Chapter 9 (Part 5)

Once she had returned to her original body, Grace went home, soaked herself in a bathtub filled with warm water, and lay on her soft bed, closing her eyes.  

In her mind, the moment from earlier—when they might have kissed if not for Liam’s interruption—kept replaying.  

‘What interruption? It’s not like that!’  

Now that she thought about it, Liam had clearly knocked on the office door to report on the training.  

But to walk in and see his superior in such a compromising position with someone she considered an enemy—how shocked he must have been. She had to think of it that way; calling it an interruption wasn’t right.  

Grace tried to think as rationally as possible.  

‘If I had been in my original body, maybe. No, how could I even think of doing that to my own body?’  

Eventually, Grace wondered if Leonardo was some kind of narcissistic pervert. She sighed and covered her face with her pillow.  

She knew the reason she kept revisiting that moment was that, deep down, she herself regretted it.  

‘I must be crazy. You’re truly crazy, Grace Lowell.’  

Even as she berated herself, the image of Leonardo smiling brightly when they met in the restroom earlier kept replaying in her mind.  

Even though it was her face, the atmosphere was so different that her heart had pounded as if it might burst.  

‘Am I the narcissist here? Why am I like this?’  

Grace hit her face with her pillow, trying to shake off the recurring image.  

Hoping she might fall asleep quickly, she bit into her pillow. No matter how she thought about it, she felt like a fool.  

So when Grace found herself lucid in her dream, she was almost relieved.  

“Wow, this is the first time I’ve been glad to dream.”  

Grace sat on the ground, looking at the endlessly blooming flowers that remained vibrant no matter how much she crushed or tore them.  

Since it was a dream, she didn’t feel any discomfort despite being on her period. Just in case, she checked, and when she saw no traces of blood, she smiled faintly.  

‘Thank goodness.’  

She didn’t want to deal with menstruation even in her dreams.  

Sighing, Grace tilted her head back to look at the sky. If she waited here, Leonardo would appear.  

‘Honestly, I’d rather he didn’t show up.’  

There wasn’t any particular reason.  

Whenever Leonardo appeared, the dream would usually end with them being intimate.  

But today, she had experienced something strange—her heart had raced uncontrollably at the sight of Leonardo smiling with her face, or more precisely, her body.  

If they ended up being intimate again in this dream… Of course, Leonardo had no idea about her feelings.  

‘He must never, absolutely never find out!’  

If he did, he’d only tease her, nothing else. He had teased her when she burned the meat, after all.  

Grace hugged her knees and calmly thought things through.  

Since it was a dream, she wasn’t affected by her period, nor did she feel the emotional ups and downs or intrusive thoughts she normally did. It was a good opportunity to sort out her feelings.  

‘It must have been because Sir Leo was in my body. When I looked in the mirror earlier tonight, I didn’t feel this way.’  

In conclusion, she wasn’t attracted to her own face but to Leonardo, who had been in her form.  

In other words, Grace Lowell was drawn to Leonardo Fernandez. It wasn’t due to some curse or spell causing lust—it was simply that she found herself drawn to him, her heart fluttering whenever she saw him.  

“Ha, damn it…”  

Realizing this, Grace felt unsure if she could resist doing anything inappropriate if Leonardo appeared in her dream.  

Since it was a dream, and Leonardo in reality wouldn’t know—  

‘What if I lose control and just pounce on him?’  

Grace was well aware that her self-control was embarrassingly weak and unreliable.  

Moreover, her feelings weren’t purely affectionate; they were closer to instinctive attraction, which made her even less confident in protecting the dream version of Leonardo’s dignity.  

After all, this was just a dream.  

‘Then again, is there really any dignity to protect?’  

They had already seen everything there was to see.  

Whether it was the real Leonardo or the dream version, neither had refrained from being intimate with her. Both had been with her.  

‘How did it come to this?’  

Once she admitted she was attracted to him, everything made sense.  

The reason she felt hurt by his mean behavior, the reason she overanalyzed his small acts of kindness, the reason she wished he wouldn’t be so cold—  

‘Wow, if I’m acting like this just because I’m a little interested, what would happen if I actually fell in love? Grace Lowell, you’re doomed.’  

Grace nodded to herself as she thought this.  

That’s why she hoped even more fervently that Leonardo wouldn’t show up today. She closed her eyes, feeling the cool breeze.  

“……!”  

Someone lightly shook her shoulder.  

Reflexively, she looked up to see Leonardo crouched in front of her, smiling.  

“Ah, so you showed up again.”  

Grace muttered in a tone that was neither a lament nor admiration. Then, she forcefully pushed Leonardo down.  

When the white uniform became stained yellow from the flowers, Grace felt oddly pleased.  

“I’ve been waiting for you.”  

At her words, a look of confusion appeared on Leonardo’s face. Grace leaned over him, placing her arm beside his face, and said,  

“I was thinking about how I should devour you.”  

