Leon strained his neck and reached over the armrest of the chair to the side table. He fumbled inside the drawer and quickly pulled out a cigar.

Then, with hasty movements, he cut the end and put it in his mouth.

Hiss.

As he lit the match, he brought the flame to the end of the cigar and took a deep draw. His violet eyes, reflected in the matchlight, were as dark as a deep cave.

Kasha felt guilt tightening around her heart.

She was certainly responsible for this man’s misfortune.

‘I will definitely uncover the truth behind all of this. Then, you’ll be free from that pain.’

Inhale.

As he deeply inhaled the smoke, there was a crackling sound as the end of the cigar burned.

As the smoke filled his stomach, he seemed to relax a little, blinking languidly.

This decadent behavior, so at odds with his title of Holy Knight, suited him perfectly.

After exhaling a long stream of smoke, Leon rubbed his forehead and continued speaking.

“If you went to my father’s political rival and even hinted at his weakness, you could get whatever you want. Yet you came to me. What exactly do you want from me, Kasha Lyuschino?”

Inhaling the heavy scent of cigar that filled the study, Kasha opened her mouth.

“You.”

“…?”

With the cigar in his mouth, Leon tilted his head. His still-damp platinum blonde hair fell across his forehead.

“What did you just say?”

“I want you, Leon Miloyonif Aranias.”

His smooth brow furrowed.

“What nonsense is that?”

“I want… to have a contract relationship with you.”

“Contract… relationship?”

As if he had heard something absurd, he exhaled smoke in a mocking laugh.

Watching his strangely seductive gesture, Kasha calmly replied.

“Just as it sounds, a relationship formed by contract… based on mutual needs.”

“Mutual needs, huh.”

“I can… help you break free from the curse.”

“How?”

“There must be… a medium for the curse around you. We just need to find it.”

“Ah. You said the same thing at the ball. But is it really that simple?”

“I have… a way.”

“…Alright. And what do you get in return?”

“I… need someone to play the role of a lover right now. Someone who can act as a shield… to prevent someone from approaching me. Someone strong, with power…”

Kasha locked eyes with Leon.

“Someone so charming… that no one would question why I fell for him.”

Ha.

Leon let out a mocking laugh. Then he took another deep draw on his cigar, looking into Kasha’s serious eyes.

“Who is this ‘someone’?”

“……”

“The one you’re trying to block. The one who threatens you so much that you need me as a dangerous shield. Who is it?”

Kasha blinked.

“…You’ll find out, eventually.”

Leon smirked.

“You have too many secrets. For someone proposing a deal.”

Kasha hurriedly added.

“This relationship won’t be bad for you either.”

“How so?”

Leon asked, exhaling smoke.

Kasha pondered for a moment.

Objectively speaking, he, the empire’s most eligible bachelor, would never be a suitable match for someone like Kasha Lyuschino.

‘But… if things continue like this, you’ll soon…’

Kasha hesitated, then spoke again.

“Leon. Are you going to marry… Lady Odette?”

As if hearing an unexpected question, he removed the cigar from his mouth.

“…What kind of nonsense is that?”

“Grand Duke Osilote must already be… pushing for a marriage alliance with the Tyrot ducal family.”

Leon’s handsome brow furrowed.

“…I’m curious how you know and mention a marriage arrangement that even I don’t know about.”

Well, because you told me yourself.

Kasha lowered her eyes.

Before the regression, in the ruined sanctuary, he had briefly mentioned his unhappy marriage.

Although it was a short confession, as if he hated to even remember it, the things he told her were cruel and terrible.

Kasha had disliked Odette before, but after hearing Leon’s story, she came to hate her even more fiercely and freely.

‘You really do get involved with terrible women.’

With that bitter self-mockery, Kasha replied.

“Surely you must have… noticed something, Leon.”

At this unexpected observation, Leon hesitated for a moment.

In fact, since he was nineteen, his father had constantly tried to push for his marriage.

He was now twenty-four. If anything, it was a bit late, so his father’s actions weren’t excessive. And it was true that his father had mentioned the Tyrot ducal family to him several times recently.

