Akkia placed both hands on the wall and looked down at Leah. When his unfathomable gaze met hers, her heart involuntarily tightened.

‘What?’

Trapped in his arms, Leah’s entire body stiffened at the sight of the duke quietly murmuring in a low voice.

What on earth happened last night for him to act this way?

“Duke… I don’t know what happened yesterday, but this is too…”

She slightly stepped away from the duke’s gaze.

“Close…”

“So?”

The duke smirked as if it was nothing. ‘After doing even more than that.’ The words rose to Akkia’s throat, but he swallowed them back down.

But Leah was different.

‘So what? It means get your face away from me…!’

What happened overnight for the duke’s attitude to change so abruptly? Leah could only swallow the words she couldn’t bring herself to say.

As if unconcerned with the flustered Leah, the man’s face gradually drew closer. And just as their lips were about to touch,

Leah tightly closed her eyes at the dizzying sensation that seemed to awaken every sense in her body.

– Thump, thump.

Her heart began to beat at an irregular pace. So much that she worried the duke might hear her heartbeat.

He had been approaching as if to touch her at any moment, but when nothing happened contrary to her expectations,

‘Huh?’

Thinking something was strange, Leah slowly opened her eyes. As her blurry vision gradually brightened, she saw the duke’s face intently gazing at her.

“Leah.”

“…Yes?”

He loosely curled one corner of his mouth, looking somehow amused.

“Remember what happened yesterday on your own.”

With those cryptic words, Akkia released the arms that had been trapping Leah.

‘Remember on my own? What?’

Her heart felt like it would burst at any moment.

Leah’s face quickly flushed red. And soon, feeling embarrassed, she began fanning herself with her hand.

Seeing the duke’s nonchalance, Leah felt an inexplicable disappointment welling up.

‘Wait, disappointment? What was I expecting.’

Don’t tell me… You were hoping to kiss the duke again?

Oh my goodness.

As she was trying to calm her confused heart, a low voice once again penetrated Leah’s ears.

“So what brings you here? You seem to have come earlier than mealtime today.”

At the duke’s question, Leah, who had been standing in a daze for a moment, came to her senses. She hurriedly rummaged through her medical bag.

“Ah, that’s…”

Still dazed, Leah fumbled and pulled out the clinical trial progress report and handed it to the duke.

“It’s the usage progress report for the newly developed antidote.”

“What usage progress?”

The duke skimmed the report with a doubtful look, and his gaze instantly hardened.

“This is…”

“I succeeded in creating an antidote by combining spider venom. But before administering it to you, I had to check for side effects and effectiveness.”

“So,”

He gazed at Leah with an icy look, unlike before.

“You took it yourself?”

The air around the duke changed in an instant. Leah’s face reflected bewilderment at the cold energy emanating from him.

‘Why does he seem angry? No, he seems to have been angry for a while now.’

Wondering if she had unknowingly made a mistake, she pondered.

Seeing the duke’s firmly hardened expression, Leah’s mind raced but soon gave up. He had always been an inscrutable man after all.

“Yes. There were no issues when tested on rats, but humans are different. Just in case, after ingesting a high concentration of poralium, the newly developed drug…”

Akkia, who had been quietly listening, raised his hand to interrupt Leah’s words. As if there was no point in hearing any more.

The duke’s face, which had turned incomparably more grim than before, was eerie.

‘Why is he acting like this? What do I need to know to appease him? Argh…’

Leah was still frustrated, not understanding why the duke was angry.

“Are you out of your mind?”

The duke ran his hand through his hair as if trying to cool his boiling anger. Seeing that, a look of determination rose in Leah’s eyes.

“…Why are you angry at me?”

“You’re asking because you don’t know?”

Why is he angry?

“Of course…!”

Akkia barely managed to close his mouth that was about to say ‘worry.’

‘Worry, he says.’

After the kiss, was he mistaking it as if they had truly become lovers? Akkia had never lived his life worrying about someone.

It was always challenging enough to live his own life. The most important person in his life had always been himself.

‘And now I’m worrying about this woman’s well-being instead of myself?’

It was as if all sorts of emotions were intersecting. Tension seeped into Leah’s face at Akkia’s expression.

‘What on earth is the problem?’

Leah watched the duke’s eyes as his gaze changed from moment to moment. For his sake, Leah had directly ingested poison and tested a new drug that might have side effects.

But instead of praise for her hard work, she received criticism. The more she thought about it, the more Leah’s mood soured as well.

“I… I did it because I was worried about you.”

“…”

“I was afraid you would recklessly take the antidote without knowing what side effects might appear…”

Even as Leah spoke as if greatly wronged, the duke remained silent for a long time. The longer his silence lasted, the deeper Leah’s frustration grew.

Finally, the words the duke uttered were,

“…I understand, so leave for now.”

It was a dismissal. Moreover, he turned his head as if he no longer wanted to look at her.

