<Episode 52>

 

“Ugh…”

At Eveline’s words, her body suddenly woke up.

“Eveline!”

Elkais, startled, examined Eveline’s awakened body. She didn’t seem to have many injuries aside from her neck.

“Brother?”

When Eveline inside Abellard said that, Elkais frowned deeply and looked at Abellard again.

“My head hurts.”

The awakened Eveline seemed strangely out of sorts.

“Eveline, are you saying your head hurts, not your neck?”

“Yes, my neck hurts, but my head hurts too. Maybe it’s because I hit my head when I fainted.”

“You hit your head? By whom?”

Her hand pointed to Abellard. More precisely, the real Eveline.

“What are you talking about?”

“Abellard, is this true?”

“Are you crazy? Why would I do such a thing?”

Elkais found this statement odd.

If she had been hit on the head, it would have been not hard to leave a mark, but there were no signs of injury on her head.

He had checked Eveline’s body thoroughly for any injuries when she fainted.

Why was she saying she had been hit on the head when there was no mark? If she had received a strong blow to the head, there would have been a bump, but there was no such sign.

“Brother, I’m scared.”

“What did you say?”

Eveline was shocked that her body wasn’t behaving like herself and that she was calling her ‘Brother.’

Then she realized that the one inside her body was not Abellard.

That would mean that it was Abellard inside Grand Duke Croppers’ body, and the one inside her body…

“You must be Rubellite Croppers, the Grand Duke.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

At Eveline’s words, she seemed startled and burrowed into Elkais’s arms.

Elkais was confused by Eveline, who looked terrified with red eyes as if she was about to cry, clinging to him.

And those pretty lips with which he had kissed her.

“Ugh…! Elkais! Why are your pheromones suddenly…!”

Eveline instinctively covered her nose as Elkais suddenly emitted Alpha pheromones.

The thick scent of his pheromones made her dizzy. After all, Eveline was currently in Abellard’s Alpha body.

“Ah… Elkais… the pheromone scent is too strong…”

The fake Eveline said while crying and hugging his neck.

Elkais found it incredibly difficult to maintain his composure with her soft skin and red hair brushing against him.

In the end, he couldn’t help but hug her tightly and said,

“Abellard.”

“Yes… it’s me.”

“Did you really try to kill Eveline?”

“I told you, our bodies have switched. I’m Eveline, and the one in my body is Rubellite Croppers, the Grand Duke.”

However, Elkais found it hard to believe such a thing could happen.

Possession in another person’s body?

Moreover, Rubellite didn’t have this kind of personality.

Perhaps Eveline was just leaning on him because she was weakened from the head injury?

“I’m scared, Elkais. Hic…”

“It’s okay, Eveline. It’s okay.”

He patted her back and glared at Abellard.

Eveline in Abellard’s body shook her head at the absurdity of the situation. She then walked over to the unconscious Rubellite and slapped his cheeks.

“Wake up.”

Slap, slap!

Although the slaps weren’t that strong, the sound was loud. Each “slap” sound made Eveline’s body tremble even more.

Elkais felt his heart pounding. Even though he had eaten the fruit that prevented pheromone detection, his body was reacting honestly.

The white skin visible through the torn shirt. And the ample chest where his face had been buried.

“Elkais?”

Her voice brought him back to his senses.

“Elkais. Why is that person doing that?”

Eveline asked as if she didn’t recognize Abellard.

“Did you lose your memory?”

“I remember being hit on the head. And some other things, but… not everything.”

Elkais saw that she still looked unstable in his arms and decided not to press further.

Eveline wasn’t normally like this. But if she had lost her memory, it was possible. She was an injured person who needed his help now.

“This time, I will protect you, Eveline.”

“Ah… yes…”

Elkais remembered everything—how she had gone to get medicine when he was in danger, how she tried to treat his wounds, and even how she had followed Abellard.

He owed her a lot.

“It hurts…”

Rubellite slowly opened his eyes and immediately recognized the person who had hit him, widening his eyes in surprise.

“What the—!”

He jumped up, grabbed the pink-haired person nearby, and blinked.

“This is my body! What the hell! Who are you!”

“Please let go, brother.”

Eveline said, pushing down his hand that was grabbing her head.

“So, this is you, brother.”

