“Nox? What are you doing there, huh?”

Nox, who had been sitting on the bed with an expressionless face, silently rose and embraced Evelyn with all his might as she approached within arm’s reach. Evelyn, who reflexively tried to push Nox away, feeling suffocated, hesitated. The sound of Nox’s heart pounding violently struck her ears.

Looking closely, she could see that Nox’s body holding her was trembling slightly.

“Never again…”

“……”

“I thought the Saintess would never return.”

Evelyn, who had been in Nox’s arms with a complicated expression, hesitated before reaching out to pat his back.

“I’m sorry. My outing was too long, wasn’t it?”

“I was scared.”

Not “I was worried,” but scared. There was a strange sense of dissonance in hearing such words from Nox, who had a pure lily-like face but a physique more solid than anyone else’s.

“The details would take long to explain. But I came back safely like this, didn’t I?”

“I thought the Saintess- no, Evelyn had left me.”

“Me? How could that be?”

According to the game rules, she would soon move to the imperial palace, but she was planning to maintain regular meetings to keep Nox’s affection level up until she completely cleared the game. Therefore, Evelyn spoke more firmly with emphasis.

“I promise. I will never leave Nox without saying a word.”

At least until clearing the game!

“Do you really promise?”

“Of course. We’ve already shared deep feelings, haven’t we?”

She had learned through Nox that physical intimacy could also be a form of emotional connection. Evelyn smiled brightly and extended her pinky finger, and Nox’s eyes, which had been anxiously wavering, gradually regained stability. He rested his head on her shoulder and muttered in a tired voice.

“When I first returned from my field work and confirmed that Evelyn was absent. I thought I was going to go crazy.”

“From now on, I’ll make sure to tell Nox before I go out.”

“Where on earth have you been… Wait. Why is your hand in this state again!”

Nox became angry after belatedly noticing the bandage wrapped tightly around her hand. It was her left hand, which Luinel had treated again as a reward after physically disciplining Evelyn for two consecutive days.

“Um, I tripped over a stone and fell?”

To be precise, she should say she was startled by a stone thrown by a servant and fell from a wall, but that would require explaining all the circumstances, so she omitted the explanation. Right now, she was exhausted from being overworked by the Crown Prince for two consecutive days and just wanted to collapse onto the bed and rest.

However, Nox wouldn’t let her quietly retreat to bed. Insisting on checking her wound, he sat her down on the drawing room sofa and skillfully returned with a box of emergency medical supplies.

“I’ve already received treatment though.”

“I wonder if such sloppy treatment can even be called treatment.”

Nox cut off the bandage that the Crown Prince had wrapped excessively tight with scissors and applied ointment with delicate hands. Despite not having self-healing abilities, perhaps thanks to her healer characteristics, the wound had already faded to just a scratch.

‘If only Luinel hadn’t over-treated it.’

There would have been no need to feel embarrassed about the trivial size of the wound compared to the bandage. Unlike Evelyn, who fidgeted with her hand in embarrassment, Nox’s expression was more serious than usual. Watching him upset even over such a minor wound made her feel strange again.

‘Is affection built on physical intimacy really affection?’

She had thought Nox was simply addicted to the pleasure that bloomed through her body. But now, she wondered if it might be more than just that. So, Evelyn impulsively opened her mouth.

“Why do you like me, Nox?”

“……”

“No, come to think of it, I feel like I’ve only done terrible things since our first meeting. Yet you’re always so good to me.”

Even though they were actions forced by the system, from Nox’s perspective, they were deeds that would be considered despicable. She naturally thought his affection would hit rock bottom. Surprisingly, it had smoothly surpassed 90%, and now he was even anxious about her absence and treating her hand.

After carefully applying ointment to the shallow scratch, he wrapped it with a bandage with much more delicate hands than Luinel’s and said.

“I also thought hard about it while Evelyn was away…”

“And?”

“I’m not sure.”

Huh?

“I didn’t realize it before, but it seems my preferences were quite unusual.”

“Don’t say any more, I think I’ll get hurt.”

Nox laughed softly at Evelyn’s sulky expression and swiftly picked her up from where she was sprawled on the sofa. Evelyn, already exhausted from her passionate encounter with Luinel, tensed reflexively and looked up at Nox.

‘If I go through a fourth round with Nox here, I might really die.’

What’s with these male leads? Every single one of them has insane stamina and never ends with just once or twice. Feeling Evelyn tense up in his arms, Nox walked toward her bedroom and chuckled.

“Don’t be afraid. It’s true that my c*ck gets aroused whenever it sees you, but I’m trying hard to endure it.”

“Oh, that must be very difficult for you.”

“If you understand, please stop stimulating me and stay still.”

She wasn’t sure how she could be any more still than this. However, the moment Nox laid her down on the bed, all the fatigue accumulated over two days crashed down on her as the tension released, leaving her unable to respond.

Her eyelids immediately began to feel heavy, and Nox’s soft lips touched her forehead. After remaining silent for a while, he covered her with the blanket up to below her neck. Then, sitting by her pillow, he began to stroke her disheveled hair with a gentle hand.

“I’ll stay by your side until you fall asleep, so rest assured.”

“Nox… must be tired, too. Go rest quickly…”

With those words, Evelyn passed out in less than a minute after her head touched the pillow. Nox’s eyes deepened as he looked down at Evelyn, who had fallen into a deep sleep, even snoring softly.

“Evelyn.”

“……”

“When you wake up, many things will be different.”

Yesterday afternoon, when he returned to the  Grand Temple after completing his field work earlier than scheduled. After finishing his report to the High Priest, the first place Nox headed was not his own bedroom but the guest room where Evelyn was staying. Throughout his field work, her face had stuck in his mind, refusing to leave, making him feel like he was dying.

However, the only one guarding Evelyn’s guest room was a young maid on the verge of fainting from anxiety.

“Knight Commander! The, the Saintess has disappeared. She left only this note and it’s been two days already…”

Nox, whose sanity was already half gone at the news of Evelyn’s disappearance, snatched the note from the maid’s hand. It contained carelessly scribbled sentences saying she would briefly visit her hometown for her parents’ death anniversary.

‘Parents’ death anniversary?’

That moment, a fragment of conversation exchanged between the High Priest and the Chief Priest sharply brushed past his ear.

“The Margrave has sent all documents related to the Saintess. It seems her parents already passed away in a carriage accident when the Saintess was four years old. After that, the Margrave’s wife apparently took in the Saintess, who had nowhere to go, as a maid.”

At that time, he had listened indifferently and let the words pass without much thought. But somehow, it didn’t sit well with him. On the other hand, he also felt hurt that she had left the Grand Temple alone without saying anything.

‘If she had told me, I would have gone with her.’

How could she have traveled to her hometown without any escort? What if she encountered monsters on the way? The chain of ominous thoughts was completely severed the moment Evelyn’s overnight absence extended past midnight on the second day.

He immediately went to find the Chief Priest, finally discovered Evelyn’s hometown, and rushed toward the village far from the High Grand Temple, coaxing and persuading his beloved horse, James. However, Evelyn wasn’t there either.

‘If Evelyn left the Grand Temple voluntarily.’

That sentence, merely a hypothesis, clawed wildly at his reason. An anxiety bordering on fear that he had never felt before and an obsession to find her somehow boiled up from within.