I hurried over to Kashar.

However, his expression was a bit strange.

“What’s wrong?”

“This, did you send it?”

Kashar showed me the letter.

It was exactly the one I had sent.

“So what?”

“I think you should read it.”

Kashar waved the letter with a chuckle.

Feeling an ominous premonition, I hastily snatched it and unfolded it.

[Kashar. Tomorrow night at eight o’clock. In front of the central garden.]

It was what remained after repeatedly writing, erasing, rewriting, and erasing again.

……It certainly looked more like an ultimatum than a letter.

Moreover.

“Oh no, I didn’t write my name.”

I was so nervous that I forgot even the basics.

Sneakily glancing at him, he put his hand on his waist and said,

“I thought some bold fellow was challenging me.”

I had thought his expression was strange, and he had interpreted the letter I sent as something like an enemy’s final ultimatum.

I hastily hid the letter and shouted,

“It’s not a challenge, it’s a date request!”

“A date?”

“Yes. I heard there’s a night festival in the capital……”

My words trailed off in the unexpected situation.

Despite my mistake, Kashar was smiling.

Eventually, his strong arm pulled my waist.

“I’d prefer going to bed.”

“……!”

His hot breath touched my nape. The spreading heat was turning me completely red.

He chuckled against my neck and whispered,

“When you’re embarrassed, your neck turns red first.”

Pop-!

My head felt like it was about to explode from embarrassment.

‘This is why I sent the letter!’

I struggled hard, but it only drained my energy, and I couldn’t break free from him at all.

Breathing heavily, I tried to resist with words at least.

“We… We’ve only been together for 10 days!”

“You said it was 3 years before.”

“That was fake!”

How could he say that when he knew everything!

As I retorted without missing a beat, he narrowed his eyes.

“You’re getting good at talking back now.”

“That…!”

My boyfriend of 10 days was still a bit scary.

As I couldn’t find words, Kashar laughed lowly and kissed my nape.

“I like that.”

When his lips touched, goosebumps rose all over.

Suppressing my trembling, I asked,

“…You like me talking back?”

“Things like this.”

Wondering what he meant, I just raised my eyes, and his finger pressed firmly on my forehead.

“That you don’t run away even though you’re afraid of me.”

Does he mean he likes that I don’t run away?

While I was pondering, Kashar’s hand reached for the letter I was holding.

“Ah, my letter!”

I clutched the letter that had set a new record for embarrassment to my chest.

“Give it here.”

“Are you looking for a letter? This is a challenge letter.”

I ignored the words of the owner who was confidently holding out his hand.

Instead of snatching the letter, Kashar overlapped his hand with mine. As he pulled, his lips touched the back of my hand.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s mine since you sent it.”

Kashar’s appearance with his eyes raised like that made me feel like my nose might bleed.

‘Nosebleed, mind your manners.’

If you burst now, I’ll really never forgive you.

I gathered my pounding heart while severely admonishing the blood vessels in my nose.

‘Since when did he become so good at saying such heart-fluttering things?’

This is why I keep getting swept away.

I wanted to gain the upper hand just for today.

I glanced at him while holding the letter and asked,

“Will you go if I give it to you?”

“Sure.”

“……Here.”

What’s the big deal.

After receiving the letter back, he put it in the inside pocket of his jacket.

“Shall we go now?”

It was a smile that clearly showed he was willing to go along.

I quickly grabbed his hand as he was about to move away and shouted,

“So, they say good things happen if you hold hands under the full moon!”

Even though we were lovers, I felt like I had to do this to just hold hands.

‘It feels like I need to attach some kind of reason.’

All those romance novels were of no use in the face of reality.

If a coward’s shyness was a sin, then it was a sin, I mumbled with a reddened face.

The festival grounds were not far from here.

Perhaps because we had lingered in the central garden, even though it was called a night festival, it wasn’t very boisterous as the peak time had passed.

‘Still, there are quite a few people.’

Looking around, there were plenty of things to enjoy, like food stalls and experience booths.

I walked through the noisy streets holding Kashar’s hand.

One thing I realized was that it was nice even without doing anything special.

‘Just walking hand in hand is nice.’

Simply walking the streets together with him was novel and heart-pounding.

Moreover.

“……Look over there.”

“He’s handsome. Surely a noble lord, right?”

“No need to even say it. We can’t even dream of him…… but he’s really amazing.”

Women who came to enjoy the festival glanced at Kashar and added comments.

‘This sub-male is now my man!’

Only the brave can win a handsome man.

I wanted to shout it in the middle of the festival grounds.

‘What should we do first?’

From darts to arm wrestling with merchants, all sorts of amusements were lined up.

As we were about to pass by, Kashar suddenly stopped.

“What’s wrong?”

“That one looks like you.”

What Kashar pointed at was a doll hanging as a prize at the dart shop.

Among them, his finger was pointing at a brown-furred, green-eyed bear doll.

“……You mean that bear doll?”

I asked once more, but Kashar just nodded cruelly.

