Reniel felt like a boiling kettle, yet was tormented by unsatisfied desire.

“Ugh…”

Even in the midst of this, she doubted if what she saw before her eyes might be real.

Her head was too dazed, and rather than thinking she should run away from Felix, everything was just too difficult now. Moreover, there was a blank in her memory. She couldn’t understand why she was in this state.

“Master, could it be that I’m… being punished for running away?”

‘Maybe, maybe not.’

Felix’s ambiguous answer seemed to make her mind even hazier. Her fear was not overcoming her current physical state.

Her gaze kept going to Felix’s pectoral muscles, and every time she saw his magnificent chest, she found herself swallowing dryly.

“I think I ate something strange.”

‘It seems so.’

“I’m in so much pain.”

She said that while whimpering. Then Felix’s illusion caressed her cheek.

“Ah…”

The touch on her cheek felt so real that she couldn’t believe this was truly an illusion.

“Master, I… I don’t like the outside.”

‘Then walk. Just move to a place where there are no people.’

“…Ah.”

But she was too dizzy to stand up.

‘Go into that building. Once you’re inside, I’ll make the pain stop.’

Reniel began to walk unsteadily at those words. With each step, she felt as if the ground was rising beneath her. Yet she couldn’t stop.

Her body was in so much agony. She kept feeling feverish, and that fever seemed to make her whole body sensitive even to the slightest breeze. She was drenched in cold sweat, and every time her body parts rubbed against each other, she felt a slippery sensation.

She tried to keep walking, barely enduring that strange feeling.

With each step, the soft touch of fabric and the feeling of her skirt swaying against her legs.

Now even her hair swaying in the wind was too ticklish for her.

‘Come here, Reniel.’

“Master, do I fear you, or do I need you?”

Reniel said that with a dazed expression as she walked, following Felix’s illusion that was leading her.

‘Probably both.’

She followed along again, as if agreeing with Felix’s words.

The place she reached was an abandoned palace. There were many palaces in the imperial palace, and some of them were unused. Most of the abandoned palaces were those used by concubines.

Unlike palaces like the Emperor’s Palace, Empress’s Palace, and Crown Prince’s Palace, which would never be empty for life, the concubines’ palaces were very desolate when they had no occupants.

This place was like that too.

The current emperor was a very promiscuous person, but the empress was not one to just stand by and watch such an emperor.

If a lower-ranking person slept with the emperor, she would kill them, disguising it as suicide, and if a daughter of a high-ranking family spent the night, she would torment them as an example by ruining their family.

Nevertheless, there were concubines who survived, but there were hardly any women who wished to become concubines.

So many of the palaces used by concubines were empty. Most had lost their owners, or after losing their owners, were avoided as unlucky.

Reniel, who had barely reached there, closed the door with difficulty and collapsed face down on the floor.

Indeed, no sign of life could be felt in the desolate abandoned palace.

‘Reniel.’

“Ah…”

Reniel felt like her body was becoming even stranger because of the low voice in her ear. Felix’s heavy body approached her prostrate ear, and the low voice that came with it was difficult to bear.

‘It’s troublesome if you lie face down like that. Lie on your back and look at the ceiling.’

“You said you’d make it less painful if I came here.”

Reniel was now almost whimpering. She was afraid of this unfamiliar sensation, yet she hated it. Soon, as she reluctantly turned her body over, there was Felix with his arms stretched out like prison bars.

“If you’re doing this to listen to my heartbeat again, you’re really a bad person, Master.”

‘Why do you think that?’

“I’m in so much pain right now. My body feels strange. Do you find this situation amusing?”

Reniel couldn’t stop the tears from coming. Yet Felix’s expression looked so amused that she found herself unconsciously responding resentfully.

‘I find all of your reactions amusing.’

Now it seemed she had to accept all of this as reality. The way he spoke was no different from the real Felix.

“Ah… Don’t grab so hard.”

She said that in surprise when he suddenly grasped her body.

‘Does it hurt?’

And when he pressed somewhere firmly with his finger, she involuntarily drew in a breath.

“I don’t know…”

She wasn’t in pain. Rather, she was surprised that this strange action felt good. Yet the weight pressing on her chest made her feel like she couldn’t breathe.

‘Try kissing. Then I might do more.’

