Chapter 3.2

Her lips parted, and before she knew it, her gaze dropped down, then lifted again. When she looked up, Rexion’s lips curved into a smile.

She hadn’t expected him to be embarrassed by his body’s honest reaction, but it was strange for him to smile in this situation. It sent chills through her whole body.

Could it be that he means to keep going like this?

She felt both afraid that he might continue and, absurdly, a secret curiosity began to rise from a hidden corner of her heart. She felt an urge to experience even greater heat and excitement than this.

No, she had to hold back.

No matter what slip of the tongue she’d made, seeing Rexion act like he wanted to sleep with a woman he didn’t even like made it clear he was, as the rumors said, a man who was a bit too free below the waist. She didn’t want to give herself up to him like this.

With that thought, Claire barely managed to keep her instincts from swallowing her reason.

Just as she was about to refuse, as if he couldn’t wait even for that brief moment, the man pressed his lips to hers again, plunging into her.

“Mmph!”

The persistent kiss continued, and as her breath reached its limit, Claire pushed hard against his chest. Perhaps he thought the kiss was enough, because his body was pushed away.

Rexion, panting, looked at her as she gasped for air.

He, too, was breathing heavily, and the sight of him exhaling through lips slick with her saliva was strangely sensual. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from him. For a few seconds, they stared at each other in silence.

Then, it was Rexion who broke the silence first.

“What did you do to me?”

Surprised by the sudden, out-of-the-blue question, Claire blinked and looked at him.

They had exchanged words that could be misunderstood, but wasn’t he the one who did something strange first?

She couldn’t understand why he would say such a thing. Just as she was about to speak, forgetting that her lips weren’t moving as she wished—

“Huh? What are you….”

When she realized her voice came out just as she intended, Claire was even more surprised and stopped mid-sentence.

Wait, I’m back?

“What’s so surprising?”

As her uneasy eyes trembled, Rexion misunderstood her thoughts and gave a lazy smile.

“There’s no way I’d do something strange to you, Treasurer.”

Now that her voice came out as she wanted, Claire retorted in a clear voice to his words.

“No, you definitely did something. Did you put a curse on me because you dislike me?”

She almost blurted out, ‘It’s you who dislikes me, not the other way around.’

“What are you talking about?”

Claire couldn’t grasp the situation. She had no idea what he meant by those words.

“Kyaa!”

As she kept tilting her head in confusion, Rexion grabbed her hand and brought it to his lower body. Startled by the unexpected, unfamiliar sensation, Claire screamed.

“Th-this is harassment!”

She pounded hard on Rexion’s chest, desperately trying to push him away.

But his grip was so firm that all she could do was struggle, unable to pull her hand away from his hard body.

“I can’t tell if you really don’t know, or if you’re just pretending.”

“Wh-what do you mean? Let go of my hand and then talk!”

“Strangely, ever since I met a certain woman, my body’s been like this. Especially, it only reacts sensitively to one woman.”

“…”

What is he saying? Surely he doesn’t mean that the one woman is me?

As she looked at him anxiously, Rexion slowly nodded as if to confirm her fears.

“Don’t say such ridiculous things.”

Didn’t he hate me? Hadn’t he found even the thought of touching me repulsive all this time?

Only now did Claire begin to understand why he had always frowned when he looked at her and avoided even glancing her way. She had been resentful, thinking she was being hated for no reason, but apparently, that wasn’t it….

But why did it have to be me? No, it couldn’t be. No, it must not be!

Claire shook her head vigorously in denial.

“Can you really say that after seeing my body like this?”

Rexion’s brow furrowed as he gripped her wrist even tighter, stopping her constant struggling.

“H-how am I supposed to know if you’re only like this with me?”

How could she trust the words of a man rumored to be a playboy? He’d probably react this way to any woman, so it didn’t make sense.

Claire shook her head fiercely, denying his claim.

“It seems like the one who did this to me is a mage, and a young woman at that. Do you know anyone like that?”

But the moment she heard his probing words, Claire’s heart skipped a beat.

“Well, I-I don’t know.”

At the mention of a young woman mage, she unconsciously avoided his gaze. She just couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes.

She tried to act like she knew nothing, but damn it. Even if only in her mind, Claire swore for the first time in her life.

No wonder. When she saw Helion’s face after supposedly fixing things, nothing seemed to have changed.

Is this crazy? How could this happen? He’s become a different person!

No matter how much she thought about it, it was so absurd she was at a loss for words. Of all things, to make such an important mistake….

She’d had her doubts, but she’d never heard of a wish-granter making a mistake, so she’d tried to trust Celia. Who would have thought that trust would lead to such a disaster….

What went wrong? Where did it all start to go wrong?

Claire tried to recall if she’d made a mistake herself. But no matter how much she thought about it, she hadn’t given any wrong information.

Maybe something happened during the process of passing along the information.

Now she recalled her conversation with Celia. Come to think of it, when she was asked for the name, a crow had interrupted.

Could it be that she got the names mixed up then? 

Their surnames were the same, so maybe it was possible.

Not the older brother’s, but the younger brother’s name? Their names were kinda similar, but still….

A chill ran through her whole body. The next emotion she felt was anger.

How could a mage do this? How could she grant a wish so sloppily? And I’d wished for my first love to come true, not for someone to go into heat every time they saw me!

“As I thought, you know something.”

Rexion’s gaze turned to Claire, who was inwardly trembling with anger. He still looked at her with suspicion.

“…”

Claire slowly shook her head, but his eyes had already changed to certainty, as if he was sure she’d done something.

The more she thought about it, the more absurd it seemed, but in this situation, there was nothing Claire could do. She felt guilty, but since it wasn’t something she’d intended, admitting it was awkward.

“I-I would never put a curse on you. How could you think that of me? No matter how much I dislike someone, I’d never harm them.”

So, she needed to change the subject. After all, she hadn’t cast a curse, so Claire’s attitude was confident.

“Well, I’m glad it’s not a curse. But then why does my body react like this whenever I see you?”

With that, Rexion shrugged, as if he truly couldn’t understand.

How should she react at a time like this? Should she shamelessly ask, ‘Do you like me?’?

No, if she did, she might get a cold, hateful glare in return. Just imagining Rexion’s icy face, she decided that question didn’t fit the situation.

Nor could she honestly say, I wished for things to work out with your brother, but the mage made a mistake.

Why do such things keep happening to me!