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Chapter 24
Mary casually asked as she watched Rick silently accept the box she handed him.
“So you’re not doing the handkerchief inspection anymore?”
Flinch.
Rick, who had been moving the box, tightly shut his eyes when he heard the subtly teasing voice behind him.
Hah… If only I hadn’t made that mistake.
Rick recalled the time he had been summoned to Licht’s office.
“From now on, conduct yourself properly so that you don’t commit any discourtesy.”
Being lightly reprimanded was bad enough, but the newly added order instantly put Rick in a weaker position.
His Highness emphasized security, so I strengthened the vigilance…
From Rick’s perspective, he had merely been faithfully carrying out orders. Who could have known it would lead to such an annoying situation?
“So now you won’t even answer me?”
“……”
“Ugh! My throat suddenly feels kind of scratchy too…”
When Mary exaggeratedly grabbed the back of her neck, Rick ended up shouting without realizing it.
“I—!”
“Oh my? Are you angry right now? That’s so scary. What if I faint like this…?”
Her green eyes, opened wide like a startled rabbit’s, blinked innocently.
“……Didn’t I already apologize for the discourtesy I committed that day?”
The other party was a maid from a family that the captain seemed to value quite highly. He couldn’t raise his voice.
From the tiny freckles across her nose to her overall tomboyish appearance, she was truly a woman who gave him a headache.
Rick sighed as he looked at Mary, who covered her mouth and laughed softly, apparently enjoying how stuck he was.
Still, if there was one fortunate thing, it was that unlike the others, this woman’s spite cooled off quickly.
No matter how I look at it, she’d probably get along well with those chatterboxes in the knight order.
Looking down at the crown of her head, which barely reached his chest, Rick escorted her out himself, just as Mary had requested before.
“How kind of you. Then, see you next time.”
“Take care on your way.”
Bang!
What a ridiculous woman.
After responding without losing to Mary, who had innocently praised his manners, Rick immediately shut the door.
A warm, gentle sensation, like finding cozy rest, enveloped Licht.
This is… a lucid dream?
The moment he became aware of his consciousness, he realized he was dreaming, and just then a familiar voice came from nearby.
“Licht.”
“……!”
A tender call filled evenly with affection, directed at him.
“Miss…?”
Licht reflexively turned around and, upon discovering a familiar pink figure that had appeared out of nowhere, asked in a dazed voice.
“Why are you making that face?”
Luciana, adorably clasping her hands behind her back, tilted her head and approached, closing the distance between them.
“If anything, I’m the one who wants to ask—ugh! What are you doing right now—!”
“Got you!”
Grab!
Like a cat pouncing on a mouse, Luciana, who had been sneaking closer, paid no mind to whether Licht bristled or not and suddenly threw herself into his arms.
“Mmm, it’s warm.”
“……!”
As if that weren’t enough, she even smiled foolishly. Licht shouted as if fleeing, unable to get used to the sudden hug that knocked the wind out of him, nor to Luciana approaching him brimming with goodwill.
“Hey!”
How could someone so chestnut-sized have such strength?
Licht shouted while trying to push away the arms tightly wrapped around his waist like ropes binding a criminal, but perhaps because it was a dream, they didn’t budge at all.
“Licht? You’re strange today. Usually you’re the one who’s always bothering me.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. More importantly, aren’t you going to let go?”
Through the single thin layer of clothing between them, he could clearly feel the warmth where they were pressed tightly together.
The small body stubbornly burrowed into his arms was soft and pliant, unlike his own.
“Huh? Your face turned red.”
“What are you—!”
Luciana let out a soft laugh as she looked at his ears, which had turned a pretty apple-red.
Seeing Licht, who had been acting sharp and prickly like a bristling beast, suddenly stutter like a broken toy unexpectedly suited his fierce appearance.
Damn it. Why, of all things!
His body, helplessly trapped in Luciana’s arms, refused to obey him and behaved on its own.
His heart pounded as if he had swallowed poison, his palms began to sweat, and the heat spreading across his face like spilled paint showed no sign of calming down.
“Pfft!”
Luciana gazed at Licht for a moment, then burst into a harmless laugh.
She loosened the hand around his waist, rose onto her tiptoes, and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck.
“Why are you so cute today?”
“……!”
At her final words, his entire body stiffened as if he had heard something forbidden.
But only for a moment—before he could doubt his ears.
Peck.
Just now… what was that?
“Gasp…!”
The instant her soft lips suddenly touched his cheek, he woke up from the hazy dream.
Leaning back against the headboard, Licht’s taut chest heaved as he breathed roughly.
“What a ridiculous dream.”
Snapping irritably, Licht suddenly sensed something strange about his body and slowly lowered his gaze.
The faintly prominent outline on his left thigh entered his vision.
“……!”
All sorts of crude curses tangled in his mouth like kneaded dough.
His tightly closed lips trembled. Ignoring the tension in his lower abdomen, Licht let out a hollow laugh.
There was no way he could ever admit that he had ended up like this because of a dream.
“Now you’re appearing even in my dreams.”
The voice he muttered in self-mockery held a faint note of resignation.
Until now, Licht had ignored everything about Luciana, but instead of improving, it only produced the opposite effect.
His instinct, which desperately desired a mate, raised its voice from a corner of his heart, but his reason—which allowed not even the slightest wavering—blocked it.
Yet unlike his mind, his body was steadily drifting toward Luciana, like an addict suffering withdrawal.
The soft sensation of the hair that had brushed his fingertips lingered. Whenever a light breeze seemed to blow, he felt as if her calm, fragrant scent hovered around him.
These bizarre, almost supernatural symptoms only worsened as time passed, and standing firm between the two extremes of instinct and reason felt increasingly exhausting.
Just today alone, hadn’t he been tormented by an absurd dream as if they were lovers?
Though he was in the prime of his youth, he had never once felt desire toward a woman.
So much so that, at one point, rumors circulated in high society that Duke Cassio was impotent. All of it stemmed from Licht mercilessly rejecting every noble lady who approached him with designs on his side.
For someone like him to show such an embarrassing reaction over a mere illusion from a dream felt bleak no matter how he tried to dress it up with excuses. And for Licht, who always tried to push Luciana out of his territory, nothing could have been more shocking.
“Damn it.”
Ever since the heat cycle, it had always been like this.
No matter how much he tried to remain indifferent, once the floodgates opened, he couldn’t control his heart leaning toward her—like a vagrant finally drinking rain after a long drought.
—Still don’t get it? You’ve already become a body that can’t live without a mate.
At that moment, the instinct that hadn’t shown itself for days appeared, sneering as it spoke to him.
—Look at the dream you had today. It’s because deep down, you want Lucy. I know everything. No matter how much you deny it, I’m part of you, aren’t I?
It’s already been half a month since the heat cycle ended. I want to see Luciana, alive and breathing, right in front of me!
Go to her already. I want to be by Lucy’s side…
The voice that had shaken Licht disappeared quickly, but the impression it left behind—Luciana’s presence—lingered around him like a deeply soaked afterscent.
“Ugh! I’m going to lose my mind.”
Licht frowned as he felt a raw sensation shoot up his spine.
Sensing the fierce reaction from that just from briefly thinking of Luciana, he shut his mouth.
At the moment Licht felt the urge to carve out a part of himself with a blade.
