“What do you mean?”

Leon asked with a puzzled expression. Kasha observed him and said.

“Recently, do you not feel that… your lust has become stronger than before, or harder to control?”

“That’s.”

Leon was momentarily speechless, taken aback.

Hearing a sudden mention of the curse while lost in troubled thoughts left him perplexed.

“Well. I’m not really sure.”

He ended up evading the question reflexively.

The dreams that kept him awake at night had been getting worse lately.

Since the curse of lust began, he often had nightmares – dreams so filled with flesh that just recalling them brought shame.

Most men would enjoy such dreams and forget them, but the problem was that his dreams often started with flesh and ended in a feast of red.

Himself, mad with lust, desiring a faceless someone, sucking and savoring their skin, engaging in frenzied lovemaking, and finally biting and drinking their blood, becoming a laughing demon.

As if this dream was his own future, he would startle awake even within the dream.

After having such dreams, going to work at the temple or Holy Knights Order and being revered as a ‘Holy Knight’ while pretending to be sacred filled him with self-loathing to the point of nausea.

Moreover, recently, even more troublingly, the partner in his dreams began to show their face at times.

That protagonist was none other than Kasha. The very woman blinking defensively before his eyes right now.

In the dreams, she was always as aggressive as when they first met, approaching him in provocative attire and expressions unseen in real life.

Though he would startle awake before the bloody feast began, as if censoring himself out of conscience, the dream’s content was still too obscene to speak of.

Just last night was like that.

The dream started with the announcement of the hunting competition winner. Kasha knelt before him saying she would court him, and abruptly took his hand, pressing her lips firmly to the back of it.

The sensation of those small lips that always captivated his gaze touching his skin was overwhelmingly intense.

Though clearly just a dream, not reality, how could it be so vivid and stimulating?

But there was one thing different from his usual nightmares.

His heart pounding so fiercely it seemed something must be wrong.

The blood flow began from his heart, not below, spreading throughout his body.

While he was dazed by the unfamiliar sensation, Kasha looked up at him with those deep pink eyes that seemed to draw him in.

Her gaze looking up at him from below was stimulating enough, but now her lips began to climb up the back of his hand.

Leon was already moaning. Being a dream, he could see his own state clearly – even his eyes had turned red, perhaps due to the curse.

Kasha, heedless of his repulsive appearance, kissed his arm and pulled his body down to her level.

When he finally sat facing her, unable to resist, she slowly opened her mouth. The warm, soft scarlet tongue inside stole his gaze seductively.

‘Kasha.’

At last unable to hold back any longer, he leaned towards her lips…

“Leon?”

Leon startled at the sound of Kasha calling his name.

The woman who looked just like the temptress from his unwittingly recalled dream was staring at him with round eyes.

Her lips, having just pronounced his name, were puckered and protruding.

Just like when she kissed his hand in last night’s dream.

Suddenly heat surged through his whole body. His ears burned hot with embarrassment and shame. He stood up abruptly, at a loss.

“You seem fine, I’ll be going now.”

“Leon! Wait.”

Kasha reached out her hand as if surprised, trying to stop him.

But just before her white hand could grasp him, he flinched and pulled his hand away.

Even though he was wearing gloves, he felt that just touching her hand would reveal his shameful dream.

When he rather forcefully avoided her touch, Kasha withdrew her hand with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“I’m sorry.”

Leon watched her retreating hand with a pained expression.

In truth, he desperately wanted to hold her hand. He wanted to nuzzle and kiss that hand, to quell the terrible heat raging inside him.

If only he could, he felt he could throw away everything he had and kneel before her, begging to do anything.

‘I’ve gone mad. Completely insane.’

As he struggled with self-loathing, Kasha, having regained her usual indifference, spoke.

“Please, sit down for a moment. I have something to say.”

Though he wanted to dash out of there immediately due to the shame of the scenes occupying his mind and his crazed desire, her calm gaze subdued his impulse. In the end, he sat back down without much resistance.

“What is it you want to say?”

Ignoring his somewhat brusque tone, Kasha continued.

“Thank you for… fulfilling the contract well.”

She was likely referring to him accepting her courtship at the hunting competition and even courting her in return.

But Leon didn’t respond, thinking it odd to specifically refer to that as a ‘contract’.

And Kasha continued speaking regardless.

“So now, how about… fulfilling the detailed terms of the contract?”

“Detailed terms?”

“We must break the curse. By finding… the curse’s medium.”

Kasha’s eyes shone earnestly in her gaunt face.

“As soon as possible.”

This was something Leon agreed with. He was actually feeling the curse’s power growing stronger.

“That’s true. Then first, the space you want to check is.”

“Your bedroom.”

