Lately, he found himself thinking “what if” and “maybe” frequently. This started after he was added to the cast of characters in Lea’s fantasies. Lea often imagined doing it with Allen, and that remained true now.

Honestly, his patience was wearing thin.

“If you were going to throw them away, you should have given them to me.”

“What… would you use that for?”

“The massage powder is good for sore muscles.”

For someone who spent all day imagining such things, it was a surprisingly wholesome answer. Allen blushed, feeling he was the only one with impure thoughts. He felt indignant seeing Lea, whose imagination consisted solely of lovemaking between men and women, yet who showed no shame and always pretended not to know.

Allen deliberately asked once more.

“Then what about the gel?”

Lea raised the corner of her mouth slightly and said,

“That’s a secret.”

Allen’s eyes wavered.

‘Damn it!’

Hoping it was a lie, he looked down between his legs. Sure enough, his p*nis was rising with enough force to pierce through his pants.

Allen jabbed his desk with the pen he was holding.

The word “secret” and the imagination Lea secretly conjured had that much impact.

In her mind, Lea showed him applying gel to the tip of a sword sheath. She was meticulously applying the gel with gentle hands, as if telling him to figure out what to do with the sheath. It felt so sensual that his lower body became excited. A flush spread across Allen’s face.

He shouldn’t have asked Lea such a question. Allen crossed his legs to hide his lower region. When his g*nitals were pressed against his thigh, the stimulation caused more blood to rush there.

“Ah, I still have the d*ldo.”

“You haven’t thrown that away yet?”

“I promised to teach you how to use it, didn’t I?”

“Please throw it away without teaching me.”

Allen said while stabbing his thigh with his pen. That damned d*ldo, d*ldo, d*ldo was the problem. He even had a dream about it the night after visiting the Colosseum. Lea had come running with the d*ldo, and he couldn’t refuse and ended up being penetrated. Since it was a dream, her running slowed down, and his body wouldn’t move the way he wanted.

Allen bit his lower lip with a shudder. Though he didn’t feel anything in particular, it was still unsettling. He didn’t want to experience getting his b*ttocks penetrated again, even in a dream.

“Yes, understood.”

“Let’s stop talking about this. Tell me what’s happening with that pervert in the square.”

“I was planning to go to the alley today. I learned something new.”

Lea’s face turned serious.

“The guy is an exhibitionist pervert.”

“Exhibitionist?”

Allen’s brow furrowed.

“Yes. The victims said so.”

Several days had passed since the pervert appeared and ran rampant. During that time, many victims had emerged, all of whom shuddered, saying they felt their eyes were rotting.

“So when you said he rushes at women….”

“Yes. He pulls down his pants whenever he sees a woman.”

“Equally vicious either way.”

They needed to catch him today before more victims appeared. If they kept leaving him alone, someday an even worse criminal might emerge.

“Let’s send Tom this time.”

“That won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“The guy doesn’t appear at all when he sees men.”

Allen’s face twisted like he had bitten into something sour.

“What, that kind of guy exists?”

“It’s my responsibility anyway. Why suddenly send Tom?”

“I can’t let your eyes rot.”

Considering their skills, sending Lea, Jane, or any female knight wouldn’t be a problem at all. But the guy was a filthy pervert who led with his g*nitals. Even for someone like Lea, accidentally seeing his er*ction during the arrest could leave an unpleasant memory. There was a clear difference between imagining something and actually seeing it.

If he had known earlier that the guy was that kind of pervert, he wouldn’t have even considered sending Lea. He would have definitely sent a male knight.

Lea shrugged, puzzled by Allen’s reaction.

“I’m fine with it.”

Seeing a man’s g*nitals wasn’t a big deal for Lea. She had seen them quite often when changing her little brother’s dirty diapers. She had also encountered them in pictures.

“I’m not fine with it.”

But Allen hardened his expression and was adamant. Lea seeing another man’s g*nitals? Absolutely not. He needed to think of another solution before Lea insisted again. He quickly racked his brain.

“We have no choice.”

Finally, he came up with an alternative.

“Evan isn’t doing anything right now, is he? Let’s dress him as a woman and send him.”

“What?”

“You said the guy doesn’t appear when there’s a man around.”

“But still.”

