Chapter 11

The reason Keisran kidnapped her was that he simply could not let her go. He wanted to change her heart somehow and make things work between them.

Whether the kidnapping triggered it or not, the issue he worried about most was being resolved in a positive direction.

This made him wonder if it might be time to send her back, yet he was still anxious.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, but he worried that once she returned to the Count’s estate, her attitude might shift again, or that this fragile bond would come to an end right then and there.

Even to himself, it felt like an incredibly selfish thought.

“I will… send you back. But… I don’t think I can do so right away.”

When he first kidnapped her, the idea of sending her back hadn’t even crossed his mind. Though he knew he couldn’t keep her confined by his side forever, he hadn’t been capable of making such a decision.

But things were different now. She was someone he would eventually have to send back; he couldn’t keep her locked by his side indefinitely.

Leila’s eyes widened at Keisran’s words. She hadn’t expected him to bring it up first.

Only yesterday, when she subtly hinted at returning to the Count’s estate, Keisran’s face had hardened with anxiety.

Even now, he still looked uneasy, yet he had ultimately uttered the words promising to return her.

“You must remember that promise. The promise that you will send me back. Whenever that may be, I hope it won’t take too long.”

Although Leila had voluntarily decided to stay here a little longer, she couldn’t remain indefinitely. Letters alone weren’t enough to completely relieve her family’s worries.

Above all, their current dynamic wasn’t healthy for either of them. A romance between a kidnapper and the woman he abducted—that alone was inherently contradictory.

Even if things were going smoothly for now, that truth could one day pull them under. At any moment, it could turn into a sharp thorn and inflict a deep wound.

No matter how well she adapted to the situation and acted as if nothing were wrong, as time passed, she too would inevitably grow discontented with her present circumstances, which would breed negative feelings toward Keisran.

He could not avoid paying the price for his actions, and in one way or another, he would face retribution. Considering that, letting this kidnapping situation drag on for too long was problematic.

“……I will try my best.”

To return her as quickly as possible—and to finish preparing his heart for that moment.

Though he lacked the confidence to win her heart completely, Keisran was satisfied merely by the fact that he had been given a small chance.

“Yes, I understand.”

This time, she refrained from saying thank you. Returning her to the Count’s estate after kidnapping her was only natural. Unless he truly desired an irreversible catastrophe, it was what he ought to do.

“And… I heard about what happened yesterday.”

‘Ah, as expected.’

Since she hadn’t sworn the knight to secrecy, she knew he might mention yesterday’s incident to Keisran. Not wanting to make the knight lie, she hadn’t said anything to stop him.

“If you wish to step down from tutoring Cahill even now, I will rescind the command immediately.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“But he dared to—!”

“To be precise, he just shoved a book, and it happened to fly toward me.”

“Even so, it doesn’t change the fact that you were almost hit.”

“Thanks to that, it was actually quite fun.”

Of course, that wasn’t entirely true. However, knowing she couldn’t convince Keisran by claiming Cahill had done it on purpose, she intentionally framed it that way.

“That… was fun?”

Keisran’s face contorted into a strange expression.

“Of course. I’ve been so bored staying in my room alone all this time. Thanks to him, there’s never a dull moment.”

“If boredom is the issue, I will stay with you from now on.”

“Don’t you have to work?” Leila asked, her expression instantly hardening.

“I can work in your room, Lea.”

“So you’re telling me to just sit there and watch you work, even if we’re together?”

“Then……”

“If you’re about to say you’ll skip work altogether just to play with me, prepare for me to be angry,” Leila said sternly.

“…….”

At the mention of her getting angry, Keisran shut his mouth tight.

“You clearly promised to leave the matter regarding young master Dahrin to me. I won’t allow you to go back on your word now.”

Especially now, when things were finally showing signs of improvement. Quitting here would make all her past efforts go to waste—all the more so considering she would be returning home soon.

“But……”

“Are you going to keep saying ‘but, but’? Keep that up and I’ll feel like I’m being brainwashed. You said you’d grant any request of mine as long as it wasn’t asking to be sent back, yet you haven’t properly granted a single thing.”

Even when he did yield in the end, it always took several arguments to get him to listen properly.

Unable to contain her fleeting annoyance, a momentary fierce look crossed Leila’s face. Seeing that side of her for the first time, Keisran flinched instinctively.

