Chapter 63……………………………
You may use me
“It’s hot?”
He tilted his head at Lea’s words. Sure, it was a little warm, but not nearly enough to make his face flush red like hers.
“I’m not hot, though.”
Lea let out a small sigh under his strange, questioning gaze.
Her clothes were already sticking to her body with sweat.
Why is it just me…?
The moment when the unbearable heat began to irritate her, Lea froze as if struck from behind.
No way.
Something she had forgotten suddenly flashed through her mind.
A side effect…?
Why hadn’t she thought of it sooner? The symptoms appearing now were exactly the same as that night.
Oh no. Why—here of all places?!
She squeezed her eyes shut, as if faced with an unbelievable truth.
As soon as she realized the heat came from the side effect, a sharp tingling sensation spread all through her body.
“What’s wrong?”
The Duke, sensing something odd about her condition, approached.
The moment his body heat brushed near, Lea was overwhelmed by the unbearable fever.
“It’s nothing. But… could you step back a little? I’m just… too warm.”
“Step back? Here?”
She retreated from him, who had come dangerously close. The Duke frowned at her request to keep some distance in such a cramped space.
“I’ve been hot and sweating a lot. I probably smell, too…”
She tried to sound casual, but he clearly didn’t believe her. In fact, her words seemed to trigger some realization in him.
“Tell me what’s happening.”
When she tried to look away, Akkia caught her face in his hands, forcing her to meet his eyes.
The heat from his fingertips was not unfamiliar. Her whole body burned as if clutching fire itself.
Lea bit her lip. It was a habit of hers whenever she was troubled. The instant he saw it—
“You… don’t tell me…”
Akkia realized: the side effects of the experimental drug were manifesting in her.
…
…
Silence fell between them. Then Lea pulled his hands from her face and stepped back.
I can endure this. I can.
She repeated it over and over.
Here, in this sealed space. In this dangerous place that could collapse at any moment. The side effect didn’t matter.
No matter what, I must endure. I must.
But despite the mantra, her body grew hotter, her will powerless against it. Every time Akkia’s touch grazed her, a shiver coursed through her, tormenting her.
Forcing her expression calm, Lea said:
“I’m fine, really. So… please, a little distance—”
—Thud.
But she couldn’t finish her words.
“Lea.”
Before she could escape, the Duke caught her wrist. The coldness of his touch made her heart constrict.
If this keeps up, I’ll…
A fierce thirst for all the cold in the world welled up inside her. As the craving deepened—
—Thud.
Her back hit the salt wall. The rough grains dug into her clothes, but she barely noticed.
The Duke’s breath tickled her face, so close now.
“You may use me.”
His crimson eyes, blazing like fire, locked onto hers.
It was strange. She was the one suffering from the side effect, and yet—
Why was his gaze filled with burning desire?
Lea’s eyes trembled.
How cruel.
She bit her lip, staring at the man’s gaze that burned hotter than her body.
After all the effort she had spent holding back—
If he says things like that, with that face, in that voice… I’ll…
Her lower lip turned pale from biting. It was like offering chocolate to a starving child. A devil’s temptation.
She tried to resist, but as she watched his lips slowly move toward her, her brow furrowed and she whispered breathlessly:
“…You’ll have to take responsibility for those words.”
Her half-lidded eyes demanded accountability. His lips curved into a smile.
“As much as you want.”
His low voice curled around her ear, sending shivers through her heart, stirring her insides more than ever.
And before his words had even faded, Lea pulled him closer by the neck, pressing her lips to his.
Though she had initiated the kiss, she quickly found herself breathless under the Duke’s deepening touch.
She tried pushing at his shoulder lightly, but he didn’t budge.
“…Lea.”
“My lord…”
Is this really just a side effect?
No. Perhaps it wasn’t.
She forgot where they were, why they had come here. None of it mattered.
All that filled her world now was the man before her.
Her unfocused eyes clung to him.
“My lord.”
Her plaintive voice and desperate hands pulled him closer again. Their lips sealed once more, breaths mingling. The cool air of the mine grew hot.
…
…
—Boom!
—Boom!
The ground shook with deafening noise. Soon after—
“My lord!”
Voices called out as a faint light pierced the darkness. Lea blinked her eyes open.
Akkia quickly covered them with his hand, murmuring:
“It’s alright. Sleep more.”
His gentle, lullaby-like voice lulled her back into deep slumber.
Watching her fall asleep again, he smiled faintly and wrapped her in his jacket. Then he lifted her into his arms, hiding her completely from sight.
❀ ❀ ❀
Night had fallen. Akkia listened to Cox’s report inside the rescue tent.
“The missing workers and the search team have been treated. The doctor says even the last rescued miner is out of danger.”
“Good news.”
“It was thanks to the apothecary’s swift first aid. The doctors hardly had anything left to do.”
At Lea’s praise, a faint smile touched Akkia’s otherwise icy face.
Cox set down a stack of papers before him.
“Has the apothecary awakened yet?”
“No, not yet.”
“I see. Ah, we’ve also started on the orders you gave.”
Akkia’s cold gaze fell on him. His first order upon leaving the mine was to install new supports.
The old, rotten beams had made the collapse inevitable.
And the boiling water and rising steam from below…
If his suspicion was correct, the supports would rot even faster.
He tapped the desk, lost in thought.
“Strange.”
His voice was as cold as his gaze, sending a chill through the tent. Cox swallowed nervously.
Already uneasy from being ordered to replace the supports, he feared the Duke had discovered something.
“Who embezzled the money meant for the supports?”
“…”
“You mean you know nothing?”
Akkia’s piercing stare froze him. Cox’s lips trembled under the unspoken accusation.
“I—I don’t know anything.”
“Really?”
Akkia’s narrowed eyes glanced over him, then dropped to the report.
“Collapse started in chamber 3, then spread to 4 and 5. Those were the most recently mined chambers.”
Clearly, it was the weak, rotten supports that caused it.
He recalled chamber 0, where he and Lea had been trapped.
Chambers 0, 1, and 2, mined earlier, had no problems. This disaster only occurred after the change in leadership.
The embezzler must be this man.
Looking Cox over, Akkia asked:
“Did you find what I asked for?”
“Y-yes, here. But why do you need this?”
He handed over fragments of the collapsed rock near the entrance.
“You don’t need to know. Just do what I tell you.”
Akkia studied the rubble with sharp, gleaming eyes.
❀ ❀ ❀
Lea stirred awake in a tent, blinking as light filled her vision. She sat up slowly, trying to grasp her surroundings.
“Where… am I?”
When had they left the mine? Her fingers brushed against soft white bedding, wrapping her warmly.
Fragments of memory rushed back.
I was with the Duke…
She recalled clinging to him before losing consciousness. The faint fragrance clinging to him, the sound of brine sloshing… all of it lingered.
So it really came to this.
Her brows furrowed at the memory.
[Lea. You may use me.]
The kiss had begun because of the side effect. But even after the fever had subsided, she couldn’t push him away.
Akkia must have realized her fever was gone, too. Yet where the heat faded, desire bloomed instead.
It wasn’t because of the side effect.
Clutching the blanket tightly, Lea reflected.
There had been fear of dying in the mine. But when she saw Akkia upon waking, even that fear had vanished.
Because he was Akkia. Because he was the Duke. Because she trusted, without reason, that he would find a way out.
Even at death’s door, she was intoxicated by him.
And even after the side effect passed, she still couldn’t let him go.
I like him.
Lea bit down on her lip, unable to deny the feelings that had grown too strong to escape.
