“……”

“In order to rise to this position, and to hold onto it once risen.”

“……”

“I have been taught… not to show myself, not to rely on anyone.”

…Do not say it. Do not say any more to me.

“And yet, every time I stand before you, I find myself falling apart.”

Above the sky that had grown dark without my noticing, the moon appeared, shining with its own light. The hair that resembled moonlight, the eyes, were shining with sadness.

“I keep leaning on you, and then feeling disappointed on my own.”

Do not make me go soft.

My eyes caught his loosened collar. When had it come undone like that?

“Loa.”

“……”

“Become mine.”

Before I knew it, his breath had drawn close to my cheek. He gently took my hand and carefully laced his fingers through mine.

“Allow me.”

The breath that had been near my cheek shifted to just before my lips. He persistently followed the gaze I kept trying to turn away. The hand clasped in his made it impossible to move further.

“Loa.”

Because the voice calling my name was so desperate.

“Loa.”

Because I could not withstand the gaze that looked only at me.

“Lo…”

I pressed my lips to the voice that called my name more tenderly than anyone ever had.

Against the lips that met mine, Eden’s voice faded before it could reach my ears.

At the soft, full sensation that touched me, my eyes closed on their own. The blanket that had been draped over my shoulders fell as he pulled me tightly into his arms, but I did not mind.

The hand that had been holding mine gently traced along my waist.

Only after several kisses did we look at each other’s faces. Breaths that had not had a chance to rest came spilling out.

“Ha…”

His action of pressing his forehead against my shoulder brought me back to my senses.

Jang Hye-a, you fool!

What had I been thinking, kissing Eden like that, and on top of that, it had been me, not Eden, who had pressed my lips to his first.

Of all times, I had kissed him right when he said to allow him… No, I could just say I thought he was asking permission for a kiss.

Would that even work, Jang Hye-a, you idiot…!

The chaos of having done something without thinking nearly split my sense of self in two.

“Loa…”

“……”

“Loa?”

Unable to bring myself to meet Eden’s eyes, I desperately looked elsewhere.

“…It seems that kiss just now was an impulsive one.”

Yes, that is right. Which is why I cannot say a single word.

“Rest for today.”

He sent me out of the garden first, then went back inside. His eyes, having realized the kiss had not been a sign of acceptance, shone faintly.

It was unmistakably the look of someone who had been hurt.

As the door closed between us, I grew further from Eden.

I just hurt the male lead…

***

The Eden I saw after the morning was the same as usual. If there was one small difference…

“Is stealing kisses a hobby of yours, my lady?”

Sarcastic remarks when we were alone had been added to the list.

Yes, I am the one who stole a kiss and ran. I have sinned, so I will accept whatever comes.

“A message came from your family. They said today is fine.”

“Today?”

At my question, Eden silently nodded and handed me a letter bearing the seal of the Rumania Count family.

The sooner I went, the more clues I might be able to find.

“Let us go right away! I will get ready and come out.”

We arrived without the trouble of riding a carriage, using a transportation magic stone instead.

Ever since my constitution changed to one that absorbs magic stones, even hearing the word magic stone made me shudder, but this comfort and the time it saved seemed like something I could not give up.

Above all, when I was with Eden, he was the one who carried and used them, so there was no risk of the magic stone being absorbed.

The Count’s estate, which I had not visited in a long time, had far more gleaming objects than when I had last left it. It seemed they had prepared because Eden, Duke Hylus, was coming, though I wondered whether it was even possible to manage all of that in a single day.

“Welcome, Duke Hylus.”

“I apologize for the late introduction, Count Rumania.”

“Not at all, ha ha ha!”

Brandt’s laughter was somehow awkward and exaggerated, and Kayla, who stood beside him, had been wearing the same expression for a while now.

They are just as nervous as I am.

Just before stepping inside the manor, the sound of quite a few hoofbeats reached us. At that sound, the footsteps of Brandt and Kayla, who had already gone inside, were drawn back out.

The owner of those hoofbeats was a carriage bearing the Hylus Ducal family’s crest. It was a large carriage pulled by no fewer than nine horses.

“I am glad we arrived without being late.”

“Eden…?”

Since I had heard nothing from Eden about this, I was just as taken aback.

What descended from the carriage was a great many gifts.

“It is my first proper visit to my wife’s family home, and I had to prepare in haste, so it is lacking.”

Excuse me, Eden? You say it is lacking, and yet things keep coming out?

“This is a bouquet specially for my mother-in-law.”

