Riana saw the merchant looking up at her with a friendly face.

“That day will come soon.”

The outline of the plan was taking shape.

Once the Holy Grand Festival ends, the hunt for heretics begins.

“When the hunt begins, Sched Lester and Chief Priest Dietrich will leave Paradel. I will leave Paradel before the Holy Grand Festival and go to Helling, a southern port town.”

He judged it would be better to move separately to avoid suspicion.

“Then what should I do?”

“My faithful hawk will help you. You can trust her.”

Eclas shifted his gaze over Riana’s shoulder.

Turning to follow his gaze, Riana was startled to see a woman standing behind her.

She wasn’t there when they came in, and had appeared so quietly Riana didn’t know when she’d arrived.

“Say hello. This is Grita who will help you.”

Eclas introduced a sensitive-looking woman with long black hair tied back.

Grita had attractive gray eyes and was quite tall.

With her slender legs in tight leather pants and a turtleneck up to her neck, she somehow looked like an agile cat.

“Nice to meet you, Grita.”

When Riana greeted her, Grita nodded expressionlessly.

“Ah, Grita can’t speak. She has no tongue. That makes her more trustworthy.”

Eclas explained, asking for understanding of Grita’s lack of response to the greeting.

Riana unconsciously looked at Grita’s closed lips, then realized it was rude and averted her gaze.

“Officially, Grita will handle the merchant guild’s affairs in Paradel. She’ll take care of Bitel Guild’s business for a few more days after I leave. She knows the route to Helling, so you just need to follow her. Grita will also prepare disguise items along the way.”

Riana listened to the plans for the future.

The fact that she would soon leave this place was starting to feel real.

Her heart pounded with the tension of conspiring to commit a crime.

“When the heretic hunt begins in earnest it could be dangerous, so we’ll move as soon as the hunting party leaves.”

At Eclas’s words, her thoughts suddenly stopped at one point.

‘…Will Sched and Dietrich be enough for the heretics?’

Is it okay to leave such a dangerous task to them and run away?

The heretics appeared because of Ideana’s sin, but to run away irresponsibly…

‘It’s not like I can reveal my abilities anyway…’

Riana gathered her resolve, thinking realistically.

She didn’t want to ruin things with half-hearted intentions when she couldn’t even help catch heretics.

“Thank you, Viscount Eclas. And please take care of me, Grita.”

Riana spoke with hardened eyes, as if she had made a decision.

The time until the Holy Grand Festival passed very quickly.

With the heretic hunt approaching, Sched, Giselle, and Dietrich all spent busy days.

The same was true for the servants and knights in Paradel.

“Unfortunately, our bet has not been settled yet.”

Eclas smiled as he left the former Ideana mansion in Paradel.

“Was that bet still going on?”

“Of course. We can’t just let such a big game fizzle out. Even if I leave, the bet is still ongoing, Duke Lester.”

“What bet did you make?”

Giselle looked back and forth between the two men as she listened.

Then Eclas laughed.

“What’s said at the gambling table should be kept secret, Chief Priestess.”

Eclas put his index finger to his lips mischievously.

“Then I’ll be going now, Duke Lester.”

Eclas said goodbye to Sched with a bright smile.

“See you next time, Viscount Bitel.”

“Ah, and…”

Eclas, who was about to leave, stopped and brought his mouth to Sched’s ear.

“Always carry the sedative I gave you.”

Eclas whispered like the wind in his ear.

It was clear that the sedative he had given last time wasn’t fake, but it was also clear that it had no effect on Sched.

Eclas had procured a stronger drug than the sedative he had given last time.

While normal Lupus have clear cycles, Sched’s cycle had not yet been determined.

About a month had passed since the last incident, so caution was needed.

Eclas didn’t forget to advise ‘Take the sedative in advance if you feel strange’.

“With me gone, you’ll have to handle it alone this time.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Sched nodded briefly.

Only Eclas and Riana knew about the heat cycle so far.

Eclas earnestly asked not to let others know about this.

“Well, I’ll really be going now.”

Eclas gave a light bow and turned away.

Sched watched the departing procession, thinking of the medicine bottle tucked inside his collar.

“Sched…”

Sched opened his eyes at the sultry whisper brushing his ear.

On the bed where he had lain down to rest.

