The Darkened Second Male Lead Seeks to Rewrite the Original Storyline

In the grand hall with a blue carpet spread across the floor, there was a long dining table, just like something seen in dramas. At the far end of the table, Ria began her meal.

At the opposite end sat Duke Cablik. It was the first time she had eaten with her family. Ria often ate lunch and dinner at school, and Duke Cablik usually had breakfast in his office.

Today, the Duke had arranged the meal specifically to dine with her.

Ria awkwardly moved her body. Setting aside the fact that she was uncomfortable with the idea of having a father figure, this man was someone she had only met a few days ago.

The sounds of servants bringing food and the clattering of utensils were the only things breaking the silence in the hall.

Breaking the quiet, Duke Cablik spoke.

“Child, is it true that you’ve decided to go back to school?”

“Ah…”

Ria let out a small exhale. So many things had happened, she had forgotten to tell the Duke.

“Yes, that’s right. Actually… Zen tore up my resignation letter. I’m sorry for not telling you earlier.”

In truth, Ria was grateful to Zen. If he hadn’t interfered, she might have already resigned, faded out of existence, and disappeared from the story.

But, in front of the Duke, she pretended to be dissatisfied.

“Zen? Prince Zen, you mean?”

Duke Cablik’s eyes widened. His graying hair seemed to shake with his surprise.

“Yes.”

“Are you getting along with Prince Zen?”

The Duke asked with a somewhat worried expression. It made sense. From what Ria knew, in the original story, she and Zen didn’t have a particularly good relationship.

Of course, it was better than with Siklaen or Darren, but it would be hard to call them particularly close.

“Getting along? Well… not exactly…”

Ria couldn’t tell him that Zen had proposed marriage or offered her the position of empress.

“It’s just… not bad.”

In the end, Ria awkwardly evaded the question and smiled. Duke Cablik nodded slowly, as if pondering.

“I’ve heard from the butler that you’ve become very calm these days. Ah, of course, I liked the lively you as well…”

‘Lively…’ If he meant that as praise, it was an extremely generous assessment considering the wildness and chaos she had caused before transmigrating. Ria forced a smile.

“Has something happened?” he asked.

“What?”

“Is someone bullying you at school? Is that why you’ve become so calm?”

The Duke seemed genuinely concerned that Ria, usually lively, had become subdued. Ria swallowed the words she wanted to say. It was her who had been bullying others, but she kept that thought to herself.

“No, it’s just…”

She rolled her eyes, thinking of an excuse.

“Magic!”

“Magic?”

“Magic class… it’s really fun. We started learning it in ninth grade, and it seems to suit me. As I focused, it calmed me down, I guess?”

Half of it was an excuse, but it was also partly true. Still smiling awkwardly, Ria caught the Duke’s satisfied expression.

“I see. I knew you’d be good at something like that.”

‘Hedgehog…’ After that, the Duke’s compliments kept coming, and Ria just laughed, empty and hollow.

The awkward meal finally ended. Ria went up to her room to prepare for school. Isabel was following her and attending to her needs.

“This, this, this too.”

Books piled up one by one on Isabel’s arms.

“Miss, are you really going to read all of this?”

“Of course!”

“Do you really enjoy the magic lessons that much?”

Isabel looked slightly exasperated. Ria just smiled without answering.

After a few days of theory study, Ria began to stand out in her practical magic lessons. Basic spells like levitating objects or starting a fire were easy for her, and she found them strangely fun, like dreaming.

‘If I had taken a test like this, I would have gotten much better scores.’

And magic was also her safety net. If she ever had to leave the Duke’s household, magic would certainly come in handy. With the original story so twisted and everything happening differently, it was better to have some way of protecting herself.

‘I can use it to protect myself and even earn money.’

She was confident that her ability to survive in any situation would never be outmatched.

As Isabel finished sorting through the books, she asked,

“Should I go ahead and reserve the library for you, to match the end of your class today?”

After a brief hesitation, Ria replied,

“No, today I have something else to do after class.”

“So, what about these books?”

“Mm, I’ll read them during break.”

When Isabel saw Ria’s cheerful smile, she made another weary expression.

“Ah!”

In the hallway of the Royal Academy, Ria stumbled and shouted. Someone had roughly bumped into her shoulder, causing the books she was carrying to fall to the ground.

Yet, the person who passed by didn’t even offer an apology.

“Hey—”

Ria was about to get angry, but then she thought that perhaps this was all because of her own presence. If it was because she hadn’t been noticed, she couldn’t get mad.

Ria sat down with a resigned sigh, slowly picking up the books that had fallen.