“Master, but… aren’t you angry? I deceived you and even ran away like this.”

Her reason was gradually returning.

‘If the kiss is excellent, I might forgive you.’

“But every time, Master… Ah… Why are you biting through my clothes?”

She was contemplating whether to kiss him when she was surprised by his mouth biting here and there, disregarding her clothes.

‘Does it feel good?’

“Ah…”

She didn’t dislike that warm yet persistent movement.

“I… I…”

‘Finish what you were saying. How do you feel, Reniel?’

She felt like she would really go mad when she saw Felix’s seductive expression. This whole situation was too overwhelming for her.

“But why, of all places, here? I, I don’t want my first time to be in a place like this…”

She didn’t like how desolate and dark the surroundings were. If she were to spend her first night in a place like this, it would feel miserable.

But her body felt so strange that every time he touched her, her heart pounded with unfamiliar pleasure.

In an instant, she realized that the location was the only problem. Having her first night with Felix, while scary, didn’t seem entirely unpleasant.

She recalled Felix’s kindness when she had served him as her master.

However, she wasn’t in her right mind now. Her body’s reactions were dominating her head, making rational judgment difficult.

‘What if this is the punishment I’m giving you?’

“This? Do you really want this? It’s your first time too, Master.”

Reniel looked at Felix with tear-filled eyes. A hint of confusion flashed across his expression before he chuckled.

‘That’s true.’

“I don’t like this place.”

‘Then how about I just make you feel good moderately?’

As she watched him unbutton her clothes, she struggled as her reason seemed to fly away. She was barely holding onto it, but everything kept making her feel dazed.

“It hurts when you bite, Master.”

‘This isn’t really biting.’

“Biting with lips is still biting.”

She blurted out, no longer even caring about her tear-stained face.

‘Reniel, perhaps I am angry with you.’

“If this is you being angry, please be angry in a clean bedroom. Please?”

As she pleaded, Felix touched her lips and then pulled away.

‘I see. You look quite distressed.’

“I am distressed. It hurts so much. It’s hard. I feel like my body is on fire with every breath.”

Reniel was a person who hated being in pain more than anything in the world. After all, the reason she had been trying to prepare so thoroughly for her later years was because she hoped to have as few painful and difficult experiences as possible.

‘Just ask me to hold you instead.’

She was wavering at Felix’s words. Perhaps asking him to hold her was the right answer rather than suffering like this.

Yet still.

“…You’ll abandon me after holding me, won’t you, Master.”

She knew that well. She didn’t want to be with someone who already had a determined lover.

“Besides, you hate women, Master!”

She shouted as if angry. For a moment, she felt a bit more clear-headed.

And she realized once again that this was an illusion.

“Ah…”

‘Is that something to be angry about?’

“Move aside.”

She was still in agony. But she didn’t want to be held by a man who didn’t even love her.

Perhaps this was the reason why she wanted to run away from Felix.

If Felix had felt desire seeing her male form, that relationship would end the moment he knew she was a woman.

This was ultimately the reason why Reniel had tried to run away from him.

If she had stayed, she felt she would have gradually given Felix control over her life.

Even though the person Felix would end up loving was Thanasis anyway.

‘Don’t cry.’

She hated the Felix looking down at her so much.

Yet she felt like she had realized something.

“This can’t be a lifelong job either, I guess.”

She also thought that things might follow the original plot and she might die.

She couldn’t understand why things were getting so twisted and miserable when what she wanted wasn’t something so grand or big.

What she wanted was quite ordinary. To live as a woman, meet a decent person, start a family. And to prepare well for her later years so she could live comfortably for the rest of her life.

It wasn’t about becoming a great noble or seeking a title.

“I really hate you, Master.”

Reniel said that and pushed Felix away. Felix was pushed away without resistance.

She wiped her cheeks while sobbing, and as the effect of the drug wore off a little, she started walking.

Soon, after she had walked a short distance.

“Hey!”

Thanasis, who must have been searching everywhere for her, was running towards her with a surprised expression.

“How could you disappear suddenly like that?”

Thanasis looked very angry. But as soon as he found Reniel, he immediately embraced her as if relieved.

“Your Highness, I think I’ve taken some strange drug.”

Reniel said that as she collapsed into Thanasis’s arms, her body in too much pain.