“No more ‘buts’. You are to follow my words without exception.”

Even though she noticed Keisran flinch, Leila ignored it and spoke with absolute firmness.

She looked ready to take action if he disobeyed.

Her aura was so commanding that even Keisran felt a little intimidated.

Meanwhile, having said all that, Leila flinched inwardly.

Her true nature had already begun to slip out, but her outburst just now had hit a peak.

She felt confused, unsure whether this was because she was opening her heart to him that much, or because of a subconscious belief that he would accept her regardless.

For her part, she was prepared to accept his true nature no matter what it was—in fact, his dark tendencies actually suited her personal taste—but she couldn’t be sure how Keisran felt about hers.

“……I understand,” Keisran said, his eyes drooping slightly.

“Good.”

Apart from yielding to her, Leila felt relieved that Keisran didn’t show any adverse reaction to her unusual demeanor.

There was no way he hadn’t noticed, yet he seemed to have no intention of making an issue out of it.

‘Could it be that, deep down, he actually prefers my real personality?’

However, knowing how low the probability was, Leila shook her head in her mind.

“By the way, Lea, aren’t you curious?”

“About what?”

“Why I treat that kid so coldly.”

“I told you before. I don’t ask about things that might cause pain. When someone has a wound, you apply ointment—you don’t interrogate them about how they got hurt.”

Her stance on that hadn’t changed even now. That was why, when she talked with Cahill, she hadn’t asked why his relationship with his older brother was so terrible or why he longed for his brother’s affection so much.

“……You are right, Lea. It is a wound. One that can never be washed away for me.”

To talk about Cahill, Keisran would naturally have to bring up the past circumstances he had been placed in. That was content he still couldn’t easily bring himself to speak of.

Just speaking those words, just recalling the situation back then, brought immense pain and reopened the wound.

“So you don’t forcedly have to tell me. You don’t need to try and convince me, either.”

It was simply their choice and their past. She wasn’t drawing a line between him and herself; it was consideration for his sake.

She, too, had secrets she couldn’t tell him. No matter how much he liked her, there were parts of her past she preferred not to share.

She couldn’t demand from others what she herself couldn’t do.

At Leila’s words, Keisran looked at her with a complicated expression.

The warmth embedded in her consideration was so tender that it made him feel almost suffocated. Yet, rather than strangling him, that breathlessness filled him with an overwhelming wave of emotion.

“……That kid did nothing wrong. It is simply that I dislike him unilaterally.”

Though he had resolved not to speak of it, and she had told him he didn’t need to, Keisran opened his mouth somewhat impetuously.

“I see.”

Leila merely gave a light nod, offering no further comment.

“Even knowing that…, does your opinion remain unchanged?”

“Just because he isn’t at fault doesn’t mean there isn’t a reason.”

Considering the dynamic between Keisran and Cahill, the reason wasn’t entirely beyond her imagination.

Since Cahill didn’t seem particularly greedy for the title of Duke, unless it was a fight over succession, the reason was obvious.

It was highly probable that they were not full brothers. And with a very high probability, half-brothers rarely got along well.

It wasn’t necessarily because there was something wrong with them individually, but because the surrounding circumstances acted unfavorably upon them both.

Even if a father parted on good terms with his first wife, having a stranger become one’s new mother and gaining an unexpected younger sibling naturally stirred an instinctive aversion. If the separation had been messy, it went beyond simple aversion into outright hostility.

In such cases, the younger sibling was guilty of nothing. Yet humans are not entirely rational beings, and just because the other person is blameless doesn’t mean one can separate them from the source of one’s suffering—especially when bound by blood.

“Even if that reason makes no sense?”

“I don’t know why you keep trying to probe me, but do you want me to say that I dislike you or that I’m disappointed in you, Kei?”

She had turned a blind eye to his probing until now, but this time she couldn’t let it slide.

It bothered her, feeling as though he were putting her to a test. Of course, she knew he wasn’t doing it out of malice, but out of insecurity. Still, if repeated, such behavior could foster discomfort in the other person.

If he was anxious, it was far better to simply admit his anxiety. She wanted him to speak his true thoughts as they were.

“……It’s not that.”

“Let’s address this clearly right now. If you have worries or anxieties, just say so outright. Whatever you are thinking, expressing it as it is won’t make me dislike you for doing so. In fact, that is far better than acting like this. So let me ask again: what is it you truly want to say?”