The word ‘bedroom’ uttered without the slightest hesitation made Leon tense up instead.

“…I see.”

“To maintain the curse’s effect… the medium must be nearby. Your bedroom, and the knights’ quarters… are probably where you spend most of your time during the day… We must definitely examine those places.”

He only spent 2-3 hours a day in his office at the knights’ quarters, mostly going between the training grounds and such for various duties, so the bedroom was indeed the most likely place.

‘It’s just that having you enter there is incredibly unsettling.’

Leon muttered inwardly, then fell silent in thought for a moment before speaking.

“That’s true, but actually, after you mentioned that fact before, I examined my bedroom closely myself. But there was nothing particularly noticeable.”

However, Kasha was adamant.

“There’s a high chance… it’s hidden somewhere unexpected. I really want… to look myself. If that’s alright.”

Her gaze was desperate and unyielding. He found it difficult to refuse any further.

“But… it will be difficult for about a week from now.”

Kasha’s expression clouded at those words.

“Why?”

“At the end of June, exactly two days from now, my father will be calling our family’s retainers for a meeting lasting three or four days. The mansion has been busy with preparations since yesterday. Considering the banquet to be held after the meeting, there won’t be room to welcome guests to the mansion for about a week.”

Hearing his words, Kasha’s expression darkened further. She seemed to be wrestling with some serious, unspoken worry. After a moment, she glanced at him and asked in a small voice.

“What if I sneak in?”

“Sneak in?”

“Through the servants’ back door… even in the middle of the night, I’m fine with that. Really.”

But Leon jumped at those words.

“The bedroom in the middle of the night… absolutely not.”

Kasha had spent a few nights with him before the regression. So she knew well that the curse of lust was especially fierce at night. So she couldn’t insist further and just sighed.

Lost in thought for a moment, she spoke again.

“The Crown Prince’s wedding… is in a week, right?”

“I believe… that’s the case.”

Leon furrowed his brow at the unexpected topic.

Crown Prince Nigel, who had gone on a diplomatic tour, would soon return. As soon as he returned, his postponed wedding to Princess Jasmine was to be held.

Nigel’s return, having formally ascended to the position of Crown Prince last year, was stirring up the entire capital. He was a universally beloved Crown Prince who was calming the political situation of neighboring countries through diplomacy alone, without war.

Suddenly recalling Nigel’s bright smile, Leon’s expression turned uncomfortable. It was a small mercy that the mindlessly burning lust also cooled.

Watching Leon’s change in expression, Kasha spoke again.

“Leon. Perhaps, on the day of the wedding… could you delay attending by making an excuse of being unwell? Or create some other schedule?”

“Are you telling me to not attend the Crown Prince’s wedding?”

“Yes.”

Kasha nodded seriously, and Leon shook his head in response.

“That’s not possible. As you know, the Crown Prince is my cousin, and his current position in the Empire is absolute. If I miss his wedding without good reason, it will cause unnecessary rumors. It would also put the Holy Knights Order in a difficult position.”

Moreover, considering Grand Duke Osilote’s current situation, Leon had to absolutely avoid any actions that would displease the Emperor or Crown Prince.

“But…”

Kasha hesitated, uncharacteristically. Leon asked, puzzled.

“Why are you saying such things?”

“Just… if your condition worsens… in front of so many people… it would be troublesome, wouldn’t it?”

“My condition worsens? Are you worried I might go into heat in front of all those people?”

But Kasha didn’t deny Leon’s words, spoken as if in disbelief. Rather, she stared at him as if agreeing with what he said.

Leon was dumbfounded, and at the same time, grew a little anxious with the paranoid thought that perhaps Kasha had noticed his filthy desires.

“Do you think I’m such a mess of a person that I can’t control myself in public?”

“That’s not it.”

“If it was that bad, I wouldn’t have been able to live as a Holy Knight in the first place.”

“Leon.”

“Just what do you take me for?”

His words came out unnecessarily sharp, as he himself had misgivings.

Leon barely reined in his emotions and spoke again.

“Kasha. Is there a particular reason you’re worried about that day?”

“That’s.”

“Do you know something? Is there something you haven’t told me yet?”

Leon asked again. But Kasha once more failed to give a clear answer.

“Just… it’s been almost a year since you were exposed to the curse of the magic stone, so the symptoms might be getting worse…”

Leon sensed something ominous in her hesitant expression, but Kasha didn’t give him a chance to respond.

“For now, be careful. And… if you feel it’s dangerous, come find me right away.”

“If I come find you?”

Listening to her words, Leon suddenly smiled self-deprecatingly.

“That,”

“Are you a fool?”

“What…?”

“Don’t you know that if I really lose control, you’ll be in the most danger?”