‘I should have asked Isabel to come with me.’

It seemed that the concept of “presence” only applied when someone was seeing Ria for the first time. If they were sitting across from her and engaging in conversation, their awareness of her would keep her presence intact.

So, if Isabel were around, Ria could continue to interact and maintain her presence.

Ria shook her head. Such temporary methods wouldn’t last long. To truly maintain her presence, she needed to fulfill her role.

Just then, someone knelt down opposite her and began picking up the books with her.

“Hm?”

Looking up, Ria saw a warm brown scalp.

“Siklaen?”

Siklaen quickly lifted her head and looked at Ria with wide, surprised eyes.

‘No way…’

“R-Ria?”

Ria sighed softly. It seemed that Siklaen hadn’t recognized her and decided to help just because someone had dropped their books. For Siklaen, it was simply the natural thing to do. She was always kind, even to extras.

Ria glanced down at her own hands and tightly clenched them. Then, she quickly stood up, snatching the books from Siklaen’s hands.

“I’ll carry them. Thanks.”

“Ah…”

Siklaen’s face turned bright red with embarrassment. Ria looked down at her with a puzzled expression.

“I… It’s the first time you’ve said thank you to me.”

Ria barely stopped herself from letting out a groan. Siklaen was so innocently sweet, and cute. Even when she was blushing with embarrassment, she looked beautiful and adorable.

Is this what a protagonist is like? Ria’s thoughts turned bitter.

“Ria?”

As Ria was staring blankly, Siklaen tilted her head.

Her messy hair tumbled over her face, and Siklaen pushed it behind her ear, looking slightly inconvenienced. Her long lashes were so thick that a butterfly could have landed on them.

The entire scene was so cute and beautiful that Ria had to resist the urge to reach out and touch her.

Ria quickly snapped herself out of it. She was dizzy from Siklaen’s cuteness, but now was not the time to act like a fool.

“Uhm, Siklaen.”

“Yes?”

“Do you have time right now?”

Siklaen’s eyes widened again, and she clapped her hands together in excitement.

“Of course!”

After class, the thing Ria had planned to do was none other than have tea with Siklaen.

The reason Ria had asked Siklaen to drink tea was simple.

‘I need to apologize.’

No matter how much it was to protect Siklaen, she had spent over a week picking fights with her, bullying her, and even attempting to slap her. Of course, Ria had to take responsibility for the actions of the former Ria before she had transmigrated.

Originally, Ria had planned to leave the school, but now that was impossible. At the very least, she wanted to offer a sincere apology. She believed that no one could understand Siklaen’s heart better than she did.

‘But no matter how I apologize, it won’t be easy for her to accept. No, if she accepts it too easily, that would be the problem.’

If Siklaen, in her foolishly kind nature, accepted it without question, it would be no different from Ria offering an apology just to ease her own conscience. That was not what Ria wanted.

Ultimately, she wanted to truly be friends with Siklaen, just like when they were children. But that could only happen if Siklaen allowed it.

Today was the starting point of it all.

“Lady Ria, it’s an honor to be invited.”

If it weren’t for the Ebons sitting at the same table, Ria would have been able to enjoy the moment.

She glared at the Ebons across the table, particularly at Ernie. Everything had gone wrong because of the kind-hearted Siklaen.

As Siklaen happily accepted the invitation for tea and they made their way to the school garden, in that short amount of time, they ran into the Ebons in the playground and hallway.

Siklaen, with her usual bright smile, invited them to join for tea.

“Ha…”

Ria quietly sighed. After being treated with such disdain earlier, she couldn’t understand why Siklaen would invite Ernie now. Of course, Ria admired and liked Siklaen for her kind nature.

‘But I don’t understand either.’

It made sense for Byron to be here, since he was likely the new secondary male lead and had come to see Siklaen. But Ernie’s acceptance of the invitation was baffling.

She clearly remembered what Ernie had done to Siklaen, especially when he had suggested holding her hand. There was no way his feelings had changed.

‘He must have some ulterior motive. He probably plans to humiliate Siklaen in some way.’

Yet Ernie wore a false, charming smile, as if he had never tormented her. His hand lifted the teacup with an elegance that seemed almost too polished.

“It’s nice to have tea in the garden after such a long time.”

“…Right.”

‘It’s almost time to confront him. Is he pretending to be nice in front of his brother?’ Ria kept a sharp eye on Ernie, never letting her guard down. At that moment, as if he had read her mind, Ernie spoke.

“By the way, you two seem… to get along well. I thought, based on your talk of ‘rank’ earlier, that you were someone who would care about such things.”