<CHAPTER 39>

I’ll Be Satisfied With This Much For Now

Aksion, who had risen from his seat, moved his steps leisurely.

‘Why, why is he doing this.’

At the man’s suddenly approaching behavior, Evelyn almost let out a scream.

She barely swallowed the scream, but her heart thumped rapidly.

Aksion stared at her with his chin resting on his hand.

“Are you nervous about something?”

“What……?”

The man who had somehow taken a handful of her true pink hair in his hand flashed an unusual gaze.

How to say it, it seemed a dangerous light dwelled in his red pupils.

‘Could he have already gone mad?’

She wasn’t mentally prepared yet……

Evelyn, racking her brain, squeezed her eyes shut and spread both arms wide.

Strike while the iron is hot—she thought it would be better to make contact quickly since she had to do it anyway.

But when her fiancé showed no reaction, she slowly raised one eye.

Aksion, who had been watching her quietly, subtly narrowed his brow.

“……What are you trying to do?”

At the man’s gaze that seemed to read her intentions, Evelyn rolled her pupils around.

“Isn’t contact…… necessary?”

As the period of his mana rampage approached, the Imprinting should be desperate.

At those words, Aksion let out a shallow sneer.

Then he slowly pulled her hand.

Evelyn, who had fallen into the man’s embrace in an awkward posture, slowly blinked both eyes.

Without time to be flustered at the narrowed distance, their gazes tangled together.

The man’s pupils, shining brightly with red irises, gleamed even more dangerously.

Tick tock tick tock—

In the office where awkward silence hung, only the sound of the clock echoed clearly.

Perhaps simply because the distance had narrowed, at this moment alone, it seemed as if time had stopped around them.

Evelyn focused on the man’s breathing that had been bothering her since earlier.

When the irregular breathing sound gradually faded, Aksion broke the silence that had been flowing between them.

“I have no intention of doing anything with you right now.”

At the man’s quite serious words, her green eyes shook finely.

‘Then what happens later?’

That question rose to her throat, but she could not spit it out.

Because it seemed it would become uncontrollable if she did.

Evelyn, whose eyelashes trembled, deliberately lowered her eyes to avoid the man’s gaze.

It was the moment she tried to pull her body away from him as her mouth felt parched.

As if Aksion enveloped her hand, he slowly interlocked their fingers one by one.

The moment their fingertips intertwined, the Seal was revealed on the backs of both their hands.

As if trying to explore each other, thickly, softly.

As warm sensation was added to the softly touching skin, an irresistible comfort washed over her whole body.

‘I didn’t know this even when we were forming the Imprinting……!’

The pain when the mark was revealed had long since disappeared.

A novel sensation she had not felt before made her chest tremble deeply.

When the ability operation was nearly finished, Evelyn opened and closed her eyes with hazy consciousness.

Her one hand was still pressed against the man’s firm chest.

The muscles that had taken their place precisely were like a sculpture……

‘No, what am I thinking right now?’

Evelyn, who had been looking at her own bad hand in panic, hurriedly pulled her hand away and separated from his embrace.

Aksion, who had let her go powerlessly, loosened the corner of his mouth regretfully.

Then he lowered his head onto Evelyn’s slender shoulder.

The peculiar breath the man exhaled helplessly reached her, tickling the nape of her neck.

Like someone who had forgotten to even breathe, Evelyn stared blankly at her fiancé.

Then, from him who moistened his lips with his tongue, a low and resonant voice flowed out.

“Well, I’ll be satisfied with this much for now.”

***

“Lin, Evelyn.”

“Y-yes……!”

At her mother’s faint voice calling her, Evelyn firmly grabbed the spirit line she had let go.

“You stopped eating dinner, what are you thinking about so much?”

As she ate her meal absentmindedly, the Countess, unable to watch, had asked worriedly.

Evelyn, who had been recalling matters with her fiancé the whole time, felt her cheeks burn red.

Thinking she had caused unnecessary worry, she composed her expression and gave an evasive answer.

“It’s nothing. I’m just a bit tired.”

Then from across, Viathon, who had been cutting his steak, added a word with a nonchalant expression.

“Hmm. But you were completely spaced out?”

At her brother’s words that hit the mark, Evelyn glared at him slightly.

But the tactless Viathon merely shrugged his shoulders and showed a lip shape saying ‘what?’

The Count’s green eyes, which had been watching his daughter carefully, were already clouded with concern.

“Are you perhaps ill somewhere?”

Perhaps because she had remained in bed until recently, Evelyn shook her head at her father’s worried question.

“No. I am really fine.”

When she answered with a deliberately bright voice, relief passed across the faces of the Count and Countess.

“By the way, Evelyn, do you have time after this?”

At the Countess’s question, Evelyn tilted her head as if puzzled.

“Yes, I have time, is there something?”

Then her mother gave an answer with a gentle smile.

“It’s nothing special, a close noblewoman is holding a charity gathering.”

Evelyn, who immediately understood what the Countess was talking about, asked obediently.

“You mean the Lorenheim Count’s charity gathering?”

“Yes, Evelyn, you seem to already know.”

Evelyn could not help but know about that matter.

The reason the Countess hosted the charity gathering was purely to help Dahlia’s social activities.

‘Felix’s mother is a person of pure nature.’

Unlike the Lorenheim Count who had adopted Dahlia merely to use her, his wife regarded her like her own daughter.

She had heard that the Countess, who had only three sons, had wanted a daughter for a long time.

She had been so actively in favor of adopting Dahlia.

As appeared in the original work, the Countess often worried about Dahlia going on monster subjugations.

She must have been worried that Dahlia might not fit in as a central noble.

This charity gathering too was not an exaggeration to say it was entirely a seat for the female protagonist.

‘In this episode, surely……!’

Dahlia, who had won the nobles’ favor with her unique kindness, was scheduled to officially blend into society.

While Evelyn was lost in thought, the Countess’s gentle voice was heard.

“If it’s alright, won’t you attend the charity gathering?”

“Me too…… together?”

“Yes, it happens to be held at the capital residence, so it would be good to go together.”

At her mother’s invitation, Evelyn recalled discovering Dahlia at the secluded path.

‘As expected, it bothers me.’

Doubt toward the original work’s female protagonist occupied one corner of her mind.

To conclude, Gideon had failed to track Dahlia.

“I apologize, my lady. Suddenly assailants attacked.”

“It’s fine! I’m just relieved that you’re safe.”

After that too, Gideon repeatedly tried to track Dahlia, but for some reason, the woman had hidden her traces.

‘I can’t keep doubting the pure-hearted female protagonist!’

Wouldn’t it be good to confront her directly this time?

Evelyn, who had steeled her resolve, answered with shining green eyes.

“Then I’ll attend with Mother.”

In the late afternoon where dazzling sunlight poured down brilliantly, new shoots were sprouting on the dry branches.

Evelyn, who had attended the charity gathering following her mother, was leaning her body against a tree trunk.

Of course, it seemed insufficient to avoid the sunlight with the not-yet-lush leaves.

‘Hmph, staying here is boring.’

She had no plausible acquaintance with the attendees of the charity gathering.

‘As expected, shouldn’t I have come……’

Regret washed over her for a moment, but she soon shook her head.

It might be an opportunity to resolve her doubts toward the female protagonist.

While Evelyn was lost in thought, a familiar voice was heard at her ear.

“What are you doing here, Evelyn.”