"Oof!!"

I fell face first on the bed both physically and mentally exhausted beyond limit.

After studying the entire day, for the first time in a very long while my mind was numb from the overload of information so much so that I could still see words dancing before my tired eyes.

To think there was a time in my previous life when I used to pull all-nighters frequently during exam season, I'm proud of myself.

Seeing the portrait made me more fired up than I had initially thought. Before I realized what I was doing, I already had a pile of books around me all arranged in order of relevance with a few more set aside to read the next day. As a result, my energy level was as low as a lifeless battery.

Groaning, I rolled over and stretched my arms and legs.

As I did so, I could hear the popping sound of my bones. It was a sign that my body which was not used to being idle for a prolonged amount of time had grown stiff without any form of exercise.

'Maybe I should consider taking walks and some light exercising' I made a note to myself flexing my stiff neck.

I can already see myself spending a lot of time in the library searching for clues to solve the mystery of my sudden mana outbreak and there was no knowing how long it would take. At the same time, it might not be productive to be cooped in a corner.

Exercise sounded like a good idea to take my mind off stressful things. But that was for tomorrow. As for now just I want to melt into the soft bed, cuddle up in the sheets, and go to sleep.

"Mmmm!" I stretched again.

The comfortable pajamas I was wearing made it easy to move and stretch my legs freely compared to the long dress I wore in the morning.

Earlier when I exited the bath, I was not exactly surprised by the collection of incredibly inappropriate nightgowns the maids rolled in.

"I am not wearing that monstrosity"

However, what did surprise me was the normal set of pajamas they immediately brought out after I opposed it. It was a simple t-shirt and pants set made with soft breathable cloth like the kind I used to wear in Asherd, my home.

"These were made after the clothes sent by the Madam's household" disclosed Eve, the one who brought the new pajamas for me.

Apparently, after I was presumed dead, all of my belongings that were sent from Ashford County were moved into storage. When Edward came to, he ordered them to be retrieved from storage and placed alongside his own as if we still living together.

'...which still boggles my mind'

Around the time Edward went to Velven as an envoy, the butler had numerous tailors, cobblers, and artisans from all over Orion come to the Frost estate to assemble the wardrobe that I was currently in.

Thanks to that, most of the clothing made for me was designed after those sent from home to make it easier for me to 'remember' my past. They figured that the more familiar things I was surrounded with the more would be the possibility for me to regain my memories.

Since this was a bubble that was too far gone to break, I instead asked,

"If you had these the entire time, why did you bring me those excuses of an underwear?"

"These clothes were sent by the Archduchess"

'What?!'

I stared at her dumbfounded unable to believe her. Even the most mind-bending books of mana ever written could not have prepared me for what I had just learned.

Archduchess Frost aka Princess Selene Aetius aka Edward's mother aka My mother-in-law.

Certainly, it did not seem like Eve was jesting nor were the other maids. They seemed rather content with the notion.

'It's a genetic thing. Craziness runs in the family'

I reassured myself before instructing them to get rid of all the obscene lingerie from my view. No, better destroy by fire.

That aside, it feels nice to wear something familiar.

If my mother were to see my state right now she would tell me to sit like a proper lady. She is sweet but can also be very strict at times. Eugene's sister, Bea is just like my mother in that aspect.

"Upsie Daisy!"

I sat up, climbed down, and looked at the bed with my hands on my hips.

After carefully calculating the center point of the bed, I drew a clear line and started lining up pillows along it to essentially raise a wall to separate it into two sections. It was a good thing I asked for extra pillows to be placed in the bedroom.

While it might look silly, it was a precautionary move to avoid repeating today's morning fiasco. As the saying goes, it is always better to be proactive than be regretful.

Nathaniel came by around noon and made his presence known. He let me know that Edward was summoned to the palace first thing in the morning and was away on Imperial affairs. He also extended his sincerest apologies in place of Edward for having missed dinner with me.

"Not that I cared" I scoffed, placing a pillow over the first layer, building what I considered to be the great wall of defense against the dark male lead.

If there was a single clock in his estate I would have known the time to tell. Even so, I could guess that it was pretty late into the night.

Whatever it was that kept him away, I hope he stayed there for the next couple of years.

However, right after those words left my lips, the door opened. It was Edward.

'Speak of the devil and he appears'

The moment I looked up, I froze holding a pillow in my hands midway through building the second layer.

