The Duke, with distinct features unlike the illustration Nelie had drawn from memory. The Duke who flaunted an inhuman beauty as if God had crafted him directly.

If there was any similarity to the illustration she had drawn…

‘Duke, please touch me. Please?’

As per the boss’s order, countless half-n*ked women reached out to the Duke, just as she had drawn in the illustration. The women’s bodies writhed sensually, appearing desperate as if wanting to be embraced by him. The Duke merely watched the women indifferently.

‘Wh-what is this!’

Nelie screamed and covered her face at the lewd scene unfolding before her. From her cheeks to her forehead, ears, and nape—there wasn’t a spot that hadn’t turned red.

‘Duke……”

‘Hurry, hurry and embrace us!’

The women’s artificial moans disturbed Nelie’s ears. Feeling herself becoming slightly wet between her legs without realizing it, Nelie pressed her thighs together in confusion.

‘Wh-what should I do.’

Just as she tried to turn her head away in shame, a sharp gaze fixed on her made Nelie flinch.

The Duke’s cold mint-green eyes stared at her piercingly. Despite numerous women throwing themselves at him n*ked, the Duke’s face remained clean and white as if carved from marble. There was no sign of arousal anywhere.

Perhaps that’s why she found the courage to speak.

‘I-I had heard rumors, but to do such lewd things so openly……’

The moment Nelie opened her mouth,

‘Isn’t that advantageous for you?’

The Duke answered in a clear voice. Nelie felt as if she had been struck. Only upon hearing those words did she seem to understand the reason for this dream.

‘I need to be this lewd of a man.’

‘……”

‘For your illustration to be justified.’

The Duke smiled. It was the same smile he had shown her at the art museum.

‘I-I–’

The Duke was right. This was a dream created by her unconscious trying to somehow justify the situation.

Even though Jerome and the boss had said it was fine, her heart wasn’t fine at all. The more illustrations she drew as the boss ordered, the more Nelie’s guilt and self-doubt grew.

‘That’s……”

‘Come here.’

As Nelie stammered, the Duke reached out to her. Before she knew it, her wrist was caught in his cold marble-like hand.

‘……!’

The women surrounding the Duke scattered like dust in an instant and disappeared. Then the marble-like man whispered in her ear with a cold voice.

‘Since things have come to this, you must take responsibility.’

‘Re-responsibility?’

‘Shall we enjoy it together?’

Just as that voice dizzily crept into the shell of her ear–

“Gasp.”

Nelie, who had been nodding off, woke up with a start. She woke with a sensation as if falling from a great height, and found everything quiet around her.

The outside was still pitch dark. The only light source was the candle burning in the corner.

“……Boss? Jerome?”

A strange sense of discomfort crept up her spine. Even after muttering unconsciously, she heard no response. Only then did Nelie realize the nature of the discomfort she felt.

‘Why is it so quiet?’

The sound of the printing press that should be running at this hour was absent.

‘They should start running it from early dawn since the newspaper needs to go out early in the morning, right?’

Usually, the early morning shift would come in to run the printing press, leaving just one person on duty before going home. For Nelie, who had grown used to falling asleep to the machine’s roaring sound, this deathly silence was an incredibly disturbing signal.

‘The newspaper can’t be taking a break.’

Knowing the boss’s temperament, he would definitely try to print several times more copies at an opportunity like this. After all, his motto was to row hard when the tide comes in. So why was it so quiet?

As if the world had ended.

Just as she carefully lifted her head from the desk where it had been resting and looked around with a strange feeling, the air in the room suddenly distorted. It was due to someone’s breath.

“Awake?”

“Ah!”

At the voice from the corner, Nelie jumped up from her seat with a start. The old chair she had been sitting on in the cramped room clattered to the floor. Nelie stood stiffly and turned her head.

And met a pair of mint-green eyes staring at her.

“……”

A sculpture-like silhouette gleamed in the burning candlelight. She didn’t need to ask who it was. More precisely, she couldn’t not know.