Leila stared at Keisran with a firm expression.

Before her gaze, Keisran felt himself shrinking. At this moment, she possessed a strange charisma that intimidated even him.

The woman who had always been nothing but gentle was surprisingly firm—and remarkably honest. She was truly different from him.

Just as she had said, he hadn’t brought it up to test her. He was simply terrified. He was so terrified of her reaction if he revealed everything as it was that he wanted to do nothing but run away from it.

Yet he couldn’t keep showing such a pathetic side of himself in front of the woman who constantly showed him consideration. After hesitating several times, Keisran gathered his courage and forced the words out with effort.

“I am simply anxious and afraid. Now that you know I am Duke Dahrin and that my personality isn’t particularly good, I fear that once you come to know everything about me, you will push me away. I fear you will be disappointed if you find out what I am hiding.”

What he was hiding was clear: Keisran’s past and his history with Cahill.

“Kei, this is what I think. No matter how much I say it’s not true or that such a thing won’t happen, it means nothing if you don’t believe me. I am only human, so I can’t predict every reaction I’ll ever have, but I just want you to trust me a little more.”

To be sure, Leila was confident. Whatever dark past he was hiding, as long as Keisran wasn’t at fault, she would never react in the way he feared.

The real issue was whether he could bring himself to believe her words. Independent of that belief, anxiety could still creep in.

Just because one resolves not to be anxious doesn’t mean the feeling vanishes instantly.

From what she had observed so far, he lacked confidence in himself, and his self-esteem was correspondingly low.

All the anxiety he felt stemmed from that. She wondered what on earth could have happened in his past to leave his self-esteem so battered, but she couldn’t pry into it.

Everyone had things they wanted to hide, and it wasn’t her place to dig them out. Nor did she wish to.

“It is not that I do not trust you, Lea. It is just……”

It was himself he couldn’t trust. He couldn’t trust his whole self, nor any action he might commit in the future.

The very act of kidnapping her had already run counter to his desire to cherish her. If something like that were to happen again, if he ended up hurting her unintentionally……

“I trust the Kei that I see and know right now. Don’t be too anxious, and don’t doubt yourself so much.”

The past was merely the past. What mattered was the present, and the future that would change because of it.

Though this conversation had begun because of Cahill, Leila’s words were not restricted merely to Keisran’s attitude toward his brother.

“And don’t worry that I’ll be disappointed in you for how you treat Cahill. If that part bothers you, you could put in a little effort to change. But no one is perfect, and as long as it doesn’t cross the line, I am more than willing to understand and accept it.”

In truth, Leila was not someone who cared deeply about others or went out of her way to be considerate. What mattered to Leila were the people she cherished.

Though she paid rare attention to Cahill because his situation overlapped with her own past, he was nowhere near as precious to her as Keisran was.

“Lea…, I love you. To the extent that if you wished it, I could tear out my own heart with my own hands and present it to you.”

At least in all his actions and emotions toward Leila, there was not a shred of falsehood.

Conveying feelings that would remain unexhausted even if spoken hundreds or thousands of times, Keisran quietly gazed at Leila.

“I am sorry to Kei, but I cannot give you an answer to those feelings right now.”

No matter how well she was getting along here—to the point where the fact that she was kidnapped felt faint—the situation remained unchanged.

Even if her fond feelings for him were growing and she was gradually falling for him, she couldn’t speak of it now.

This wasn’t a situation that could simply end just because he liked her and she liked him back.

When he promised to send her back one day, he hadn’t attached the condition that she must return his feelings for him to do so.

The most important thing was to build mutual trust. Once that trust became the foundation to overcome this entire situation, Leila intended to formally confess her feelings to him.

Though she couldn’t say for certain what her answer would be at that time—though thinking about it herself, the probability of a positive response was overwhelmingly high.

After all, true feelings didn’t always need to be explicitly spoken to be conveyed. Just as she knew he still loved her through his demeanor even without a direct declaration, he would come to realize her feelings as well.

Then, it would become easier for him to send her back to the Count’s estate.

For the sake of their future, such trust was crucial. Even if she told him she liked him now and he sent her back upon hearing it, if he fundamentally lacked trust in her and remained anxious about her feelings, there was no telling what situation might arise later.

He needed to realize it: if she came to love him and fully accept him, the things he feared would never happen.

