With a dazed feeling, Yulia blinked her eyes as the relief of not having fallen finally registered in her mind.

Thud, thud, thud.

Was she surprised at the thought that she would definitely fall? Her heart began to race now.

‘What’s going on? Why do I feel so good?’

As she regained her senses, she felt the solid body behind her that was supporting her.

Yulia quickly tried to get up to distance herself from the man.

“Th… this…”

She twisted her arms to pull away, but the man, thinking she was struggling because she was drunk, held her even tighter, pulling her back into his embrace.

Yulia found herself deeply nestled in his arms and slowly turned her head to look up at the man holding her tightly.

His dark green eyes filled her wavering vision.

‘Wow, he’s incredibly handsome…’

As their eyes met, Yulia realized he was finally standing her upright.

“Can you stand? I have your room key. Should I open the door?”

Yulia slowly nodded her head.

The man glanced down at Yulia, who still wore a dazed expression, before using the key to open room 207.

He let out a sigh and muttered,

“Just how much did you drink…? That guy who just watched this was an idiot.”

“Wait a moment…”

As Yulia was about to enter the room, she turned around and approached him.

Then she raised her hands and wrapped them around the man’s waist.

It was clearly a hug of gratitude, but whether there was any ulterior motive, she couldn’t tell herself.

“…What are you doing?”

The sudden physical contact made the man stiffen.

“It’s to say thank you. Thank you for taking us here today.”

“Ha… you really have the worst drinking habits.”

The man carefully grabbed Yulia’s arms and pulled her away from him.

Now standing at a distance, Yulia looked up at him.

She could see his long eyelashes as he tilted his head down.

And below that, his prominent nose, and a bit lower, his full lips.

Perhaps due to the blood circulation from drinking alcohol, his red lips continued to capture Yulia’s gaze.

Such beautiful lips…

“Why are you so handsome?”

‘Huh? What did I just say?’

Yulia raised her right hand and gently brushed the man’s face.

Her body was moving, ignoring her rational thoughts.

Her instinctive actions surged forward without any filtering.

“…You’re really drunk.”

This time, her gaze kept drifting to the man’s sharp jawline and smooth neck.

Yulia swallowed hard and moved her hand down to his neck.

She felt the man’s broad shoulders tense up.

Yulia couldn’t contain the unknown heat flowing through her body.

She wanted to pull him into the room right away.

Unknowingly staring intently at his lips, Yulia murmured softly,

“I want to kiss you.”

“…What?”

Yulia lifted her heated gaze to look up at the man standing before her.

She took a step closer, standing on her tiptoes, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“……”

The man, with his darkly shining eyes, silently gazed at Yulia.

After a moment of hesitation, Yulia impulsively pressed her lips against the man’s right in front of her.

The warmth of their lips lingered.

At the sudden kiss, the man clenched his fist with the hand that was supporting the door.

As Yulia remained pressed against his lips, she gently nibbled on his lower lip, urging him to respond.

She felt the man, who had been stiff, begin to waver.

Yulia didn’t stop and continued to plant soft kisses along his lower lip.

In an instant, the atmosphere around the man shifted dramatically.

He took a deep breath and lifted her, who was clinging to his neck.

His strong arms, which firmly supported Yulia’s thighs, bulged with veins.

Feeling the sudden height change, Yulia sensed the man’s warm tongue slipping into her mouth through her slightly parted lips.

His tongue moved throughout Yulia’s mouth, pressing her as if it would devour all her small breaths.

“Ugh…”

Yulia accepted him, forgetting to breathe.

The man, holding her tightly, began to move into the room.

Yulia tightened her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him.

Finally, the open door to the room slammed shut.

After sharing heavy breaths for a moment, they briefly pulled away to share each other’s gaze.

“Ha…”

Cassian’s eyes were tinged with red.

His sparkling eyes were filled with unfulfilled desire.

***

“Ugh… I’m so thirsty…”

Yulia frowned as she woke up.

Her throat was parched with an intense thirst.

She stretched out her left hand to fumble for the water bottle on the nightstand beside the bed.

The water bottle that she usually kept on the nightstand was out of reach today.

“Where is it…?”

Instead of the water bottle, her hand grasped her small bag.

Yulia slowly lifted her heavy eyelids.

After blinking a few times and focusing, she faced an unfamiliar ceiling she had never seen before.

