An indescribable desire wrapped around his entire body.
He longed to touch Ruby.
He wanted to feel her softness with his whole body, both the parts that were already touching and the parts that weren’t.
Clyde cupped his hands around Ruby’s cheeks, gently stroked her small and cute ears, and caressed her full lips.
He gently brushed off her exposed neckline, and as his hand traced her tender skin, a shiver of excitement sent goosebumps down his body.”
Clyde lifted Ruby into his arms with a perplexed gaze and laid her down on the carpet.
“…Mmm.”
At that moment, Ruby let out a weak moan. Unlike before, it sounded like she was in pain..
Clyde paused for a moment, realizing that he was holding onto Ruby’s shoulders tightly. Compared to his large hands, her shoulders were incredibly small and fragile.
The memory of leaving a purple bruise on that spot flashed through his mind like lightning.
In an instant, the heat in his body dissipated.
Clyde looked at Ruby’s slightly pained face and her disheveled clothes.
He slowly backed away from her. He gritted his teeth and bowed his head.
His hand that clasped his knee dug into the bone as if to crush it.
*****
Suddenly waking up from sleep, I found myself in an unfamiliar bed.
My head was groggy, and my muscles felt sore. I bit my lip and struggled to sit up.
‘Where am I…?’
For a moment, I sat there dazed, unable to grasp the situation, and then I remembered what had happened before falling asleep.
‘Goodness, how long did I sleep?’
I stumbled out of bed and staggered to the window.
As I drew up the curtains, I could see faint distant light coming out of the still dark window.
“…Clyde, where are you?”
A hoarse voice escaped my throat. Considering the pain I felt, it seemed swollen.
“…Seems like a cold.”
Now I finally understood why I had lost consciousness and fallen asleep.
To be honest, it wasn’t surprising at all. Not only was it a long journey, but even before departure, I had barely slept properly for almost two weeks.
The fireplace still had logs burning, but Clyde was nowhere to be seen in the room.
‘Oh, he said he would wake me up…!’
I had to hurry back before the day fully brightened.
It was highly likely that Aslan had accumulated as much fatigue as I did, so it was unlikely that he had already awakened. I had no choice but to hope for that.
I dashed towards the fireplace and turned my cloak inside out. Then, I felt a strange discomfort.
The cloak was oddly small.
It should have been large enough to cover my whole body and even have some extra room, but it felt like it fit my shoulders perfectly.
A shiver ran down my spine in an instant.
I looked down at my body and rushed towards the mirror hanging on one side of the room.
In the mirror, instead of the face of a thirteen-year-old, I saw my twenty-year-old self.
“Did the transformation spell wear off? When? Why?”
Of course, most spells have a duration. Invisibility, transformation spells, none of them lasted forever.
Some spells required continuous focus to maintain their effects, but transformation spells were not that kind. If that were the case, I certainly wouldn’t have fallen asleep next to Clyde.
Normally, even if I fell asleep, it would last until the mana in my body ran out. With the amount of mana I had, I could easily sustain a transformation spell for at least a day.
‘It must be because of the cold.’
Undoubtedly, it was because my weakened body had disrupted the flow of mana.
I bit my lip. It was an accident I hadn’t anticipated.
‘Then, what did Clyde think when he saw this…?’
The weight in my head seemed to grow even heavier.
But there was no time to dwell on it.
What had already happened couldn’t be changed. For now, I had to return home before Aslan woke up.
I cast the invisibility spell with great effort and left Clyde’s mansion.
When I returned, the house was quiet.
Fortunately, it seemed that no one had noticed that I had slipped away in the middle of the night.
I returned to my room and collapsed on my bed.
My mind was filled with various thoughts, but due to the extreme fatigue in my body, it didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.
*****
I spent that whole day bedridden, plagued by a fever.
Despite taking medicine, the fever wouldn’t subside, so I couldn’t leave the bed all day.
In my feverish state, I dreamed of Clyde several times.
In my dreams, he endlessly criticized and admonished me.
Among them, there were dreams where Clyde tried to kill me, just like in the original story.
The moment he grabbed my throat, I screamed and woke up from my dream.
“Eila!”
Aslan, who had been reading a book next to my bed, was startled and stood up.
“Haah, ha…”
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Aslan asked, placing his hand on my shoulder.
“I’m fine, I just… had a nightmare….”
“A nightmare? What was it about?”
“…….”
I kept my head down in silence. Aslan propped a pillow behind my back.
“Here, drink some water.”
“…Thank you.”
I took the cup of water he held out for me.
Aslan has been by my side, personally taking care of me since morning.
“Brother Aslan.”
“What is it?”
“You don’t have to stay here with me. It must be boring.”
“I’m not bored. I’m reading a book.”
“But….”
“There’s nothing to do anyway, it’s cold and walking around will only make me catch a cold like you, so stop worrying and get well soon.”
“Yeah. I understand. Thank you.”
Aslan shrugged his shoulders lightly and lowered his gaze back to the book.
‘…Where could Clyde be right now and what could he be doing?’
What did he think when he found out about my true identity? Did he feel hurt? Did he feel betrayed?
There was a reason why I told Clyde I was not Eila Rojasis.
Clyde had confidently approached me at the masquerade ball where many people were watching.
It was only a matter of time before my father found out who he was.
So I had to prevent Clyde from hovering around me.
Denying that I was Eila Rojasis was the most immediate way to keep Clyde away from me.
But now that I had successfully kept Clyde away from my father, the need to keep lying had actually diminished.
‘If I had known it would be revealed so absurdly, I would have rather said it in my own words…’
When he found out that I was Julion’s daughter, I thought Clyde would undoubtedly come to hate me.
But that wasn’t the case. Even knowing that fact, Clyde embraced me tightly and whispered, “I miss you.”
His arms were tightly around me and the innocence in his voice left no room for doubt. It was undoubtedly sincere.
‘…But maybe not anymore, maybe Clyde has grown tired of my repeated lies.’
When I woke up this morning, I couldn’t bear to think about why he wasn’t there, or where he’d gone without me.
That’s why I had that nightmare.
The truth was, I knew I would have to part ways with Clyde at some point.
Bringing Clyde to Andela, participating in the excavation, was all part of the plan to detach his feelings from me during the progress of the archaeological investigation.
So if Clyde really left me because he was disappointed in this, it was for the best.
But why did I feel so sad and frustrated?
I couldn’t understand.
*****
When I opened my eyes the next morning, my body felt noticeably lighter.
The fever had subsided, and the body aches had almost disappeared.
“Still,” said Aslan, “we have to leave for the archaeological investigation tomorrow, so make sure you get enough rest for today.
Following Aslan’s words, I dedicated the entire day to recovering at home.
And when night fell, I secretly left the mansion.
It was to go to Clyde.
Even as I made my way to Clyde’s mansion, my heart was honestly in turmoil.
There was no way to know if he would still be there, and even if he was, I was afraid of how he would react to me.
‘…But I have to do something somehow.’
The doors of the mansion were slightly ajar, just as they were when I first came in. But that wasn’t enough to convince me that Clyde was inside.
I cautiously entered and released the invisibility spell.
I had transformed into my thirteen-year-old self, considering the possibilities at hand.
Using a magic orb to illuminate the room, I saw a familiar figure sitting in front of the fireplace.