Lea put her fantasies aside for a moment and pictured Evan in her mind. Though he had a clean face befitting a nobleman, his appearance wasn’t suitable for cross-dressing. If they put a long-haired wig on Evan, he would just look like a man with long hair, and if they applied makeup, he would look like a slightly dressed-up man.

Allen’s face turned pale as he saw the imaginary Evan in Lea’s mind.

He hadn’t brought up cross-dressing because he wanted to see Evan looking like that.

“Then James.”

“James is a bit…”

After that, Allen called out the names of male knights one by one. But Lea shook her head each time.

Someone couldn’t do it for this reason, someone else for that reason. There were many reasons why it wouldn’t work.

“Then who do you suggest we send?”

When Allen asked with narrowed brows, Lea stroked her chin.

From the beginning, Lea had only one choice in mind.

“How about you, Commander?”

“What, me?”

“Yes.”

Black hair with luminous golden eyes, distinct features. Though his facial lines were strong and he had a large height and build, he was so beautiful that if properly dressed up, he would surely become a handsome woman with a good physique.

In fact, putting all else aside, she wanted to see the commander cross-dressed.

Allen was horrified.

“That doesn’t seem right.”

“Why not?”

“I’m… I’m the commander.”

“Is that important?”

Allen was about to say it was important but closed his mouth again. He was the one who first brought up cross-dressing. If he passed off something he didn’t want to do to others because of his high position, that wouldn’t set a good example as a commander.

The office was enveloped in silence. Lea faced him and applied silent pressure. Her drowsy, cloudy eyes stared directly at him, making it difficult to withstand her gaze.

“Fine. I’ll do it. But this stays between us.”

In the end, he made an irreversible choice.

* * *

Finding a dress that fit Allen’s build wasn’t easy. At any madam’s boutique, Lea’s size was the maximum available. Allen raged, asking what kind of boutique doesn’t carry big sizes. When he asked if there were no clothes for women with a man’s build, Lea tilted her head.

“Madams need to make money too. Since there aren’t many women of that build, keeping large clothes in stock wouldn’t be good business.”

“Even so, they should have at least one or two. Not even considering minority customers. They’re terrible at business.”

Allen pouted. He wanted to quickly find a dress and wig, catch the pervert, and be done with it. He disliked the entire situation—having to cross-dress because of that guy and wandering around the square looking for a dress.

“You’re absolutely right.”

And walking around with Lea was also a torment.

He discovered during this outing that Lea had a hobby of tearing dresses. Watching Lea imagine tearing a new dress and indulging in the flesh underneath at every shop they visited, Allen rubbed his face.

He wondered if this woman ever took a break from her imagination.

Anyway, after circling the square many times, the last shop they arrived at was run by the woman they had met at the Colosseum.

“Oh my.”

Allen’s face stiffened as soon as he saw the woman. Lea blinked at the vague memory before exclaiming “Ah!” She generally didn’t remember faces well.

The boutique owner, Madam Michelle, showed a pleased expression and covered her mouth with her hand.

“Grand Duke and knight! What brings you here?”

Michelle still misunderstood Allen and Lea’s relationship after the Colosseum incident. She looked back and forth between them, then nodded as if understanding on her own.

“Ah, you’ve come to get a dress fitted for the Grand Duke!”

“How did you know?”

Lea’s eyes widened in surprise. Michelle shrugged as if it were nothing. Michelle had been running a boutique in the North for a long time. With her intuitive understanding, she had met many lovers, some of whom had unusual tastes.

Michelle still remembered how Allen had worn the collar with familiarity at the Colosseum, yet acted like he didn’t know what to do.

Even now, seeing Allen entering the boutique with a flushed face next to the composed Lea, she could tell.

「Hoho… To think the Grand Duke would engage in such play.」

Allen sighed. He needed to clear up the misunderstanding, but if there was anything he had learned from watching the knights, it was that things didn’t change just because you said something. Still, he didn’t want to be known as a Grand Duke with a cross-dressing f*tish, so he folded his arms and said firmly,

“It’s for work.”

“Yes, of course it is. Hoho.”

But deeply rooted misunderstandings wouldn’t change with simple explanations.

He couldn’t tell her he was being forced to cross-dress to catch the pervert in the square, so Allen just pounded his chest in frustration. Even if it wasn’t classified information, it would be absurd to tell a madam what he hadn’t even told his knights.