‘Where am I?’

Yulia soon realized she was inside a guest room at the Dunker Hotel.

It seemed she had safely returned to her room after overindulging with her friends the night before.

She thought she had drunk quite a bit, but there were no signs of a hangover, nausea, or stomach pain.

She just couldn’t clearly remember what happened the night before.

‘It seems that the medicine Lady Catherine gave me really worked… I don’t feel dizzy at all…’

Lying beneath the wide, soft pillow and the pleasantly crinkling blanket felt incredibly comfortable.

Yulia felt a sense of fulfillment rising as she closed her eyes again.

She was still caught up in the afterglow of the banquet from the night before.

The new drinks she had tasted throughout the evening were delicious, and the atmosphere of the banquet was just perfect.

She began to understand why people would save their busy time preparing for the future to drink and meet others.

It had been a long time since she had forgotten all her worries and laughed loudly.

With a smile on her face, Yulia rolled over and turned to her right.

“Ugh?”

Feeling drowsy as she turned, Yulia was startled to see a figure right in front of her and almost screamed.

With wide eyes, she saw a strange man lying on his side, turned away from her.

Yulia quickly covered her mouth with both hands, as if a sharp scream was about to burst out.

In an instant, her mind became clear, and sleep completely vanished.

‘What… what is this…?’

Quickly turning her body, Yulia opened her bag on the nightstand and dropped the last remaining eye drops into her eyes.

Rapidly blinking to absorb the drops completely, Yulia quickly turned her head.

Beneath the disheveled blanket, she saw the solid torso of a man who was not wearing any clothes.

Thoughts of screaming and jumping out of bed or lifting the heavy pillow to hit the man crossed her mind, but she hesitated to create unnecessary commotion that might wake this intruder and lead to an awkward situation.

‘…Jerome?’

First of all, it wasn’t Jerome.

The man’s hair was jet black.

Who on earth is sleeping in my bed?

Yulia scanned his back with a confused look.

His well-defined muscles rose and fell evenly with his breathing.

Yulia stopped all movement and tried to calm her rapidly beating heart.

‘I… I need to stay calm.’

Yulia silently screamed into her pillow as she banged her head against the headboard.

At that moment, the man, who had been breathing evenly in his sleep, rolled over.

‘Gah!’

Yulia instinctively stopped squirming and tightly closed her eyes, covering herself with the blanket up to her neck.

The pounding of her heart echoed in her ears.

The man, who had turned over significantly, seemed to have woken up.

She felt his gaze as he turned toward Yulia and looked down at her quietly.

Yulia continued to pretend to be asleep, waiting for the man’s next move.

‘Was he surprised too? Is he as drunk as I am and has no memory of what happened? Is this my room? Is it his room? I wish he would just pick up his clothes and leave…!’

Still keeping her eyes tightly shut, Yulia’s left cheek was touched by the man’s large hand.

Yulia, who never imagined he would touch her, flinched.

“…You seemed to be groaning all night. Did you sleep well?”

The soft bass settled in Yulia’s ear.

The owner of the slightly husky voice gently moved his hand, caressing her cheek and ear tenderly.

Hearing that familiar voice, which seemed to echo from somewhere, Yulia slightly lifted her tightly closed eyelids.

Her vision was filled with the man’s large chest muscles.

Oh no…!

Yulia quickly raised her gaze to look at the owner of those impressive chest muscles.

Finally, as she saw the man’s defenseless face breaking into a lazy smile, Yulia was unable to contain her shock.

“Ca… Cassian…?”

It was Cassian Isheide.

The man with dark green eyes was softly gazing at her; it was undoubtedly Cassian Isheide.

Yulia gaped in disbelief at the sight of Cassian.

Instead of answering, he smiled and pulled Yulia into his arms, holding her tightly.

His embrace, just waking up, was warm and filled with a cozy heat.

Trapped helplessly between his arms, she couldn’t understand anything.

Why was she waking up in bed with Cassian Isheide? Why was he half undressed?

And above all, what was this gentle attitude Cassian was showing her now?

Yulia gently pushed Cassian away.

As he was pushed back, she felt his puzzled gaze looking down at her.

“Um… right now… what is this situation?”

“What do you mean?”

In that moment, facing his harmless expression, Yulia realized.

‘Ah, I slept with this man.’