“Le- let go.”

Kasha, her ears turning red, struggled to push his hand away.

Her heart felt like it was about to burst and her whole body was flushed and heated.

The heat radiating from him was so intense that her stomach kept fluttering.

The sensation was so unfamiliar and sensual that even her breathing quickened.

But even more dangerous were the excitement and overwhelming satisfaction his words evoked.

‘Whatever name you call me by, anything. Kasha Lyuschino.’

For such a beautiful and noble holy knight to utter words like a slave’s oath to their master.

Yet despite such humiliating remarks, he was so dignified and elegant that he didn’t seem the least bit despicable. On the contrary, it had the effect of making Kasha’s name sound as precious as royalty when he spoke it.

“Kasha.”

“People are watching. Do- don’t do this here.”

Only when Kasha squirmed did he relax his grip on her wrist. But he still didn’t let go. As if something terrible would happen the moment he let go.

In the meantime, a considerable crowd had gathered around them.

A significant number of nobles flocked near Kasha and Leon, pretending not to look while their eyes gleamed like hyenas.

“Am I imagining it, or does Lord Leon seem even more attached to Kasha Lyuschino?”

“…I see it that way too. Heavens. Getting so intimate outdoors like that. How vulgar.”

“You sound envious.”

“Wha- what are you talking about? But that dress Miss Kasha is wearing, don’t you think the color is surprisingly sophisticated and intellectual?”

“…I might wear that color to the next ball too.”

As the pointless gossip continued, Leon tilted his head.

“I suppose you have a point about the location being inappropriate.”

Saying that, he abruptly began striding away.

“Leon!”

When Kasha raised her voice, suddenly being dragged along, he looked back at her and slowed his pace again.

But in that moment, his eyes curved with such satisfaction as he looked at her that she closed her mouth.

Because his eyes were so beautiful. She had no desire to ruin that.

“Ah, about what we were discussing earlier, let’s finish talking. My elder brother will be here soon.”

Reaching a secluded part of the forest out of people’s sight, Kasha shook off Leon’s hand.

He easily released it and turned around.

Seeing Kasha gasping for breath, her delicate shoulders heaving, he felt uneasy.

Despite trying to mind his stride, it seemed to have been a bit much for her.

‘Because of that annoying group of nobles.’

His urgency got the better of him in his haste to drive away the nobles’ vulgar gazes directed at her as quickly as possible.

Her face, which he was seeing again after half a month, was still pale and youthful. Each and every one of the delicate and intricate features upon it, down to the small shadows of her pert nose, held a resonance that shook his heart.

She was always like that. The more closely he looked, the more he observed up close, the more beautiful she became.

Her calm gaze held a clear intellect that couldn’t be found in any other noblewoman, and her subtle expressions hinted at deep thoughts and a tender disposition.

Moreover, her deep pink eyes always emitted a vivid light as if representing a fierce will.

‘If only I could know where that will of yours stems from.’

He felt a burning thirst.

She always seemed to be resolutely gazing far away on her own.

The scenery where she stood seemed to have a different wind blowing through it.

And Leon didn’t want to share that scenery with anyone else.

‘Since when did I have this possessiveness?’

Leon examined this unfamiliar side of himself.

Throughout his upbringing, a sense of duty towards his younger siblings always came before his own desires, and he never particularly wanted to have something or felt he must achieve it.

Given his nature as a holy knight from a young age, he even considered ‘possessiveness’ a vice.

Yet what he felt towards Kasha now was not much different from the possessiveness he had always despised as base.

Even so, Leon didn’t feel the will to suppress it.

In front of the woman he chose for himself for the first time, the woman he wanted to have, he felt an excitement bursting with vivid desire like a newborn child.

Whatever her goal was, Leon would make sure she obtained it.

And after that, he would undoubtedly be with her.

Everything. Every moment.

‘For that to happen, I need to make her want me first… The problem is I don’t know how to do that.’

‘You didn’t think… no one would notice, did you?’

Even now, he sometimes felt ashamed when remembering how he had panted with lust, not knowing what to do with himself, at her fingertips on the day he first saw her at the Tyrot family’s ball.

From their first meeting, it was as if he had exposed all his shortcomings to her.

But he himself still knew nothing about her. He didn’t know what to do to gain her favor.

He gazed at the woman before his eyes with the feelings of an adolescent boy who didn’t know what to do in front of his first love.

