Soon Edgar’s legs were revealed. They were as white as marble because of not seeing the sunlight for a long time. But at the same time, they were thick and strong.

“Hmm.”

His legs had almost no fat, and it was easy to discern each muscle.

Rubica raised his ankles and examined, but there was nothing wrong with his muscles and bones.

What if his insides had been injured? Maybe that was why there seemed to be nothing wrong. Maybe it was his nerves.

“Edgar, tell me if you feel any pain.”

Then, she started to slowly touch his legs starting from his ankle, trying to recall what she had learned at the abbey.

Her hands went from his joints, knees, and then his thighs.

“Stop, stop!”

Edgar couldn’t endure it anymore and yelled. The thin nightdress Rubica was wearing plainly showed her silhouette. Plus, her hands weren’t the only thing that were on his legs.

What on earth was she made of? It was hard to believe her body consisted of bones and flesh like his. What did she eat that she was so soft?

Rubica gently stroked down the spot she just touched.

Then, she looked up and innocently asked, “Is it here? Do you feel pain here?”

Her cute face and innocent way of asking eventually aroused Edgar.

‘You beast! You pervert!’

He covered his face with both hands and cursed at himself. What was he doing? She was only acting for purely medical purposes!

He found himself horrible thinking about how she wasn’t in good condition at all. Her white nightdress was dirty with grass and dirt, and her hair was in a mess.

As she had been inside a sack for hours, she was dirty with sweat and dirt. She even smelled of horse.

‘Shit.’

However, she was so sexy.

He thanked in many ways that his lower body wasn’t capable of functioning.

Thanks to that, he couldn’t carry out a lot of the inappropriate thoughts that crossed his mind, and she could take care of him.

“Ed… Edgar?”

But in the end, she also recognized his abnormal condition. She blushed hard at seeing his angry gasps.

She knew how she looked better than Edgar did. That was why she had been able to boldly touch his legs, but she hadn’t known he would be aroused by her when she was so dirty.

‘What should I do?’

Edgar didn’t know what to do and neither did Rubica. She jumped up in surprise, pressing his thigh. That was followed by a moan from Edgar’s clenched teeth.

“Sorry!”

“No… I’m okay.”

He barely managed to say that in a hoarse voice. Her eyes shook, not knowing where to look.

Normally, he was so full of an ascetic aura, and now he was…

Did she see it right? Maybe she was mistaken. It could just be that his pants folded in a spot for a moment, and maybe he moaned because of the pain.

She tried hard to deny what she had seen and glanced at Edgar’s pants again.

But oh no, she hadn’t been wrong.

She quickly looked away and fanned her hot face with her hands.

‘It’s a little strange.’

She started to doubt something when she was able to calm down. Edgar hadn’t been injured, but he couldn’t walk. She massaged his legs to see if there was something wrong with his nerves, but his senses including his reflex function were working well.

She couldn’t find what the problem was with the little medical knowledge she had.

“Edgar.”

“Yes?”

He answered, his face still in his hands. He had been always strong and dependable to her, partly because of his tall height, so him scrooching like that was quite new and cute.

Rubica sat down next to him and put her shoulder next to his. His back flinched in surprise, but he didn’t try to go away.

“I looked at your legs, and they had no wounds. And, um, judging from your reaction… they do not seem to be paralyzed. Your nerves are fine as well.”

“Oh, okay.”

“But then, why can’t you walk? Are you just pretending to be ill?”

Rubica said that as a joke, but it offended him quite a bit. He looked up and yelled, “Pretending? Do you think I would ever do such a childish thing?”

Rubica didn’t miss the moment and kissed his forehead. There wasn’t even a speck of dirt on his face, even with this horrible situation.

He even smelled good like a forest fairy. He was so lovely. She found the courage to kiss him first, maybe he was just being unusually shy.

“Rubica?”

The sudden kissed really surprised him, and Rubica realized what she had done. She blushed and looked away, but then she saw the middle part of his pants again.

It seemed to have soared up even more. She didn’t know why she kept looking at it.

“Rubica.”

He called her name. Although she was looking away, he could clearly see which part of his body her eyes were looking at.

The flame in his heart that had caught fire in the small cave burned away his previous embarrassment.

“Yes?”

He touched her lips as they spoke. When she didn’t push his hand away, he made her look at him.

Her pink cheeks and shy eyelashes made his heart burn even more.

His finger caressed her lips for some time, and then it went inside between them. Her wet and warm tongue touched it as if it had been waiting for it to come in. He wanted to knock her down and have her now.

‘No.’

However, they couldn’t have their first time in a cave. He had waited for so long, and he didn’t want to mess it up with a momentary impulse. He then managed to take out his finger.

“Edgar?”

Don’t look offended. I’m the one who’s disappointed. He managed to sound calm by saying, “Minos told me Carl knew where this place is. I’ve contacted Baron Moreau, so people will soon come to find us.”

“That’s what matters to you now?”

“Oh, and do not worry about Stephen too much. As you must have seen, that Ios is really enraged at him, so he won’t be able to afford to come after us.”

He was clearly pretending to be ignorant, and it pissed Rubica off. He had just aroused her, and now he was acting like he had done nothing.

He shouldn’t have caressed her lips. He shouldn’t have had a scent that made her heart beat like crazy. At least he shouldn’t have been so handsome. She pressed his thigh with anger.

“What, what are you doing?”

She just ignored his protest and kept rubbing his thigh. Unlike his face, his organ that followed only instinct couldn’t hide his passion.

That reaction was quite interesting. In addition to that, it was fun to rub his solid legs.

“I’m trying to see if your legs are fine.”

“But you’ve already done that.”

“Well, that wasn’t enough.”

Now it was her turn to pretend to be ignorant. Really, it was torture. Edgar felt like it would be better to die now.

“But you are just rubbing it! You’re not examining anything!”

“Then I’m massaging your legs until people come so that they won’t stiffen.”

“There’s no need for that! My legs will be fine in the evening?”

“How can you be so sure of it? Well, don’t be so stubborn.”

Her hand started to come up, heading to his middle part.

For the first time in his life, Edgar’s mind went blank.

He had never surrendered to any kind of pressure, but he was so weak to her attacks. In the end, he couldn’t suffer it anymore and yelled, “Because that’s what happens all the time!”

“All the time?”

Rubica’s hands stopped. Edgar realized his mistake, but it was too late.

“So… your legs go numb like this and are fine again in the evening?”

“No, I just made a mistake.”

“And Carl is always making sure no one goes into your office during the daytime.”

“That’s because I’m a sensitive man, he doesn’t want me to be disturbed.”

“Thinking about it, I’ve never seen you walk during the day. We always meet at night, and when you go to the capital, you leave before dusk and use a mana stone carriage…”

Edgar tried to mend the situation, but it was already too late. He just couldn’t find the courage to tell her about his curse even when he was ready to say he was Arman.

He hadn’t even found a lead to break it. She had been through too much pain in her previous life because of him, and he couldn’t let her carry another heavy burden.

“Edgar, tell me.”

She gently wrapped his face with her hands. He wanted to say it was all a misunderstanding if only he could.

However, the moment he looked into the pair of auburn eyes which he always praised in his heart, he realized lying now would end their relationship.

“It’s a curse.”

He wanted to hide it from her. He didn’t want to see her be sad and suffer because of him. If he had been a selfless man, he would have chosen to be hated by her.

But he just couldn’t bear to see her heart leave him. He was too selfish.