Chapter 3.3

Letting out a faint laugh, Dania replied in a calm tone.

“What nonsense are you spouting? You’ve already turned my room upside down.”

Luel clicked his tongue, his narrowed eyes glinting sharply.

“Senior Mikhail is an assistant instructor in my department. He was helping me study for my retake at the Theology Hall.”

“The Theology Hall?”

“Yes. Ayla and Greg were there too, and we were all organizing our wrong-answer notes together.”

“…”

“We were in the department office the whole time, okay?”

Dania preemptively addressed every possible misunderstanding to prevent further confusion. Not for her own sake, but for Mikhail’s—a kind and helpful senior who didn’t deserve to be dragged into Luel’s ridiculous assumptions.

I’m so sorry, Senior Mikhail… My childhood friend is an incorrigible rake with nothing but indecent thoughts in his head. I can’t believe he tarnished your name, even in his imagination…

Whether or not her explanation worked, Luel’s hardened expression seemed to soften slightly.

Finally relaxing, Dania lightly tapped Luel’s arm and added with a teasing tone.

“Seriously, what were you even imagining? That senior has standards, you know.”

“What?”

Luel’s face turned cold again as he asked back.

What now? 

Dania tilted her head in confusion.

Was he embarrassed by his misunderstanding? Or did he dislike my joke? 

Letting out a short, exasperated sigh, Luel ran his hand roughly through his curly pink hair.

“You’re just…”

“Just what? Spit it out!”

As Dania clenched her fist in mock frustration, Luel’s gaze landed on something peculiar.

Specifically, her small hand was clutching a piece of fabric. It was made of cotton, with delicate lace trimming the edges—something that looked remarkably similar to what he had seen at her house not long ago.

“What? What is it?”

Following his line of sight, Dania looked down at her own hand.

By then, the fabric had already been snatched away by Luel. It took her a moment to realize what he had taken from her.

Oh no, my underwear…!

She had completely forgotten to toss it into the laundry basket after Luel’s sudden arrival. Her face turned beet red.

“Y-You pervert! What are you doing?!”

Dania flailed her arms in an attempt to retrieve her undergarment, but Luel easily held it out of her reach.

Holding it high above her, he unfolded the fabric with both hands. Sure enough, it was the underwear Dania had been wearing earlier.

The light from the ceiling’s magic stone lamp shone through the thin fabric, faintly illuminating the damp spot at the bottom.

Luel’s eyes narrowed.

“Dani… What’s this?”

“I-I don’t know! Give it back!”

Dania jumped up and down, trying to snatch her underwear, but Luel turned away effortlessly, evading her grasp.

Then, as if to confirm something, he brought the damp area to his nose.

“…Ah.”

Luel’s lips curled into a sly smile.

It was the scent that had lingered in his mind for days.

“Dania… What were you doing by yourself?”

“W-What does it matter what I was doing? Just give it back!”

“Were you thinking about me?”

Though Luel’s question was casual, Dania froze, unable to deny it. Her silence was all the answer he needed.

“Really?”

Her lack of response spoke volumes. Luel’s grin widened, his expression growing more mischievous. Before she could react, his large hand grabbed her wrist, pulling her closer. His piercing blue eyes locked onto her trembling fingers.

The hand that had been clutching her underwear—the same hand that had been… down there. Dania panicked, realizing he might figure it out.

“W-Why… Ack!”

Before she could finish her sentence, Luel’s lips parted, revealing the tip of his tongue. Without warning, he brought her fingers to his mouth.

As if savoring every detail, his tongue traced the curves of her nails and the ridges of her fingerprints. The soft, moist sensation sent a shiver down her spine.

This is insane! 

Though she wanted to scream, no sound escaped her lips.

Finally, Luel began sucking on her fingertips as if they were candy, his tongue wrapping around each digit before drawing them deeper into his mouth. The wet, warm pressure left her utterly speechless.

“W-What are you doing?! Stop it…!”

The moment Dania managed to weakly wave her hand to stop him, Luel finally lifted his head. His face was adorned with a smile brimming with satisfaction.

“Ah, delicious.”

“W-What?”

