She didn’t stop there. Without hesitation, she lowered her hands and quickly took off her dirt-covered pants as well.

He moved his head slightly, perhaps hearing the rustling sound she made. Although her appearance wasn’t visible in the darkness, her face suddenly felt flushed.

However, having already made up her mind, she didn’t hesitate to become completely naked. Then, reaching out towards Leon, she whispered,

“Don’t be surprised, Leon. I’m doing this to save you.”

Feeling her undoing the buttons of his shirt, Leon let out a surprised cough.

“Cough. Kasha…?”

His voice, mixed with an ominous metallic sound, sounded unfamiliar. Kasha’s hands moved even faster.

“Wait, just wait a moment.”

She removed not only Leon’s shirt but his pants as well. Her hands were quick and decisive, not giving him a chance to stop her.

Whenever her fingertips touched his smooth, firm skin, her hands seemed to automatically curl up, but she barely managed to endure it.

Finally, the two were left wearing only their undergarments. The awkwardness and tension felt between them in the darkness constricted their breathing.

“Kasha, what are you trying to do right now…”

He barely managed to open his mouth and swallowed nervously. At that very moment, Kasha’s bare skin came into contact with his.

Kasha slowly burrowed into the blanket, overlapping her body with his. She wrapped her two legs around one of his legs, nestled against his left side, and hugged his upper body with all her strength.

His body, composed of nothing but lean, firm muscles, fully touches her bare skin. Her heart began to race as if it would burst.

Her face flushed with embarrassment again. She was grateful there wasn’t a single candle in the cave.

‘I won’t be embarrassed because it’s to save you.’

Although she made that resolution, she couldn’t come to her senses due to his overwhelming presence felt all over her body.

Burying her face in his broad, firm chest, she heard his rough heartbeat along with his scent. She was afraid his heart might give out first at this rate.

She barely mustered up the courage to move her hands. And she slowly began to rub his body here and there. It was an attempt to generate heat and raise his body temperature.

Her hands busily moved over his shoulders, neck, and forearms. The reason she mainly moved her hands over his upper body was because… she couldn’t find the courage to bring her hands below his waist, underneath his undergarments.

As she moved, he just breathed heavily, not knowing what to do. He seemed to understand the meaning behind her actions, but the sudden development of the situation was confusing.

After all, wasn’t he a holy knight who had vowed purity of mind and body before God? She had heard that many holy knights maintained their chastity until marriage. That was precisely one of the reasons for their popularity among women.

Although he was once consumed by the curse of lust and his soul was corrupted, Leon was a man who didn’t defile his body even in such moments.

‘Come to think of it, I might be the first woman to touch his naked body since childhood.’

Having that thought somehow made her mind even hotter, so she tried to focus solely on raising his body temperature.

His body was so large and injured that she had to move very delicately and carefully.

Soon, she felt the trembling of his firm body, which was tightly pressed against hers, gradually subside. Their breaths and the heat rising from deep within their skin slowly warmed their bodies.

However, Leon still couldn’t move his body as if he were completely frozen. He only occasionally twitched his fingers like a broken doll.

She even thought that rather than hypothermia, his condition might worsen due to excessive tension.

After some thought, Kasha whispered in his ear.

“Alright, Leon. I’ll do it, I’ll tell you that story.”

“……”

“I’ll explain what ‘this life’ means. It will probably… be a long story.”

His Adam’s apple moved noticeably. He still couldn’t answer, but Kasha stopped the movement of her hands for a moment and tightly embraced his neck. Now that she actually tried to put that story into words, she became afraid.

Perhaps sensing her tension, his left hand slowly rose and patted her back. It was the first time he had voluntarily touched her since she had undressed him.

Kasha’s tension eased slightly. However, instead, whenever his hand touched her, the bare skin on her back stood up with goosebumps.

This was a different kind of tension. As she let out a long sigh like a moan, a brief silence followed.

As if breaking that silence, she finally revealed the confession that had been lingering in her mouth.

“I… already died once, Leon.”

Having finally made the confession, a great sense of liberation and fear simultaneously came over her. Now you’ll probably think I’m crazy, but…

“Can you… believe it?”

Leon’s body wriggled as if startled. He didn’t answer, but his left arm tightly embraced her slender upper body. As if to reassure her.

The bodies of the two, tightly embracing each other, came into even closer contact without any gaps, and the body heat that rose from deep within their skin busily moved back and forth.

Now that she had revealed the most important thing, she became a little more daring. She moved her body slightly upward and placed her cheek on his.

“And I was brought back to life by going back in time. About four months ago, just before the Tyrot family’s ball.”

