How to Survive as a Supporting Male Lead

But he hadn’t intended to go with Yuhwa. He wasn’t foolish enough to bring her along to the enemy’s stronghold. Yes. For Yuhwa’s sake, he could give up that meager reward—or rather, the chance to bother Kallian—while crying just a little bit.

“No, it’s not that. I just… since we’ve come all this way, I thought it would be nice to look around the Duke’s residence. And besides, the Duke did invite us.”

“What?”

Iann’s eyes widened in surprise. Kallian, that cleaning maniac, that germophobe who would hiss like a cat if anyone so much as touched his space, had invited Yuhwa?

Even Iann, who had always barged into Kallian’s house unannounced, was only now receiving his first formal invitation, using the excuse of a reward. And yet Kallian had invited Yuhwa, whom he had met only twice, directly to his house. It was beyond strange—it was almost fascinating.

Something was definitely off.

Leaning back slightly, Iann whispered to Derrick.

“What’s going on? Did something happen between Yuhwa and Kallian?”

“They talked for a moment. It didn’t even last a minute.”

“Huh.”

Exactly how far did the power of love reach? As a mere mortal, Iann decided to just give up trying to understand such a force.

“Well, fine. Let’s go…”

The power of love—if that’s what was behind Yuhwa’s desire to see Kallian, then it couldn’t be helped. He had already decided to support her wholeheartedly. Iann raised the white flag.

“Wow! Thank you so much!”

“Alright, I’ll send word ahead.”

Yuhwa beamed brightly. Derrick used the communication stone that Kallian had left behind to contact the ducal residence. Iann, feeling uncomfortably like he was only making things easier for Kallian, spoke up cautiously. Since they had decided to go to Kallian’s residence together, it was better to confirm it properly.

“Yuhwa, if you ever find someone you like, just tell me right away. I’ll back you up completely.”

“Huh? No, there’s no one.”

“Is it Kallian?”

“No, there’s really no one.”

“Mm-hm, alright. But next time, you should tell me.”

“I’m telling you, there’s no one. It’s just…”

Yuhwa hastily denied it, startled by the sudden truth game. But in K-romance fantasy stories, it was practically a rule that the female lead would vehemently deny any involvement with the male lead at first. It was practically an admission of how much he occupied her thoughts.

Iann offered her a kindly smile and gave her shoulder a comforting pat, an unspoken promise to the female lead who would later end up contradicting her own words.

Yuhwa let out a small sigh. She wanted to come clean about her conversation with Kallian right then and there, but the look in Iann’s eyes said he wouldn’t believe her anyway. Why were all the handsome men in this world so impossibly strange? Watching both Kallian and Iann, Yuhwa began to lose all faith in good-looking people and shook her head.

* * *

“We’ve been expecting you.”

The household staff and servants greeted them as they entered Kallian’s ducal estate. This was Iann’s first time entering through the front gate, and he stood there awkwardly, a little unsure. Some of the servants caught his eye and nodded subtly—these were the ones who had occasionally lent him tiny bits of help in his schemes against Kallian. Iann returned the greeting with a quick wink.

“His Grace will be finishing work late today. Would you like something to eat?”

Though the bright light of the White Nights poured through the windows, it was already late in the evening. As the de facto leader of the group, Iann shook his head.

“No, we already ate. It’s fine.”

“Understood. Then I’ll show you to your rooms.”

“Ah, wait a minute.”

“Yes?”

“Give me the room closest to Kallian’s.”

Iann’s request was unexpected, but it was granted without fuss. The room he was shown to was also much nicer than he’d anticipated. Receiving such unexpectedly good hospitality made Iann feel uncomfortable.

Stretched out on the bed in his assigned room, Iann fell into thought—it was inevitable.

“That bastard Kallian… what’s he up to?”

He had just decided, a moment ago, to chalk it all up to the power of love and let it slide. But actually experiencing Kallian’s hospitality in person was strange. It felt like finally meeting a cat you’d only ever imagined in your nightmares. The feeling of reality was very different from vague thoughts.

“I mean, even if it’s a romance novel, is it really possible to fall in love with someone you’ve only met twice?”

Iann wasn’t much of a novel reader. And as for romance fantasies? Complete novice. The only reason he knew any of the terms or tropes was thanks to memes his friends had sent him in his past life and his drama-obsessed family.