“……”

Jella closed her lips without answering.

She didn’t know what to say when Yuphe had such a serious expression.

There was a time when she thought she knew him really well, better than anyone else…

Now she couldn’t understand him at all.

Then she suddenly realized.

‘I never really knew Yuphe.’

The realization came in an instant, almost laughably quick considering how long she had failed to notice.

‘Yuphe has always… adjusted his behavior to match what I wanted.’

Her clenched hands tightened.

Seeing this, Yuphe wrapped his hands around hers, gently caressing them as he whispered.

“Hmm? Tell me, Jella. How would you like me to answer?”

Those golden eyes that had always radiated a holy and pure atmosphere were now boiling with heat in a way she had never seen before.

“I…”

As Jella stared blankly at those eyes.

Touch.

Yuphe kissed the back of her hand.

Flinch.

Jella startled and raised her voice.

“Yuphe, you…!”

Smooch.

But at Yuphe’s next action, she froze without finishing her sentence. He had turned her hand over and kissed her soft palm once more.

“Jella.”

He whispered gently with his lips still pressed against her palm.

“I’ll do anything, whatever you want, I will.”

Each time his lips moved, his warm breath tickled her palm.

“Ugh…”

A soft m*an escaped between Jella’s teeth as she couldn’t withstand the hot sensation, but Yuphe paid no mind and slid his lips to her wrist.

Touch.

After briefly kissing her slender wrist, his lips traveled up her arm.

Touch. Touch.

Past the crook of her arm, densely placing kisses on her white forearm, marking himself upon her.

Smooch.

Eventually reaching more intimate areas, he held her flesh between his lips a little longer this time.

“Wait, you, doing this, it’s strange…”

Jella twisted her body at the ticklish stimulation.

“I’ve been like this for a very long time, Jella. I’ve always wished to be your pretty doll.”

But Yuphe firmly gripped her waist to prevent her from breaking away from him.

This caused their bodies to press tightly together.

“So I can stay by your side in any form you want me to be.”

“What do you…”

Jella was about to demand what he meant, but had to close her mouth at the burning gaze that seemed like it would incinerate her.

“If what you want is a man who desires you, I’ll stay by your side in that form.”

The desire pulsing through the thin layers of clothing as their hipbones brushed transmitted to her. Jella looked at him with a distant expression.

Yuphe curled the corner of his mouth crookedly and lowered his head toward her ear.

“If you want a man who will please your body, I’ll serve you more diligently than anyone.”

Jella unconsciously swallowed at that deep, dense voice settling by her ear.

As if to prove his words about serving more diligently than anyone were not empty boasts, his hands caressing her back were full of devotion.

Jella’s pupils trembled finely.

Clearly, the Yuphe in her memory was, unlike in the original work, a devout priest who knew nothing about women, so when did he become like this…

“But if you want a pitiful man who carefully hides his feelings for you and acts as a good friend, I will hide these feelings.”

The increasingly intimate touches suddenly stopped with his words.

Slowly, he raised his head that had been lowered.

Their eyes met again.

“If you don’t want that either, if you just want a simple friendship.”

And as he finished the last sentence.

“I can do that too.”

He firmly gripped her wrist and waist as he pulled away. The gap between their bodies, which had been seamlessly pressed together, opened plainly.

“……”

“……”

A brief silence flowed.

Yuphe’s thick hands were still holding her hand and waist, but his attitude was incomparably calm compared to moments before.

Jella was momentarily confused, wondering if she had been dreaming.

“But, Jella.”

He called her in a casual voice.

“I really tried hard to hide it…”

He tilted his head obliquely while deliberately drawing out his words.

“Did you really not know?”

“……”

In that moment, Jella felt her breath catch.

“I don’t know if I should be happy that I hid it well.”

Seeing her unable to answer, he burst into laughter, then pulled the corner of his mouth mischievously.

“I’m a little upset.”

It was the same playful smile as usual.

