As always, Leon was wearing gloves, but Kasha’s eyes widened at the unexpected contact.

“It’s alright. You may open it.”

Leon’s voice resonated low near Kasha’s ear.

“But it’s an empty box, so there’s not much to see. Long ago, when I received it from my mother, I got the box and ring separately, and since then I’ve kept the ring elsewhere.”

Leon’s hand lingered on Kasha’s for a moment longer before pulling away.

Only then did Kasha calm herself and open the box.

“…!”

Kasha’s eyes gleamed as she checked inside the box.

Leon, who had been captivated by Kasha’s face all along, finally noticed something strange and looked down at the box. His face soon filled with bewilderment.

“What is this.”

Inside the box, as if mocking him, was a translucent object with a soft pink hue.

Like solidified jelly, it caught the eye as it pulsed with a faint light, seeming almost alive.

“Could this be?”

Hearing Leon’s tense voice, Kasha bit her lip gently.

‘I’ve found it, at last.’

The first magic stone, Onor’s curse.

It was the medium of the curse separated from the magic stone that bestowed tremendous charm and fame in exchange for the curse of lust.

Kasha reached out with trembling hands and picked up the translucent object.

“We must return the curse. It would be best to… attempt it right now. Judging by the color, it seems the stone’s owner is not… using its power at the moment.”

When the stone’s power is used strongly, the color changes to a deep blood-red. Returning the curse then could affect Leon in unpredictable ways. So now was the opportunity.

Kasha hurried. As she took out small tools from her handbag, Leon silently cleared the side table and brought a chair.

Using a tool like tweezers and a magic device that applied heat, Kasha removed the jelly-like substance from the object’s surface.

Soon, a small, round nucleus like a ginkgo nut was revealed. Inside it was a tiny object flickering with a transparent light pink color.

Kasha took a deep breath and began reciting quite a long incantation. Leon watched intently as she articulated the words, clearly ancient magical language.

Moments later, as soon as the incantation finished, the round nucleus opened on its own and spat out something like a small seed.

Upon closer inspection, Leon saw it wasn’t a seed but a tiny, transparent insect. It writhed and rolled on the side table. It squirmed violently as if in pain.

Kasha whispered in a tense voice.

“This is the core of the curse. Now that we’ve separated it from the medium, we’ll send it back to the original magic stone.”

Leon stared in confusion at the core of the curse that had brought him misfortune.

Who on earth had placed such a thing among his mother’s keepsakes? As if knowing he would never throw it away, but also never open it.

Meanwhile, Kasha, without the slightest hesitation, pinned the insect to the side table with tweezers.

It writhed like a tiny demon, baring its small teeth and expressing clear hostility.

Black, ominous smoke began to rise around the insect. At that moment, Kasha started reciting a different incantation.

“… …”

She pronounced each word carefully, fully concentrated. But before the incantation was finished, suddenly the insect began to emit a bright red light along with intense heat.

In that instant, Leon felt a burning pain in his fingers and held his breath.

Hurriedly removing his glove, he saw that the purple stone of the ring he was wearing had turned bright red. The ring, a keepsake from his mother Larisa. The box that had contained the curse’s medium was originally custom-made to match this ring.

Suddenly, tremendous heat burst from the ring and began to be absorbed entirely into Leon’s fingers. At the same time, his body started to burn with a familiar heat.

Leon quickly took off the ring and threw it away. But it seemed he was a bit too late.

Feeling a very familiar symptom overtaking him, he let out a groan. What was surging up from deep in his gut was clearly intense lust.

Kasha was flustered when she saw the insect’s color change, but she couldn’t stop the incantation she had already begun. Disrupting ancient magic midway could lead to unpredictable consequences.

Meanwhile, Leon felt his vision turn completely red as if someone had poured red paint before his eyes. At the same time, his reason was erased just as red, and only his instincts remained sharp.

Was it because he had come face to face with the curse’s medium? Or was it, as Kasha said, because the curse was gradually consuming him more strongly?

Before he could do anything, lust completely devoured him.

With a desperate feeling, Leon tore at his shirt collar. If he didn’t do at least that, the terrible urge would choke him as if he couldn’t even breathe.

At that moment, Kasha’s incantation finally ended.

And a few seconds later, the insect surrounded by the sticky substance began to disappear, emitting an unpleasant black smoke. Only the blackened sticky substance remained where the insect had been.

“It’s done…!”

Just as Kasha exclaimed that with a relieved expression, confirming the curse had returned to its original magic stone.

Swish.