Her heart was hurt in an instant, even though she had spoken honestly. Seeing the duke averting his gaze, Leah closed the door loudly as if to make sure he heard and left.

– Bang!

As soon as Leah left, Akkia plopped down on the sofa and ruffled his hair.

“Hah…”

The duke looked at the new drug administration progress report he had been clutching in his hand once more.

[High concentration poralium administered for more accurate testing]

Leah must have drunk this high concentration of poralium to reach a level similar to his addiction.

Despite the risk of putting herself in danger.

Akkia felt his face growing hot. Why? He was clearly angry at Leah’s reckless behavior.

But why…

‘Does it feel good?’

Akkia felt a thrill so intense it made his whole body flush.

Leah’s willingness to sacrifice herself without hesitation made him angry, but it also made a corner of his heart tingle.

“I almost showed an unsightly side of myself.”

If he hadn’t turned his head to avert his gaze, his emotions would have been fully exposed to Leah.

Akkia raised his hand to his chest and felt his heart beating wildly.

“Leah.”

He murmured Leah’s name and ran his hand down his face.

‘I… you…’

It was confusing.

Aside from that word, he couldn’t find any other words to describe this incomprehensible emotion.

[…]

A few days after that incident, a new wind of change blew into the peaceful daily life of the duke’s residence.

“Who has come?”

“By order of His Majesty the Emperor, Marquis Rodrigo has arrived.”

Tch. Akkia, who had been receiving Rikel’s report in his room, frowned deeply. A letter he had received from the imperial family some time ago came to mind.

The letter bore the emperor’s seal. It was sent by his cousin and the current emperor, Ilay.

He had lightly ignored the letter telling him to return to the capital. Of course, he knew that cunning man wouldn’t give up easily.

“To be so troublesome as to send someone.”

Akkia, who had been tapping his fingers on the desk for a moment, rose from his seat. It seemed difficult to avoid the emperor’s order any longer if he had sent the marquis directly.

“Tell him to come to the reception room.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Then, after tidying his appearance, he headed to the reception room. As soon as the duke opened the door and entered, Marquis Rodrigo bowed with courtesy.

The marquis’s sharp gaze followed him until the moment the duke sat down.

“I have come to see you again like this, Your Grace.”

[“What brings you here?”]

As if to briefly state his business, the marquis smiled upon seeing the hastily scribbled note.

“His Majesty the Emperor was very disappointed that you said you would not come to the capital.”

‘Disappointment… What a ridiculous thing to say.’

As Akkia was listening to the marquis’s hypocritical words with one ear and letting them pass, the marquis had a servant behind him present a large box in front of where Akkia was seated.

“However, respecting Your Grace’s wishes, His Majesty instead wishes for you to accept this gift.”

Akkia looked at the box, neither small nor large, and tried to gauge its contents. He thought it might be health supplements for the hot summer day.

Akkia reached out and opened the box in front of him without much thought. But the moment he saw the contents inside, the duke’s face instantly hardened.

The marquis, who had been watching Akkia, quietly curled the corners of his mouth.

“Oh my. Fur, how nice for you.”

“…”

“I heard that the winters in the Hyderne territory are originally colder than the capital. His Majesty asked that you please wear it warmly.”

A wolf fur gift in midsummer. Akkia, who had been staring at the wolf pelt for a long time, composed his expression.

The symbol of the duke’s mother’s family, the former empress’s clan, was the wolf.

In other words, if he didn’t come up to the capital, the emperor was threatening to persecute his mother’s family.

‘It may be called a gift, but it’s a threat.’

Having received such a gift, it would be difficult to avoid the emperor’s order any longer. That man had always been good at scheming, both then and now.

The duke closed the lid on the revolting box. Then he began to write something on a piece of paper.

‘If you want me to come to the capital that badly, I’ll have to comply.’

[“Sending such a precious gift. I feel I must personally go to the palace to express my gratitude to the emperor.”]

“Oh, if you do so, His Majesty will be truly delighted.”

Marquis Rodrigo smiled with a very satisfied expression.

“We will make all the preparations so that you can depart immediately.”

“…”

“We will compose the duke’s residence in the capital with new servants, and take care to ensure that your life is not inconvenienced during your stay in the capital…”

Akkia, who had been listening to the marquis’s words, raised his hand as if to tell him to stop. At the duke’s gesture blocking his words, Marquis Rodrigo showed a puzzled expression.

[“That won’t be necessary.”]

The marquis’s eyes narrowed upon seeing the hastily scribbled note.

“Why do you say it’s unnecessary?”

Akkia had no intention of living with the emperor’s watchdogs again. The suffocating surveillance of the imperial family for the past 5 years had been enough.

[“I intend to choose the servants who work in my own house.”]

The marquis read the duke’s note and pressed his lips tightly together.

[“So please convey to His Majesty that I will only accept his kind intentions.”]

An unprecedented sense of pressure was emanating from Akkia.

‘The Duke of Hyderne has changed.’

It was the moment when the vague thoughts he had been harboring became certain.