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

‘The room next to mine…’

It was empty anyways.

It was the only place I could think of where I could keep an eye on him, while still treating him like a human.

‘The next room… Ugh.’

I wanted to cry.

‘Just yesterday, I excitedly reminisced about the ending. Who would’ve thought I’d end up living with the supporting male lead.’

Despite the tears I cried inside, I had to accept my fate.

My life is precious.

“… I think it would be okay to let him use the room next door that connects to mine.”

“Oh my, you’re going to let this big dog sleep inside the house? Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”

Woof!

Ludwin, who’d been listening calmly until now, immediately howled and denied my mother’s words outright.

Shocked by his expression of opinion, I quickly defended Ludwin.

“Even though he’s big, he wouldn’t attack someone for no reason.”

“How do you know that? Didn’t you say you received him as a gift only today?”

My mother’s concerns were valid.

If I hadn’t known that this dog was Ludwin, I wouldn’t have said that.

However, the mind of a beastmen in animal-form was only slightly muddled, it wasn’t to the point where he couldn’t understand what was being said.

I knew that from experience, and now I had to prove it.

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly.

‘I really didn’t want to do this.’

However, it was a bridge that had to be crossed if I wanted to keep Ludwin, who looked like a giant dog, here for even just a day.

I leaned over to Ludwin and whispered in his ear.

“Lu, will you cooperate with me for a little while?”

I straightened up and ‘commanded’ him, keeping my voice low.

“Down.”

Ludwin’s amber gaze turned to me.

“…”

I pouted and sent him a pleading gaze.

‘Please!’

Ludwin looked at me for a while, snorted, and flopped down.

“Oh! He listens to what you say very well.”

I secretly held my breath.

This was just the beginning. I took a deep breath and cut to the chase.

“Crawl forward.”

“Go back.”

“Roll on your side.”

“Stand up.”

“Hand.”

After executing all the commands flawlessly, he finally placed his large front paw into my hand. It was quite heavy.

“Oh my! That’s amazing! He listens so well!”

“He’d be great in an acrobatic troupe!”

They were clapping their hands like this was an amusing show, but I felt like I was about to be executed at the guillotine.

I felt my face tingle as Ludwin stared at me, now covered in dirt.

I also had something I wanted to say to him.

‘This was the only way to keep you from sleeping outside in the dirt!’

Treating the blackened supporting male lead well was a matter of life or death.

I urged my family sternly.

“You see, he listens to me very well, but please don’t let anyone else come near him, in case he bites them.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Woo-woo!

I tried to smile through the howling that followed, which contained a strong denial that it wouldn’t happen.

There was going to be a supporting male lead living in the room next to me, after the ending.

‘It’s going to be a long night. Haha…’

The sky was deceivingly clear.

 

*****

 

A day four years ago.

“Are you sure it’ll be okay, Tyria?”

I was attending a banquet at the imperial palace in order to introduce the female lead to the male lead.

“It’s okay, everything’ll be fine. We’re only going to say hello today, right?”

All day long, I’d been gently comforting Lilian who was pale and trembling.

“What if he gets angry because someone like me said hello?”

Lilian had spent three years in our home and two years at the Biod residence, but her self-esteem was still low.

I spoke in a sly manner as I wrapped my arm around her waist.

“If the Lady of house Biod can’t say hello to the royal family, I guess we’ll just have to go home.”

“Well, that’s not what I meant.”

Lilian cried at my joke.

“Don’t worry, His Highness the Crown Prince may be a bit of a jerk, but he’s not a scumbag who treats ladies badly.”

“That’s very kind of you to say, Lady Dilucia.”

Just then, Pedro appeared from the far side of the hallway where the high-ranking nobles were coming and going, gorgeously dressed in white attire.

“Ah! Pedro… No, Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”

He turned to me and smiled, one corner of his mouth quirking up.

“Why are you being so polite? Aren’t you the one who pointed your finger at me first?”

“This is the imperial palace. I value my life.”

“I didn’t know you had such common sense.”

The crown prince, who was arguing with me as usual, flinched when he saw Lilian standing next to me.

When I followed his gaze and turned around, I saw Lilian sneaking a glance at Pedro with watery eyes.

At the look in her eyes, Pedro stiffened as if he’d been struck by lightning, and the back of his neck and ears instantly turned bright red.

‘Oh, he can show reactions like that too.’

I felt stupid for having spent years debating whether or not I should introduce him to Lilian, since he was so bossy when we first met.

I smiled happily as I watched the male lead react to the female lead, just as he had in the original.

‘Well, after all I’ve been through, I deserve a little fun too.’

After a while, Pedro seemed to have finally regained his composure and spoke with difficulty.

“… Lady Dilucia, who is the lady next to you?”

I smiled, placing my hand on Lilian’s shoulder, nudging her forward.

