“It’s fine. I wasn’t really sick.”

“Still, to collapse like that……”

Thanks to Verheigen’s efficient handling of matters, Lysith knew that word had been sent to her mansion the moment she collapsed. And then it seemed they had moved her to the imperial palace while she was unconscious.

Entering the mansion with Eve, who was chattering about needing to give her medicinal tonics, Lysith finally felt some peace of mind and body. What on earth had happened these past few days?

Just thinking about it gave her a headache, so she pressed her forehead with one hand.

“By the way, Miss.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“I heard that the Duke has returned to the capital. We just received a letter.”

It was truly a matter of moments. It seemed one of Eve’s close friends at the duke’s residence had informed her, but Lysith had already met Sylvian.

If they hadn’t encountered each other at the imperial palace, she would have been impressed by how quickly she was notified upon his arrival. Unfortunately, Lysith didn’t have the energy for that now.

“Ah….. I actually just met him.”

“……The Duke?”

“Yes. At the imperial palace. It seems he came straight there.”

Eve closed her mouth with a “hap” at Lysith’s complexion, which couldn’t be described as looking pleased. Lysith thanked her, and the perceptive maid didn’t bring up any more topics related to Sylvian.

“What would you like to do first?”

“I want to rest a bit first and then think.”

As soon as her tired response ended, Eve went upstairs first, and Lysith’s head turned automatically toward the sound of neat footsteps approaching the main hall on the first floor.

When her eyes met with the owner of those footsteps, Lysith smiled gently.

“Penchev.”

[Checking affection level……]

[Affection check complete]

[Affection value calculated: 10000]

Simultaneously, the system window that appeared displayed a flurry of notifications.

Lysith dismissed them with a glance. Why did it need to show information she already knew?

“Miss.”

The man who approached her seemed to have been inspecting the nearby garden, as a faint floral scent emanated from him. When Lysith unconsciously took a small breath, Penchev quickly noticed and stepped back.

“Ah, no. It’s not that you smell strange. I just noticed the flower scent.”

She hadn’t even sniffed obviously, yet his reaction was incredibly quick. She didn’t know whether to be amazed or perplexed. As she raised one hand to grab his arm, telling him not to do that, he moved closer again.

Two steps closer than before.

“Are you really alright?”

“Yes. I just collapsed from severe stress.”

“Stress, is it.”

Seeing Penchev’s gray eyes instantly sink deep in thought, Lysith shook her head urgently, putting pressure on the hand she had hastily grabbed him with.

“It wasn’t anything serious.”

“I heard you became the Lady of the hunting festival.”

“Uh, yes? Yes……”

Penchev carefully lifted the white hand resting on his arm with his other hand and simultaneously bent his upper body. A warm sensation of lips touched the back of her hand, then moved lower and set his teeth against her skin.

“Ah!”

As Lysith curled her fingertips and slightly expressed pain from the wet sensation of his tongue and the sharp pain, he steadfastly kept his lips pressed to her skin. After a moment, his lips separated with a small “smack” sound.

Throughout this, his gray eyes, which hadn’t left her pupils for even a moment, steadily gazed at Lysith.

Just before approaching her, he had seen it. While appreciatively examining the side profile of his miss as she looked ahead…

He had discovered a red mark engraved at the back of her ear, near where the neckline began, in a position difficult for others to see unless they looked carefully. Upon finding this clear trace of possessiveness, he truly felt what it meant to “see red” with his entire body.

This woman, his miss, he wished he could keep her somewhere no one could find, visible only to himself.

Suppressing the rising impulse, he straightened his back, and his touch, clearly filled with regret, moved away.

“……Rest.”

Lysith, who had been frozen stiff under his intense gaze without being able to say anything meaningful, finally caught her breath in the first-floor hall after he had moved away.

Why was he suddenly acting like this? Not knowing the reason, Lysith chewed her lip while clutching her bitten left hand. Usually, he had obsessively avoided leaving marks on her body like this.

