“Take my hand.”

She extended her hand toward Leon.

“Don’t… be afraid.”

Towards Leon, the holy knight who had become a monster, towards herself who had become the devil’s plaything, she once again reached out her hand.

As if she wasn’t afraid of a devil or a fallen holy knight.

“Here.”

And finally, when her cool fingers touched his gloved hand, a breath that had been held for an unbearably long time was drawn deep into Leon’s lungs.

Hah.

Leon took a deep breath, feeling an inexplicable climax.

“Are you alright?”

As Kasha closed the balcony door, the noise from the banquet hall immediately faded away.

As did the curious gazes that had been clinging to them.

Kasha never let go of Leon’s hand throughout, even while receiving those gazes. Not for a single moment.

And that was the only reason Leon had been able to maintain his sanity until now.

“How could I be?”

Leon collapsed against the balcony door, panting, and slumped down.

His physical and mental state was in such a mess that even standing was too much for him right now.

Leon growled at her.

“Run away. Quickly. You must know how dangerous I am right now.”

However, contrary to his cold tone, Leon’s hand still hadn’t let go of hers.

‘I want you.’

In truth, he desperately wanted to possess her right now.

He was going mad with the desire to take off the gloves on his hands and feel her skin with his bare hands.

He wanted to bury his nose in her pale, slender neck where her delicate pulse was beating, and breathe in her scent.

It felt like all his remaining willpower was being consumed just to keep from pouncing on her right now.

“Didn’t you hear me say to leave quickly?”

Trying to hide his agonizing inner thoughts, Leon snapped even more harshly.

Because he thought that was the only way Kasha would leave him behind.

He was truly afraid that he might forcibly violate Kasha.

Yet at the same time, the contradictory feeling of wanting to grab even just the hem of her skirt made him writhe.

Then Kasha, who had been silent all this time, lowered herself and sat on the floor, meeting his eyes as he sat slumped.

“Really?”

“…”

“Should I, really, go?”

Kasha asked in a whisper. As if she knew everything.

As if she could see right through all his conflicts and desires, she fearlessly met his eyes.

“If you really tell me to go… I’ll go. If that’s what you want.”

“…”

“But, if you need me, you can just say so. I’ll stay here.”

She said this while tightening her grip on Leon’s hand.

That small gesture reassured Leon greatly. He truly felt certain that she wouldn’t leave him behind.

Her gaze was the same too.

Not the provocative gaze from when they first met, but eyes with a quiet sadness, as if watching the pain of a long-standing bond.

Unable to meet that gaze directly, Leon squeezed his eyes shut.

His vision was still tinged with red in places, and even to himself, his appearance as he lay sprawled on the floor panting was ugly.

Yet there was no trace of disgust in her eyes.

And that very fact gradually calmed the anger that had been swelling towards people.

However, the problem was that the desire was still there.

“Kasha. Do you know… why I’m like this today?”

To his panting question, Kasha answered with a pained expression.

“It’s a seizure caused by the curse. Periodically… these seizures will come. Probably, more and more frequently.”

“I see. So I could end up in this state anytime, anywhere.”

Leon laughed bitterly.

Just now, he had almost used violence against the Crown Prince. Not just the Crown Prince, but also Marquis Anmarie, and he even felt an intense desire to sweep away all the humans there.

“Just now, I. I almost killed someone.”

Leon muttered, looking at his own hands trembling with excitement.

And Kasha quietly listened to his words.

“Even like this… do you want me to be happy?”

Trying his best to maintain a crooked sneer as he asked, Kasha responded seriously.

“Of course. I want you to be happy. More selfishly than now. More shamelessly. More naturally… I want you to demand happiness.”

At her words coming out one by one, he was at a loss for words, but Kasha rather raised her voice as if telling him to come to his senses.

“We, we can, Leon. We can be happy.”

But Leon still just stared blankly at Kasha.

The holy knight, unable to break out of his own hard shell, looked like a fallen angel in a sacred painting.

An angel forever preserved in a painting.

“Please.”

Kasha said with a choked voice, and then embraced Leon’s neck.

Because the image of the fallen holy knight wandering the ruined temple overlapped with him now.

In fact, she had wanted to embrace him then too. She wanted to hug him and confess how sorry she was for ruining him with her foolishness. She wanted to offer even her lowly flesh as a sacrifice before his pain.

Thump. Thump.