The fur color was exactly the same as my hair, and the eye color was roughly similar, but still.

‘It looks like a cursed doll, doesn’t it…?’

The bear doll with curly old fur and patched clothes sewn with tattered cloth was scary enough to appear in nightmares.

No, but why were the bear doll’s eyes green? Weren’t they usually black or buttons?

‘But it would look scary no matter what they put on it.’

The bear doll itself was already saying, ‘I’m messed up.’

“Oh my, welcome! Customer!”

I had hoped the owner would be away, but he came running out in his socks like that.

Kashar asked the owner who had betrayed my expectations,

“How do you win it?”

“You hit the target with darts. Depending on where you hit, we add up the points and give you a prize!”

The bear doll Kashar mentioned required 100 points to win.

‘The score is quite high for what it is.’

It probably wouldn’t be possible in just a few rounds. There were five chances in one round, and to win it in one round, you’d have to hit 20 points every time.

As Kashar only gave his attention to the bear doll, the owner laughed heartily and handed Kashar the darts.

“You have a target in mind! Here, five darts!”

Passersby gathered in groups to watch the dart shop.

Kashar threw the darts at the board like a male lead on stage.

“Eek.”

“Huh?”

“……???”

All five darts thrown at once stuck in the dead center.

‘Calculate the probability of a person throwing five darts simultaneously and hitting 20 points with all of them.’

First of all, it should be impossible for a human.

The surroundings fell silent.

The owner came with the cursed bear doll, holding it like a sacred object, with a pale face.

“……Here’s the bear doll.”

Please take this and leave quickly.

That’s what was written on the owner’s face.

Eventually, Kashar tried to give me the bear doll he received.

“Here, take it.”

I never knew you could want to refuse a gift from your lover.

I learned this for the first time.

“How could I dare to accept such a precious thing……!”

The bear’s green eyes seemed to glisten strangely.

As I persistently looked away, acting as if I couldn’t accept it out of overwhelming gratitude, he smiled as if to say not to worry.

“It’s a response to your letter.”

So this is how my sin comes back to me.

I had no choice but to hold the bear doll in my arms.

‘……It looks even scarier up close.’

Especially the green eyes, the more I looked at them, the more they reminded me of something cursed.

“Th-thank you.”

As I barely managed to express my gratitude, joyful screams were heard from the next booth.

“Kyaa, my darling is the best!”

“There’s no one like this oppa, right?”

“That’s right-!”

The short-haired woman was kissing her boyfriend’s cheek after he gave her a doll.

‘Should I do that too?’

If that’s the rule of dating, I should follow it.

After glancing at the bear doll, I closed my eyes tightly and stood on my tiptoes.

Thud-

Thanks to a passerby bumping into me, my blind lips missed their target.

Peck.

I did manage to kiss somewhere. Not on the cheek or lips, but on the chin.

“What does it mean to kiss on the chin?”

“Well, it means long life and good health?”

Anyone could see it was a hastily made-up lie.

Maybe it was because of the sin of lying.

Kashar stepped out of the way and into a small alley.

“I thought good children shouldn’t lie.”

Kashar was saying to me what I used to say to Louis and Evan.

“I’m not a child anymore……”

“So adults can do it?”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Then you need to be punished.”

The small argument was swallowed by lips.

The intruder who caught my clumsy movement didn’t allow escape.

It was the moment our tongues intertwined. Fireworks were bursting in the dark sky above.

The slowly parting lips held a smile.

As I exhaled a deep breath, Kashar asked,

“I thought you said you’ve kissed a lot.”

“……Why is Kashar so good at it? Haven’t you done it a lot?”

Why is it that when we kissed together, only one side is out of breath?

The virgin man’s past that didn’t appear in the original work was suspicious.

“Someone once said that lovers complement each other.”

Kashar’s fabrication sounded plausible.

“Maybe you were born to meet a woman who’s clumsy at kissing.”

“What……!”

Once again, our lips overlapped.

My words were swallowed by the tip of his tongue.

When the fireworks ended, the surroundings became quiet. All I could hear was my breath and his words.

“I have to be good enough to make up for your clumsiness.”

With a leisurely smile, he stepped back.

Even though it was night, the world seemed to shine brightly. Although the night air was chilly as autumn approached, my whole body was hot.

It was the moment I rubbed my eyes at the floating feeling.

I came to my senses as I checked the bear doll in my hand.

‘Well, what sin could you have?’

After several kisses, I decided to humbly carry the cursed bear doll.

As we walked the streets again after coming out of the alley, we saw thick smoke rising along with a delicious smell.

“Come, come. It’s grilled chicken so good you won’t know if one of you dies while eating! Especially popular among couples!”

“We also have pork skewers! They’re deliciously seasoned and salty!”

The charm of the festival was indeed the food.

But it would be of no use if I couldn’t taste it.

This time, it was my chance to take the lead.

“Let’s go somewhere else for a moment!”

I led Kashar and changed direction.

Past the streets where the festival was taking place, what appeared was a small lake.