Chapter 4 (Part 2)

When Grace opened her eyes again, she was straddling Leonardo’s waist.  

Seeing Leonardo smiling at her, she realized it was a dream. Because outside of dreams, he wouldn’t smile at her so brightly.  

“What’s making you smile?”  

Grace said, leaning over Leonardo’s half-bare torso.  

Placing her hand on his chest, she mischievously twisted his small n*pple with her fingers.  

Even in the dream, Leonardo grimaced as if he really felt pain.  

“How can a person be so selfish?”  

Her words, full of mischief and inferiority, made Leonardo smile softly.  

With a face that seemed to know nothing.

Seeing Leonardo’s clear face, Grace sighed.  

“What am I even saying to you right now?”  

In a dream, what was the point of saying such things? No, why was she even saying them in the first place?  

Watching Leonardo, who still smiled prettily with a face that knew nothing, Grace pouted.  

Then she ran her hand over Leonardo’s beautifully defined abs.

Though she had never seen it in reality, if this dream was very similar to reality, the real Leonardo would have the same thing on his abdomen.

No, it definitely existed.  

“If you’re a mage, just do magic well. Don’t make knights feel inferior.”  

The more she thought about it, the more mischievous she felt, and Grace pressed Leonardo’s well-toned belly with her fingers.  

Then he laughed and grabbed her hand.  

“Why, what? Does it hurt? Does it really hurt?”  

Swallowing the words ‘it’s a dream,’ Grace was startled by Leonardo’s subsequent actions.  

He gently took Grace’s hand and brought it to his lower body. Then he pressed her palm against his already swollen member.  

Despite having experienced it once before, Grace was shocked again by the enormous size and retreated.  

“W-What is this? Are you suggesting we do it again?”

At Grace’s trembling voice, Leonardo’s smile deepened.  

You know what I want.  

Even though he hadn’t spoken a word, Grace felt like she heard his voice, and she swallowed hard.  

She couldn’t tell if it was fear or anticipation.  

Just as she opened her mouth to make an excuse, her body swayed greatly, and she heard a faint sound.  

“―Sir Lowell.”

The sound was so small it was hard to understand, and Grace frowned. She turned her head to look around, and Leonardo grabbed her by the collar and pulled her down.  

“What are you doing―!”  

“Sir Lowell!”  

A small but clear voice echoed as if it was coming from afar.  

As the voice calling her resonated everywhere, Leonardo’s face twisted fiercely. It was filled with a violent emotion she had never seen before.  

Seeing that, Grace was so startled she sprang up. Then Leonardo reached out to her.  

His eyes gleamed with a murderous intent. As if he wanted to kill her.  

As Grace screamed in terror, her body shook.  

“―Huh!”  

Awakening from the dream, Grace panted heavily.  

The last expression she saw on Leonardo’s face was so fierce it gave her chills.  

“Are you alright, Sir Lowell?”  

But right in front of her, Leonardo, back in his original form, was looking at her and asking.  

Startled, Grace instinctively pushed his shoulder and backed away.  

He fell to the floor, wincing at the pain that surged through him.  

Realizing she had pushed him hard, Grace’s palm stung, snapping her back to her senses.  

“S-Sorry, Sir!”

As Grace hastily apologized, Leonardo, still sitting, furrowed his brows and asked,  

“Did you have a nightmare?”  

“……Yes, in the dream, you―.”  

Grace bit her tongue and shut her mouth.  

She almost blurted out everything she did with him in the dream. Though she managed to close her mouth in time, she did so at a strange part.  

Grace shifted her eyes, gauging Leonardo’s reaction.  

Meeting Grace’s anxious eyes, Leonardo let out a long breath and got up, dusting off his pants.  

“If I appeared, well, that could be possible.”  

Leonardo acknowledged it nonchalantly, leaving Grace speechless, biting her lip.  

She wanted to deny it, but she felt she would have to explain what kind of dream she had if she did, so she couldn’t do anything.  

Finally, as Grace hung her head, Leonardo spoke in his usual indifferent tone.  

“It’s best if you wash up first.”  

His nonchalant attitude made Grace slowly nod and get up.  

She felt like this mess was all because she had such a strange dream.  

Sighing deeply, Grace picked up her change of clothes and towel and trudged toward the bathroom.  

As she walked away, Leonardo’s eyes turned cold.  

‘I appeared? In the dream?’  

But the emotion on Grace’s face when she pushed him away was definitely fear.  

A primal fear.  

For a moment, Leonardo recalled the dream he had but quickly shook his head.  

