She turned to look at him, who was staring at her with a puzzled expression, and opened her mouth to speak.

“Um, Sir Leon. There’s something I’d like to ask you.”

“What is it? Go ahead and ask,” Leon replied, his eyes lingering on Kasha’s hand that had slipped out of his grasp.

“This summer, do you have any plans to leave the capital? Since midsummer is approaching soon, most of the nobles will be leaving for their vacation homes.”

Leon fell silent for a moment, contemplating the intent behind her sudden question before answering, “I do plan to take a two-week vacation at the villa on Elor Bay at the end of this month.”

The summer vacation at the Elor Bay villa was a long-standing tradition of the Grand Ducal family.

Elor Bay was a beautiful beach resort that the Aranias family had occupied since before the empire’s establishment. Even now, it was a place lined with luxurious villas belonging to high-ranking nobles who shared the imperial bloodline.

Originally, Leon would not have considered leisurely spending a vacation in a cursed body. However, the situation had changed now.

Moreover, Eve had been eagerly awaiting the summer vacation since spring. It was the only time when her always-busy father and Leon could take a break from work and spend time together as a family.

But the moment she heard the words “Elor Bay villa,” Kasha’s expression darkened drastically. Leon keenly noticed this but waited silently for her reaction.

“Do you really have to go? Can’t you spend your vacation in the capital instead?”

When Kasha finally spoke, her eyes even conveyed a sense of desperation.

“Is there a reason why I should?”

“Well, around that time, there might be something I need your help with.”

“For example, what kind of matter?”

“That’s, well…”

It was suspicious for Kasha, who always spoke quietly and said everything she needed to, to be hesitating like this.

‘She’s hiding something.’

Leon gazed into Kasha’s eyes, which shone a soft pink due to the sunlight streaming through the window.

He recalled the question he had been delaying all along.

In fact, it was a question he should have asked before holding her hand, before kissing her, no, even before she lifted his curse.

The reason he wanted to keep putting it off. The unfamiliar feeling that arose whenever he looked at her. Before confirming that, he had to ask her a question.

“Kasha, there’s something I’d like to ask you as well.”

“Yes.”

Perhaps sensing the tension in his voice, Kasha straightened her posture and looked at him seriously.

“Have you really never formally studied magic?”

“What? That’s… Yes, that’s right.”

Although she seemed startled by the sudden question, Kasha answered honestly. However, Leon’s expression as he pondered her answer was more serious than ever.

“…When you dismantled the curse earlier, I heard you reciting ancient magic incantations. I’m not well-versed in ancient magic, but I could understand a few of the words. Moreover, magic capable of controlling a demon’s curse would be impossible without ancient magic. But the problem is, how do you, who have never studied magic, know ancient magic incantations?”

Kasha’s blinking eyelids slowly came to a halt. She replied while avoiding Leon’s gaze.

“That’s from… books.”

“Even if you learned magic incantations through written text, actually utilizing them is a completely separate issue. If it were that easy, the world would be full of magicians.”

Kasha still kept her gaze lowered, not showing her face.

Leon suddenly felt a burning frustration.

Was she regretting it? Making the curse’s core disappear in front of Leon’s eyes. Creating a situation where she would be interrogated like this.

But it was precisely those unplanned actions of hers that made Leon want to trust her.

If she truly had ulterior motives, she should have at least demanded something from Leon in exchange for eliminating the curse’s core. Or at least tried to take credit for it.

However, as soon as she discovered the curse’s core, she focused solely on erasing it. There was no calculation in her actions at that moment.

And when she confirmed that Leon’s curse had been lifted, her expression also appeared genuinely happy. That was not an act.

At least, the Kasha that Leon had observed so far was not someone who could fake such an expression.

But it was also clear that there were questionable aspects to Kasha’s behavior.

The words written in that letter still echoed in Leon’s mind.

Who was the one who sent that letter? What was their relationship with Kasha?

Leon spoke in a solemn voice, looking at Kasha’s side profile as she stubbornly gazed forward.

“Just now, I am truly grateful that you eliminated the curse of the cursed gem for me.”

Suddenly, Kasha’s eyelashes trembled. Seeing this, Leon forcibly suppressed the softening of his heart.

“However, it was very difficult to view your actions, separating the curse’s core from its vessel using ancient magic incantations, as those of someone seeing the cursed gem for the first time.”

At his words, Kasha bit her lip tightly.

Did she regret it after all?

Leon’s chest tightened. He was the one pressuring Kasha, so why was he the one feeling anxious?

“Kasha, I just want to know the truth. Even if the truth is painful, I believe it’s better than lies.”

Kasha noticed Leon’s voice becoming strained with tension.

She closed her eyes with an anguished expression.