“Eve? Your expression is so cold… But it’s you, Eve.”

“Sigh.”

Eveline was troubled that Abellard had entered the body of Grand Duke Croppers instead of his own. It would have been easier to resolve this situation if Abellard had entered his body.

Moreover, swapping bodies…

“Why did we end up like this?”

“That’s what I’m asking. How do we go back?”

“Do I have to live in this body? I worked so hard to become an Alpha…!”

He was practically screaming. Eveline wanted to comfort the depressed Abellard, but her hands wouldn’t move properly because she was in Rubellite’s body.

“Eve…”

As Rubellite’s body started to cry, Eveline instinctively patted his shoulder and said,

“Calm down for now.”

“Eve, what do I do? I’ve become an Omega. That means I can’t be with you.”

“But I’m an Alpha now.”

“Oh, right.”

With that, he stopped crying.

“This isn’t so bad.”

“…Brother.”

“Hehe.”

While the two of them conversed, Elkais was talking to Rubellite Croppers inside Eveline’s body.

“I’m so scared.”

“Huh…?”

Abellard felt his heart race at the sight of the now-fragile Eveline.

“Cute…”

“What did you say?”

“No! Hey! Rubellite Croppers!”

“Your Highness?”

Elkais was startled by Rubellite Croppers’ shouting.

Although he was a Grand Duke, beloved by the royal family, he was a person who maintained his dignity. He wasn’t someone who would speak carelessly and shout like this.

“Why are you pretending to be Eveline!”

“What?”

When Abellard reached out to grab her, she curled up and clung to Elkais. Elkais, holding her, turned his back to them and said,

“Your Grace, why are you acting so rudely?”

“Elkais, you idiot! Didn’t you hear what I said? I’m Abellard! And that’s Rubellite!”

“Elkais… Hic…”

Elkais was even more confused by Eveline starting to cry in his arms.

“I remember everything…”

“What are you talking about?”

“Those two tried to ki-kill me… Ugh…”

Elkais’s mind went blank at Eveline’s tears, and he became wary of Rubellite and Abellard, who looked suspicious.

“Don’t come any closer.”

“Elkais.”

“Are you insane? Didn’t you hear what I just said? That’s the fake Eveline!”

“Hic…”

“I said don’t come any closer.”

Elkais, holding her, drew his sword and glared at them as they approached.

“Sigh.”

Abellard sneered at him and said,

“You’ll regret this.”

“Grand Duke. Please maintain your dignity.”

“Dignity be damned! This isn’t even the Croppers Empire, so what dignity are you talking about!”

Elkais felt that Rubellite seemed like Abellard from his tone and rough, yet insignificant expression. Meanwhile, Abellard, with a cold and calculating look, seemed more like Eveline.

“I’m scared… Can’t we go somewhere else?”

The Eveline crying in his arms felt like a different person.

However, Grand Duke Rubellite Croppers wasn’t such a weak person either.

“It will be night soon. How do you plan to do that? It’s going to rain. The smell has changed.”

“That’s true. I can smell the rain too.”

Eveline in Abellard’s body agreed with him.

“If you don’t like it, then don’t. Let’s go somewhere else, just the two of us, Eve.”

“Stop talking nonsense and stay here.”

Abellard tried to use this opportunity to be alone with Eveline, but she was not someone who would easily agree to such things and rejected him outright.

If it was going to rain soon, it would be dangerous outside.

“Don’t cross this line.”

Elkais drew a line on the cabin floor with his sword.

Eveline and Abellard were on the other side, while Elkais stayed on the opposite side with Eveline’s body.

“I won’t cross it.”

Abellard said this and sat right next to Eveline.

Eveline sighed, blocking Abellard’s face with her hand as he tried to hug her.

She felt uncomfortable with the tense standoff and was about to say something when it happened.

A blue note appeared in her hand. She pretended to hug Abellard while trying to check the note.

“Huh… Eve?”

He thought Eveline was hugging him and immediately embraced her.

Eveline unfolded the note in her palm discreetly, ensuring it wasn’t visible to others.

[Unauthorized intruder allowance level (1/0)

D-Day 2.

Deal with Grand Duke Croppers within two days.]

Tl/N: This Chapter gave me the biggest headache hayeee idk how much i tried editing I hope you guys can still read it