“I apologize for the delayed introduction, but this is the daughter of Marquis Biod, Lilian Biod. She grew up like a sister to me, so please look upon her kindly.”

Normally, I would never say something like that because it creeped me out, but today, just for Lilian’s sake, I’d suck it up.

Pedro averted his gaze and forced his voice to sound casual.

“Hmph, I see. Let’s go inside, the banquet is about to begin.”

“Your Highness, actually we don’t have partners. If it is okay with you, may I ask Your Highness to be Lili’s partner?”

Pedro flinched and glared at me.

“…This was your aim.”

I shrugged smugly.

“Well, consider this as settling old scores.”

A lady wasn’t supposed to attend a banquet without a partner, but here I was, at an imperial banquet without a partner. It was a ridiculous rule in the first place.

“Huh, guess it can’t be helped.”

He said the line with a very pleased expression on his face.

Pedro looked uncharacteristically shy and held out his arm.

“I’ll take good care of you today, Lady Biod.”

“It is an honor, Your Highness.”

Lilian wiped the moisture from her eyes and smiled brightly as she shyly placed her hand on Pedro’s arm.

There seemed to be a pink current flowing between them already.

‘Ha, good. Please, please, keep this up until you get married. If that happens, I’ll have nothing else to wish for.’

I watched with a twinkle in my eye as their romance began.

Pedro, who was just about to enter the venue, turned and said something to me as if he’d just remembered.

“My lady, you probably don’t have a partner either.”

“What? Oh, I’m fine. I was just…”

I was about to say, ‘I was just planning to watch you two together and then eat something delicious,’ but thought it might not be appropriate.

“Well, it’s a good thing my best friend is also here today.”

‘Friend?’

I was stunned.

In the original story, Pedro didn’t get close to anyone except his close associates.

It wasn’t until after he fell in love with Lilian that he began to change.

‘Who is it? I haven’t heard anything from Jeffrey either.’

“That guy can be the lady’s partner.”

It wasn’t a very pleasant suggestion, especially since introducing Lilian to the crown prince had been keeping me on edge lately.

“Ah, right on time.”

‘Well, I’ll just hang out for a while and then go home and rest…’

After deciding that, I raised my head and froze the moment I saw who it was.

A man in a black suit with delicate gold embroidery appeared from around the corner.

The man was slightly thin, but well-proportioned, and had a neat gait.

His obsidian black hair was neatly slicked back from his face, and his amber eyes narrowed as if he were uncomfortable in his attire.

“Let me introduce you, this is Ludwin, heir to the  Rivolte Dukedom…”

The moment Pedro introduced us, I made eye contact with him.

“Uh…”

I took a step back.

“Tyria?”

“… Ahhh!”

I screamed and ran away.

 

*****

 

“Aaaah!”

I shot up, gasping as I clutched the blanket with both hands.

‘What was that? A dream?’

I was so startled that I broke out in a cold sweat and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest.

I looked around and saw that I was in my room, the same room I’ve been using for the last 10 years.

My tension eased when I realized that this wasn’t the imperial palace banquet hall.

“Hah.”

My head fell back onto the pillow.

‘I thought I’d gone back to 4 years ago.’

I breathed a deep sigh of relief as I remembered that the main characters had already gotten married a while ago.

I’d already seen the ending.

‘Ugh. That was the scariest dream I’ve had in a while.’

I scrambled out of bed, pulled on my robe, and poured myself a glass of water out of habit.

‘I didn’t know that Ludwin would become one of the male lead’s close associates.’

In the original, one was a non-believer and the other a social misfit.

The latter even killed me in the original.

So, after I helped him when I was younger, I’d been running away from him like hell for six years, trying to avoid him. I never thought he would show up then.

I was genuinely shocked, so I screamed in his face and ran away.

It was embarrassing even just thinking about what happened back then. I pouted and sipped my water.

‘Now that I’m going to be busy at the flower shop, there’s no need to get involved again…’

“… Okay, Lu!”

“Huh?”

There was a sudden commotion in the room next door, and the door slammed open.

At the same time, something black jumped in.

“Ugh!”

I was startled and loosened my grip on the glass of water I’d just been drinking.

The glass cup fell and water spilled all over the carpet.

Ahh!

A dark mass rushed right up in front of me and halted.

“Why is there a dog in the house…”

I muttered, dumbfounded.

Suddenly, I remembered vividly what’d happened yesterday.

The large pink box found in the backyard of the flower shop and the huge dog popping out of it.

“…Hah.”

When I realized that the black dog in front of me was none other than Ludwin, I instantly came back to my senses.

I wanted to put my hands on my cheeks and scream. No, I actually did.

“Aaaah!”

Receiving the supporting male lead as a gift yesterday wasn’t a part of the dream!