Chapter 2 

The man stumbled and approached Brody.

It seemed like he hadn’t completely lost control due to the medicine, but he was swaying heavily.

“Oops!”

Because of that, the man almost knocked over a teacup.

No, it wasn’t just the teacup; it seemed like everything on the desk was about to crash.

‘Oh no! This can’t happen! ‘

If someone were to come in the middle of this chaos, it would be a disaster.

Instinctively, Brody rushed to him and supported him.

His solid body pressed heavily against her.

Fortunately, they managed to avoid a loud crash.

With a single bead of sweat rolling down her back, Brody let out a sigh of relief.

But it was too early to feel secure.

Whether to prevent him from falling or to keep Brody from escaping, he tightly gripped her arm.

Her slender arm felt like it was caught in his large hand, as if it were paper.

‘Using my “ability” to escape seems difficult in this situation.’

Brody frowned, trying to assess the situation by looking at him.

However, their eyes met unexpectedly from a very close distance.

For some reason, his gaze seemed strangely tender.

Brody felt her heart tighten.

Receiving such a gaze from a man was a first for her.

Heavy, solemn, yet yearning eyes.

‘Why? Why is he looking at me like that? ’

Following the man’s blue eyes, Brody’s green eyes began to waver.

‘Handsome!’

Brody shook her head, attributing everything to his handsome appearance.

She concluded that it wasn’t his special gaze but his looks that made her feel that way.

To avoid getting entangled, she realized she needed to stay focused.

“Uh, there, I’ll support you.”

Brody decided she needed to lay the disoriented man down. Maybe she should give him more “Meshu” to make him completely unconscious.

She led him to the bed.

Although the man was as heavy as if he were soaked in water, fortunately, he followed Brody’s lead.

“Ugh.”

Finally reaching the bed, she rolled him onto his back as if playing a match.

Even as he fell onto the bed, he didn’t let go of Brody’s arm.

Because of that, she helplessly fell onto the bed, too, in the posture of being embraced by his arm.

“Ah!”

He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly.

He buried his nose in the nape of her neck and inhaled deeply.

In the process, his lips naturally touched the edge of Brody’s neck.

Startled, Brody shivered at the unfamiliar sensation.

Luckily, he didn’t do anything but bury his face in her neck and breathe.

‘No, it’s not fortunate! I need to escape! ‘

The slow breathing and the warmth of his body, almost lulling her into a false sense of security, brought Brody back to her senses.

It can’t be tonight. Tomorrow, when he wakes up, she might be in trouble. He would think it was strange that he’d suddenly fallen asleep after drinking tea.

Brody twisted her body.

Unexpectedly, the man let her go easily when she moved.

This continued to baffle her, and she became increasingly puzzled.

The man sat at the edge of the bed, silently observing her.

His slightly moist eyes seemed to be desiring something.

Whether it was true or not, the man took hold of Brody’s hand—not forcefully, but gently.

‘What’s going on? Why am I hesitating? ‘

Brody glared at him, and she made a decision.

She slowly lowered her face. Light brown, curly hair spilled out and piled up over the man’s upper body.

Cautiously, Brody’s lips gently touched his.

In an instant, the man’s body stiffened.

But then he wrapped his large hands around the nape of Brody’s neck and took her lips deeply.

“Mmmm…….”

The kiss was softer than she expected.

Brody held onto her fading consciousness against the warmth of his breath.

Desperately, she pushed a Meshu leaf into his mouth to make him fall asleep.

Fortunately, perhaps due to the drowsiness, he accepted it without much resistance.

‘Now, he should fall asleep.’

But unfortunately, he didn’t.

‘Why is this happening? With this amount, he should be oblivious even if I wake him up tomorrow morning.’

More surprisingly, as Brody struggled to chew the Meshu leaf to offer it to him, she began to feel lightheaded.

Just as tenderness gave way to fierceness, he pulled his lips away.

She pulled away from him and looked at the man, who was now a foot away from her; their eyes locked.

His previously firm expression, with well-defined forehead lines and a sharp nose, now had a softness.

The creases around his eyes, which were deeply shadowed before, seemed to have disappeared with only faint traces remaining.

Perhaps it was due to the intoxication of Meshu. He looked comfortable and satisfied.

His gaze seemed to seek approval from her.

‘Of course I should say no…….’

She wondered why she was even thinking about it.

Brody stared at him in silence for a moment. His sharp forehead, cool nose, and sapphire eyes shine within his sharp features. His lips were softly drawn on his firm jawline.

Gulp! She didn’t realize it when she started salivating. Her heart began to pound with excitement.

More than anything, the melancholic atmosphere that inexplicably emanated from this large and wild man stirred her emotions.

Feeling somehow sorry for the man unraveling in her arms, Brody reached out with a slender hand and stroked the traces of wrinkles from his brow, the lines of pain from his eyes, and the responsibility etched deeply into his face.

‘Handsome, that’s because he’s handsome.’

In a drowsy state of mind, Brody thought.

How often would she encounter a man who matched her taste in her lifetime?

She had never seen such a man in her past life, and it was doubtful she would ever encounter such a situation in her present life.

No, she wasn’t sure if she was in a previous life, a novel, or a dream.

Perhaps it was due to the last novel she read that she was having such a dream.

When she woke up, it might have been a hospital bed or even the afterlife.

Even if it wasn’t a dream, she might never encounter this person again.

She’s spent her entire life sacrificing her life for her family. So from this moment on, it will be all about…….

“I guess I can live as I please.”

The way he looked at her, the way his body felt so warm, Brody tugged at the hand that held her cheek.

