Chapter 5 (Part 3)

Strangely, Grace, who had slept soundly without dreaming that night, stared blankly at the now-empty bed beside her.

Wondering if their bodies had swapped overnight, she chuckled at the weight she felt below.  

Looking down, she saw the bulging front, just as Leonardo had said was normal every morning.  

“When will this…?”  

Grace swallowed those words and felt a strange discomfort as she sluggishly got up.  

But feeling uncomfortable no matter what, she pouted and grumbled.  

“It should be a reasonable size, really.”  

As she was saying that, the door to the lodging creaked open.  

Grace, startled, stopped her actions and looked at Leonardo, who was about to come in.  

Watching his expression for a while to see if he had heard what she said earlier, Grace felt relieved when he didn’t say anything and moved her feet.  

And as she passed by Leonardo,  

“You had plenty of fun with that oversized thing, didn’t you?”

Leonardo muttered as if talking to himself.  

His voice was so soft it was hard to tell if it was meant to be heard, but Grace, who was right next to him, heard it clearly.  

Whipping her head around so fast it made a whooshing sound, Leonardo had already walked away by then.  

‘Weren’t we supposed to pretend it didn’t happen?’  

Who was it that said to pretend it didn’t happen? How could he say that out loud now?  

Grace was so dumbfounded that she felt her mouth opening and closing like a fish, but she couldn’t bring herself to argue. She was afraid of hearing unnecessary things again.  

In the end, unable to say anything, Grace stomped her feet and walked to the bathroom.  

Hearing the sound fade away, Leonardo, left in the lodging, chuckled.  

“Really, she’s cute.”  

He had said it deliberately for Grace to hear, and she reacted just as he had thought.  

Leonardo found it so cute that he laughed to himself. It was a sight that would make anyone ask if he was crazy, but he didn’t care.  

‘It’s a contradictory feeling, but.’  

Still, the fact that his feelings for Grace had changed was certain. And Leonardo decided not to ignore that.  

After thinking over and over throughout the night, he concluded that he should face his feelings.  

‘I don’t know how Sir Lowell will react.’  

Leonardo sighed softly and gazed out the window.  

Looking at the field where the Golden Day Primrose bloomed profusely, he opened the window as if mesmerized.  

The sweet scent of flowers came flying in with the wind.  

For a moment, the taste of the flower he ate the previous day came to mind, and he felt a desire to taste it again.  

Even though it wasn’t that delicious.  

“What are you doing! Are you crazy? Why are you opening the window!”

If Grace hadn’t returned and closed the window in shock, Leonardo might have jumped out barefoot.  

He blinked, surprised at his own thoughts from just moments ago.  

Seeing Leonardo’s blank face, Grace clicked her tongue.  

“Why? Does the scent of the flowers make you feel ecstatic? After unnecessarily chewing on the flowers, are you already addicted?”

“… ”  

“Who are you planning to sleep with this time?”  

At her sharp words, Leonardo looked up at Grace.  

Meeting her gaze as she looked down at him authoritatively, he slowly lowered his eyes.  

He couldn’t think of a retort.  

“If you don’t plan to go around pouncing on any woman, don’t even look at that flower.”  

Grace spoke coldly and slammed the window shut.  

Not satisfied with that, she even drew the curtains before turning around.  

“You said you’d go catch the Pla after breakfast. Why not prepare for that?”  

At her words, Leonardo nodded. Then he slowly headed to the kitchen.  

Thinking that perhaps he really had been enchanted by the flower, just as Grace said.

As Leonardo entered the kitchen, Grace let out a sigh of relief.  

She rubbed her neck hard and muttered.  

“Really, what’s in those flowers?”

Leonardo ate that flower, got intoxicated, and slept with her.  

Later, it seemed they were entangled regardless of the flower’s effect, but it started that way.  

After pondering for a moment, Grace left the lodging. Standing in the reception room, she called out loudly towards the kitchen.  

“I’m going out for a bit!”  

With that, Grace grabbed a gathering bag and gloves and stepped outside the shelter.  

She saw two Pla still hiding behind nearby trees, watching the place. Locking eyes with them, she turned away.  

