“Shall we walk a bit?”

Following his suggestion, I stepped forward.

Wandering without direction, we crossed into the backyard. There was a shallow lake there.

“I didn’t know a place like this existed.”

“It’s not easily visible.”

A bridge stretched across the surface of the lake. Stepping onto it, I looked down and saw my reflection shimmering in the moonlight.

Gazing at the lake filled with the night sky, I realized something.

Just moments ago, I had briefly collapsed—crumbled—within Raymond’s arms.

‘He asked if I loved him.’

I hadn’t answered. Once a heart realizes something, it cannot be undone. That was exactly why it frightened me.

But even so.

‘I don’t want it taken from me.’

I was well aware it was foolish to think this way when I had never truly possessed it.

I no longer had the strength to ignore my own feelings.

Yet if Raymond truly didn’t love Charlotte—if the story was deviating from the original—was it really okay to sincerely approach him?

“You look troubled.”

“A little.”

Yerpi forced an awkward smile. She couldn’t bring herself to say that he was the reason.

But her expression clearly revealed her inner turmoil, leaving her unable to escape his concern.

“Is it about your younger sister? Nothing really happened. I drove her out the moment she came in.”

“That’s not what I’m doubting.”

She ended up laughing. While she had been examining her own heart, Raymond seemed to have misunderstood her thoughts entirely.

There might briefly be strange rumors circulating within the castle, but that wasn’t what she was truly worried about.

“I was just… thinking about my own feelings.”

So this was self-doubt. Was the door I was choosing to walk through truly leading somewhere just?

I didn’t want to hurt anyone. Even if that person happened to hate me.

“Charlotte must have thought I was easy to underestimate.”

A bitter smile escaped. Only now had I realized that sacrificing oneself for others’ sake was the height of foolishness.

Raymond, on the other hand, remained silent for a long while.

“Raymond?”

Had my distress seemed too profound? When I turned to look, his eyes were fixed on some distant point.

At Yerpi’s call, he seemed to snap back to himself, shaking his head slightly—but even that gesture felt unnatural.

“Just a moment.”

I quickly placed my hand against his forehead.

Raymond tried to brush it off, claiming he was fine, but the hand that grasped her wrist lacked strength.

“I’m fine.”

“Goodness, you’re burning up!”

What was fine about this? His already high body temperature had surged further, making his forehead as hot as a furnace.

“Raymond, your fever is serious. How long have you been like this… Raymond!”

His overheated body collapsed onto Yerpi, barely avoiding both of them falling over. She managed to stay upright despite supporting a frame nearly twice her size.

I tried to wake him, urging him to regain consciousness, but he was already half-unconscious.

“Raymond, please try to move just a little.”

With Yerpi’s support, he barely managed to take a step. At least they avoided falling into the lake.

They had to return to the bedroom. But lacking the strength to go that far, they entered the nearest building adjacent to the garden.

She hastily laid him on a bed that looked like a temporary shelter. Even that much effort left her drenched in sweat and completely drained.

Yet in that short time, Raymond’s fever had worsened further.

“Just stay here. I’ll go call for help.”

As she turned to leave, her wrist was suddenly pulled back. After collapsing into her arms, their eyes met. His desperate gaze pleaded with her.

“Don’t go.”

His consciousness, briefly clear, faded again instantly.

She tried to pull away from his embrace, but the arm around her waist held firm—too strong for someone who had lost consciousness.

“I won’t go. Just let me check on you a little longer.”

He wasn’t completely unconscious yet—the arm around her waist loosened slightly.

His body heat was far too extreme to be a simple cold.

When she placed her hand over his, resonance began. Soon, a chilling sensation crawled up her senses.

‘His mind is polluted.’

A portion of the universe that had been clear just this afternoon had turned dark and filthy.

When pollution spreads beyond half the domain, the Dragon’s Blood goes into overdrive.