Therefore, he needed to gradually shed the countless anxieties he harbored.

“But please know this. I hold positive feelings toward you, Kei, and I am not having any of the thoughts you worry about or fear.”

Especially since he had declared with his own mouth that he would eventually send her back. That being the case, there was no reason for her to plot an escape from the Duke’s estate.

All she needed to do was wait. She only hoped that the wait would not be too long.

“To me, Lea… you are a blessing from the goddess. Perhaps the only light allowed in my life.”

“I doubt I’m the only one.”

To become someone’s sole existence was a matter of great joy and honor, but it also carried an immense weight of anxiety.

Besides, being the only loved one was one thing, but phrasing it as the ‘only light’ felt a bit extreme. It implied that without her, his life held neither hope nor happiness.

While having one light was certainly better than having none, she didn’t want him closing off all other possibilities.

“And to me, Kei, you are a unique existence as well.”

In every sense of the word.

Attempting to lighten the heavily settled atmosphere, Leila forced a bright smile onto her face.

***

 

Leaving her conversation with Keisran behind, Leila faced Cahill.

 

Cahill, who opened the door and walked in, hesitated and shuffled his feet, somehow unable to look Leila directly in the eye.

 

Still, one thing had changed from yesterday: Cahill offered her a proper greeting for the first time. Though it was merely an awkward, embarrassed bow of the head, even that was a astonishing transformation.

 

“Where is your book report?”

 

Leila asked, nodding back in response to Cahill’s greeting.

 

At that, Cahill awkwardly held out a sheet of paper he had brought with him.

 

“It’s not like I did it just because you told me to! …Lady. I just did it because I felt like trying it out… Lady.”

 

Though it was an awkward attempt at polite honorifics, at least the effort to speak respectfully was clear.

 

“Either way, the important thing is that you actually did it,” Leila said, her voice laced with praise.

 

“Hmph.”

 

On the surface, he wore a sulky expression, but Cahill subtly projected an air of proud satisfaction.

 

Watching him, Leila chuckled. Even behind his crooked manner of speaking, he revealed his childish side; seeing him like this, he was truly just a kid.

 

With a soft chuckle, Leila gently patted Cahill on the head.

 

“W-what do you think you’re doing! …Lady!”

 

“Since you finished your homework, the compliment is a bonus.”

 

“I only did it because I wanted to!”

 

“Did anyone say otherwise?”

 

Finding it hilarious how he pretended not to care while secretly enjoying the praise inside, Leila let out another soft laugh.

 

“By the way, I appreciate your determination to use formal speech, but awkwardly tacking on honorifics like that sounds really strange, you know?”

 

“So… Lady.”

 

Startled by Leila’s remark, Cahill spoke while feigning defiance.

 

“If you’re going to speak like that, either drop the formality altogether or use proper honorifics.”

 

“Then……!”

 

“Still, etiquette is important, so speak with proper respect. It seems words alone won’t work, so from now on, you’ll get a flick on the forehead every time you fail to keep it up.”

 

At Leila’s lingering words, Cahill wore a look of utter disbelief.

 

Just a moment ago she told him to either drop the formality or speak respectfully, yet the moment he tried to drop the formality, she came out with that?

 

And a flick on the forehead?

 

Having never been struck by anyone in his life, Cahill was left thoroughly bewildered by Leila’s words.

 

“By the way, does my brother know you have a personality like this, Lady… I mean, my Lady?”

 

Even if he was using proper honorifics, nowhere in her behavior was there any sign of treating him with reverence, nor could any of the gentleness Keisran always spoke of be found. In particular, the claim that she was extremely meek and soft-hearted seemed like a description that didn’t fit her at all.

 

“Hold on a second before that.”

 

Leila flashed a broad grin. For some reason, it looked ominous.

 

Leila stepped closer to Cahill and raised her hand. Wondering what she was trying to do, Cahill stared intently at her, only to be struck straight on the forehead with a sharp flick.

 

He had wondered how much it could possibly hurt coming from such a small hand, but it actually hurt immensely.

 

“What kind of superhuman strength is this?!”

 

Cahill said, completely flabbergasted. It felt as though a red mark had been left squarely on his forehead.

 

“Oho, informal speech again?”

 

Saying he was going to get a whole feast of forehead flicks today, Leila flashed another sinister smile. At that, Cahill hurriedly raised his hands to block her, but it was useless.

