TLDOWN 39

CHAPTER 39….

A Night Deeply Entangled

Six hours had passed since taking the new medicine. When she had lain down on the bed to sleep, everything had seemed normal.

“It’s so hot.”

In the short time she had dozed off, her whole body began to burn as if she had swallowed a fireball.

A suffocating tightness seemed to grip her entire body. Lea started taking off her clothes one by one, as if trying to escape this stifling feeling.

• Thud.
• Thud.

Clothes fell onto the floor one after another. Before long, Lea was left wearing only a thin chemise that showed the curves of her body.

“Haa…”

Lea struggled to gather her blurry senses and began assessing her condition.

“Is this a side effect…? Ugh.”

Her whole body was aflame with heat, and her breathing was shallow. To not miss any side effects, she stubbornly wrote everything down in her record.

But that didn’t last long. Suddenly, a strange heaviness in her lower abdomen stirred, and involuntary moans escaped her lips.

“My body feels strange…”

It was different from a typical fever or body ache.

“This feeling is like…”

She bit her lip, trying to deny it.

She tried to suppress the tingling rising from below, but it was no use. Lea’s whole body began to twist and writhe.

“Damn it.”

Something was definitely wrong.

The strange symptoms happening to her body were certainly side effects. But they were developing in a direction she hadn’t expected at all.

“Hss…”

Eventually, a lewd sound escaped from Lea’s lips, unable to hold back any longer. At that moment, there was a knock on the door.

• Knock, knock.

The sound of someone turning the doorknob followed.

“No.”

Her instincts warned her: no one should come into the room now. If someone entered, she wasn’t sure she could handle what would happen next.

But as always, desperate wishes rarely come true. When no one answered the knock, whoever it was grew suspicious and opened the door.

Lea barely turned her gaze toward the door. A thin beam of light leaked through the crack, revealing someone’s silhouette.

“…Duke…”

Lea tried to call his name, but only breathy sounds came out. She weakly reached out her hand toward him.

“Lea?”

The Duke looked around, as if searching for her, and his gaze landed on Lea. He quickly approached and knelt beside her collapsed form.

“What on earth…”

At the same time, the Duke’s cold skin touched her forehead.

Had winter come only for the Duke?

The burning heat on her skin met with the refreshing coolness of his touch, and without realizing it, she nestled into his arms.

The Duke’s body twitched for a moment, but Lea had no time to care.

“You need to take an antipyretic right away. Get up…”

Just as he tried to support her, the blazing fire inside her consumed her entire body again.

“I’m thirsty.”

Her mouth dried up instantly like a parched land. Desperately searching like one seeking an oasis to survive, Lea’s hand grasped the man’s wrist.

Without hesitation, she pulled the Duke’s arm closer. The coolness and freshness she felt from his wrist.

But that chill didn’t last long. Seemingly unaware that she was sitting on his body, she bowed her head toward him.

“I need… more…”

“Duke… ha, haa…”

Then, with a voice half mixed with breath, she called out to him.

“My body is burning hot…”

Hearing this, Akkia, who was about to lift Lea, couldn’t move any further. Lea’s eyes showed a desperate urgency that made him pause.

“What are you…”

Was he even aware of what he was saying?

His gaze drifted upward. The thin chemise that revealed the curves of her body, the collar that showed her collarbones, and the skirt hem precariously resting on her thigh.

The Duke frowned as he looked at Lea.

How could she look so disheveled, wearing that expression?

“…”

He bit his lips tightly, trying to endure something. Just as he was about to speak, Lea’s crimson hair spilled across his face.

Akkia, almost entranced, tried to brush away the hair that tickled his cheek.

Lea’s face tilted slightly, as if leaning in. Between her lips, a sultry voice escaped.

“I can’t hold back… haa… aah…”

Before the Duke could respond, Lea deeply kissed his lips first.

Lea’s naughty hand, learned from somewhere unknown, slipped between the Duke’s shirt. Like exploring an undiscovered world, her fingers started at his navel and wandered upward.

“I should resist this.”

She should push away his hand and separate herself from the woman clinging to him.

“Why am I…”

Every time Lea’s hand touched him, Akkia felt a heavy presence below. For the first time, truly, a woman seemed capable of driving him insane.

“…I’m going crazy.”

Akkia let go of his reason, intoxicated by the heat she exuded. Responding to her, the man wrapped his hand around the back of her head.

As if to satisfy a thirst they had both been holding back, their lips locked tightly.

As the moonlight waned, their kisses grew deeper.

❀ ❀ ❀

The next morning, Lea turned in bed, dazzled by the sunlight streaming through the curtains.

“Ugh…”

Rubbing her eyes, she got up and looked around. The familiar scenery she saw every morning felt somehow different.

“Why do I feel like I forgot something…?”

Her head was fuzzy, as if she had drunk too much the night before. She couldn’t recall any memories from last night.

