CHAPTER 63………………..
: You Can Use Me
“Hot?”
He tilted his head at Leah’s words. It was indeed a little warm, but not enough to make his face flush like hers.
“I’m not hot at all.”
Leah let out a small sigh at the man’s gaze, which seemed to silently suggest that she was the strange one.
Her clothes were already sticking to her in places from sweat.
‘Why me… of all people…?’
Just as the heat began to irritate her, Leah suddenly felt a jolt, as if someone had struck the back of her head.
‘No way…’
A forgotten thought flashed through her mind.
‘Side effects…?’
Why hadn’t she thought of it earlier? The symptoms she was experiencing now were exactly the same as those from that night.
‘Oh no. Of all times… why here!’
She squeezed her eyes shut, as if confronting an unbearable truth.
The instant she realized that the inexplicable heat was a side effect, a strange sensation prickled across her entire body, spreading like tiny shocks.
“What’s wrong?”
Noticing that something was off with Leah, the Duke approached her.
Feeling his body heat close by, Leah was immediately engulfed by an unbearable warmth.
“It’s nothing. But… could you step back a little? I’m feeling… hot…”
“Step back? Here?”
Leah instinctively recoiled from the Duke, who had come dangerously close. The Duke frowned deeply at her request to create distance in the small space.
“I’ve been too hot for a while, sweating a lot. I think… maybe even a little smelly…”
She tried to answer casually, but the Duke didn’t believe her at all. If anything, he seemed to have sensed something from her words.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
She tried to avoid his piercing gaze but was caught by Akkia. The Duke cupped her cheeks and forced her to meet his eyes.
The heat radiating from his hands was not unfamiliar. Her whole body felt as if it were embracing a fire.
Leah bit her lip tightly—a habit she had whenever embarrassed or troubled.
“You… couldn’t be…”
Akkia realized that the side effects of the new medicine had manifested in Leah.
“……”
“……”
A brief silence passed. Leah, having freed her cheeks from Akkia’s hands, stepped back a little.
‘I can endure it. I can endure it.’
She repeated this silently to herself. In such a confined, perilous space, the side effect didn’t matter.
‘I have to endure this. No matter what.’
Yet, no matter how many times she muttered the mantra, her body grew hotter, contrary to her will. Every brush of Akkia’s touch sent shivers through her.
She forced herself to suppress the frown that threatened to form.
“I’m really fine. So… please give me some space.”
- Thud.
But she couldn’t finish her sentence.
“Leah.”
Before she could move away, the Duke grabbed her wrist. The sudden chill from his touch made her heart tighten.
‘If this continues… I…’
A strange thirst filled her, as if she had to swallow all the cold in the world. As that sensation deepened—
- Thud.
Her back hit the salt wall. The rough salt pressed into her clothes, but she barely noticed.
The Duke’s breath, so close, brushed her face.
“You can use me.”
And his crimson eyes, burning as if engulfed in flames, locked onto hers.
It was strange. The side effect was hers, yet his gaze was thick with desire. Leah’s own eyes trembled as she met it.
Damn it.
Seeing the man’s eyes burning hotter than her own body, she bit her lip. She had been trying to endure her feelings, but
‘With that voice, that face… saying that… I—’
Her lower lip turned pale, like a child staring at chocolate it shouldn’t have. A devilish temptation she struggled to resist.
Watching his lips move slowly, Leah furrowed her brow and murmured, breathlessly,
“…You’ll take responsibility for that.”
Half-lidded, demanding responsibility, her words made his lips curl.
“As much as you want.”
His low voice whispered in her ear, sending shivers through her chest.
Before she could react further, Leah pulled him close, wrapping her arms around his neck, and their lips met.
Though she had initiated the kiss, Akkia’s heated breath made her gasp. She tried to push him slightly, but he didn’t budge.
“…Leah.”
“Duke…”
‘Is this really a side effect?’
No. Maybe it wasn’t a side effect at all.