“……”

“I still don’t know what happened exactly. The moment when the blade sank into my neck on the chopping block on my twenty-first birthday… is still vivid, but the next moment, I became the nineteen-year-old Kasha… and found myself back at the Lyuschino estate.”

His breathing, which had become a bit rough, tickled her earlobe.

“Are you listening, Leon?”

“I’m listening.”

His voice rang softly in her ear as if to reassure her.

Kasha rubbed her face against his cheek. It was an attempt to raise his body temperature, but it was also an instinctive action to calm the anxiety rising in her heart.

What could he be thinking right now?

Could he be clicking his tongue, thinking that Kasha Lyuschino was indeed a crazy young lady, a pathetic delusional patient?

At that moment, his left hand suddenly rose and stroked her earlobe. It was a delicate touch, as if soothing an anxious child.

His gesture conveyed a message more powerful than words.

It’s okay. Don’t be afraid and continue your story. I’m still here.

Focusing for a moment on the sensation of his rough, calloused fingers brushing her earlobe, she opened her mouth again.

“I… died about 1 year and 4 months from now, on my twenty-first birthday in the Imperial Year 400. My head was cut off on the chopping block by the only person I trusted, Simon Blanche, and an unknown mastermind.”

“……”

“You don’t have to believe me. I know all too well that it’s a story that’s hard to believe…. Even at the moment when I opened my eyes again at nineteen, I couldn’t believe it was reality.”

“I believe you.”

Suddenly, Leon spoke in a firm voice. Perhaps it was because his body temperature was gradually returning to normal, but his voice also seemed to have regained some strength.

“Don’t… answer so easily. How can you say you believe a story like this so readily?”

Even with a tone that sounded like an interrogation, he only tightened his arm around her without wavering. His hand was now stroking Kasha’s shoulder. The rough and subtle sensation made her toes curl slightly.

He suddenly opened his mouth.

“From the moment I heard your words about ‘the previous life,’ I thought about it endlessly. What the meaning of those words could be.”

The confession she had impulsively made the day before the expedition departed, standing defenseless in front of him as he slept. He had been mulling over it all this time. How many thoughts and worries had he gone through alone?

Most importantly, even after hearing those words, he didn’t dismiss them as crazy talk. He accepted her confession at face value. Without doubting, he only tried to understand.

“But no matter how much I thought about it, there was no way to interpret those words within the scope of my thinking. That would mean it’s a story that can’t be explained by common sense.”

His voice had somehow regained strength. The chill was no longer felt from his skin that was in contact with hers.

“So Kasha, I’ll believe anything, so don’t worry and tell me. Whatever you choose to say will become the truth to me.”

The moment she heard that solid voice, as if he would never doubt her for a single moment, something hot welled up from deep within her chest. Not anxiety, but some overwhelming emotion.

The perfect sense of acceptance she had never received from anyone, whether in her previous life or this one. To hide the fact that her eyes were getting hot, Kasha hastily continued.

“Alright. Then, let me start the real story. You know what, Leon? In my previous life, I was called… ‘the Villainess Kasha.'”

Early dawn, with the light dimly brightening.

Leon slowly woke up to the sound of Kasha’s even breathing.

His body temperature had already fully returned to normal.

The early morning light seeping in from the entrance of the cave settled on the face of Kasha, who was nestled against his side, asleep. Her dry, gaunt face looked pitiful.

He recalled her stories that continued late into the night.

‘I… already died once, Leon.’

By general standards, it was certainly a story that was hard to believe. Regression.

However, focusing all his attention on her voice at that moment, Leon could tell.

How heavy a confession she was making. How lonely she had been, bearing the weight of that unbelievable truth alone.

Moreover, all the things he had experienced since meeting her.

The gaze he couldn’t understand at all when she looked at him at the ball where they first met.

How she prepared the magical tool as if she already knew what kind of beast they would catch at the hunting competition.

How she anticipated and prepared for Eve’s attack at Elor’s villa.

How she knew about the curse of lust that he had never told anyone about.

And even preparing the production of magical tools well in advance, in preparation for the unforeseen rampage of magic beasts.

All of this was possible because she had already lived the future.

And the future she had lived was truly horrific. For both her and Leon.

To the point where it was immediately understandable why she had been trying so desperately.

Leon turned his body to face Kasha. He carefully placed his left arm under her head, which was resting on the hard stone floor. Then he gently embraced her.

Only then did their bodies come into perfect contact without any gaps, and a painfully satisfying feeling swelled throughout his entire body.

At the same time, sensing her presence, strength gathered again in his center as if it had been waiting. It was an absurdly honest reaction.