Six hours had passed since taking the new medicine. There was clearly nothing wrong when I lay down in bed to sleep.

“It’s hot.”

As if I had swallowed a fireball while asleep, my entire body began to heat up.

A tightness as if something was constricting my whole body. Leah took off her clothes one by one, as if trying to escape the stuffiness.

– Thud.

– Thud.

As clothes fell to the floor one by one, Leah was soon left wearing only a thin chemise that revealed all her body’s curves.

“Haa…”

Leah barely gathered her hazy mind and began to assess her condition.

“Is this a side effect…? Ugh.”

The hot sensation felt throughout her body and rapid breathing. She diligently wrote down the symptoms on her record sheet to not miss any side effects.

But that didn’t last long. Soon, along with a strange feeling of heaviness in her lower abdomen, moans burst out of her mouth uncontrollably.

‘My body feels strange…’

It felt different from just having a fever.

‘This feeling is like…’

She bit her lip, saying it couldn’t be.

She tried to deny the tremors rising from below, but that didn’t last long either. Leah’s whole body began to twist and turn.

‘Damn it.’

Something was definitely wrong.

The abnormal phenomena happening to her body now were certainly side effects. But those side effects were flowing in a direction she had never anticipated.

“Hnh…”

Unable to hold back her moans any longer, a seductive sound burst from Leah’s lips. And at that moment, along with a knocking sound.

– Click, click.

The sound of someone turning the doorknob was heard.

‘No.’

Her instincts were telling her. That no one should enter the room right now. If someone came in, Leah didn’t have confidence to handle what would happen after.

But as always, desperate wishes don’t come true. Finding it strange that there was no answer to the knock, the visitor opened the door.

Leah barely turned her gaze towards the door. A sliver of light seeped through the door crack, and then someone appeared.

“…Your… Grace.”

Leah tried to call his name, but only heated breaths came out of her mouth. She barely managed to reach out her hand towards him.

“Leah?”

The Duke’s gaze, which had been looking around searching for her, fell upon Leah. He rushed over in one breath and knelt down towards her lying on the floor.

“You, what on earth…”

At the same time, the Duke’s cool skin touched her forehead.

Had winter come only for the Duke?

At the coolness touching her skin that felt as if burned by fire, she unconsciously burrowed into his arms.

The Duke’s body flinched for a moment, but Leah had no room to care.

“You need to take a fever reducer right away. Quickly get up…”

Just as the Duke was about to support Leah, thinking he couldn’t leave her like this any longer. Her body flared up again, engulfed by heat once more.

‘I’m thirsty.’

Her mouth dried up instantly, like land cracking from drought. As if searching for an oasis to survive, Leah’s fumbling hand grasped the man’s wrist.

Then without hesitation, she pulled the Duke’s arm. The coolness and refreshing feeling from the fingertips grasping the Duke’s arm.

But that coolness didn’t last long. She leaned her head towards him, seemingly unaware that she was straddling his body.

‘More, I need more…’

“Your Grace… ha, haa…”

And then she called him with a voice half mixed with air.

“I, my body is so hot…”

At those words, Akkia, who was about to lift Leah up, could no longer move. Because Leah’s eyes showed a desperation that could be considered pitiful.

“You, what on earth…”

Was she aware of what she was saying?

His gaze moved upwards. The thin chemise revealing her body’s curves, the neckline lowered to her collarbone. And the skirt precariously draped over her thighs.

The Duke frowned as he looked at Leah.

How much that disheveled appearance, that expression…

“…”

He quietly bit his lip as if trying to hold something back. Just as he was about to open his mouth, unable to say anything as if his throat was blocked.

Leah’s hair, as red as her blood, spilled over his face. Just as Akkia was about to brush away Leah’s hair tickling his cheek as if enchanted.

Leah’s face came down towards him, tilting slightly. A seductive voice flowed from between Leah’s lips, which were about to touch his.

“I can’t bear it… haa. Anymore…”

And then, before the Duke could answer. Leah deeply consumed his lips first.

Leah’s naughty hand, learned from who knows where, parted the Duke’s shirt and entered. A touch that explored as if discovering an unknown world, starting from the navel and moving upwards.

‘I should refuse.’

He should push away this woman clinging to him right now, shaking off these touches.

‘Why am I…’

With each of Leah’s touches, the lower part of Akkia’s body grew heavier, revealing its presence. He swore it was the first time. A woman who seemed like she would blow away his reason like this.

“…This is maddening.”

Akkia let go of the string of reason, as if intoxicated by the heat she was emitting. And as if responding to her, the man cradled the back of Leah’s head.

As if trying to quench the thirst they had been holding back, without anyone taking the lead, the two’s lips locked together without any gaps.

And so, as the moonlight tilted, the intensity of their kisses only deepened.

The next day, Leah stirred as if her eyes were dazzled by the sunlight shining through the curtains.

“Mmm…”

Leah rubbed her eyes as she got up and looked around. It was the familiar scenery she saw every morning, but something felt different.

“Why does it feel like I’ve forgotten something…?”

As if she had drunk too much the night before. Her head felt fuzzy and she couldn’t recall anything from last night.

“This feels off…”

It seemed like there had been something important. But no matter how much she tried to retrace her memories, nothing came to mind.

Leah tilted her head as she got out of bed. And just as she took a step to change her clothes.