Where they were, why they ended up here—none of it mattered. The only thing that felt real was the Duke before her.
Leah’s unfocused eyes met his.
“Duke.”
Her trembling hands reached to pull his nape closer.
Their lips met again, perfectly sealing, and as their breaths deepened, the cold mine began to feel heated.
.
.
.
- Bang!
- Bang!
The ground beneath them shook with the rumble of the mine. Shortly after,
“Duke!”
A voice called through the darkness, and thin light seeped in. Leah slowly opened her eyes.
Akkia covered her eyes with his large hand and murmured,
“It’s fine, sleep more.”
His gentle voice, like a lullaby, pulled her back into a deep sleep.
Quietly smiling, he wrapped her in his jacket and held her close, making sure no one could see her.
❀ ❀ ❀
Deep night had fallen. Akkia was receiving a report from Cox at the rescue headquarters.
“The search team that came with the missing person has finished treatment. According to the doctor, the last rescued miner is in no danger.”
“Good news.”
“Not quite. The pharmacist handled the emergency care so well that the doctors didn’t have much to do.”
Hearing Leah praised made a faint smile appear on Akkia’s normally cold face.
Cox laid the prepared documents before Akkia.
“Is the pharmacist still asleep?”
“Yes. Still.”
“I see. The orders you gave are being carried out immediately.”
Akkia’s cold gaze fell on Cox. The first thing he had done upon leaving the mine was order new supports installed.
The rotten timbers could not guarantee the mine wouldn’t collapse again.
Moreover, with water bubbling from the ground and rising steam,
It was obvious…
If Akkia’s suspicions were correct, the decayed timbers would collapse even faster.
He tapped the desk with his fingers, deep in thought.
“This is strange.”
His cold voice echoed in the tent. Cox swallowed nervously.
“Has someone embezzled the funds meant for the supports?”
“……”
“Don’t you know anything about it?”
Cox froze under Akkia’s piercing gaze. His lips trembled as if being interrogated.
“I-I don’t know anything about that.”
“Really?”
Akkia’s narrowed eyes fell on Cox before shifting away. He picked up the report to read.
“The collapse started in Room 3, then sequentially Rooms 4 and 5. The most recently mined sections collapsed.”
Clearly, the supports in Rooms 3, 4, and 5 were faulty—the rotten timber had been used from the start.
Akkia recalled the 0th room where he and Leah had been trapped. Rooms 0, 1, and 2 had no problems, mined previously. This disaster happened under the new management.
‘The culprit for the embezzlement is this guy.’
Akkia scanned Cox and asked,
“Did you look for what I ordered?”
“Huh? Y-Yes! Here it is. But why are you looking for this?”
Cox presented rock fragments from the mine’s entrance debris.
“You don’t need to understand. Just do what I told you properly.”
Akkia’s gaze sharpened on the rubble.
❀ ❀ ❀
Leah, lying in the barracks, felt her eyelids tremble as her vision brightened. Slowly regaining consciousness, she surveyed her surroundings.
“Where… am I?”
Her fingers brushed the soft white bedding wrapping her. Memories slowly returned.
‘I was… with the Duke…’
She remembered clinging to him before losing consciousness, the sweet scent emanating from him, the sound of melting saltwater.
‘So this is how it ended.’
Recalling the events in the mine, Leah frowned.
[Leah. You can use me.]
The kiss that began as a side effect had ended. The fever from the side effect had subsided, yet she couldn’t push him away.
Akkia must have felt her heat dissipate too, yet in place of the fever, a deep desire had taken root.
‘It wasn’t the side effect.’
Leah clenched the bedding tightly.
The fear of dying in the collapsed mine had vanished when she saw Akkia upon waking.
Akkia.
She trusted that the Duke would find a way out of the mine. The thought of life and death faded, replaced entirely by her intoxication with him. Even after the side effect passed, she couldn’t push him away.
‘I like the Duke.’
Leah bit her lip, acknowledging the uncontrollable, growing feelings within her.