At this level of contamination, the situation was urgent enough to warrant immediate fear of an outbreak.

‘Why suddenly?’

There had been no issues just hours ago. Purifying the contamination through resonance required more than just holding hands.

‘His body is too hot.’

If this continued, internal damage would be inevitable. She had to lower his temperature quickly.

But this pain wasn’t caused by a physical illness like a cold—it stemmed from mental contamination.

To reduce the fever, she needed to purify the pollution through resonance.

For example, deeper resonance—complete bodily contact. Or even something beyond that.

She needed to get closer to him.

Resolved, Yerpi reached for Raymond’s shirt.

“Raymond, I’m going to take your clothes off.”

Undressing an unconscious man wasn’t easy.

She struggled with the shirt, damp and clinging as if soaked, rummaging through the nightstand.

Finally, she tore the fabric. His bare upper body was revealed. The heat radiating from his skin was even fiercer than his forehead—so intense she instinctively flinched away.

She let her own outer garment slip off.

As bare skin met bare skin, the searing heat transferred instantly.

With their bodies fully pressed together, she could now swim deeper into Raymond’s mind.

The twisted, blackened corners of his psyche began to fade under the light of purification.

Yet at the center of the distortion—the origin of the poison, the darkest core of contamination—she still couldn’t reach.

‘Until that’s erased, this won’t end.’

That spot was like a bullet lodged in his mind. As long as it remained, it would continue poisoning the surrounding areas.

How could she reach it?

Looking at Raymond, fading in and out of consciousness, only one answer surfaced.

“I’m sorry. Just for a moment…”

Whispering softly, she saw his eyelids twitch slightly. She knew this was inappropriate—taking such action toward a patient.

But she had to do it now. Yerpi carefully pressed her lips to his. Even that contact sent a wave of scorching heat through her.

‘Just a little more.’

As their lips parted and a path opened, Raymond suddenly pulled her closer, deepening the kiss.

Their tongues intertwined, stimulating the delicate inner membranes.

There was no time to catch their breath.

The sensation of giving and receiving, pouring in and out, carried them beyond the limits of mere lip contact, approaching the unreachable area.

The resonance continued. Yet she still barely fell short of the region she sought.

“Just a moment…!”

She shouldn’t cross the line. A long-held principle, deeply ingrained, was beginning to crumble.

What would happen if she crossed a point of no return?

Once more, as their lips met again, she saw Raymond’s eyes.

In the dim room, his golden irises burned with a heat she had never seen before.

After a brief separation, ragged breaths escaped between their lips.

Her pounding heart seemed to crave even greater stimulation.

They had already stepped across the line.

“…Are you sure you won’t regret it?”

“Regret?”

Raymond lifted his body slightly, as if confused by her words. In an instant, Yerpi’s field of vision flipped.

The ceiling she had briefly seen was now blocked by Raymond. His shadowed face looked unfamiliar.

He clenched his teeth, struggling to suppress the rising heat. But this heat wasn’t caused by contamination.

It was the spark Yerpi herself had ignited.

And that was precisely what pushed her past the line she had set.

The scent of spices could also act as a key to stimulate the Dragon’s Blood.

Their resonance had shifted—no longer about healing, but drawing closer to the realm of procreation.

“I’ve never even thought about that. What about you…?”

It was a question asking if she regretted it. But it didn’t matter. She had already decided to save him.

The spark she offered, he willingly turned into an inferno.

Her slender arms wrapped around Raymond’s neck. At last, his burning body covered hers.

When they crossed that line, she felt truly alive.

Even if she melted away and died like this,

she thought she might be okay with that.

***

Dawn broke, a twilight between night and morning.

The mysterious contamination emanating from his mind had completely vanished. Yet the fever still hadn’t subsided.

The darkest hour before sunrise.

Through a slightly opened door, a pair of violet eyes appeared.

The face of the woman famed as the most beautiful and sacred Saintess had gone cold and lifeless.