In fact, his body had been in this state ever since Kasha undressed him yesterday.

He had tried his best not to let her see him like this while she was working hard to treat his injured body.

It was a relief that her hands did not reach below his underwear.

If they had, who knows what he would have done, regardless of his body’s recovery. Just imagining it made cold sweat run down his back.

‘I tried so hard not to lay my hands on you recklessly during the expedition. And you turn my efforts into nothing in an instant.’

Of course, it’s not that he didn’t like it. He added quietly to himself.

To prevent the blood from rushing to one place again, he desperately tried to turn his thoughts elsewhere.

‘Has my divine power returned?’

He closed his eyes, recited a prayer inwardly, and focused on the divine power he felt in his body.

Fortunately, as soon as he concentrated, the divine power gathered quickly. Such a rapid recovery would have been impossible without her desperate care.

He first applied the summoned divine power to Kasha’s forehead.

As soon as the golden divine power was absorbed into her forehead, her pale complexion returned to normal. The wounds she got from dragging him to the cave and frantically picking herbs fortunately healed quickly as well.

Only after confirming Kasha’s recovery did he feel relieved. Then, belatedly, he began to heal his own right arm and ribs.

As the divine power circulated in his body, the internal injuries were already healing. When he directly applied treatment to the wounded areas, the bones mended and the anemia symptoms subsided before long.

He thought he had never been so grateful for the fact that his divine power was one of the best in the entire empire.

In just a few minutes, his body had completely recovered. With his revitalized arm, he embraced her and gently placed his cheek on the forehead of the soundly sleeping Kasha.

Yesterday, to avoid reacting to the stimulation, he recited prayers every time her hand touched him. But it was no use, and later, he even thought it would be better to just faint again.

But now that she was asleep,

Like a shy little boy, he indulged in the softness of her bare skin touching his. He also freely inhaled her clean scent that entered through his nose, spread to his mind, and seemed to purify his whole body.

It felt like heaven. At this moment, it didn’t matter whether this place was inside a barrier or hell. Even if he had to live here for the rest of his life, he felt like he would gladly nod his head.

But at that very moment,

His body suddenly writhed unnaturally.

As a look of dismay crossed his face, he quickly removed her from his embrace, stepped back, covered his mouth with his fist, and curled up his body.

‘Damn it.’

He didn’t want to believe it. Of all times, that cursed lust, that dreadful sensation was rising from his core.

He could now clearly distinguish between his normal desire for Kasha and this cursed lust.

What began to circulate in his body right now was definitely the curse of lust. The aftereffects of that curse had come at this moment, of all times. At this dangerous moment when the defenseless, naked Kasha was sleeping within reach.

An abnormal heat suddenly surged throughout his body. The curse shamelessly swirled through his blood vessels, stimulating all his senses. The muscles all over his body stiffened with extreme tension.

Was it too much to use divine power excessively in a weakened state? Or had his defenses against the curse been weakened by the severe injuries?

The cursed lust took advantage of a brief opening and began to recklessly take over his body.

His panting grew louder.

As if hearing it, Kasha, who had been sleeping without moving, stirred and woke up.

“Leon? Are you alright?”

As soon as she opened her eyes, Kasha pulled the blanket around her body, sat up abruptly, and turned to look at him.

To her, he gritted his teeth and growled.

“Run away, Kasha. Please, hurry!”

He panted like a beast. Seeing that, Kasha’s eyes widened.

After blinking for a moment as if trying to grasp the situation, she didn’t run away as he told her to, but instead got even closer to him.

Her smooth knees came into contact with his back as he lay on his side. A painful moan escaped his mouth involuntarily.

Feeling his mind going blank, Leon hurriedly bit into his wrist. It was a desperate measure to overcome lust with pain. Seeing that, Kasha raised her voice in surprise.

“Stop it, Leon! What are you doing!”

“Run away, Kasha, please.”

He writhed. And in his appearance, Kasha felt another image of him that she knew overlapping.

The fallen holy knight of the abandoned temple.

‘I told you to leave… Ugh! Aren’t you afraid of me?’

Kasha gasped in surprise. A moan-like lament flowed from her mouth.

“Leon. The curse has returned. The aftereffects….”

“I told you to leave… Ugh!”

Uttering the same words as the holy knight in her memory, Leon rebuked her with bloodshot eyes.

But she wasn’t afraid of him at all. She silently brought a hemostatic herb, applied it to the wrist he had bitten, and wrapped it with a handkerchief.

All the while, Leon panted and pleaded with her.