Leon’s body, which had been enduring the curse’s heat like an active volcano alone, was hot like a fireball. So much that even Kasha felt suffocated.

She found that too, so very sad and pitiful.

“It’s okay. Leon. I am.”

“…”

“No matter what form of you… it may be.”

That whisper, sounding almost like a love confession, was Kasha’s true heart.

I’ve even seen your death, you know. Isn’t once enough for such a terribly miserable and lonely death?

So you can hold me. You can release that curse, which isn’t yours, inside me.

After all, I’m the one who brought that curse into the world.

And the next moment, Kasha’s eyes widened.

“…!”

Leon, who had been limp like a doll, suddenly embraced her back.

She was trapped in his arms, hot like a burning blanket, but strangely, that bizarre heat seemed to subside gradually without tormenting her.

Leon’s flushed cheek came to rest against her cool cheek. The moment their bare skin touched, another deep sigh flowed from Leon’s chest.

Hah.

His breath, so thick and hot, tickled Kasha’s ear.

An unfamiliar sensation ran down her spine. Kasha unknowingly curled up and dropped her head onto his shoulder.

“…?”

At that moment, an unexpected scent deeply pierced Kasha’s nose.

The scent of the villain who had come to confirm her death in prison before her regression.

An intensely strong flower scent.

‘Why is that scent… coming from you?’

Kasha’s body stiffened.

Of course, she had encountered nobles who had sprayed that perfume here and there at today’s wedding, but there was no way Leon could have been close enough to them for the scent to rub off on him.

As Kasha fell into such doubts, Leon’s hot hand touched the back of her neck.

Leon, who had taken off his gloves at some point, was caressing her slender neck. Just like that day on the balcony of Duke Tyrot’s mansion when Kasha had provoked him and he had become angry.

The difference was that unlike that day, his hands now moved with strong desire directed at Kasha alone, rather than simple lust.

A moment later, a voice like a groan flowed from Leon’s lips.

“Kasha. Contract dating is still a kind of dating. So…”

“Yes?”

Kasha, suddenly coming to her senses, reflexively responded.

The next moment, Leon, who had been panting, grabbed her neck and turned her face to face him.

“I clearly warned you. To run away from me.”

Leon took a rough breath.

“So this is, half your responsibility.”

Leon’s eyes, mixed with red and purple, were staring at her just an inch away. It was an intensely hot and fierce gaze.

And the next moment, Leon, rushing in as if starved, devoured her lips.

“…!”

Kasha’s eyes widened, then shut tightly again.

His tongue, hot like a fireball, parted her lips and entered inside without hesitation.

It was clearly hot, but the moment it mixed with her body temperature, that heat turned not into pain but into an intimate pleasure.

The touch of another person’s flesh for the first time in her life was unbelievably stimulating. Everywhere Leon’s hot tongue touched, each cell awakened, arousing new sensations.

Kasha unknowingly let out a groan and tilted her head back.

And her action rather stimulated Leon intensely.

Leon embraced her strongly yet preciously, supporting the back of her neck. At the same time, he tilted his head more to push himself deeper, even deeper inside her.

Every breath she exhaled was too precious to waste. The cool temperature wrapping around his tongue was too welcome. The kiss he finally shared with her was too sweet.

The desire that had been stagnating and rotting inside him finally found an outlet and surged forth.

It was a great confusion.

The lust caused by the curse and the strong attraction he felt for Kasha mixed wildly.

Thus, his kiss was rough then tender, persistent then shy.

He approached as if to devour her, then hesitated and retreated.

The kiss continued as if about to break, and the confusion gradually subsided.

Meanwhile, Kasha, panting as she received his kiss, thought with blurred consciousness.

Is a kiss supposed to feel this good?

Or is it this good because it’s Leon?

Why is he, a fully-fledged holy knight, even so good at kissing?

She had been prepared to sacrifice herself for his pain, but this was not sacrifice at all, but rather an unimaginable kind of breathtaking pleasure.

Gasping at the explicit pleasure she was feeling for the first time, Kasha finally tried to push him away as she ran out of breath, but he didn’t budge and pressed even closer to her.

As a result, the balcony door he had been leaning on was left exposed and defenseless.

And at that moment, as if it had been waiting, the door flung open and someone stuck their face in.

“Sir Leon? Are you here…?!!!”

Hearing the familiar voice, Kasha and Leon hurriedly separated their lips and turned towards the window.

The face of the person who encountered their faces, still bearing the heat of their intense kiss, froze.