What he handed to Kayla was a bouquet full of orange daisies, the exact same color as Kayla’s hair.

“My, how thoughtful.”

Thanks to Eden’s unexpected gift offensive, the atmosphere eased into something more comfortable than before.

“I will show Eden around my room and be right back.”

“Go ahead, dear. Show him around the Count’s estate as well.”

Since the reason for coming to the Count’s estate was to search once more for clues the real Eloa had left behind in her room, I headed straight for the room the moment we entered.

Only after we had moved away from my parents did Eden speak to me.

“By the way, what is the reason for coming to the Count’s estate?”

“A clue.”

“A clue?”

“A clue I absolutely must find.”

“Is it connected to the sorcerer?”

I nodded in answer to his last question instead of replying. The manor was not very large, and before long we had arrived at the door to the room.

It was not even truly my own room, yet the thought of being here with Eden made me feel oddly embarrassed. Pushing past the embarrassment, I opened the door to find everything exactly as it had been, unchanged.

I had expected dust to have gathered, but whether it had always been cleaned, it was spotless without a single speck of dust.

“Please look around freely.”

Since Eloa’s diary was with me, I needed to find other clues. But when I had first come here, I had already searched the entire room… where else was there to look?

“Eden, if it were you, where would you hide something that must not be found by anyone?”

“It seems there is something being hidden?”

“Hmm… not by me, but it is something I hid.”

Even though it was an incomprehensible statement, Eden did not ask. He simply paused to think for a moment, then rose from his seat.

“How far have you searched?”

“Under the bed, behind the wardrobe, beneath the desk, all of those.”

“One moment.”

Eden skillfully found the spots between the walls that made a sound, and then found areas on the floor that sounded different as well.

From quite a few of the places he tapped, small notebooks emerged.

This is not a treasure hunt. Why on earth did the real Eloa hide things in places like these?

“To scatter and hide things to this extent, it must be a secret she truly wanted to conceal.”

“If she wanted to hide it that badly, why did she not burn or destroy them?”

“Well, it is usually one of two things.”

“……?”

“Either she needed to look at them again later, or she was hoping someone would find them.”

At Eden’s last words, my mind went blank as though I had been struck by something.

The real Eloa forcibly carried out the soul exchange. Then, did she hope that the exchanged soul would find these?

I wanted to check the notebooks right away, but I could not do so with Eden present. If he were to look at them together with me, he might come to realize that I was a soul that had entered through a soul exchange.

“Do you need to look at those now?”

“Pardon? Yes.”

“If I step outside alone, it will seem strange, so I will rest my eyes for a bit.”

Knowing that he was someone who did not sleep well, an easy answer did not come.

“…Thank you.”

Rather than the table near the bed, I went to the desk a little further away and opened the notebooks.

The first notebook I opened had nothing written in it. The same was true of the next. I opened every single notebook, but nothing was written in any of them.

In the end, I had no choice but to ask for his help.

“Eden, I am sorry after you were so considerate.”

“……”

“Nothing is written in the notebooks.”

No sooner had I finished speaking than he rose from the bed, drew close, and touched the notebooks a few times.

“She used a childishly simple trick.”

“Pardon?”

“It seems she placed a spell on them so that they are only visible at a certain time. You said it was a diary?”

“Most likely.”

“Then she would have written in them at night, when everyone was asleep.”

That meant it was impossible to read them right now.

There is still time before the sun sets…

“Is there no way to break the spell?”

“Unlike magic, a spell can only be broken by the one who cast it.”

I could not hide my disappointment. If I were lucky enough to find out the specific time and be able to read them, that would be a relief, but if they truly had nothing written in them at all, then any clue I could obtain here would be gone.

Eden, who had been flipping through the notebooks a few times, quietly showed me one particular spot. The notebook he pointed to had ancient script written in it.

Since Eden could not read ancient script, it was something only my eyes could decipher.

The slightly curling letters, as though each one had been traced individually, looked less like transcription and more like someone copying a drawing.

The ancient script I calmly read through was…

Change me, and give me back.

Change me and give me back. What does that mean?

“What does it say?”

I could not give any answer to Eden’s question. Afraid that he might realize I was not the true owner of this body.

At the sight of me giving no answer even to his question, Eden drew closer.

“Loa.”

At his urging call, I had no choice but to open my mouth.

“…It is nothing meaningful.”

“If there is ancient script written there, there is a possibility that the rest of the notebooks are also written in ancient script.”

“……”

“With handwriting like that, it would be even harder to make out.”