Deciding that it was better to go quickly to find Akhia than to waste time contemplating, Lea’s steps hastened.

Why is the corridor so long today of all days?

She walked carefully, barely holding back the desire to sit down. Finally, Lea reached the left end of the corridor. Then, without hesitation, she knocked on the door.

She knocked several times, but there was no response.

“Isn’t this the place?”

Thinking that she might not have heard the knocking due to being in a deep sleep, Lea reached for the doorknob.

Suddenly, with a clattering sound, the door opened.

Relieved that she wouldn’t have to go through the long corridor again, Lea looked ahead.

“Ha… Thank goodness, this is the right room…”

However, Lea’s face stiffened when she saw the man’s face in front of her.

“Why are you…”

“Milady?”

Why is that man coming out?

Lea, too flustered, forgot that she was tightly holding the shawl in her hands.

Crash!

At the same time, her grip on the shawl loosened, and it fell to the floor with a rustling sound.

Then.

“Ah.”

Lea’s body, wearing only a thin schmiz, faintly reflected the moonlight. But it wasn’t Akhia; it was another man in front of her.

With a sigh, Lea, who was about to pick up the fallen shawl to cover herself, felt a heavy sensation in her lower abdomen.

‘Please, not here…’

In front of a man other than Akhia, meeting like this and displaying the side effects was already embarrassing enough.

Lea bit her lips to suppress the emerging moans.

However, her efforts were in vain, and an awkward sound escaped her lips. At the sound of her pitiful moan, Edward knelt down in front of Lea, resting one knee on the ground.

“May I take a look for a moment?”

Touching a lady’s body without permission was a major breach of etiquette. Moreover, Edward Alencia was a nobleman who had manners ingrained in his bones.

Although he intended to examine her, without Lea’s consent, he could only move around her without doing anything.

‘…This is strange.’

Perhaps because side effects had not appeared before, a much stronger impulse than usual occurred.
Edward, who was watching Lea moaning in increasing agony, lifted his head as if he had decided something.

“I’ll excuse myself.”

With those words, Edward’s hand, as if intending to lift Lea, gradually approached her.

‘No… If he touches me now, here…’

In that moment when Lea’s eyes tightly closed in a dreadful situation she didn’t want to imagine.

Somewhere, urgent footsteps followed, and then a refreshing and familiar body scent that tickled her nose wafted in.

“…Duke?”

When Lea lifted her head, there was Akhia, whom she had been desperately searching for. Tears, filled with relief and joy, flowed down her cheeks.

Covering Lea’s body with the shawl that had fallen on the floor, Akhia embraced her tightly. It was as if, with a single strand of her hair, she wanted to make sure no one else could see.

Then, he turned to Edward in front of him and spoke with detached lips.

“It seems I’ve caused unnecessary rudeness to the Lady at this late hour. I will take Lea with me.”

Contrary to Akhia’s usual sharp attitude towards Edward, his voice was surprisingly calm.

“Then, I’ll take my leave.”

Edward was bewildered by the side effect phenomenon he encountered for the first time, but Akhia seemed to know everything about the situation.

“Wait! Where is the Lady feeling unwell?”

Desperately grabbing Akhia, who was about to turn away, Edward spoke urgently. Looking at the sleeve that had been caught, Akhia spoke with a subdued voice.

“I’m not in pain. But, I don’t think Yeong-sik needs to know more than this.”

Then, turning back to the room, without further explanation, Akhia added words to Edward, who stood awkwardly.

“Tonight should be forgotten.”

But how could she forget?

Despite Akhia’s warning, the image of the disturbed Lea was already engraved in Edward’s mind.