Edward's robe which was half open clung to his wet skin as he smoothly ran his fingers through his damp hair. His ruby-red eyes were cast down as if he was in a war with his mind. It was an extremely alluring yet melancholic look.

Since I was facing the door, I had a front-row seat as he strode into the room and stood before the bed.

I clenched the pillow tightly. My face flushed red as blood rushed to my face, not because I was embarrassed but because I was angry.

'This ass! He's blatantly putting on a honey trap!'

It was a trick I was not going to fall for twice.

I glared at Edward as his eyes drifted to the wall I was building. When our eyes met he commented with a smirk,

"Why bother?"

"I bother" I shot back and started rapidly adding pillows to increase the wall height.

Within the next few seconds, my marvelous five-stack wall of pillows was completed.

'Done!'

The wall was high enough that we would not be able to see each other's faces even if we sat up. With this, I wouldn't have to worry about rolling over to his side and waking up to a nasty surprise.

I yawned, stretching my arms for one last time. I better get to sleep as I have a busy day scheduled for tomorrow.

I looked over the pillow wall to the other side to find it empty.

'Huh? Where did he go?'

It was then that I finally noticed that Edward, whom I had momentarily ignored, was standing by my side peering at me. He was no longer wearing his robe and had gotten closer to me without my knowledge.

"Whoa, mister! Take a step back" I yelled out, startled by the proximity.

"I don't want to"

"What do you mean you don't want to? Stop being a creep!"

"You had no problem holding me tight in your arms at night. You even said you preferred to look at me without any clothes on and pinched my- "

I threw a pillow at Edward's face before he could talk more. Every time he brought up the 'you did that, you said that' card as a defense, it reminded me of all the embarrassing stuff I did when I thought no one was present.

Even if I pretended to be oblivious, there was only so much I could tolerate before I snapped. What was worse was it had only been two days.

In return, Edward effortlessly dodged the pillow and asked,

"How was your day?"

"Hmm... Let's see. For someone held captive against their will under constant surveillance. I would say it was pretty good"

"I'm happy that you had a pleasant day"

"I was being sarcastic"

"I know" Edward chuckled, much to my annoyance.

"Why don't you put on some clothes?"

Frustrated, I waved my hands at him to go away. I was not blind to the fact that he was clearly having fun at my expense.

Even though I was aware of him trying to seduce me with his appearance. Seeing him stand in front of me half-naked was distracting.

"Why? You're going to take it off me anyway. This way it will be easy for you"

"Could you please pass me that pillow so I can hit you again?" I retorted, my face twitching in irritation.

His appearance being my ideal type may be a problem but not one I would risk betting my life against. Especially not if he keeps up with this attitude.

Despite his cringy response, Edward heeded my request and turned around to pick up the pillow I threw at his face.

At that moment, my eyes widened.

'Oh my god...' I exclaimed, sucking in a breath.

"Your back..."

My hands trembled as I got to my knees and reached out to touch Edward's bare back.

'How did I not see this...'

The serpent pattern that had appeared on Edward back when he was under the Havu curse was still there.

The Havu curse which was considered to be the deadliest of all had a high mortality rate that ate away its host from within. If the curse is not broken before the host's mana runs dry, their soul will be lost forever.

When my fingers brushed against his skin I felt a bolt of lightning run through my body at the coldness of the touch.

Why does he still have the Havu pattern? Was the curse not fully broken? My eyes wavered unable to reach a conclusion.

Much like the gangster tattoos I have seen numerous times in movies and anime, the curse pattern covered his entire back.

The reddish-black serpent was so captivating that it looked like a living being, that could slither away at the lightest touch.

'The most beautiful things in the world indeed are the most dangerous of all' I marveled at the sight.

The curse can only be broken by someone with an incredible amount of holy power, someone who was blessed by god with a kind heart, someone who was destined to be the center of this world... Helen.

Seeing that the curse was broken, I naturally assumed that the pattern on his back would have disappeared too. I never expected to see it still there after all this time.

'Where is she by the way?'

Right then, my eyes caught sight of something else.

On Edward's shoulder, right at the base of his neck was a fading mark of a stab wound I had not seen before.

Immediately, my hand traced its way up his body to the location of the wound. Although it had healed, the depth of the mark indicated that it was an attack of close range not longer than a few weeks back.

Because of his shameless antics, I had almost forgotten that Edward was a high noble in the middle of a war with another. While he might have a thick plot armor, he was human too and he could bleed.