It was the longest, shortest night she’d ever felt.

* * *

Around dawn, Brody got up.

The man sprawled beside her, deeply asleep.

No matter how she looked at it, it wasn’t a dream.

“I messed up. I really messed up.”

It was a night of choices she wouldn’t usually make, but strangely, it didn’t feel odd.

“Well, that’s understandable…”

Brody looked at the man again. He wasn’t doing anything special; he was just lying there breathing. Unconsciously, she couldn’t take her eyes off the beautiful subject.

“You really are my type.”

Feeling a bit awkward admiring his appearance even in this situation, Brody picked up her clothes and dressed.

The man showed no intention of waking up.

“Yeah, well, after all that, Meshu, you should look like this.

Brody felt a sense of relief.

“I heard the Northern Duke is crazy and cruel, so I guess the rumors weren’t wrong.”

She struggled to get up.

It had been a wild night.

Her body ached all over, but strangely, it was satisfying.

It was not a bad start to a new life, she thought.

“What a pleasant morning.”

The sunlight began to illuminate the tent.

“If I don’t wake up from this dream, I’ll have to live in this reality.”

She sat at the edge of the bed, looking down at the man who had slept peacefully.

She wonders if I’ll ever spend another night with a man like this.

No, there probably wouldn’t be.

She would bury it in the back of her mind for the rest of her life, but she had no regrets.

I stroked his brow gently, thinking his unmasked face looked gentle.

Still, the man didn’t wake up.

Even in this situation, as she felt a bit awkward admiring his appearance, Brody tightened her scarf around her neck.

Even so, the man didn’t wake up.

“Goodbye, handsome extra Duke.”

And so, Brody safely escaped using her ‘ability.’

* * *

How much time has passed?

The room was completely bright.

The man’s eyes fluttered a few times before slowly opening as the light that leaked through the fabric hit the corners of his eyes.

It was a morning different from usual.

“So bright and refreshing.”

With a strange unfamiliarity, the man blinked and looked at the ceiling. He saw the familiar ceiling of the room.

“Duke, are you awake?”

As the sound came from outside, the man was startled and sat up abruptly.

He quickly began to recognize reality.

Seeing the bright light entering the tent, it seemed to be later in the morning than usual.

Panicking that he had overslept, he realized something even more bizarre.

He was n*ked, and there was no one around.

He quickly grabbed his clothes. To be in such disarray during the war, he felt self-reproach for his irresponsible actions.

“Was yesterday just a dream?”

A dream? What? What kind of dream was it?

Though the memory was vague, his mind was clearer than ever.

The man understood the reason.

 “I don’t have a headache.”

The terrible headache that had plagued him for 24 hours a day was gone.

It was the first time he had experienced this since he became conscious of his ‘self’.

The absence of a headache felt surprisingly light to him.

“What happened?”

While pondering, the general’s voice came from outside: “May I come in?”

The man composed himself and put on light armor before responding, “Come in.”

The general entering the tent looked tense.

The Duke, who always woke up early and was more active than anyone else, showed behavior different from usual.

“I apologize for oversleeping. It seems I fell into a deep sleep after a long time.”

“Oh, no need to apologize for waking up late. But…”

The general’s expression darkened as he looked around the tent.

“Where is the woman?”

***

Brody was a “Plant Mage”

As long as there were ‘nutrients’ to work with, she could make plants grow anytime, anywhere.

Whether it was poisonous herbs or meshu, they all grew in the palm of her hand.

“So, no matter how much they search, they won’t find anything.”

Being around plants all the time had given her an intimate knowledge of botany, herbalism, food preparation, and all sorts of applications.

“You’re smart, Brody. Did you really waste such an ability?”

She made thick tree roots grow as a passage to the floor of the tent. After that, she covered herself in plants, making herself look like a tree, and carefully moved when there was no one around.

Her crude plant-based disguise was on a different level. Unless someone forcibly entered the plants, no one would discover Brody inside.

Originally, she would have been assassinated, and the Duke, who was deeply asleep due to meshu, wouldn’t wake up to such a quiet disturbance.

After successfully escaping outside with the help of plants, Brody quickly fled into a deep forest.

“Damn, it’s exhausting.”

Due to the passionate night yesterday, there were pains all over, but her life was at stake.

Brody kept running until she felt she had escaped far enough.

“This should be enough.”

When she entered a forest where there were no traces of people, Brody finally stopped. Relief from having successfully escaped flooded in, and fatigue followed. Leaning against a large tree trunk, she massaged her legs.

“What the hell happened?”

After experiencing death, she suddenly finds herself in a faintly familiar and strange space, spending a night with a man of her type, using a strange ability to escape, and running all day to reach such a deep and rugged forest.

“I don’t even like hiking.”

Muttering while complaining, Brody made sweet potatoes grow. She hesitated to start a fire, as the smoke might be risky.

“I guess I should endure today.”

She indulged in contemplation while chewing on the sweet potato.

‘It’s a great ability, and with it, there’s really no reason to starve. I don’t have the skills to make clothes, but if I learn, I’ll have clothes. I can build shelter out of plants, even in the middle of nowhere. I’ll have food because I’ll have all kinds of plants, including old crops. If I do well, I can make a lot of money.’

Immersed in inflated dreams of how to live, Brody was overcome by drowsiness.

Not knowing when her eyes closed, after a while, she woke up feeling extremely cold. Upon opening her eyes, the sight before her almost froze her heart.

The Northern Duke, with eyes as icy blue as ice itself, was staring at her.