With the sound calling the two, a faint light seeped into the darkness. At this, Lea gently opened her eyes.

Akia, covering her eyes with his large hands, whispered.

“It’s okay; sleep more.”

Looking at the sleeping Lea, the man who had smiled quietly grabbed her with his jacket.

Then, he embraced her in his arms.

Not a single strand of hair visible. So that no one could see Lea.

Before long, in the deep night after the sun had set, Akia was listening to Cox’s report in the rescue headquarters.

“The search team that came out with the missing person has already finished treatment. According to the doctor, even the last rescued miner is not in any danger.”

“That’s good news.”

“No, it’s not. Thanks to the pharmacist, emergency treatment was so well done that the doctors had little to do.”

As Cox continued praising Lea beside him, a subtle smile crept onto Akia’s icy-cold face.

Cox placed the organized documents in front of Akia.

“Has the pharmacist not awakened yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“I see. By the way, what you instructed is being carried out.”

Akia’s cold gaze met Cox’s. What he did as soon as he came out of the mine was to order the installation of new supports in the mine.

Since the decaying supports made it unsurprising that the mine would collapse again.

Moreover, along with the bubbling water and steam rising from the ground.

It was undoubtedly…

If what Akia thought was correct, the already decayed supports would collapse even faster.

As if pondering something, Akia tapped the desk with his fingers.

“It’s strange.”

As chilling as his icy gaze, Akia’s voice resonated in the tent. Cox swallowed nervously, sensing tension in the air.
Even without it, he was anxious after receiving instructions to order new supports. He wondered if Duke Heidern somehow found out about something.

“Who embezzled the money for the supports?”

“…”

“Do you know nothing about this?”

Under Akia’s direct and piercing gaze, which seemed to ask if it was not you, Cox froze. In the face of Akia’s questioning gaze, the lips of the responsible one trembled.

“I, I don’t know anything about it.”

“Is that so?”

Akia’s sharp, thin gaze fell on Cox and then dropped. The Duke picked up the report he had laid down and began to read.

“Starting from the collapse of Room 3, it collapsed sequentially up to Rooms 4 and 5. The rooms recently excavated have collapsed.”

Clearly, it was due to the inadequate supports in Rooms 3, 4, and 5. After all, they had set up decayed supports as pillars.

And Akia recalled Room 0, where he had been trapped with Lea.

Rooms 0, 1, and 2 were relatively safe because they had been mined earlier, so there were no problems with the supports. Therefore, this mine collapse incident occurred after a change in leadership.

‘This guy is undoubtedly the culprit of embezzlement.’

Akia glanced through Cox and asked.

“Did you find what I instructed?”

“What? Yes! Y-Yes, I did. But why are you looking for something like this?”

Cox handed a piece of the mine wall to Akia. They were a few fragments among the debris at the entrance.

“You don’t need to know. Just make sure to do what I ordered properly.”

Akia’s gaze on the pile of rocks shone sharply.

Lea’s eyelids trembled as she lay in the barracks, and her vision brightened. Lea, who had just come to her senses, began to look around to assess the situation.

“Where is this…”

When did she escape from the mine? A warm white bedding that enveloped Lea warmly hung at her fingertips.

Then fragments of memory began to slowly infiltrate her mind.

‘Surely, with Duke…’

Before losing consciousness, the image of herself clinging to him came to mind.

When she was deeply immersed in his arms, the sweet scent emanating from Akia, the sound of sizzling melted saltwater, still vividly echoed in her ears.

‘In the end, it turned out like this.’

Recalling the events in the mine, Lea’s forehead wrinkled.

“Lea. You can use me.”

It started as a kiss due to side effects. However, even though she felt the heat gradually subsiding due to the side effects, she couldn’t push him away.

Surely, Akia also must have felt his fever gradually subsiding. However, in the place of the disappearing fever, deep desire, replacing the side effects, emerged.

‘It wasn’t because of the side effects.’

Lea clenched the bedding she held in her hands.

There was fear of the mine collapsing and possibly dying. But when she woke up in the mine and saw Akia, that fear disappeared.

If it’s Akia…

If it’s the Duke, he will find a way to get out of this mine no matter what. There was a vague trust in him that he would find a way.

She had been so intoxicated with Akia that she forgot she stood at the crossroads of life and death. Even after the side effects manifested and then disappeared, she couldn’t push him away.

‘I like the Duke.’

With emotions that had now grown unavoidable, Lea bit her lip tightly.