The woman who sometimes seemed nineteen, sometimes like a girl who knew nothing, and sometimes had the eyes of an elder who had stepped into the back alleys of time.

Perhaps noticing the fear and confusion in Leon’s contemplating eyes, Kasha asked with a concerned look.

“Are the after-effects severe? To what extent? When did it start?”

A slightly slow but unhesitating manner of speech.

It was a relief to hear her natural way of talking even when not discussing magical tools.

Enough to give the momentary illusion that he had become as important to her as her magical tools.

“Right after you left Elor Island.”

Was that why? He felt no pangs of conscience even as he effortlessly uttered a lie.

From now on, Leon’s god was Kasha. Because he had decided to live for her.

“…Really?”

Upon hearing his words, Kasha’s face instantly turned pale.

‘You always pretend to be calm and cold, but you are so kind and soft.’

Leon only muttered inwardly as he nodded his head.

Pretending to be exhausted, he even rubbed his brow.

“Then it’s already been half a month! How did you endure it? You should have told me, no, at least sent a letter…”

As if recalling how she hadn’t even met Leon, Kasha trailed off midway through saying he should have at least told her.

Noticing the guilt coloring her small face, Leon quickly spoke up.

“The symptoms aren’t extremely severe.”

At that, her clouded expression cleared somewhat. Even that alone was maddeningly adorable to Leon.

“But it seems some measures need to be taken somehow.”

As Leon finally approached and said this, her small lips parted slightly as if startled.

That lovely appearance, like moist flower petals, pulled at him as if enchanting him.

“Le- Leon.”

Kasha stepped back.

The colors of the emotions that rose to her face were so diverse that he had no way of reading them all.

Whether she feared him, doubted him, or was confused.

He also knew she would not readily explain any of those to him at the moment.

So he asked.

With eyes full of longing, to his contracted lover, in the most polite tone.

“May I kiss you?”

Her delicate eyes trembled upon hearing the question.

Hesitation hovered over them, but after a moment, she silently nodded.

Her kindness in being unable to leave him suffering from the curse’s after-effects.

Leon decided to fully partake in that kindness with an attitude more devout than a priest receiving divine mercy.

He silently embraced her thin back.

Checking if her body temperature, which had been shivering from the cold half a month ago, had properly returned, he briefly infused her with holy power for having to take quick steps because of him.

Then, like a fallen holy knight, faithfully following his starved instincts.

He removed her sun hat and lightly kissed her round forehead where small beads of sweat had formed.

His lips descended along her forehead to touch her trembling eyelids. Feeling the movement of her eyes wandering in confusion, he laughed softly to himself.

Passing her well-shaped nose and delicate philtrum, his lips finally reached her tensed, closed lips of soft pink.

That chewy and soft texture evoked a renewed excitement surging from below.

Her face, which he had stolen a glance at, was slightly flushed.

Even though it wasn’t their first kiss, with the feeling of his reason completely evaporating, he cupped her small face. And preciously engulfed those lips.

Happily pouncing and entering the gap gently opening towards him, he freely explored her fragrant breath, moist and smooth mucous membranes, and pretty teeth.

“Mmh.”

A moan flowed from deep in her throat, as if the sensations he stimulated were too much.

A frail voice that provoked the beast hidden deep in his belly.

For a moment, his reason was shaken by a dangerous desire, as if the curse’s after-effects had truly returned.

Leon’s hands rubbed Kasha’s back again and again, not knowing what to do. Her breath quickened significantly at those blatant caresses evoking intimate desires.

‘I’ll go mad.’

Leon thought in earnest.

What to do? He really couldn’t stop.

A bestial urge seethed, as if he could immediately toss aside his position as a holy knight if only he could have her right then.

Naturally, his lower body pressed tightly against her made its presence known.

When Kasha’s tightly closed eyes reddened and trembled slightly upon detecting it.

An irksome voice was heard from the forest trail a short distance away.

“Why do you keep saying it’s not possible! Can’t you do that much for me?”

What? This vaguely irritating voice.

Leon had just thought that.

The hot breath escaping Kasha’s lips overlapping his ceased.

Her back, which had been softly curved, stiffened.

Leon slowly pulled away his lips and checked Kasha’s expression.

Her eyes had widened.

Surprise, bewilderment, and along with them, clear contempt and anger.

The moment he noticed that, he also instantly remembered who that voice belonged to.

“Simon Blanche?”