‘Truth. The truth.’

Would Leon really stand by Kasha’s side even after hearing the real truth?

The fact that she was the mastermind behind this entire curse, and that Leon had already lost everything once and experienced a terrible death.

And even if she confessed that Kasha herself had also returned from a nightmarish death and was living a second life, would everything remain the same as before?

If her relationship with Leon fell apart now, the opportunity to find the true culprit might disappear altogether. Then everything would be back to square one.

Although Leon had momentarily escaped the clutches of the curse, as long as they didn’t know the identity of the culprit, he could become endangered again at any time.

‘That’s why I can’t take the gamble of trusting you alone and confessing the truth.’

With that thought, Kasha let out a deep sigh that seemed to sink into the ground. All the while, she felt Leon’s gaze on her. Kasha finally opened her mouth, hesitating.

“I learned… magic from my mother.”

“Your mother?”

Surprised by the mention of an unexpected person, Leon cautiously asked.

According to what Leon had learned, Kasha lost her mother at the age of twelve and was adopted into the Lyuschino Count family. When she was adopted, the Countess had already passed away, so the mother she referred to must be her biological mother.

“Yes. My mother was… mentally ill. Until her death, she was a loner.”

Not knowing how to respond, Leon simply gazed at her silently.

“We lived… in the Arakti Mountains, in the northeastern part of the continent. Just the two of us, my mother and I.”

It was a place with long winters. A place where half the year was covered in snow and everything froze over.

Kasha’s memories began in a secluded house located in a mountain valley. Except for the occasional trips to the village to obtain food, it was always just her and her mother.

The villagers abhorred and simultaneously feared Kasha and her mother.

Because Kasha’s mother was both a madwoman and a witch.

Rumors were rampant that if someone harmed Kasha, something bad would inevitably happen to them. So people disliked them but couldn’t openly harass them.

It was thanks to her mother’s magic that they were able to barely sustain their livelihood.

Kasha herself did not know where her mother had learned magic. Her mother never spoke about the past and only rambled on with dream-like nonsense characteristic of a madwoman.

However, on the very rare occasions when her mind cleared, her mother would teach Kasha magic. Of course, due to her mother’s frequent fits of madness, the lessons were not properly conducted.

Moreover, unlike her mother, Kasha was not born with magical power, so she ultimately failed to fully master the use of magic.

However, Kasha had an innate sense for the principles and operation of magical power. Her curiosity and intellectual hunger were also remarkable.

As a young child, whenever Kasha went down to the village, she would voraciously obtain and read any books she could find. She dreamed alone of ways to manifest the magical knowledge she possessed in new ways.

It was thanks to the nourishment from what she had dreamed of and studied alone in her childhood that she later began creating magical tools.

“That’s why I know how to use magic. Of course, I can’t properly perform magic; I can only understand and manifest a few incantations that I have perfectly grasped the principles of. As for the cursed gem, I actually learned about it from my mother.”

Kasha’s calm confession was surprising in many ways, but it also explained a lot about her.

It explained her strangely lacking social skills, and yet her possession of knowledge and skills that easily surpassed the average level.

Leon pondered whether to believe Kasha’s words and dispel his doubts.

His heart was already pathetically inclined towards Kasha. To the point where denying it would be futile.

However, he felt that Kasha was still not perfectly telling the truth.

It was a kind of instinct that he had developed like a reflex, having grown up surrounded by countless lies and pretenses since childhood.

The contents of that damned letter came to mind again. Leon closed his eyes. He was conflicted. His beautiful face, with furrowed brows, was tightly tensed.

After a moment, he finally made up his mind and opened his eyes.

“…I see. I understand your explanation. For now.”

Leon spoke in a low voice, and Kasha looked up at him with concern.

“Anyway, you have faithfully fulfilled the conditions of our contract. So our contractual… relationship will remain valid going forward.”

Color finally returned to Kasha’s pale face.

She seemed to have relaxed a little. Despite his own tension, the desire to hold her hand, which must be cold, and raise her body temperature surged within Leon.

In fact, that’s how he felt the entire time she was confessing her past. She merely recited facts in a calm manner, but he read her cold and lonely childhood in those descriptions.

So he wanted to embrace her and comfort her that everything would be alright now. Leon suppressed his raging emotions and continued speaking.

“But also, I can’t help but continue to doubt you. Until you decide to tell me the complete truth.”

“……”

It was a line he had to draw in order to protect his family and household as a victim of an inexplicable curse and conspiracy.

Even so, it was incredibly difficult to face Kasha’s gaze as she looked up at him upon hearing those words.

“That’s the best I can do for now.”

It’s also my selfishness to keep you by my side.

He bitterly added in his mind.