“This is unsettling…”

She felt like something important had happened, but no matter how hard she tried to remember, nothing came back.

Lea tilted her head and got out of bed. Just as she took a step to change clothes—

• Roll roll roll.

A small bottle rolled under the bed.

“What’s this?”

Picking up the bottle, no bigger than her pinky finger, Lea sighed. Suddenly, a memory rushed into her mind.

“Right. I was part of a clinical trial.”

How could she have forgotten such an important fact? Clicking her tongue, Lea searched for the paper she had left by the bedside.

“My body is burning with fever.”

At least she remembered the burning heat. But there had been no cough or other symptoms like a cold or flu.

“I’m glad I checked ahead of time.”

If she hadn’t known about these symptoms, who knows what the Duke would have said. Probably called her a quack.

“Other than suffering from fever for just one day, there don’t seem to be any other symptoms.”

This meant the new medicine was fairly successful. After suffering from a severe fever, her addiction to Phorarium had disappeared.

“Still, losing memories is a bit serious.”

It would be troublesome if the Duke lost memories after taking the medicine.

Trying to determine if it was short-term or long-term memory loss, she started reviewing last night’s events.

“Right. I took the medicine and recorded my symptoms. Then I fell asleep, um…”

Suddenly, fragmented memories flashed through her mind—suffering from a high fever, rolling off the bed, and the bedroom door opening.

“Wait a minute.”

“Someone came in?”

She couldn’t recall who entered. Nothing at all.

“What’s going on?”

Her head went blank, as if someone had cut out that scene from her memory with scissors.

“Who on earth came in?”

‘Was it another maid from another room?’

There was no one who could have entered her room, so Lea tilted her head in confusion.

❀ ❀ ❀

• Knock knock.

Lea went to the Duke’s bedroom to give an update on the new medicine.

“Duke. It’s Lea.”

Strangely, when she knocked on the door, there was no usual sound of something dropping to the floor.

Inside the room, there was no response at all.

“Why no response?”

Eager to report the progress, Lea carefully opened the door.

“Excuse me…”

Hoping he might be sleeping, she quietly opened the bedroom door—

“Ahk!”

Instead of lying on the bed, the man was standing right in front of the door, looking down at Lea.

‘No! If you’re going to stand there, at least make some noise!’

She almost dropped the teacup she was holding.

“Why are you standing there…?”

But when Lea looked at the Duke’s face, she was at a loss for words.

“What is that look in your eyes?”

It was an unfamiliar look she had never seen in the Duke before. Like a dog waiting for its owner, his eyes seemed to be waiting for her arrival.

Feeling inexplicably uneasy, Lea’s hairs stood on end.

Moreover—

“You’re here?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Here?”

The Duke greeted her in an unusually gentle voice.

Was she imagining it, or had his attitude become subtly more familiar overnight? Lea’s eyes narrowed suspiciously at his unusual behavior.

“This is strange…”

Definitely strange.

His face was oddly flushed, and he unnecessarily cleared his throat. He couldn’t even meet her eyes properly.

Lea stared at Akkia intently, as if she had found the answer.

“You must have caught a cold?”

He was probably too proud to say he was sick, but was clearly waiting for her.

“He’s a handful.”

Clicking her tongue in her heart, Lea pretended not to know anything and asked the Duke,

“Duke, are you feeling unwell?”

Akkia, who had been staring at the doorknob helplessly, turned his head toward her.

“…Not at all. What about you?”

“Me?”

Why is he suddenly worried about me?

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“…Really? You seemed to have a high fever yesterday.”

“Fever?”

Lea wracked her brain, remembering the intense heat caused by the medicine’s side effects the day before. But how did the Duke know about it?

“How did you know I had a high fever?”

Lea asked in surprise.

“Well…”

Akkia, about to explain, suddenly stopped. Then, as if realizing something, his face stiffened instantly.

“…You don’t remember last night?”

“Last night?”

What happened last night?

She tried to recall, but all she remembered was taking the medicine and falling asleep.

Nothing could have happened.

Seeing her innocent face, the Duke realized she had no memory.

“Hah!”

With an incredulous chuckle, Akkia ran his hand through his hair.

Was she angry at him for something?

His face was colder than usual. The Duke pulled Lea further into the room and slammed the door shut.

“What’s wrong? Why are you so angry…?”

“Angry? Do I look angry to you?”

Akkia sneered with bitter sarcasm at her words. Then he moved even closer to her.

“What the… What’s going on…!”

Lea instinctively stepped back at the sudden shift in atmosphere. With nowhere left to run, her back hit the wall.

In the darkened bedroom behind the curtains, his glowing red eyes shone fiercely.

The Duke’s arms stretched out, trapping her against the wall. Lea swallowed hard as his gaze tightened, holding her captive.

“You said you don’t remember last night, right?”

The Duke leaned in, tilting his head slightly toward her.

“If you don’t remember, I can make you remember.”