Hot fingers brushed aside Kasha’s long hair covering her shoulder. It was a bare hand without gloves. It immediately caressed Kasha’s nape without the slightest hesitation.

Kasha slowly turned around.

Standing before her was Leon, his eyes burning bright red, breathing heavily as if in pain.

“Leon.”

Kasha called his name to try to bring him to his senses, but he seemed not to hear.

‘Of all times, to be exposed to the curse’s core just when the magic stone’s owner was using its power….’

Kasha was filled with dismay.

The reason for encasing the curse’s core in the translucent substance was to prevent it from being exposed to the outside.

The curse exerts its most powerful force when its core is exposed.

But just before sending the curse back to the magic stone, the stone’s owner had used its power, causing the curse to go berserk as well. Moreover, Leon, the target of the curse, happened to be close to the curse’s core.

Although the curse had been sent back, it was uncertain how this situation would affect Leon. Perhaps he would not be able to escape the curse immediately and would have to suffer its aftereffects for a while.

While she was mulling over these various facts, Leon’s long fingers caressed her nape and each protruding vertebra of her spine. It was truly a hot and persistent touch.

His eyes looking at Kasha also seemed to have lost all reason and gone completely mad.

Just as she opened her mouth to say something, he buried his nose right into Kasha’s white nape.

“…!”

Kasha was too shocked to say anything and trembled at the hot sensation on her nape. She had to bite her lip hard to suppress the moan that threatened to escape.

Leon inhaled deeply with his nose buried in Kasha’s nape. He seemed intent on filling his stomach with Kasha’s soft and delicate scent. He felt like he could live.

His stomach was filled with the desire to reach Kasha’s deepest part right away.

His mind, all dyed red. The gloomy lust and an inexplicable emotion towards Kasha, suspicion and confusion about her, all of this was mixed up in a mess.

His brain, soaked in lust, commanded.

‘Kiss her. Take her. Possess and break that suspicious woman as much as you want.’

And like a puppet, he moved his lips to trace up her slender neck.

On her tense nape, a small pulse fluttered like a tiny bird, and fine hairs stood on end.

Seeing that, along with the thought of how lovely it was, a warm feeling spread throughout his chest.

It was strange. At the same time, oddly enough, he felt a layer of lust peeling away.

Yet, driven by inertia, his instinctive movements continued. His lips, having kissed Kasha’s neck and jaw, headed straight for her lips.

But just as Leon’s lips were about to devour Kasha’s, their gazes met.

“…!”

Kasha’s deep pink eyes pierced through his reddened vision.

The moment he saw that, along with a headache as if stabbing his brain, an unidentifiably intense emotion engulfed him.

It was clearly different from lust, yet possessed a more powerful force.

At the same time, his reddened vision brightened a bit.

Leon felt his reason returning. He could sense the power of lust induced by the magic stone weakening.

This demonic lust did not want to harm Kasha. Or rather, it seemed unable to.

For reasons unknown.

He thought he should take this chance to quickly pull his lips away. But he simply couldn’t. No, he didn’t want to.

Due to the curse of lust heating him up, his body was still hot, and in his stomach, Leon’s own desire, not lust, was stirring.

And her lips, which he had already tasted once, were too tempting.

Her plump, soft, sweet, and fragrant lips. Her breath, untainted by any stench of human desire, was clean and sweet. Like the ambrosia said to exist only in the heavens.

‘I want to taste it again.’

That intense pleasure and the taste of freedom that cleared his airways.

Leon writhed with a deep thirst to taste it once more.

Then Kasha, who had been watching him struggle, tilted her head slightly and whispered.

“I’m alright.”

He realized that Kasha was allowing another kiss to help control Leon’s lust.

It was perhaps a humiliating permission.

Kasha was merely trying to cool his desire, cursed as he was, as if giving alms to a hungry beggar.

‘And yet, even knowing all that.’

Leon muttered inwardly.

‘I pretend not to know and want to take advantage of your goodwill, or your diligence in fulfilling the contract, or your careful scheming to use me.’

Leon’s lips, from which hot breaths escaped, finally met Kasha’s without resistance.

He didn’t even try to hide his desperate desire as he delved into her lips. The sensation was so sweet and fragrant that he forgot everything for a moment.

The terrible curse of lust, the magic stone, even the mysterious letter that had exposed Kasha’s identity.

Leon truly forgot it all and focused only on pulling Kasha’s frail body into his arms.

Her soft, tender flesh was so sweet.

He was simply satisfied to have her delicate body, fragile enough to break, nestled in his arms.

For this moment, that was enough.