“That day… it must’ve felt good, huh? I can taste you here.”

Dania’s face flushed red, burning like wildfire. The humiliation of being caught, the embarrassment of what was discovered, and the audacity of Luel’s casual response all swirled together in her chest.

“…Ha, absolutely not!”

She scoffed as if to dismiss his nonsense, but her beet-red face betrayed her, rendering her words unconvincing. Luel, holding her underwear high above his head, continued leisurely.

“I thought for a second you might’ve been… pleasuring yourself.”

“I-I don’t know anything about that…!”

“What? Don’t you remember? That day, you cried out about how good it felt.”

“T-That was just a physiological reaction…!”

And that word—stop saying that word! Dania’s face turned so red it felt like it might explode. She raised her voice, pretending her outburst was out of indignation, but in truth, it was because the vivid memories of reaching her peak several times that day came rushing back, overwhelming her with embarrassment.

There was no way Luel couldn’t notice. The person who had been so cold just moments ago now wore a relaxed expression, his face softening into a playful smile.

“That ‘physiological reaction’… you wanted to feel it again, didn’t you? Is that why your hands smelled like this?”

“Ugh, stop talking nonsense! Maybe you should stop reading those explicit novels, huh?”

“So, it wasn’t good?”

“It wasn’t.”

Dania, trying to sound indifferent, replied curtly and began hopping up and down to snatch her underwear back. Luel, with his longer arms and taller stature, easily dodged her attempts with just a subtle shift of his arm. Watching her futile efforts, he thought to himself how very Dania-like it was to keep trying despite knowing she couldn’t reach.

In other words, he thought it was adorable.

So much so that Luel, wanting to tease her further, deliberately put on a pitiful expression.

“Really? It wasn’t enjoyable?”

If he had dog ears, they would’ve drooped sadly. Dania, who had been hopping and reaching for her underwear, paused and cautiously glanced at him.

Would his pride be hurt if I said it wasn’t good?

Her eyes darted back and forth as she mulled it over. Finally, she muttered the bare minimum of truth, as if tossing him a scrap of charity.

“Well… it was a good experience.”

Luel’s thick eyebrows twitched.

“A good experience? But it didn’t feel good?”

“Does it need to feel good? It’s just part of reproduction, isn’t it?”

Her words came out nonchalantly, but they were laced with a thin veneer of bravado.

Who said it was good? It’s not like I kept thinking about it and losing sleep over it or anything!

Afraid her true feelings might be exposed—though they already had been—Dania doubled down on her act, trying to make it seem like Luel had misunderstood.

“Honestly, what’s so great about it that you can’t even practice self-control?”

“…”

“You’ve got no self-restraint, Luel Marchento.”

Self-restraint. That single word struck a nerve in Luel.

His eyes rounded slightly, but his brows furrowed deeply. Though his lips curved into a faint smile, the corners of his mouth were stiff.

It was a wicked smile, one that hinted at mischief.

Where did I go wrong this time? 

Dania wondered, tilting her head in confusion.

“…This level of restraint is practically saintly.”

Luel’s words, uttered through gritted teeth, sounded as though they were being forced out.

“If I’d been acting purely on my desires, you’d already be bent over, crying out as I took you from behind.”

“W-What?!”

Flustered by Luel’s brazen words, Dania forgot all pretense of bravado. Her eyes widened, trembling.

Luel began to take slow, deliberate steps toward her. Dania instinctively backed away, step by step, until her back hit the wall. Trapped, with no room to retreat, Luel closed the remaining distance between them.

His shadow fell over her pale face, darkening it. The unfamiliar intensity in his expression made her heart race with fear, but she refused to show it.

Pinned between the wall and Luel’s solid frame, Dania mustered the last of her bravado and stammered out a retort.

“Y-You’re insane! Are you saying you’re… turned on by me?”

The way she said “turned on” sounded awkward, like a child parroting an adult’s words. But…

The undeniable pressure pressing against her lower abdomen left no room for doubt. The hardness, the size, the location—it was unmistakable.

It was the same thing that had left her speechless a few days ago in Luel’s apartment.

“…You’re insane.”

In other words, yes, he was turned on.