With those words, Grace kissed Leonardo.  

Her sudden action came as quite a shock to Leonardo, who had just unexpectedly found himself dreaming.  

Right before falling asleep, Leonardo had been in his laboratory, speaking with Iris through the communication sphere about sorcery.  

Then, he had thought, fleetingly, that he felt a little sleepy.  

‘And now, I’m suddenly in a dream?’  

The communication sphere would shut off on its own if he didn’t inject more mana into it. The problem was that this was the first time he had ever been suddenly pulled into a dream like this.  

And to find Grace, conscious and actively approaching him?  

‘She’s made the first move before… but that was more like an act of desperation.’  

Back then, Grace had acted as if she had no other choice, knowing there was nothing else she could do in the dream. It had been an action taken almost reluctantly to escape the dream.  

But this time, it was different. This time, she was ‘proactive.’ It felt as if she had been waiting for an opportunity like this…  

Leonardo closed his eyes, accepting Grace’s kiss.  

“Haa, Sir Leo.”  

When he opened his eyes slightly, he saw Grace’s gaze, filled with heat, as she called his name.  

Seeing that, Leonardo felt his lower body tense up. But he merely smiled sweetly, as if he were oblivious to everything.  

“You act like you don’t know, smiling like that, even though you’re standing so tall here?”  

Feeling his *rousal, Grace subtly ground her hips against him.  

Leonardo almost let out a groan but reached out and grabbed the Golden Day Primrose with all his strength.  

Why on earth was she doing this all of a sudden?  

Leonardo clenched his teeth tightly, determined not to let any sound escape by accident.  

‘If I make a sound, she’ll get suspicious.’  

The last time, he had impulsively opened his mouth and ended up arousing Grace’s suspicions.  

Leonardo resolved two, three times to stay still no matter what Grace did.  

But as the saying goes, things don’t always go as planned.  

‘This is driving me crazy.’  

Leonardo looked up at Grace with a dazed expression as she hummed a tune and began unbuttoning his clothes with her calloused hands.  

He knew she was doing this because she was confident he wouldn’t resist, but being in the position of the one lying beneath her was pure torment.  

Reaching out to hold her or pull her closer didn’t feel right—after all, the ‘Grace’ who appeared in his dreams had never done such things before. He wasn’t sure if it was okay.  

‘And I can’t even tell how my dream self has acted before, so I can’t move recklessly.’  

All he could do was flinch whenever her hands brushed against his skin.  

Leonardo stared at Grace, who was running her hands over his bare chest with a dazed expression. When their eyes met, she smiled and said,  

“Really, no matter how much I look, your abs are so well-defined. How do you manage to stay this fit as a mage?”  

Muttering to herself that she should push her subordinates harder, Grace made Leonardo bite his lip.  

When her nails brushed against his navel, his mind went blank for a moment. But no, he couldn’t lose focus. He had to stay alert.  

However, when Grace licked her lips with her red tongue as if she were savoring a delicious meal, Leonardo’s vision grew dizzy.  

‘Hold it together. Please, Leonardo Fernandez. Hold it together.’  

Leonardo’s resolve to endure was slowly fading to the point where he could barely remember what he was holding back or why.  

But Grace, unaware of his struggle, leaned down and gently bit his n*pple with her teeth.  

When he felt her hot breath and lips, Leonardo’s body flinched in response.  

As if that weren’t enough, Grace began to teasingly circle her tongue around his n*pple before resting her face against his chest.  

Slowly, Grace moved on top of him, just as she had done before, tracing circles around his chest with her fingers as she murmured,  

“Why are you being so quiet today?”  

Leonardo tilted his head, barely suppressing the urge to pull her closer.  

When he smiled at her with an innocent, harmless expression, Grace burst out laughing. Then, she lowered her head and whispered softly into his ear,  

“Sir Leo. Are you going to keep pretending you don’t know?”  

“……”  

At her meaningful words, Leonardo met her gaze directly.  

Grace laughed.  

“Did you know? Originally, the Leonardo in my dreams didn’t have a heartbeat-”  

Before she could even finish her sentence, Leonardo wrapped his arms tightly around Grace’s back and flipped their positions.  

With eyes blazing fiercely, he stared down at Grace, who laughed as if she found the situation amusing.  

“Did you know?”  

“Well, halfway? Honestly, I was just testing you. And you walked right into it, Sir.”  

Watching her laugh uncontrollably, Leonardo smirked.  

With a seductive smile, he narrowed his eyes and said,  

“Now that you’ve had your fun teasing me, I suppose you won’t have any complaints if I do as I please now.”  

Without waiting for her response, Leonardo kissed her.  

As he kissed her deeply, as if devouring her, Grace let out a satisfied chuckle and slowly wrapped her arms around his neck.