Looking down at her still-stinging finger, Lysith discovered the teeth marks and closed her eyes tightly.

The mark was on her left ring finger.

* * *

To get straight to the conclusion, her plan to meet Dietrich was completely overturned. Because he had sent a letter saying she didn’t need to come!

‘This guy?’

When he was the one who asked her to come first!

She understood the reason. Until now, her comings and goings to the Grand Duke’s residence had somehow been covered up like hiding one’s eyes and saying “boo,” but at the hunting festival, he had clearly shown interest in her.

If she continued to frequent his residence after that, it could become excessively noisy.

In fact, even until now, it had been enough for someone to use as exciting gossip.

But still, she could have completed the quest soon.

Finally, filled with indignation, Lysith shook the letter as if grabbing Dietrich by the collar. But since doing so wouldn’t change what was written in the letter, she sat on the sofa and calmly contemplated what to do next.

Even if it wasn’t a game, nothing changed.

Although, although it did prick her conscience a little…

Wasn’t it fine? Anyway, if she left this world and returned to her original state, she wouldn’t have any reason to come back or see them again.

‘It would be a lie to say I haven’t grown attached.’

Still, Lysith wanted to go back. The option of falling in love, giving up everything, and staying wasn’t on the table. She knew the possibility was almost non-existent, but who knew? Maybe this really was inside a game as she had thought all along…

Lying sprawled in her spacious room, Lysith opened the male protagonist list window that she seemed to have seen dozens of times.

[Male Protagonist List]

—Dietrich Clonair: 10000/100

—Verheigen Waldheim Faeous: 10000/100

—Penchev Heinz: 10000/100

—Ashites Dinev: 10000/100

You have acquired the affection checking skill, allowing you to check affection levels from the list at any time.

It was true that seeing the affection levels made things easier. Although that number 10000 felt ominously unpleasant, judging from Verheigen’s recent reaction, it didn’t seem to decrease easily.

Moreover, the quest completion was truly right in front of her.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t getting impatient, but this was precisely when she needed to stay calm. Acting hastily could lead to mistakes she wouldn’t otherwise make.

“Sigh……”

As the year was coming to an end, banquets and parties were naturally decreasing. It was awkward to make excuses, and Dietrich’s range of activities was too business-like for them to meet by chance.

She couldn’t just go to his workplace. If she did, what excuse would she give?

‘Damn it.’

She should have gone out more! She didn’t know why she had lived like such a homebody. But going out actively would have deviated from the original Lysith’s behavior, and there wasn’t much she could do anyway.

If she had had another goal, it might have been different, but all that had been given to her was s*x.

Anyway, both the memories of Lysith she had recently acquired and everything else just felt overwhelming. But since timing wasn’t something you could catch just because you wanted to, Lysith tried hard to calm her mind.

While sighing heavily and staring at the ceiling, she lowered her gaze and noticed another letter she hadn’t checked yet.

Familiar sentences and stationery. It was a letter from Ashites.

It wasn’t long ago that she had received a tearful letter saying he couldn’t come for a while, so why? With this question in mind, Lysith simply cut open the envelope with a paper knife and took out the letter.

“Gasp……”

Lysith inadvertently drew in a sharp breath as the letter paper was decorated with gold leaf. In the Faeous Empire, this was something only members of the imperial family could use, yet a man who wasn’t even part of the imperial family was boldly using it.

Someone of the Tower Master’s stature wouldn’t be unaware of this, so he must have used it intentionally. Perhaps because of his hair color, or something.

After swallowing nervously, she slowly read the contents of the letter, which stated that he was still staying at the Magic Tower due to a research project he had suddenly been assigned.

Still, he wrote that he would somehow make it by the New Year’s festival, and until the end, he warned her to be careful of the men around her.

“Really now.”

After reading the letter, Lysith carefully folded it and put it back in the envelope, letting out a chuckle. His distinctive personality was evident even in the letter, making it feel as if she had just had a conversation with him.

I should write back. With a slightly improved mood, Lysith waved the letter in her hand as she walked toward the desk.