Chapter 15
Even after looking again, the chest looked so massive it almost seemed to have a mind of its own.
‘No matter how I think about it… he’s the one who should be wearing a bra.’
Lucy’s trembling eyes wandered over his muscular arms, where veins stood out beneath his skin, then over the defined abs visible through his shirt.
Just thenā
Whoosh.
A large hand cupped both of her cheeks.
She instinctively tried to lean backward, but failed without even realizing it.
‘How…? He’s not even using any strength…’
He wasn’t forcing her.
Yet simply being held by those large, warm hands made it impossible for her to pull away.
‘Am I really this weak?’
Her pride took another hit.
“…”
Step.
Edward’s face, a natural disaster in human form, moved closer.
Lucy couldn’t help but admire him.
‘The male lead really is the male lead.’
Even with a slight frown, he was frighteningly beautiful.
Or maybe…
He was beautiful because he was frightening.
Even knowing perfectly well what a terrible and dangerous man he was…
His appearance was still impossible to ignore.
“…You.”
His low voice drifted toward her lips.
His long eyelashes almost brushed her forehead.
His sculpted nose seemed to dominate her entire field of vision.
And below that…
‘Even his lips are pretty.’
His neat, thin red lips…
Reminded her of another passage from the novel.
Edward’s burning lips wandered across Sephina’s.
His passionate tongue slipped past her teeth and traced the roof of her mouth…
Remembering that scene was completely beyond Lucy’s control.
‘T-Think of something else.’
Anything… just not something related to his lips…
Instead…
The memory that surfaced was once again about kissing.
“A kiss?”
“Why would we ki… Of course!”
“This purifier can do anything!”
It was something she herself had proudly declared only hours ago.
The conversation about the contract she still hadn’t gotten him to sign.
‘Wait…’
‘Don’t tell me…’
‘Is he actually trying to kiss me… I mean, purify himself?’
‘…No. That can’t be it. Of course not.’
Her wandering reason hurried back.
Well…
He had spread his wings earlier.
He had probably used a lot of magic.
And since he’d been at the temple to see Sephina…
He had likely accumulated a lot of corrupt energy.
‘So it makes sense that he’d need purification…’
Still…
The experienced romance-fantasy reader inside her whispered,
‘But this feels way too clichĆ©.’
The male lead moves closer.
The heroine thinks, “Oh my, is he about to kiss me?”
Only to realize she’d misunderstood.
That kind of scene happened all the time.
Then she remembered she’d bumped into his armor earlier.
‘Maybe he’s worried about me again?’
The thought didn’t make her feel bad.
She’d expected it would be difficult to stay on this moody male lead’s good side.
But things had gone more smoothly than expected.
Giving up on escaping his grasp, Lucy flashed him a bright grin.
Her small hands were already rubbing together, ready to flatter him.
‘Were you worried? I’m perfectly fine. If you’re concerned about leaving your family crest stamped on my face, I’ll polish your armor until it shines…’
“Should we kiss?”
“Ye… Wh-What?!”
Everything she’d prepared disappeared with that single sentence.
* * *
While Lucy stood there in complete shock…
Edward quietly studied her stunned expression.
Her mouth hung open in surprise.
The small red tongue inside immediately caught his eye.
It looked so tiny…
He wanted to press it down with his finger.
‘So that’s the tongue she’s been using to flatter me all day.’
He wondered how high she’d jump if he bit it.
Feeling a strange thirst, Edward tilted his head slightly.
Truthfully…
He hadn’t originally intended to casually ask, “Want to kiss?”
Earlier, as he’d entered the roomā
Thump.
He had heard something bump into his back.
Something very soft.
Something that barely hit him at all.
It was probably the woman following behind him.
‘She must’ve been spacing out.’
Perhaps she had simply been staring at his back in admiration.
He’d smiled inwardly and ignored it.
But after removing the armor he’d worn all day and turning around…
He saw her bent over, covering her entire face with both hands.
His expression darkened immediately.
‘Don’t tell me…’
‘Did she break her nose just from bumping into me?’
Thinking about it…
It actually seemed possible.
She was that fragile.
That was why he’d immediately walked over and examined her face.
But…
“…”
He’d noticed it while she was burying her face against his chest too.
Despite being underfed…
Her cheeks still had a little softness.
They were as soft and springy as the small curves beneath her chest.
Slide.
“…”
His now-bare fingers, freed from the armor’s gloves, brushed lightly across her lips.
Her lips were warm…
Soft…
Slightly damp.
The warm breath escaping her tiny mouth sent chills racing up his fingers.
That was when the impulse struck.
‘Maybe…’
‘I should try receiving a proper purification.’
Ever since they’d met…
Simply touching her had eased his headaches.
But that had all happened unintentionally.
Then he remembered what he’d thought while holding her by the shoulders earlier.
‘If just touching her is this effective…’
‘What would happen if we consciously purified me?’
His reasoning came together quickly.
Right.
He should test how good she really was.
If she wasn’t useful…
He could abandon her here.
That was why he’d asked.
Yetā
“Ye… no…?!”
Was that a yes?
Or a no?
Edward frowned even more deeply.
“Be clear.”
“Huh? I… um… yes? No… I…”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
‘Yeah… what AM I trying to say?’
Lucy was just as shocked.
She hadn’t expected him to ask for a kiss as purification before they’d even held hands.
‘Y-You shameless pervert!’
Her ears burned.
‘I guess after doing everything imaginable with Sephina, this much feels completely normal to him.’
‘He’s really piling up karma before meeting the heroine.’
Of course…
Whether he felt guilty toward the heroine wasn’t Lucy’s problem.
If anyone should feel guilty…
It was this man who had rolled around in bed with Sephina.
‘Backing out now would be even weirder.’
She still had no intention of sharing Edward’s bed.
But only a few hours ago…
She’d confidently declared she would do anything.
That she was useful.
That she could purify him.
Refusing now just because she was embarrassed would only make her story inconsistent.
‘That would raise suspicion.’
Her life was precious.
She had promised herself she’d survive and build proper graves for the other children.
‘There’s only one problem.’
She might be punished later when the heroine dealt with all the other women around Edward.
Still…
It wasn’t like she planned to get emotionally involved.
Purification required physical contact anyway.
It wasn’t her fault this world worked that way.
And if she thought about it carefully…
By the time Edward became a complete Dragon Incarnation and met the heroine…
‘I might not even be in the Duchy anymore.’
She could run away somehow.
Find another way to survive.
‘Then hopefully I won’t lose my head later.’
In that case…
A kiss was manageable…
…She decided to temporarily forget that it would be the first kiss of both her current life and her previous one.
“Y-Yes-no… Yes! Yes!”
“So you’ll do it?”
“Yes! Let’s do it!”
Lucy answered loudly on purpose.
She puckered her lips and closed her eyes.
She thought she heard him chuckle quietly.
But she couldn’t help it.
‘Keeping my eyes open while kissing would be even stranger.’
He was probably used to it after all those kisses with Sephina.
‘At least… even if he’s awful, he’s handsome.’
Still…
Would he really be that good?
Now that things had come to this…
She couldn’t help becoming curious.
The descriptions from Sephina’s point of view kept coming back to mind.
‘She said it felt unbelievably good.’
In the novel…
Even a simple kiss from the male lead was described as making her knees weak and her whole body tingle.
Sometimes just one kiss was enough to leave her overwhelmed with desire.
‘Honestly… as a complete beginner, I’m a little curious…’
Lucy clenched her fists as she felt him drawing closer.
Bang!
The door suddenly flew open with a loud crash.