 

“I… I apologize, my Lady.”

 

Though he paused for a brief second, his honorifics were noticeably more natural than before.

 

“Anyway, whether Kei knows about my true personality or not, what does it matter to you? Why, are you planning to tattle on me again?”

 

Leila narrowed her eyes fiercely for a moment.

 

Even though Cahill was acting obedient today, she couldn’t entirely lower her guard.

 

“It’s not… like that. I was just curious.”

 

“Well, I’m not really sure myself.”

 

Thinking about how she had occasionally let her real personality slip out in front of him without realizing it, she thought he might have noticed, but there was no way to know for sure.

 

He had never directly brought up anything regarding the matter, after all.

 

“……It’s not bad right now, either.”

 

Perhaps thinking Leila was worried about it, Cahill muttered offhandedly.

 

“Informal speech again, I see?”

 

“……Ugh.”

 

‘That’s not the point right now!’

 

Cahill felt a surge of frustration. Here he was, offering a rare moment of comfort.

 

However, contrary to Cahill’s expectations, Leila didn’t flick his forehead again. She decided to let it slide this once due to extenuating circumstances.

 

 

***

 

 

As usual, Leila had lunch together with Keisran. After lunch, they enjoyed a tea time that had been repeatedly postponed.

 

Sitting in the Duke’s secret garden for tea, a gentle smile rested upon Leila’s face.

 

Warm sunshine and sweet desserts—it was quite satisfying.

 

“By the way, aren’t you going to eat, Kei?”

 

Noticing that while Keisran had been drinking his tea, he hadn’t touched the dessert at all, Leila asked with a subtle smile.

 

“Ah…, I am quite full.”

 

“Oh come on, no matter how full you are, surely you can manage a single bite of this small dessert?”

 

“That is……”

 

Keisran rolled his eyes, searching for a good way to politely decline her offer.

 

From that gesture alone, Leila could feel that Keisran had changed. Before, even if he didn’t want to, he would comply with whatever she asked him to do.

 

Whenever he went to a dessert shop with her in the past, even if his face wore every shade of reluctance, he would eventually sit down and eat desserts with her.

 

Yet now, he was actively thinking about refusing—even if he didn’t explicitly say he disliked it or utter a direct rejection.

 

“Kei, tell me honestly. You dislike sweet things, don’t you?”

 

“…….”

 

At Leila’s question, Keisran’s eyes widened slightly as if asking how she knew, before his expression turned troubled.

 

He simply couldn’t bring himself to say that he disliked food she enjoyed.

 

“You know, if there’s something you dislike, I want you to just tell me straight out. With this dessert, simply having you sit here with me is more than enough—you don’t actually have to eat it. And not just this time either; please clearly express your likes and dislikes from now on.”

 

Keisran knew what she liked and disliked, but she didn’t know his. Though she knew he disliked sweet food, he had never explicitly stated it to her himself.

 

Right now, she could only tell because he was visibly showing his reluctance; if he said nothing, she might pass over it without ever realizing.

 

In any romantic or affectionate relationship, such details were crucial. For two people to sustain a long relationship, refraining from doing what the other person disliked was far more important than doing what they liked.

 

“But……”

 

“Seriously… ‘but’ is forbidden from now on. Just because you dislike something I love doesn’t mean I’ll be hurt, and the same goes for the opposite. What a person likes or dislikes is simply their own choice and preference—it’s nothing to get hurt over.”

 

At Leila’s words, Keisran—who had been about to let out another ‘but’—swallowed the word back down.

 

“……I understand.”

 

“Good. That’s how it should be from now on. In that spirit, why don’t you list out everything you like and dislike?”

 

Thinking she would take this chance to confirm everything she hadn’t heard before, Leila waited for Keisran’s answer.

 

“Simply…, if it is related to you, Lea, I like it all. If it is something you like, I like it too.”

 

“……Right, well, at least I know sweet food isn’t on that list, so let’s move past that.”

 

“Ah……”

 

“Then what about things you dislike?”

 

At Leila’s question, Keisran pondered.

 

In the first place, he had never once thought about his own preferences throughout his life.

 

What he liked or disliked had always been beyond his concern. At best, the one thing he liked was clear: he liked Leila, and if it was related to her, he liked it regardless of what it was.

 

As for things he disliked…, well. It was probably everything related to his past.

