“Is it hot?”
He chuckled at Lea’s words. It was certainly a bit warm, but his face wasn’t turning as red as Lea’s.
“I’m not hot. Are you?”
Lea sighed softly at the man’s gaze, which seemed to perceive something strange about her, especially since her clothes were already clinging to her body due to sweat.
‘Why am I the only one…’
At that moment, when it was too hot, irritating even, Lea felt a shock as if someone had hit the back of her head.
‘No way.’
A fact that she had forgotten suddenly flashed through her mind.
‘Side effects…?’
Why hadn’t she thought about it? The symptoms she was experiencing now were eerily similar to the symptoms from that night.
‘Oh my. Of all places, why here?’
Facing the seemingly unbelievable truth, she tightly closed her eyes.
As soon as she realized that the inexplicable heat was a side effect, a strange sensation, as if needles were pricking her entire body, spread.
“Why?”
And noticing Lea’s strange state, the Duke, who approached her, asked, sensing the warmth from her.
Feeling the warmth from Akia’s fingertips wasn’t unfamiliar. Lea’s entire body felt like it was engulfed in flames.
“Why are you like this?”
Lea, trying to avoid his straight gaze, was caught by Akia. The Duke wrapped his hands around Lea’s cheeks, forcing her to meet his gaze.
The hot sensation from Akia’s touch was not unfamiliar. Lea’s whole body felt like it was embracing a fiery boulder.
Lea bit her lips. At that moment, she exhibited a habit of biting her lips when she was in a difficult situation.
“You, could it be…”
Akia realized. The side effects of the elixir were manifesting in Lea.
…
In the brief silence between them, Lea, who had released Akia’s hand covering her cheeks, moved away from him. Lea, who seemed to have become distant from him, spoke first.
‘I can endure it. I can endure it.’
Lea repeated to herself that she could endure it.
In this sealed space. In the perilous place where collapse could happen at any moment. The side effects were not important.
‘Whatever it takes, I have to endure it. So, endure it.’
But her body, despite her will, was getting hotter. Moreover, each time Akia’s touch grazed her, it felt like shivers were running through her entire body.
Lea forcibly suppressed the inclination to frown.
“I’m really fine. So… keep some distance.”
[SFX] Thump.However, she couldn’t continue her words after that.
“Lea.”
Before Lea could escape from him, the Duke grabbed her wrist first. The chill from his touch made Lea’s heart tighten.
‘If I do this, I’ll…’
It felt like she would have to swallow all the coldness in the world. And as the thirst intensified.
[SFX] Thump.Salt walls touched Lea’s back. The prickly salt penetrated her clothes, but she had no mind to care about it.
Because of the breath of the Duke, who had approached without her realizing.
“You can use me.”
And the burning enemy, as if swallowing flames, entangled Lea.
It was truly a strange situation. She was undoubtedly the one experiencing the side effects.
Why were there deep affectionate eyes in the man’s pupils? Lea’s eyes, looking at him, trembled.
Truly, this was not good.
She bit her lip, looking at the man’s eyes, which were pulsating more passionately than her own body.
What kind of feeling was she enduring right now?
‘With such a voice, such a face, saying those things, I…’
Lea’s lower lip, which she was biting, turned pale. It was like the temptation of a sweet chocolate offered to a hungry child.
Despite trying to resist the temptation, like the whisper of a devil.
Lea’s forehead deepened as she stared at the slowly moving lips of the man. Then, with a voice mixed with heated breath, she murmured.
“… You have to take responsibility for those words.”
At the woman’s demand, forcing responsibility with half-opened eyes, his lips curled upwards.
“As much as you want.”
A low voice entwined in the ear.
The man’s voice, which tickled the heart and made the stomach flutter, was stranger than ever.
And as Akia’s words ended, Lea, as if instinctively, pulled him closer, and their lips collided.
Although she was sure she initiated the kiss first, Lea, without realizing it, exhaled a heated breath in response to the invading warmth of the Duke’s lips.
Lea pushed his shoulder slightly, but the Duke showed no reaction.
“…Lea.”
“Duke…”
‘Could this really be a side effect?’
No. Perhaps, this might not be a side effect.
Where this was, why she came here. Nothing came to her mind.
The Duke in front of her seemed to be her entire world.
Lea’s dilated eyes stared at the man.
“Duke.”
Lea’s gentle touch, as pitiful as her voice, pulled the back of the Duke’s neck.
Their lips met again seamlessly. As the breaths of the two intensified, the cool temperature of the mine gradually became warmer.
[Dash] Bang! [Dash] Bang!Along with the noises that shook the mine, the ground they were lying on began to vibrate. And shortly after.
“Duke!”
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
