Askan had a dream.

It was a long dream. He could not remember it precisely, but he was running until he was out of breath, fleeing from pursuers, when someone appeared.

That someone wrapped around Askan, who seemed on the verge of being caught at any moment, and shouted at the pursuers.

“You are, mine.”

As the scene where he actually heard those words floated in his mind, realizing it was a dream, his eyes shot open as if it was a lie.

The first thing he saw was a familiar ceiling.

Askan felt that he had awoken from the dream and returned to reality.

His body was drenched in cold sweat, as usual when he had a nightmare. Despite having run away in the dream, it felt as if he had sprinted in reality.

As he tried to calm his ragged breath and slowly looked around, something unfamiliar fell with a thud on his forehead.

It was a wet towel that he caught reflexively.

“…….”

Having a wet towel placed on his forehead was a first for him, so Askan could only stare at it while frozen stiff.

He was flustered. Who could have……

A girl with incredibly white skin contrasting against her jetblack hair came into his line of sight. The girl, Tanashia, emitted a beautiful and chilly aura like an ice sculpture.

Tanashia, who had been reading a book by the bed, noticed belatedly that Askan had awoken due to his movement and closed the book.

“Are you awake? How do you feel?”

“Ah, I’m fine. What happened?”

“Don’t you remember? You lost consciousness and fell, do you know how startled I was?”

Askan realized that his memory was interrupted. He must have lost consciousness while being supported by Tanashia.

However, there was something else that bothered him more. It was the fact that his body reflexively turned to steel when he was hit by Leyana.

At that moment, a loud sound was heard, as if metal was colliding.

Even if it wasn’t Leyana, anyone around who heard that sound could have suspicions.

‘I’ll have to leave this place sooner than planned.’

It was true that Tanashia had experimented on Askan, but because the content of the experiment wasn’t very commendable, it was a secret between the two.

If Tanashia had gossiped around, Askan would have already left Brelof’s mansion and hidden somewhere else.

He had been staying in the Brelof mansion thinking that there wouldn’t be rumors or suspicions for a while, but…

The situation had changed.

If what happened then spreads through people’s mouths, he will be caught by the pursuers in no time.

Even while being attacked by Leyana, he continued to worry in his head. It didn’t matter if he was hit because his bone was broken, but what should he do if his identity is exposed?

Askan stared blankly at Tanashia, who was sitting in front of him.

If she hadn’t drawn attention by pushing Leyana away, he might have had no choice but to kill everyone around him and run away.

He didn’t know why Tanashia saved Askan, but in reality, she saved not him, but all the people around him.

‘Cherish, yourself. Please.’

It was the first time he had heard such words.

Askan had no way to avoid Leyana’s violence. He was hoping for the violence to stop before his identity was revealed, but his head was filled with what to do in case his identity was exposed.

He never thought that getting hit by Leyana was wrong in the first place.

While staring at Tanashia and being lost in thought alone.

Swoosh, Tanashia’s hand came close and touched his forehead.

Askan was startled by the sudden touch and pulled his body back.

“What, are you doing?”

“I’m trying to see if your fever went down. Just stay still.”

Tanashia spoke gruffly and touched Askan’s forehead again.

Having someone touch his forehead like this to check his temperature was a first, so he felt his head getting hot.

“Hmm. Thank goodness. It seems like the fever has gone down.”

“Then, please remove your hand. It’s uncomfortable.”

A playful look came onto Tanashia’s face at Askan’s words. Sometimes she seemed like a prankster, wanting to do more of what he hated.

“You’ll get fever again if you leave your body drenched in sweat like that, right?”

At the same time Tanashia said that, she unbuttoned the first button on Askan’s shirt.

When the cool wind entered his body drenched in cold sweat, he felt a chill. Whether because of that, for a moment, it felt like electricity was running all over his body.

Askan was so surprised that he grabbed Tanashia’s hand.

“Really……!”

Are you crazy?

It was a word that rose to his throat.

Looking at Askan’s flustered face, Tanashia held her belly and laughed. Her hearty laugh was pleasing to the ear, but he felt very uncomfortable.

“I’ll see you later. Get some rest.”

With that, Tanashia left Askan’s room, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

Tanashia, who had been laughing for a while, wiped the tears in her eyes and spoke in a voice filled with laughter.

“What’s this? You had no problem exposing your upper body in front of me before, so why do you dislike it now? Wasn’t it not a big deal?”

“……”

At Tanashia’s words, Askan realized something new.