Flowers growing haphazardly everywhere caught her eye.  

‘Everything from that flower is the problem.’  

Normally, it would be hard to detect its scent, but she clearly tasted a sweet yet bitter flavor when she sucked on Leonardo’s hand that had picked the flower.  

Even in the dream, though not as sweet as in reality, she definitely tasted the bitterness.  

Grace began plucking the flowers with her gloved hands and stuffing them into the bag haphazardly.  

‘I’ll ask the family’s physician and mage to analyze the components. What on earth is this?’  

Leonardo was surely investigating, but having gone through such an ordeal, Grace didn’t want to leave everything to him.  

After all, she too had suffered because of this flower.  

As she was zealously stuffing every visible flower into the gathering bag, Grace suddenly felt dizzy, her head spinning.  

“―Gasp!”  

Steadying her swaying body, Grace slapped her cheek hard as she felt her vision blur.  

With a smack, her mind cleared instantly.  

“Let’s go in. Go in and wash up.”  

Grace, filling her eyes with determination, ran back into the shelter.  

At the sound of the door slamming shut, Leonardo peeked out in surprise, but Grace brushed past him and went into the bathroom.  

She closed the bathroom door and poured cold water over her head while still clothed.  

“Ugh, cold!”  

It was a chill that could bring back even a lost mind.  

Grace shivered once and exhaled a large breath, white vapor escaping her mouth.  

“I can’t roll around with Leonardo Fernandez a second time.”  

Muttering in a very small but clear voice, Grace roughly took off her wet clothes.  

Thinking she might as well wash her body while she was at it, she deliberately avoided looking down.  

Seeing it might remind her of the night she spent with him and make her forget her recent resolve.  

‘Was I someone who was so attracted to men’s bodies?’  

Grace bit her lip slightly and quickly dried her hair and body.  

Then she wrapped a large towel around her waist and stepped outside. Leonardo was standing right there as if he had been waiting.  

“Did you just wash up?”  

Seeing her wet hair and towel around her waist, Leonardo asked in surprise, and Grace replied as if it was no big deal.  

“There’s nothing more to see, is there?”  

Already having seen everything, Grace’s confident attitude made Leonardo raise his eyebrows slightly.  

Deliberately taking off his apron slowly, he said,  

“―Then, I’ll wash up too. Alone.”  

“No, that’s not allowed.”  

Grace firmly refused and stood blocking the bathroom door.  

It was a typical attitude of ‘I can do it, but you can’t.’  

Seeing this, Leonardo approached her, lifted the towel, and grabbed the object hanging at the center.  

“I thought you liked it quite a bit that day, but surely, you didn’t want to see this again.”  

Grace shrugged her shoulders on purpose as he spoke while staring at her.  

If he was intentionally trying to hurt her with his words, she just had to pretend not to be hurt.  

How easy that was. It wasn’t her first time doing it.  

“Well, maybe I did.”  

At Grace’s words, Leonardo’s eyes wavered slightly, momentarily flustered.  

Not missing the moment, she removed his hand and roughly grabbed his chest.  

Then she pressed his n*pple with her finger as if rubbing it and said,  

“You’re not curious about this, are you?”  

“… ”  

“Well, you sucked on it so persistently… You might be curious.”  

Don’t you think? 

Grace added and returned to the lodging, leaving Leonardo with a dumbfounded expression.  

With a bang, she closed the door behind her and lowered her head, seeing the upright towel. Grace chuckled and tapped it with her hand.  

“Hey, don’t you have any sense?”  

Seeing it sway sideways as if answering, Grace burst into laughter, finding it ridiculous.  

“How did that person live with this thing?”  

It was such a sensitive thing that reacted even to a slight touch. 

How did Leonardo manage his daily life?  

Thinking about something completely unrelated to her, Grace found and put on her clothes. Then she dried her hair as much as possible and applied lotion to her face.  

Looking at Leonardo’s unnecessarily radiant face, she said,  

“……Really, it was just the face that was my type.”

Now, even the body was perfectly to her liking.  

Honestly, it was a worrisome thought. Grace closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.  

Unaware that Leonardo was listening to her words from beyond the door.