At that moment, a droplet of water dripped from his hair onto my hand. It was cold.

'Did he take a cold shower?'

The weather in the capital was pleasant during the morning hours. But at night the temperature dropped by a mile.

Distracted, I voiced my thoughts as my hand grazed against the fading wound mark.

"What happened here?"

"I got ambushed"

I didn't know why but he felt so familiar that I could tell he was being honest. The atmosphere between us was not the same as it was before yet it did not bother me like it used to.

"By?"

"By men hiding under a false wall of..."

"Grape vines like in Carter's fall? Looks like it hurt a lot" I scoffed as my fingers brushed his wound again.

"..."

Edward paused, turned around, took my hand in his, and ever so smoothly brought it to his lips.

"It did. But not anymore"

He pressed his lips to the tip of my fingers and said,

"And it was a wall of pumpkin vines. You hated pumpkins after that"

"..."

When I came back to my senses I was looking into his glazed ruby eyes as he leaned over me.

In an instant, I pulled my hand from his grasp and turned to the side putting some distance between us. I got swept away in the weird mood and then I... what?

'I mean... What did just happen?' I frowned, pressing a hand to my temple.

I was unable to recall the last few minutes. One second I was looking at the Havu pattern on Edward's back and the next thing I knew, I was gazing into his eyes.

"Where are you going?" I asked when I saw Edward headed toward the bedroom door.

"To take a cold bath. The way I am right now... I... I might not be able to hold back if I'm near you" Edward answered, behind his back before he disappeared from view.











The next morning, I woke up to the sound of knocking. It was Herbie whom I had requested to wake me up in the morning.

"Five more minutes... Just give me five more minutesss" I grumbled, burying my face into the warm bed.

I was half awake and half asleep trying to catch a few more minutes on the bed before I could wake up.

When the knocking continued, I raised my head and slowly opened my eyes.

"Hmmm..."

My vision was hazy from sleeping and the most I could see was the blurry image of a person in front of my eyes.

"Good Morning"

A hand tenderly stroked the back of my head and tucked a strand of loose hair that fell on my face behind my ear.

"Morning" I replied with a yawn before falling back to the bed.

Then on recognizing that something was wrong in the exchange, I jerked awake and looked around me.

Sure enough, I was lying on Edward's arm leaning into his bare chest with his other arm wrapped around my waist as if we had been cuddling the entire night.

The great wall of defense was gone and the pillows were scattered all across the bed and floor as if they had been thrown off.

When Edward returned to the room last night after taking a cold bath, I pretended to be asleep until I eventually did. He did not make any attempts to touch or remove the pillows, at least until I dozed off.

And I don't think he would do something like that after what he said yesterday. This leaves only one possibility...

'I have a serious problem' I hit myself in the head.

If I was going to roll over to Edward's side and use him as a body pillow no matter the obstacle, it defeated the purpose of building a wall.

While I was wallowing in humiliation, I heard Herbie call out politely, knocking on the door for the fifth time in a row.

"Your Grace, it's Herbie. May I come in? Madam wanted to be wakened up before the sun rose"

'Oh right... Herbie'

I hoisted myself up.

Just as I was about to answer Herbie my eyes locked with Edward.

When I narrowed my eyes in question, Edward grinned and at the next second granted Herbie entry into the bedroom.

"!"

I watched in horror as the doorknob twisted. Hastily, I pulled the quilt over my head and hid under the sheets not even minding that I was clinging onto Edward's chest to conceal myself.

However, even after a minute had gone by Herbie had not stepped in.

"?"

Puzzled, I peeked out of the quilt and looked at the door. I could still see the shadow of a person under the door, yet no one had stepped in.

I wiggled out of Edward's arms, sat up, and fixed my gaze on the door wondering what happened.

"Don't worry. He can't come in" Edward spoke with a lazy smile as he stood up and turned toward me.

"I locked the door. Didn't you say to put a lock on it?"

"You..." I clenched my hands into fists.

That was it. That was the last piece of my patience bidding adieu to his outrageous conduct. Male lead or not, he had crossed a point.

I stood up and pointed at the closed door, my entire body shaking in anger and mind filled with rage.

"GET OUT!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs and kicked Edward out of the bedroom.

Later that evening, I learned from Eve that my voice was so loud that it could be heard ringing all throughout the estate that it spooked some of the horses in the stables.