“No, Kasha. Please….”

“It’s alright, Leon. You would never hurt me.”

But he desperately tried to get away from her.

“You don’t know. Those dreams I had every day when I was under the curse… In them, I always went mad with lust, violated and killed countless people. The end of the dream was always stained with red blood!”

His beautiful face was distorted, tainted with self-loathing. But the more he did that, the more his body showed the opposite reaction.

With uncontrollable desire, his skin burned hot, and the blood vessels all over his body bulged dangerously.

Watching him, Kasha bit her lip anxiously.

Judging by his healed right arm, it seemed he had recovered his body with divine power, but it was unknown how the aftereffects of the curse would work in this barrier.

Suddenly, she thought that enduring might not be the best solution.

Above all, Kasha believed in Leon. She was convinced that even if his eyes were turned by the curse, he would never harm her.

If so, why should she let him suffer like that?

In fact, she had also agonized countless times last night while her bare skin was in contact with his.

Isn’t it abnormal to feel nothing when your bare skin is touching the person you like?

She also wanted him.

The reason she only reached out to his upper body in the end was because she realized it would be cowardly to stimulate him while he was in pain.

Because she noticed all of his excitement too. Moreover, in fact, she herself had become excited to an embarrassing degree.

Finally, Kasha made up her mind. Her fingers, which had been clenched tightly into fists, loosened, and she slowly stroked his back where delicate muscles were wriggling.

Then, surprised, he let out a moan and gritted his teeth.

“Kasha, please….”

“Leon, look at me.”

“What the…!”

His eyes, which turned to look at her, were bloodshot red.

Looking straight at him, Kasha slowly dropped the blanket that had been covering her body. Her white and slender naked body was dazzlingly revealed. Seeing that, Leon’s eyes widened hugely, and a painful moan rose from deep in his throat.

“Leon. Did I tell you? When I started this life after returning, I made a resolution.”

“….”

“Not to take what others give me like charity, but to find what I want and have exactly that.”

“…Kasha.”

“You are one of those things. The one I want to have. The man I want to have.”

Leon’s face contorted with agony.

“Kasha, but now, the curse.”

“The curse… I’m not afraid of it at all. What I’m really afraid of is the helplessness of watching the person I want suffer in front of my eyes… and not being able to do anything about it.”

The holy knight who died lonely in front of her eyes in her previous life. He is alive in front of her now.

Back then, she didn’t even realize that she wanted him, but now it’s different.

Kasha Lyuschino, the disgrace of the Lyuschino family, wants the beautiful holy knight Leon Aranias.

She wants to save him from pain and enjoy all the good things she couldn’t enjoy in her previous life with him.

Meanwhile, hearing Kasha’s quiet voice, Leon realized.

That her words were sincere. That she wasn’t afraid of the holy knight tainted by lust, and that she truly wanted him.

And the moment he realized that, a warm, touching, intense emotion welled up in his heart.

The warmth that only arose when he was with Kasha, the warmth that tickled his heart. That emotion that had saved him from lust countless times.

This emotion of wanting to purely protect her and do anything for her was probably what others called love.

Suddenly, the strange conviction he had felt on the day he first used divine power on Kasha when she collapsed in the Imperial Library returned.

That he would never be swayed by the curse to harm her.

The tension in his muscles, which had been tightly curled up, gradually loosened.

‘Yes, Kasha. If it’s as you say, then this is my second life as well.’

In the previous life she had told him about, he had met a futile death, leaving her alone. Without even recognizing the only person who sincerely believed in him and wanted to protect him.

This time will be different. For both her and him.

Leon slowly unfolded his hunched back. His eyes, which had been occupied by reckless lust, slowly regained their original color.

But they were different from the cold and indifferent eyes his colleagues were used to seeing.

For the first time in his life, he decided to accept and express his desire as it was, and his eyes curved sensuously.

“Not having what you desperately want when it’s right in front of you… Yes, that’s hypocrisy.”

Shamelessly showing Kasha the desire of his cursed body, he leaned against the cold cave wall and opened his arms towards her.

Kasha also approached him without a hint of shyness or hesitation, nestled into his embrace, and placed her face on his chest.

As her cool skin wrapped around him, a pure and blind desire for his beloved awoke, not the dirty and ugly lust.

“So, may I have you, Kasha Lyuschino?”

His voice, heated with distinct desire, brushed her ear.

She trembled and tilted her head back. As if it was a signal, Leon’s lips, hot enough to burn, poured down on hers.