 

However, he could not speak of that.

 

Reading Keisran’s hesitation, Leila spoke first.

 

“If nothing comes to mind right now, tell me later. I really want to know.”

 

At Leila’s words, Keisran gazed at her with a deepened look.

 

Every single word she spoke was as sweet and soft as cotton candy. He didn’t care for cotton candy, but if it were cotton candy that resembled Leila, he felt he could come to love it.

 

“Does Lea have anything she particularly likes or dislikes?”

 

“As for things I like, the first that comes to mind is my family, and as you know, Kei, I love sweet things. I also like sleeping and playing around.”

 

“I see.”

 

Though it was an ordinary answer, Keisran listened intently to her words, meticulously etching them into his mind.

 

“Are there things you dislike?”

 

“Rude and thoughtless people. I also hate people who pretend to be sweet and show affection to your face, only to badmouth you and step all over you behind your back.”

 

Recalling a memory from the past for a brief moment, Leila’s tone naturally grew fierce. Yet Keisran didn’t mind it at all.

 

“If someone has a problem, they should say it directly to my face. Or else not pretend to be nice in the first place. What’s the point of trash-talking behind someone’s back? And if they’re going to do it, they should at least make sure they don’t get caught.”

 

Of course, in the past, she hadn’t let those who got caught off the hook. But that was a long time ago, and after becoming an adult, she had simply turned a blind eye and let it pass.

 

Though she did carry out quiet acts of revenge, at least she hadn’t raised a scene like she used to.

 

“Did someone like that exist?”

 

Noticing that Leila acted as though she had personally experienced such a thing, Keisran asked while hiding his cold, sharp gaze.

 

If such a person existed in her life, he would not leave them alone.

 

“No. Not around here.”

 

Finding her phrase ‘not around here’ somewhat strange, Keisran wore a puzzled expression.

 

‘Does that mean there are such people somewhere else?’

 

To begin with, he couldn’t tell what ‘around here’ precisely referred to.

 

“Ah, and…… I also hate people with a good-person complex. Including that, people who act nice to everyone, and people who are desperate to be seen as good in the eyes of others.”

 

“……Ah.”

 

Having heard a similar story before, Keisran focused even more intently.

 

“I like people who are gentle only to me. Instead of trying to look good to strangers, I like someone who treats their own precious people well. That’s how it should be.”

 

No matter how good a person was to others, if doing so caused hardship to those around them, they were by no means a good person. They were merely selfish.

 

“That’s why I’m glad you’re Duke Dahrin, Kei.”

 

‘Because you aren’t the kind of person I imagined.’

 

Leila spoke with a bright, gentle smile.

 

“But……”

 

“I said ‘but’ is forbidden.”

 

Leila spoke with an expression that, despite her playful smile, looked somehow menacing.

 

“From now on, every time you say ‘but’, I’m going to flick your forehead too, Kei.”

 

Flicking Cahill’s forehead today had proven quite effective.

 

“If it is you, Lea, you may flick my forehead whenever you wish.”

 

“It’s not that I want to flick you, okay? I’m saying this because I don’t want to hear that word ‘but’!”

 

Seeing how he didn’t recoil at the mention of forehead flicks and instead seemed to welcome it, Leila scowled.

 

“If it is the word ‘but’ you dislike hearing, I shall try my best. However, if you flick my forehead with such a small hand, won’t your hand hurt, Lea?”

 

Keisran’s gaze turned cautious, looking at her hand as if it might break at a light touch.

 

“I am not that fragile……”

 

Of course, Leila herself knew she looked delicate, but flicking someone’s forehead was certainly not going to hurt her own hand.

 

“No. You are fragile.”

 

Especially when compared to Keisran himself, it was even more so. It felt as though that hand wouldn’t even be able to hold a lightweight sword.

 

“Then would you like to take a hit? Your mind will change then.”

 

Recalling Cahill’s reaction to being flicked today, Leila said with a mischievous expression.

 

While being seen as fragile was better than being seen as tough, Keisran’s perception seemed a bit excessive.

 

“How could I ask you to hit me with such a small hand?”

 

Keisran looked at Leila’s hand with pity.

 

“Didn’t you just say earlier that I could flick you whenever I wanted?”

 

“……Ah. In that case, you may hit me. However, please be careful not to hurt your hand, Lea.”

