TLDOWN 01

CHAPTER 01:

 The Duke Who Was Frail, Became Healthy

On a summer afternoon, beneath a blazing sun—

A woman, wrists bound behind her back, was being led to the gallows by a guard.

With each step, the metal shackles around her ankles clanked chillingly, but she paid them no mind.

After all, in just a few minutes, her body would be hanging there.

“It’s all over now.”

Her empty gaze locked onto the gallows. Her lips were dry and cracked like a desert, and her once vibrant grass-green eyes had lost all light.

Was it the sweltering heat? Or the fear of death?

She staggered as though she might collapse at any moment.

[Leah, apothecary, is sentenced to death for worsening the condition of Akia, former prince of the Croatea Empire and Duke of House Heidern, ultimately causing his death.]

— Bang! Bang! Bang!

The echo of the judge’s gavel still rang clearly in her ears. She had screamed that the medicine couldn’t possibly have been wrong, but no one had listened.

Everyone was too busy blaming the incompetent apothecary who had doomed the duke.

“I should never have come here.”

No—at the very least, she should have fled the day she became his personal physician. But now, such regrets were meaningless.

A hollow laugh escaped her lips. It had been 22 years since she reincarnated into this world, alone.

The memories of her desperate struggle to survive flashed before her eyes like a lantern show.

“We will now carry out the execution of the apothecary, Leah. Prisoner, kneel.”

The guard shoved her forward, and she collapsed to her knees. As the face of the condemned woman, who had shaken the entire capital, was revealed, the crowd stirred.

— I heard Duke Heidern died after taking a potion she made.

— Such a pity, she’s still so young…

— Pity? She’s a murderer!

Among the crowd, some looked at her with sympathy, while others condemned her reckless youth.

“Does the criminal Leah have any final words?”

She bowed her head at the judge’s question.

“Final words? As if I’d have any.”

That man died because of her. Guilt and bitter regret crushed her so heavily it was hard to breathe.

“If only… if only I’d done things differently…”

Leah, having lost all will to fight back, closed her eyes slowly, wishing the pain would end soon.

Seeing her silent, the judge assumed she had nothing more to say and raised his hand.

Just as the guard was tying the noose around her neck, ready to execute the sentence—

“Stop.”

A man’s voice rang quietly through the square.

“Who dares?! This is—!”

As the man in a black robe revealed his face, the air itself seemed to freeze.

“What…?”

The atmosphere shifted, and Leah slowly opened her eyes.

In the glare of the sun, she saw red eyes—familiar ones.

“…Duke?”

She muttered in a trembling voice, as if seeing a ghost.

He was supposed to be dead, buried beneath cold soil.

Right before her execution for the murder of the Duke of Heidern… the dead man had returned.

And with that, Leah’s barely-holding body gave out.

“It’s warm.”

How long had it been since she felt warmth like this? Soft, fluffy bedding wrapped around her body.

A gentle hand stroked her ear, and a soft moan escaped her lips.

Annoyed, Leah buried her face deeper into the pillow.

“A dream?”

A sweet dream—of someone gently caressing her with affection.

Breath tickled her nose. Fingers brushed back her hair.

“Why does it feel so real?”

The sensations were too vivid for a dream. As she stirred awake, what appeared before her—

“The Duke…?”

Chiseled features, golden hair that gleamed like the sun, and eyes red as blood.

“No way.”

Was she still dreaming? Or… had she died?

Leah touched the back of her neck, her face pale with shock.

“I’m alive…”

She pinched herself. It hurt. Not a dream.

But even with proof, she still couldn’t believe the sight of him, and reached out to touch his face.

“W-What is…?”

Suddenly, the man caught her wrist.

“Your gaze might wear out my face.”

Ah.

That deep, familiar voice… The one she had missed so desperately.

“It’s really you, Your Grace…?”

Leah bolted upright, scanning him from head to toe. There was no mistake—no one else looked like him.

“This is insane…”

She had watched him die with her own eyes. In a daze, lips parted in disbelief, she stared at him.

“What? Aren’t you happy? That I’m alive.”

Was this about joy or something else entirely? Leah couldn’t even process it.

The man reached for her hand and placed it against his cheek.

“Disappointed.”

Then, pressing his cheek against her palm, he muttered:

“You cried so much when I died. Was that all a lie?”

She could feel his breath against her hand. So close. Too real.

“It’s not that. You died, didn’t you…?”

“I did.”

A smirk curled his lips, like he was enjoying her confusion.

“But the thought of you flirting with other men after I was gone…”

A chilling glint flashed in his red eyes.

“It made my blood boil.”

What?

As if it weren’t enough that he had returned from the dead, now he was spouting nonsense—

Leah, instinctively uneasy, glanced around.

She didn’t recognize this room. Shrouded in darkness, details were hard to see, but one thing was clear—it was luxuriously extravagant.

And then, in a voice softer than ever before, he whispered her name:

“Leah.”

His fingers grabbed her chin, warm and firm.

“Was he always like this…?”

She examined him more closely.

Radiant skin, firm chest peeking through his robe—

Her eyes, against her will, traveled downward toward the defined muscles of his abs, then lower—

—Gulp.

Leah yanked her gaze back up.

The man chuckled, clearly amused. He gently brushed her ear.

“I apologize for calling you a quack.”

His low, husky voice brushed her ear like velvet.

“Because of you, I feel reborn.”

His fingers traced her cheek, his tone full of awe.

“From now on, everything will change.”

In the darkened room, their eyes locked in midair.

“…Huh? What do you mean—?”

Before she could finish, he climbed on top of her.

Pinned beneath him, Leah gasped.

“Y-Your Grace?!”

“I thought you’d be a little happy.”

He smiled softly, brushing stray hairs from her face.

“Didn’t you want me to get better?”

Yes, she had.

Of everyone in the empire, no one had wished for the duke’s recovery more than her.

But this is… too healthy!

Just days ago, he was at death’s door—or had actually died. The Akia she knew was never this intensely masculine.

A terminally ill man, now looming over her with imposing force.

Something heavy pressed against her stomach. Surely it wasn’t what she feared it might be…

Before she could think further, he whispered:

“Leah.”

She gulped again and tried to push him back by the shoulders.

“Your Grace, please, let’s calm down and talk—”

“Strange.”

“…What?”

“I feel… strange. Too much strength.”

The raw desire burning in his red eyes pinned her like a predator.

“So much I can’t control it.”

Eyes aflame, trembling with barely contained passion.

—Thump.

—Thump.

—Thump.

Her heart beat like a drum, so loudly it hurt. She feared it might burst at any moment.

“So, Leah…”

His breath brushed her lips—so close.

“Take responsibility.”

He slowly intertwined his fingers with hers.

“You’re the one who made me like this.”

As if he wouldn’t let her escape—not even a little.

The once-frail Duke had recovered.
A bit too much.