“Going to the capital?”

“Yes.”

I had been on edge ever since hearing someone from the royal palace was coming, and now it’s the capital?

“His Majesty the Emperor is worried about his only brother, so he has ordered you to stay in the capital for a while.”

‘Is this surveillance under the guise of concern for his brother?’

After all, Akkia had previously shown his frail side to the Emperor’s people, which was quite different from the sickly Count people talked about in rumors.

So the Emperor had no choice but to be concerned about the Count, who had suddenly changed. Lea, having assessed the situation, nodded her head.

“Then take care. I’ll send the antidote to the capital once it’s completed…”

“What are you talking about? You’re coming, too, obviously.”

“Me? Why?”

Lea looked at Akkia with surprised, rabbitlike eyes.

“To make the antidote. By my side.”

“But the antidote is almost complete; it just needs additional clinical trials. I could send it to the capital immediately…”

Akkia cut off Lea’s sentence.

“Don’t do those clinical trials or whatever they are anymore.”

“Why? I need to test it to confirm its safety.”

“You said you tried it and nothing happened.”

Lea, seeing the resolve in the Count’s gaze, reluctantly nodded her head. There hadn’t been any significant side effects, after all.

‘Well, it should be fine then?’

There were no more test subjects now.

Given that someone who had ingested that much Polarium was fine, it seemed the medication was quite effective. Agreeing with the Count, she decided not to conduct any more clinical trials.

(This is a time marker.)

She went to bed earlier than usual because she had to go to the capital the next day.

It had been a day like any other. So, she expected her dreams to be just as ordinary.

However.

“Count…Ah, ah… I feel so hot…”

In her dream, she was moaning in agony and calling for the Count. Her body felt as though she had swallowed a fireball.

The heat that filled the room, the shivers running through her body, and even the hot breath escaping her lips.

It all felt unfamiliar. And then.

“…Lea.”

Within her fading consciousness, she heard a man’s low and deep voice calling her name.

‘Who is it?’

Perhaps he came to cool down her heated body. As soon as the man’s voice reached her ears, her overheated body seemed to improve.

“I can’t take it anymore… ah.”

Like quenching a long thirst at an oasis found in the desert, Lea swallowed the lips of the man who had been calling her name. What followed was a deep, intense kiss.

‘What is this…?’

In the pitchblack room, she found herself entangled with the man. He pulled her by the back of her head, parted her lips, and devoured her as if swallowing her whole.

Her breath gradually grew heavier.

And through her slightly lifted eyelids, she saw a brilliant blond mane, which seemed to shine even brighter under the moonlight.

Then, as dreamLea lowered her gaze, she met the man’s red eyes.

‘…Count?’

His eyes were intense, filled with obsession and desire, unlike any she had seen before from a man.

“Ah, ah.”

Startled, Lea sat up in bed. She was so surprised that she covered her mouth with both hands, but a low moan still escaped.

“What is this… this crappy dream…”

Was this sexual frustration?

No, even if it were sexual frustration, why did it have to be the Count of all people?

Her face flushed as if she had actually experienced the event, and as she sobered up, an inexplicable guilt washed over her.

“But why did it have to be the Count, who is so arrogantly conceited…!”

Sitting next to the bed, Lea hugged her elbows as goosebumps broke out all over her body. Her fingertips still trembled from the lingering cold.

Dreaming such an absurd dream. As Lea stood up to get a drink of water, she hesitated.

“But, was it really just a dream?”
It was a memory too vivid to be considered a dream. And most notably, the touch of the lips in the dream felt uncannily familiar.

Lea lightly touched her own lips with her finger as if bewitched.

“Damn it.”

However, Lea chuckled as she soon shook her head.

“What am I thinking? If it’s not a dream, what could it be?”

She briefly entertained the delusion that it could be something real. It seemed she was still halfasleep.

It was when Lea was about to force herself back to sleep for the sake of tomorrow. After tossing and turning in bed dozens of times, she stood up from her spot, visibly frustrated.

“I can’t sleep!”

Furthermore, the count’s face she saw in the dream dominated her entire mind.

“How am I going to face that man…”

Feeling a dizzying rush at the thought of talking to the count tomorrow, Lea groaned in agony as she mumbled to herself.

“I have no choice.”

She had to avoid the count as much as possible. She clenched her fists and made a resolve, albeit one that would not be fulfilled.

(This is a time separator.)

“Damn it.”