Until now, Leonardo thought he was the only one having such dreams.  

But if Grace had a similar dream,  

‘Did she see my n*ked body?’  

But no matter how much she saw, she couldn’t recreate something she hadn’t seen in reality.  

Of course, he wasn’t sure if Grace Lowell had truly never seen his member.  

In any case, he didn’t think she would be terrified just by seeing it in a dream.  

As she said, it would be gross, not terrifying.  

‘Then… what on earth could it be? What kind of dream would terrify Grace Lowell?’

Leonardo, who had been lost in thought for quite some time, eventually had to head to the kitchen without reaching any conclusion.  

‘I guess I can find out if I probe her gradually.’

Grace Lowell had a simple side, and often, when talking around in circles, she would inadvertently blurt out the answer.  

He thought he could easily extract the information he was curious about.  

“Thank you for the meal.”  

He never imagined that Grace Lowell would keep her mouth shut and not say a word throughout the entire meal.  

Leonardo watched with a sense of futility as Grace disappeared like someone being chased.  

‘It’s still early… Is she going to sleep?’  

Grace, whose body had changed again, opened the door to the men’s quarters and went inside.

Feeling a pointless sense of futility, Leonardo quietly stared at the closed door, hearing busy sounds from inside. Then Grace came out of the room again, hesitated for a long time, and said,  

“Could you… sleep with me, Sir?”  

At her words, Leonardo frowned deeply.  

Seeing his face, which clearly showed he was telling her not to talk nonsense, Grace waved her hands.  

“No, no! I don’t mean anything strange…! I’m just a bit scared to sleep alone…”  

Even at her flimsy excuse, Leonardo remained silent, prompting Grace to stammer and add,  

“Um, never mind. Sorry, Sir. Just pretend you didn’t hear that.”  

Saying so, Grace slumped her shoulders and went back inside.  

Seeing her look so pitiful, Leonardo sighed softly and ran his fingers through his hair. Unable to bear it, he finally picked up his bowl and said,  

“I’ll come after preparing for bed.”  

He spoke loudly enough for Grace inside to hear and headed to the kitchen.  

Realizing belatedly that it was a promise to fulfill her request, Grace let out a big sigh of relief.  

‘Thank goodness. I was worried about having another dream.’  

If Leonardo stayed by her side, she felt it would ease her mind a little.  

At least the real Leonardo wouldn’t act fiercely as if he wanted to devour her, like in that dream.  

‘What on earth was that?’  

Upon reflection, there were many peculiar commonalities in the two dreams she had so far.  

Until now, she had honestly thought of them as strange lucid dreams. In fact, Grace didn’t know much about this side of things, so she vaguely accepted it.  

However, she had never had such lucid dreams before changing bodies. 

Could it mean that these dreams are related to the magic?  

‘No, it would be stranger if the magic and these dreams were entirely unrelated.’  

Lost in thought, Grace stood up from the bed as the door opened.  

Leonardo entered, drying his wet hair with a towel, having washed it in the meantime.  

Grace, who inherited her mother Amelia’s fair skin, noticed that his skin looked particularly moist today and impulsively asked,

“Did you put something on? Your face looks really moisturized.”

“Excuse me? Put something on?”

“Why? Don’t you apply toner or something after washing your face?”

Seeing Leonardo’s face, as if hearing such words for the first time in his life, Grace sighed.  

She felt a slight twinge of envy.  

‘Does that mean this skin, better than most women’s, is natural?’  

Grace narrowed her eyes and stared at him for a long time. Then she got up, went somewhere, and returned with a small handbag.  

Taking out a small bottle from it, she said,  

“Unlike you, I need to take care of myself to maintain even this much. When you’re here, if you wash up with our bodies switched, you must come to me.”

Saying so, Grace sat close to Leonardo and popped open the bottle.  

“Could you close your eyes, Sir?”  

Pouring fragrant rose-scented toner onto a clean cloth, she patted it on his face.  

Leonardo found the delicate touch on his face ticklish and kept frowning unconsciously.  

Grace lightly scolded him for that.  

“Sir Leonardo. Don’t forget that face is mine. I’m telling you not to frown because it causes wrinkles.”  

Grace’s gentle voice spread in his ears.  

No, clearly, that body was his, so the voice should also be his. Yet, why did it sound so different?  

‘Let’s not think about it.’  

Certain that something would change if he understood why, Leonardo chose to leave it unknown.  

Hoping, as much as possible, or even forever, that he would never find out.