Certainly, the Tyrot ducal family would be an unbeatable choice. Considering his father’s recent position in the imperial court, it was understandable why his father was rushing this marriage.

‘But Lady Tyrot is…’

Leon took a deep draw on his cigar.

He remembered. The last ball at the Tyrot ducal residence that he had attended, unable to refuse his father’s insistence.

There, he had met this woman called Kasha.

He remembered Lady Tyrot confronting her. And also…

‘She was a woman with an unbearably terrible smell.’

Most of the people gathered there were like that, but Odette was especially bad.

After talking with Kasha, his symptoms worsened, and as he hurried to leave the hall, the princess had approached him with a bright smile.

Her urgent gesture to hold him back.

But the intense stench coming from her made his nausea worse, and unable to bear it, he quickly fled.

A terrible sewer smell.

He clearly remembered those blue eyes, glittering with humiliation and anger at the moment he hastily bid farewell. That arrogant and twisted expression that gave him an unpleasantly ominous feeling.

As if waking him from his reverie, Kasha said,

“If you’re not particularly fond of the princess… you could delay that marriage arrangement… with our contract relationship.”

“……”

“If ever a lady you fancy appears… we can terminate the contract at any time. Of course, under agreed-upon procedures.”

Leon quietly pondered her request.

So, in exchange for breaking the curse of lust placed on him, she wants to enter into a contract relationship.

After being lost in thought, he finally raised his head.

“Is that really all? I feel the scales are not balanced.”

Breaking a curse that threatened Leon himself and his family’s fate in exchange for becoming a fake lover was, by anyone’s standards, an uneven condition.

Kasha opened her mouth as if she had been waiting for this.

“There is… one more thing I want.”

“What is it?”

“I’m researching a way to… power magical tools with holy power. I’d like you to help me with that research.”

Whoosh.

As he listened to her words, he exhaled smoke.

The acrid smoke made Kasha’s throat increasingly sore.

Cough.

A cough escaped her involuntarily.

Hearing this, Leon stared at her blankly, then suddenly stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray.

Then, with a self-deprecating smile twisting his lips, he said,

“I really don’t understand. What you’re thinking.”

“……”

“But you know what? Will you really be alright?”

“What do you mean?”

Suddenly, he let out a deep sigh. Then he slowly rose from his seat.

Kasha also stood up awkwardly at the same time.

He blinked slowly at Kasha who had risen.

Then, with that dark and intense gaze, he slowly looked her up and down.

From head to toe.

Kasha felt his gaze slowly scanning her exposed earlobe, pointed chin, the chest revealed by the round neckline, her slender arms, and the figure hidden beneath her dress.

She felt like a gazelle before a lion, but she didn’t feel fear.

She already knew.

No matter how extreme the situation, he would never forcibly violate her.

He was a man who didn’t succumb to the curse even in the ruins at the end of the world, where there was no one but them.

A man so stupidly upright to his bones that he didn’t know how to act selfishly.

Leon looked down at her bold gaze as if amused. Then he slowly opened his mouth.

“You just said you want to become the lover of a person cursed with lust. Do you know what that means?”

Kasha closed her mouth.

He was asking now if she dared to walk willingly into the tiger’s mouth.

His threatening gaze seemed to take her breath away.

Kasha hesitated for a moment, but soon made up her mind.

“That’s one of the reasons… why you need this contract.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Any desire… can’t be resolved by just suppressing it.”

“So?”

“Like this.”

In that moment, without warning, Kasha reached out and grabbed Leon’s hand.

It was as bold a move as at the ball.

Leon was startled and tried to pull his hand away, but Kasha didn’t let go.

“I’ll… help you bear your curse.”

Leon’s eyes swelled as if he might burst into anger at any moment.

As if he would coldly criticize her impertinent statement and shake off her hand immediately.

However, very slowly, his sharp gaze began to soften.

His tightly closed lips and tense jawline, as if refusing to admit something, trembled with confusion.

The strong and noble man, as if molded by God’s hands, was crumbling in her hands.

He was like a beast caught in a snare.

Held by a wrist so slender it seemed it might break if touched, he was at a loss.

Watching his change, Kasha whispered.

“I know… that you’ve been lonely.”