“I like you, Jella. So don’t say scary things like you’ll never be friends with me again. And don’t say sad things like we should never see each other again.”

“……”

“I’ll always be by your side in whatever form you want, so just keep me by your side. Okay?”

The way he narrowed his eyes gently and added “Okay?” was deliberately cute.

“You can keep hating me like now, just allow me that much. Jellaaaa.”

The voice that stretched out her name and the fluttering eye-smile seemed superficially light.

Jella, who had been quietly looking at him, bit her lower lip in a dazed realization.

Yuphe had always broken the tension between them in that way. So that she wouldn’t notice his true feelings.

Now that she knew everything, she could finally see his heart.

‘Even now he’s smiling playfully like this, but…’

His hand holding her wrist, his arm pulling her waist, and his body lightly touching hers… were all hot.

He was burning so intensely that it was hard to believe he had been hiding it until now and that she hadn’t noticed it at all.

She couldn’t even ask why he had hidden such clear emotions.

Because she could tell it was all for her consideration…

‘If you liked me for so long, then why did you act that way when Yuria appeared?’

In the face of those undeniable vivid emotions, another question suddenly arose.

She remembered Yuphe’s face when she had questioned him before, how he had just looked at her with tearful eyes without giving any answer.

She also clearly remembered his face momentarily shaken when she had snapped at him just a few hours ago, telling him not to appear before her until he properly explained himself.

This was all the flow of the original work that she herself had induced, so she had tried very hard not to hate Yuphe.

Sometimes, when she was about to hate Yuphe too much, she would painfully swallow those thorny feelings, making her whole heart ache and bringing tears to her eyes.

‘But you.’

A burning sensation rose over her eyes as she closed them tightly and reopened them.

‘Even during the times when I was hurting watching you dislike me, you say you liked me.’

Jella thought about Yuphe.

Yuphe who kept hiding something.

Yuphe who never gave any explanation.

Yuphe who despite all that, said he had liked her for a long time.

‘What exactly are you hiding?’

For a moment, indescribable emotions throbbed and tangled together.

And in that moment, when her confused heart was weakly wavering.

-See that? I told you that man is completely fallen for you,

Throb.

The headache came again.

-Now’s your chance! Quickly make him lose his senses and steal the heart!

Throb, throb.

As the headache stirring her mind made Jella’s eyes slightly furrow, they soon regained stability.

“…I see. So that’s it.”

She muttered in a voice resembling a languid sigh.

‘Huh…?’

Yuphe blinked slowly.

In that brief moment, her atmosphere seemed to have subtly changed.

At this point, she grabbed the lapels of his robe with both hands.

“So you really do like me, right?”

She asked again. Despite feeling something strange about her attitude, as if she wanted confirmation, Yuphe nodded and smiled faintly.

“Why do you keep asking?”

As Yuphe was fiddling with her hair and responding that way.

She curled up the corners of her mouth and suddenly pushed against his chest.

Yuphe slumped down onto the floor.

“Jella…?”

In an instant, his golden eyes trembled.

She was too close, straddling his thighs, and dizzying. Close enough for his n*ked desire to touch her directly.

He remembered Jella’s gaze that had looked at him like a pervert just moments ago, but he couldn’t bring himself to push her away.

Because the moment of contact with her felt too good.

So Yuphe looked at her completely entranced, with his eyes tinged red. At those pretty red eyes smiling languidly at him…

“Hey, Yuphe.”

“Yes…”

Yuphe barely managed to squeeze out a sound in response, unable to even nod.

“Then can you do anything for me?”

“Ye-es…”

As Yuphe answered in a dreamy voice to her seductive whisper.

‘Huh…?’

Yuphe paused for a moment while looking into those beautiful eyes.

They say eyes are the windows to the soul. And so, he loved looking into her eyes.

Even though her appearance had changed, the soul contained in those eyes was the same as before.

But there was something clinging to the soul visible through her eyes.

‘That is…’

Yuphe blinked blankly.

Did he see wrong? Why was that thing attached to Jella…?