 

He didn’t care if he felt pain, but he hated the thought of Leila being in pain.

 

At Keisran’s response, Leila pondered briefly.

 

‘Should I actually flick him or not?’

 

Thinking she should hit him once to shift his perspective a little, Leila leaned her body toward Keisran.

 

As Leila’s face grew closer, Keisran caught his breath. Though he knew why she was coming close, it became difficult to breathe as the distance closed between them.

 

Looking at someone so lovely from afar was hard enough, but seeing her from this close was truly bad for his heart.

 

Before Keisran could show any reaction, however, Leila delivered a crisp, solid flick to his forehead.

 

A sharp thwack echoed, and Keisran’s face briefly distorted. A distinct red handprint remained on his forehead.

 

Contrary to her delicate appearance, the force behind her fingers was no joke.

 

“Does… does it hurt?”

 

In truth, she hadn’t intended to hit him quite so hard, but more force went into it than expected. The sound it made was also much louder than anticipated.

 

“No, I am fine. Is your hand alright, Lea?”

 

Setting aside the throbbing pain ringing in his head, Keisran was instead worried about her hand.

 

“I’m completely fine. But are you really okay?”

 

His strangely unnatural expression aside, the red mark on his forehead was glaringly vivid.

 

“I am… fine.”

 

It hurt when he was first hit, but as time passed, the pain intensified. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to show any sign of pain in front of her.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Leila said with an awkward smile.

 

“You do not need to be sorry.”

 

Keisran spoke with a gentle gaze.

 

However, Leila’s eyes kept catching on the mark left on his forehead. In the end, Leila leaned toward him once more.

 

At the closing distance, Keisran inhaled sharply. He wondered what was happening this time. If she said she was going to hit him again, he would take it, but it seemed like it would hurt quite a bit.

 

Contrary to Keisran’s thoughts, Leila hadn’t leaned forward to hit him.

 

Opening her small lips, Leila carefully blew a warm breath onto Keisran’s forehead.

 

At the warm breath felt on his forehead, Keisran’s body froze.

 

Keisran’s pupils trembled wildly. At a distance even closer than before, a slight movement of his head would cause their bodies to touch.

 

He couldn’t bring himself to raise his head and look at Leila, so he lowered his eyes, but that presented its own problem.

 

Thanks to that, Leila’s rounded breasts came right into view in front of his eyes.

 

“L-Lea……”

 

Keisran called Leila in a trembling voice.

 

“Yes?”

 

Leila looked at Keisran as if asking what was wrong.

 

“The…, your posture is a bit……”

 

Unable to bring himself to raise a hand and push her away, Keisran continuously wore a flustered expression, his eyes darting around.

 

This was physical contact they hadn’t easily engaged in even when they were lovers. It was to the point where, despite dating for nearly a year, holding hands and embracing was the extent of it.

 

Even back then, he had been cautious about reaching out to her. He couldn’t engage in skinship that was natural for lovers, nor even a light kiss.

 

Yet if this continued, he couldn’t tell what he might end up doing.

 

Her warm breath was still touching his forehead, and imagining her slightly parted lips made him want to scoop up those lips right this instant. He wanted to bury his lips in these rounded breasts and leave his marks upon her.

 

“Huh? What’s wrong with my posture?”

 

Unaware of Keisran’s state, Leila wore a puzzled look.

 

Keisran simply couldn’t bring himself to speak about his current condition. Doing so might startle her.

 

“My forehead is truly fine, so you may stop now. Is it not uncomfortable for you?”

 

“Is it really?”

 

Whether he was saying that because he was genuinely okay or because of some other reason, he looked truly uncomfortable, so Leila sat back down in her seat.

 

Sitting back in her chair and looking at Keisran, his face was flushed bright red.

 

It was the very picture of an apple.

 

“……Looks delicious.”

 

Thinking of a ripe red apple that resembled Keisran, Leila muttered softly under her breath, completely unconsciously.

 

Hearing those words, however, Keisran had to desperately restrain his actions, feeling like he was about to lose his mind. Though he didn’t know what she was looking at to say such a thing, her eyes had been lingering somewhere on his face for a while now, leaving him in a truly dire spot.

 

It almost felt as though she, too, was longing for a kiss just as he was.

 

“…But it must be huge.”

 

Having not yet escaped from her imagination, Leila muttered once more.