.

And I had to nurture money and people to protect myself and my family.

I could never be a better swordsman than Ludwin, nor have a higher status than Crown Prince Pedro.

I was desperate to secure a means to protect myself for the rest of my life.

“Because you had to?”

He looked as if he didn’t understand. And he probably never would.

I continued pretending not to notice.

“Yes, so it wasn’t particularly fun. But you enjoy these things, right?”

“Yes, I enjoy growing the territory with my own hands.”

“I like Dilucia, but I don’t want to risk everything to protect it like you do.”

If my life were at stake, I would easily give up something like Dilucia.

I swallowed my words and grinned.

“That’s why you’re the Vice Count. Father would agree, I’m sure.”

“But he’s never said anything like that.”

“That’s because you’re not yet of age. But haven’t you been frequently called in to discuss things with Father recently?”

“Yes.”

Only then did Tibon seem to realize what was happening.

He looked bewildered, then embarrassed, and then he asked me again

“But what about you, Sister? Don’t you feel any regret? After all the effort you put in?”

He was essentially asking if it was really okay for him to take over everything from now on.

It’s so cute that he’s worried about his older sister when he’s not even an adult yet.

“Not at all, not even a bit. These were businesses I developed expecting you to take over from the start.”

As a reward, the people around me have become richer, and I’m alive and well without having to die.

And even after giving everything away, I still had Laplace Garden and numerous royalty contracts left.

This time, Tibon looked as if he’d been hit on the back of his head.

I found his expression amusing and chuckled.

I’d always planned to run my little flower shop and live leisurely once the original story ended.

The thick flower shop operation plan I’d written bit by bit over the past 10 years was my way of encouraging myself through tough times.

Since in the Rem Empire men have the priority for title succession, I planned to use that as an excuse to dump all the businesses on Tibon.

Work until I die? No way.

So, I kept Tibon close by every time I started a new business.

Just in case I needed to pass it on at a moments notice.

And when the original story finally ended safely, I handed everything over to Tibon on the ‘Day of Liberation’.

‘Is he mad?’

I knew the workload was enormous.

Even with Tibon’s assistance, I’d worked overtime almost every day during this season.

But this year, Tibon had to manage this busy period alone, so I wondered if I’d gone too far and cautiously watched for his reaction.

Tibon was still looking into space, his face making it look like his soul had escaped.

“Hey, Tibon? Are you okay?”

I asked cautiously, trying to read his expression.

‘Is he really that shocked? It would be problematic if he backed out now.’

“Ah, yes. I’m okay, Sister.”

“You’re going back to the hospital, right?”

“Yes, I should go now.”

Tibon’s demeanor seemed a bit off. His face was red, and he looked like he was about to cry.

I touched his forehead.

“You’re not sick, are you? Your face is red. If you have a fever, I can ask Ansen for medicine…”

“No. I’m not sick. I’ll go back to work now.”

“Oh? Uh, okay. If you don’t feel well, make sure to take some medicine and don’t overdo it.”

It wasn’t exactly what someone who’d dumped a ton of work on him should say, but he acknowledged it and hurriedly left the house.

‘What’s wrong with him?’

I tilted my head in confusion and looked at Ludwin.

“Lu, do you know why he’s acting like that?”

Ludwin snorted and shook his head.

It felt like he was sighing at me, so I smiled awkwardly.

I was so caught up worrying about Tibon’s reaction that I completely forgot about the atrocities committed against Ludwin.

 

***

 

A few days later, an urgent message arrived at the Shard Palace of the Rem Empire.

An attendant entered the office carrying a silver tray with hasty steps. Inside, the Crown Prince with light blonde hair was handling state affairs with his aide.

“Your Highness, a message arrived from the Drew estate.”

The servant bowed his head in front of Pedro.

Pedro, already tense from the constant flow of bad news lately, didn’t look up and spoke to his close aide, Jade.

“Take a look at what it says.”

“Yes.”

Jade picked up the letter from the silver tray and motioned for the attendant to leave quickly.

‘It seems His Highness is in a bad mood today.’

Although he became much gentler after welcoming Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess, he still was difficult to deal with at times.

‘Still, he seemed to be in a good mood for a few days after returning from Dilucia, though.’

Sighing lightly, Jade immediately took out the letter and quickly skimmed it.

Then his expression hardened.

“Your Highness, you should read this yourself.”

“What is it?”

Pedro, without taking his eyes off the towering pile of documents, took the letter from Jade.

He skimmed through it in one go and cursed under his breath.

“Damn it.”

His handsome face crumpled in anger.

“Your Highness?”

“Some beastmen crossed the border?”

Pedro rubbed his temples looking like he was geting a headache.

Several months ago, beastmen attempted to enter the country illegally, causing several unfortunate incidents.

For a long time, there’d been no interaction with the Beastmen Kingdom. Just as humans were wary of beastmen, beastmen were also uninterested in the human world.

They simply lived amongst themselves in the mountains.

But for the past few months, beastmen had been sighted all over the continent. It wasn’t just the Rem Empire struggling with their covert activities; three other countries had already requested search cooperation.

They weren’t doing anything specific. They just roamed around.

As if they were searching for something.

“If they crossed the border two days ago, they must be quite deep inside by now.”

Pedro let out a long sigh.

“Strengthen the defenses of the Drew territory and also Naian, Ruidra, and Sham. Start the search from the border areas.”

“I’ll dispatch additional troops.”

“Regular soldiers can’t handle beastmen. Send knights.”

“But isn’t it enough for regular soldiers to handle them with special tactics since they’re only half-beast?”

Pedro’s eyebrows rose.

Few in the Rem Empire had experience with beastmen. That’s why even his close aide was making such naive comments.

He himself had only learned about them indirectly through the advice of a close friend of his, who is famous for not speaking much. It caught his attention.

‘It would be better to act cautiously.’

Pedro nodded and placed his elbows on the desk.

“It’s too dangerous to view beastmen as mere beasts. They possess both the wisdom of humans and the strength of beasts. They shouldn’t be underestimated.”

“But if we dispatch the knights, word will get out.”

“Yes, they’ll complain about sending knights against mere beasts. People who’ve only learned about war from books… Tsk, I guess they’ll come to their senses only after the knights get wiped out.”

Pedro clicked his tongue with an expression of displeasure.

Of course, that must never happen.

So, first, he persuaded Ludwin, who could never be defeated among the cards he had, and secretly dispatched him. He intended to capture one of them for interrogation.

But for some reason, Ludwin showed signs of being reluctant about the mission he was given.

‘And now he’s gone missing.’

It was already long past the time for him to return. With the Sword Master, the Empire’s treasure, missing, it was clear that if things continued like this, disturbing rumors would spread within the Empire.

Pedro, who could no longer wait quietly, sent a search party to Drew’s estate, and the results of the search arrived only today.

He hadn’t even informed Lilian of this mission. She’d found it odd that Ludwin hadn’t shown up at the wedding.

‘The Lady of Dilucia seemed unaware of his whereabouts too.’

No, the two originally avoided each other, so there was no way they would know the other’s whereabouts.

‘It feels like the Lady avoids Ludwin unilaterally, and Ludwin just avoids her because she’s reluctant. But initially, Ludwin…’

Pedro frowned for a moment, then shook his head. This wasn’t the time to think about that.

He checked the correspondence again. The letter contained one more important fact.

“Margrave Drew found Ludwin’s clothes…”