“Te-Tevant, Tevant……”

While Nelie stammered in surprise, the Duke merely looked down at her with an expressionless face. Trembling like an aspen tree, Nelie finished her words.

“……Your Grace.”

“Miss Heich.”

When the Duke nodded slightly and called her name, Nelie startled again and opened her eyes wide.

Soon, a piece of paper that the Duke pulled from his chest caught Nelie’s eye.

“This.”

“……”

“I heard Miss Heich drew this.”

“That…”

“Is that correct?”

The Duke spoke languidly as he approached and waved the paper in front of her nose. When the illustration of the n*ked Duke and elephant was thrust before her eyes, Nelie held back a scream that threatened to escape. Without thinking, she took the paper, and it crumpled in her trembling hands. Seeing this, the Duke snorted. Nelie’s body instantly froze. 

 They had clearly said this much would be fine. That she wouldn’t be punished. Hadn’t they reassured her multiple times? 

 ‘But the Duke is here!’

No wonder. There was a reason why the newspaper office was so quiet. The Duke must have come and demanded they hand over the person who drew the illustration. The boss must have sacrificed her to save himself. The Duke must have easily learned her name in that process as well. 

 She felt wronged and flustered. Nelie opened her trembling lips to speak.

“That, that… it wasn’t me—”

“Then?”

“Yes?”

“If not you, Miss Heich, then who could it be.”

“……”

“Seems there are more people involved?”

The Duke slowly stroked his chin. Nelie’s face grew increasingly pale. Besides herself, Jerome was the only one who did illustration work at this newspaper. The elephant was indeed drawn by Jerome. But…

‘What if I say Jerome drew it.’

She would be no different from the boss. Selling out Jerome, who was as much a victim as herself, just to save herself.

Moreover, she had indeed drawn the Duke part. If she had just kept that doodle safe from the beginning, none of this would have happened.

‘I should apologize, I should say something.’

But her body, frozen with tension, couldn’t even manage that properly. Moreover, the more she dwelled on it, the greater her sense of injustice grew. Even while knowing she should simply admit it and beg for forgiveness, she kept feeling upset about why these things only happened to her. 

 While Nelie remained helplessly broken down, Elroy was quietly laughing behind his expressionless face.

‘Look at this.’

Though she always had a bright and innocent face whenever they met, right now that face looked too foolish even for an act.

Elroy’s eyes eventually fell on the unfinished illustration Nelie had been drawing. The illustration he had observed while watching her nod off was still quite a sight even on second viewing. Though the intertwined men and women were clothed, it was closer to an erotic painting. And once again, the man was himself. 

 There was no way someone would have the nerve to create such things and use him as a model from the start. It was just astounding that she was drawing such lewd illustrations with such clear eyes and an innocent face.

The fact that despite being bold enough to expose such things, her startled appearance made her look like an innocent virgin who knew nothing.

In Elroy’s mind, he imagined the elegant-faced Annelie Heich drawing his n*de illustration with her small fingertips. Somehow his throat felt a bit dry as he recalled the concentrated expression on the woman’s face he imagined. Elroy quietly opened his mouth to shake off that feeling. 

 “So, Miss Heich.”

“……”

“How do you plan to take responsibility?”

“Responsibility?”

Seeing Annelie Heich jump in surprise, Elroy nodded while holding back his laughter.

“Yes. Responsibility.”

In truth, there was nothing to take responsibility for.

He was well aware that illustrations like this were always circulating. He had only come this time because Annelie Heich had impudently drawn his body as if she had seen it directly.

If his grandmother hadn’t pressed him, he would have ended it by just sending an official letter—one warning would have sufficed. He could have settled it with just one word to the trembling newspaper boss to keep things in check.

But the moment he came all this way and faced the culprit, a slightly crooked emotion grew in Elroy Tevant’s heart. It was an emotion that grew while watching Annelie’s face as she slept soundly, unaware of his presence, and her lips that twitched as if dreaming.

Meanwhile, Annelie continued to hesitate and watch his reaction.