– Roll roll roll.

A small bottle rolled under the bed.

“What’s this?”

Leah picked up the bottle about the size of her pinky finger and let out a sigh. At that moment, one memory rushed into her mind.

“Right. I did a clinical trial on my body.”

To forget such an important fact. Leah clicked her tongue and searched for the paper she had left by the bedside.

“Severe fever in the body.”

She couldn’t remember anything else, but she did recall her body feeling hot like a fireball. It wasn’t like a cold or flu, as there were no symptoms like coughing or anything like that.

“It’s good I checked in advance after all.”

If she hadn’t known about this symptom, who knows what the Duke would have said. He probably would have mocked her as a quack.

“But it seems there are no particular symptoms other than suffering from a fever for one day.”

To this extent, the new medicine was quite successful. After suffering from a terrible feverish cold, the addiction to Poralium had disappeared.

“But losing memories is a bit critical.”

It would be troublesome if the Duke took the medicine and lost his memories.

To check whether it was short-term memory loss or long-term, she began to retrace her memories from last night.

“Right. I took the medicine and made a record. And then I fell asleep, hmm.”

And then suddenly, fragments of broken memories flashed through her mind. Leah rolling out of bed with a severe fever and the bedroom door opening.

‘Wait a minute.’

“Did someone come in?”

She couldn’t remember who came in. Nothing at all.

“What is this?”

For a moment, her head went blank. It was as if someone had neatly cut out only that scene with scissors, leaving her mind completely empty.

“Who on earth came in?”

‘Was it a maid from another room?’

Leah tilted her head, as there was no one who should have entered her room.

– Knock knock.

Leah visited the bedroom to report on the progress of the new medicine to the Duke, while bringing jujube tea.

“Your Grace. It’s Leah.”

It was strange. Usually when she knocked, there should have been the sound of something falling to the floor as always.

But there was strangely no response from inside the room.

‘Why is there no response?’

Leah, wanting to report on the progress of the medicine as soon as possible, carefully opened the door.

“Excuse me…”

Just as she opened the bedroom door, stepping quietly in case he was sleeping.

“Eek!”

The man, who she thought would naturally be in bed, was standing right in front of the door looking down at Leah.

‘No. This man should at least make some noise if he’s standing at the door!’

She almost dropped the teacup she was holding.

“Why on earth are you standing there…”

But Leah was at a loss for words as she looked at the Duke’s face.

‘What. That look in his eyes.’

It was a look she had never seen from the Duke before. As if he had been waiting for her like a dog waiting for its owner, it seemed like he had been waiting for her to come.

Leah’s hair stood on end at the inexplicable uneasiness.

Moreover.

“You came?”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

‘You came?’ he says!

The Duke even welcomed her with a gentle voice that didn’t suit him.

Was it just her imagination that his attitude towards her seemed to have become noticeably friendlier overnight? Leah’s eyes narrowed at the Duke’s behavior that was different from usual.

‘This is strange…’

It was definitely strange.

His face was oddly flushed, and he was unnecessarily clearing his throat. He couldn’t even meet her eyes properly.

Leah, who had been staring at Akkia for a while, blinked her eyes as if she had found the answer.

‘He must have caught a cold.’

He was clearly waiting for her, unable to say he was sick because of his pride.

‘He’s so high-maintenance, really.’

Leah, clicking her tongue inwardly, asked the Duke as if she didn’t know anything.

“Your Grace. Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

At Leah’s question, Akkia, who had been staring at the innocent doorknob, turned his head.

“…Not at all. What about you?”

“Me?”

Why are you suddenly worried about me?

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“…Is that so? You seemed to have quite a high fever yesterday.”

‘Fever?’

Wondering what on earth he was talking about, Leah racked her brains.

Come to think of it, she recalled feeling a severe heat in her body yesterday due to the side effects of the medicine. But how did the Duke know about that?

“How did you know I had a high fever?”

Leah asked back with a surprised face.

“Well…”

And just as the Duke was about to answer the reason, his body froze. Then, as if he had realized something, his face instantly hardened.

“…You. Don’t you remember what happened last night?”

“Last night?”

What happened yesterday?

She tried to retrace her memories, but she had just taken the medicine and fallen asleep.

There’s no way anything could have happened.

Only after seeing Leah asking back with an innocent face did the Duke realize that she had no memory.

“Ha!”

Akkia let out a laugh as if dumbfounded by Leah’s reaction and ran his hand through his hair.

Was he angry about something?

His face had frozen even colder than usual. The Duke pulled Leah into the room and slammed the door shut.

“What’s wrong? Why are you so angry…”

“Angry? Do I look angry right now?”

The Duke curled his lips in a sardonic smile, as if finding Leah’s words absurd. Then he moved even closer to Leah.

‘What. What is this…!’

Leah unconsciously stepped back at the Duke’s suddenly changed atmosphere. She backed up until her back hit the wall, unable to retreat any further.

Red eyes flashing even in the dark bedroom with drawn curtains.

Two arms stretched out from the Duke, trapping Leah against the wall. Leah gulped at the Duke’s gaze that bound her, preventing her from moving an inch.

“You said you don’t remember what happened yesterday, right?”

The Duke, who had suddenly come close, tilted his head towards Leah.

“If you don’t remember, I can make you remember.”