Louise smiled seductively with her eyes closed.

Sched looked at Louise with surprised eyes.

Louise’s long blonde hair fell softly onto his cheek as he lay there.

“Louise…?”

Just seeing Louise smiling at him, as always, made him realize this was all a dream.

And as always, Sched decided to pretend not to know and give himself over to the dream.

Because other than in such dreams, he would never be able to hold her in his lifetime.

If he could die immersed in this dream, he would want to do so.

Louise moved her body closer and caressed his cheek.

“Do you love me, Sched?”

Her ticklish voice wetted his ear.

Her voice whispering with a smile on her lips made him feel like his whole body would melt.

As if Louise’s smile was contagious, a smile spread across his lips as well.

Do I love you?

“Yes.”

You don’t know how long I’ve waited to say these words.

You don’t know how long this mere slave waited to utter these words.

“I love you, Louise.”

Sched wrapped his arms around her neck and stretched out to kiss her.

He caught her small, plump lips with the tip of his lips as if tasting a sweet candy.

Louise smiled brightly at his kiss and bit his lips as if in response.

Sweet breaths intertwined with each other.

Words were not necessary.

They knew how to whisper love in the way the primordial gods taught before language was created.

As Sched filled his mouth with Louise, her body pressed closer to him.

Her chest came to rest on his chest as if to convey her heartbeat.

Her very existence made him tremble completely.

“Sched.”

Her voice, soft as a spring breeze, tickled the tip of his lips.

Her white, slender fingers brushed his waist.

His arm, with veins bulging, held Louise tightly as if not wanting to let go.

“Ah, Louise…”

Sched could no longer hold back and rose to lay her down.

His throat went dry at her burning gaze looking up at him on the bedspread.

White legs were revealed beneath her chemise.

Two slender arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer.

An intense desire that threatened to burn his entire body swelled up unbearably.

And, the moment he buried himself in Louise’s embrace.

“Huk, huk…!”

His eyes flew open with rough breaths.

The burning desire from just moments ago vanished like a bubble, and a great emptiness settled in the darkness, weighing him down.

In the deep night, the desolate sound of an owl dragged his soul back to reality.

But his body was still hot with the residual heat left by the dream.

He sat up, exhaling rough breaths, his body drenched in sweat.

Sched instinctively realized.

The heat is coming.

Fortunately, he had enough reason left to make a judgment.

However, the fear towards himself had swelled several times larger than before.

‘Damn it…!’

It was the day before the Holy Grand Festival.

Moreover, he had to go on the heretic hunt the day after tomorrow.

Not now.

Sched roughly opened the drawer of the bedside table.

A brown glass bottle rolled around inside the drawer from the momentum.

He opened the medicine bottle Eclas had given him and shook out one pill onto his palm, putting it in his mouth and gulping down water.

But the heat didn’t subside right away.

The longer the heat in his body persisted, the more Sched’s anxiety grew.

Sched recalled his past experience.

Eclas had warned him, but no, had that warning been heeded?

Last time, hadn’t he taken a whole bottle of the medicine Eclas gave without any improvement?

No, forget side effects, it hadn’t even properly suppressed the Lupus instincts, had it?

Anxious, Sched shook the bottle and a few more pills rolled out onto his palm.

He poured all the medicine into his mouth and looked at the clock.

Blood vessels throbbed and pulsed.

‘Damn it, please…’

His nails dug into his skin as he gripped his arm as if trying to hold back the barbaric passion.

Tick tock, the clock’s second hand sounded loudly.

As the temperature of the boiling desire rose, so did his self-loathing deepen.

But the damn instinct inserted Riana’s breath even into the cracks of self-hatred.

Riana’s sultry gaze from the dream, her seductive lips, and her dizzyingly rich scent.

He felt her non-existent presence vividly in his senses.

Sched waited for this tidal wave of emotion to subside once again.

“Haah…”

His breathing gradually slowed, and the flames that seemed to burn his head slowly died down.

As the fog slowly lifted, his mind cleared.

Sched picked up the medicine bottle he had hastily thrown aside with trembling hands.

The medicine had worked.

He clutched the medicine bottle to his chest as if it were a miraculous holy water.

Just a few pills felt like salvation, freeing him from his terrible instincts.