Nelia…

His confession made Nelia’s heart beat loudly. At the same time, she wanted to comfort the self-blaming Duke.

“What do you want me to do?”

To Nelia’s bold question, the Duke blinked slowly. Then, he gently stroked Nelia’s cheek with his fingertips.

“Will you hold my hand?”

Nelia looked somewhere beyond the wall.

“Seems like you’re concerned about Jeaneut.”

As Duke Hart withdrew his gaze and withdrew his hand, Nelia’s heart sank.

‘Right, it shouldn’t be difficult to hold hands.’

Summoning courage, Nelia took the Duke’s hand. The chilly sensation was undoubtedly nostalgic.

The Duke smiled faintly as Nelia’s overlapping hands met. It wasn’t the weak smile from earlier.

He delicately caressed Nelia’s intertwined fingers. The sensation of his touch, gently exploring her skin, had a subtle charm.

The Duke had a languid gaze. Soon, he lowered his head and gently kissed Nelia’s lips.

The lips touched and separated several times.

“Indeed… this won’t work.”

He spoke in a low voice, and then, like the pecking of a bird, he stopped the light sharing of kisses and deepened the kiss.

Nelia hesitated for a moment. The thought of Jeaneut in the next room crossed her mind.

Whether the Duke sensed that Nelia wasn’t fully focused on the kiss or not, he removed his lips and planted gentle kisses on Nelia’s cheek.

“Concentrate on me.”

With a tickling sensation, Nelia couldn’t help but stop thinking about Jeaneut during the small, rhythmic kisses.

The Duke gently pushed Nelia onto the bed. The bed swayed lightly.

The transition to unconsciousness was fleeting.

When Nelia opened her eyes again, the surroundings were already dim.

‘…When did the situation progress this far?’

She remembered the Duke’s unusual atmosphere that had reached his room, but when she regained her senses, she and the Duke were lying side by side on the bed.

Whether the Duke had really accumulated a lot or not, he seemed more rough than usual…

As Nelia recalled the recent events, her neck warmed with embarrassment.

‘…Rather than that… what excuse should I make to Jeaneut?’

Yesterday, she left the room for a moment and didn’t return for a few hours…

Feeling embarrassed, Nelia covered her face with both hands. Between her fingers, the peacefully sleeping Duke could be seen.

‘I fell for this snake’s temptation again…!’

How subtly every step was taken, she would find herself kissing, and then she would find herself lying on the bed.

As Nelia tried to sneak away to her room, the Duke wrapped his arms around her waist.

Through the darkness, silver-colored irises were faintly visible.

“Don’t go.”

“…Jeaneut might be sleeping alone.”

The Duke buried his face in the small of Nelia’s back.

“If you go now, you might wake Jeaneut up.”
A humming voice on the back turned into subtle vibrations. In response to the Duke’s ambiguous words, Nelia quickly thought that she might feel the same way.

At this point, blaming the Duke was difficult for Nelia.

‘Ha… It’s my problem.’

Although she had succumbed to the Duke’s temptation in the past, these days, it felt even easier to give in.

Just… When she looked at the Duke, her heart would flutter, and her body would react as if something had malfunctioned.

Nelia lay back on the soft bed and gazed at the Duke.

The Duke, half-awake, had his eyes half-closed. There was a hint of drowsiness in his gaze.

“Duke…”

When Nelia called, he slowly closed and opened his eyes with a languid expression.

“Could it be that you’ve been manipulating my mind?”

The Duke chuckled lightly. His appearance was unbelievably handsome, giving off a feeling as if the tip of one’s toes was tingling.

‘When he wakes up and smiles with a sleepy face, there’s no one as handsome as Duke Hart.’

While Nelia was having such trivial thoughts, the Duke swept her hair aside and spoke.

“I got caught. Nelia was manipulating my mind to look only at me.”

The moment they shared such a silly conversation was so peaceful, yet peace made Nelia think of curses.

If only there were no curses, this peaceful moment would be more perfect… she thought.

“Duke.”

The Duke, even though appearing sleepy, responded with a slow smile.

“Yes?”

Even though he seemed sleepy, he faithfully responded to his own words.

“I believe we can lift the curse for sure.”

“…”

“Just trust me.”

Nelia said confidently with sparkling eyes. However, the Duke, surprisingly, remained silent.

His expression seemed a bit stiff.

‘Did I unnecessarily bring up the topic of the curse in the middle of the night…?’

As Nelia worried, Duke Hart suddenly embraced her tightly.

“Oh, how cute you are.”

“…”

The reason for the lack of reaction was a prelude to this action.

Embracing her tightly without any gap, Duke Hart rested his forehead against hers and softly whispered.

“It seems I’ve been caught. Nelia was manipulating my mind to look only at her.”

Although this moment of exchanging silly words was so peaceful, it ironically reminded Nelia of a curse.