Chapter 13

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter Title: Even Though I'm the Villainess, I Got Imprinted with the Male Lead Chapter 21

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“!”

Peck, peck.

Richt stole her saliva with light kisses, like a bird pecking with its beak, and before Luciana could push him away, he scooped her up in his arms in a flash.

“Eek!”

The direction of his steps led straight to the large bed where they had once spent the night together before.

“D-Duke, wait a moment...! Calm down first!”

Luciana waved her hands frantically at the sight of Richt, who was unfastening her buttons at an astonishing speed the moment she hit the bed like a fish on a cutting board.

“No. I can’t hold back anymore.”

It wasn’t a lie. His usually smooth, pleasant voice was hoarse and ragged, as if tormented by prolonged endurance.

His gaze refused to leave the disheveled Luciana, and just seeing his pectoral muscles heaving roughly between the gaps in his shirt made it clear how much he was at his limit.

Pop.

As the last button came undone, the white shirt slipped off like shed skin.

“Luciana.”

A soft voice rolling the candy in his mouth, paired with tender hands gently pushing aside her legs in resistance.

“Ah!”

His fully aroused body slowly loomed over her like a shadow, and the moment it completely enveloped her, it was as if a starving beast had unleashed its inner greed.

As his sealed lips began trailing along her neckline, Luciana clamped both hands over her mouth.

With every spot he touched, the words floating in her mind vanished one by one.

By the time everything but the vivid, endlessly invading sensations had left not even a trace behind...

That was the end of it, and Luciana was helplessly drawn into the sticky darkness.

“Ugh...”

Cold... And it hurts.

Feeling a slight chill and dull ache, Luciana woke up not long after.

“!”

The familiar sensation of bare skin beneath the fluffy blanket.

When she cautiously opened her eyes, a familiar upper body blocked her view, reenacting the day she first woke up in the same bed with Richt.

‘Ah...’

Luciana bit her lip hard enough to feel pain.

Unlike the night ball, where alcohol had helped, doing it sober meant that the moment she came to her senses, memories of the long night before flooded back vividly.

‘...He didn’t act like a madman for even a single moment.’

Luciana gazed at the sleeping duke with a deeply complicated expression.

Richt had been nothing but tender right up until the very end.

If not for the special circumstances binding them, they would have looked like ordinary lovers sharing affection. There wasn’t a shred of roughness or flaw to be found in him.

‘Is it because he’s the male lead? How can anyone be so...’

Recalling how she had shamelessly shed tears last night, Luciana flushed red.

This time, with her memories intact, every single step from one to ten lingered in her mind.

At first, Luciana had desperately tried to hold onto her reason, but she eventually had to raise the white flag against the mounting sensations.

‘No more thinking about what’s done. Dwelling on it will just make me uneasy.’

Every moment of Richt, who had seemed utterly smitten like a man in love...

Just remembering his breaths full of fervor and sincerity nearly made her heart flutter.

It was the same even now.

Like that day, Richt held her tightly in his arms as if she were incredibly precious, sleeping soundly.

Now that she was aware of the situation, the hot body heat enveloping her felt blatantly intense.

‘I-I shouldn’t stay like this. I need to grab my clothes and get out of here quick.’

Judging from the dim surroundings, it was still early dawn.

The moment Luciana, now embarrassed after coming to her senses, cautiously shifted...

“...!”

Suddenly feeling something odd, she lifted her gaze upward and locked eyes with hazy crimson ones just waking from sleep.

‘Eek, we’re way too close.’

His still sleep-muddled pupils stared blankly at her face, like a puppy gazing at its owner.

‘Should I say something...?’

It didn’t seem like a situation for casually saying good morning, but ignoring him after making eye contact felt awkward, and greeting him with a smile didn’t seem like the best choice either.

Slam!

But fortunately—or not—Luciana’s dilemma vanished soon after.

“Ah!”

The glimpse of white skin peeking through the loosely draped blanket snapped Richt’s mind awake.

In the next instant, the duke shoved Luciana away with cold eyes.

‘What’s this déjà vu?’

The stinging pain in her shoulder and the unpleasant feeling were things she had experienced before.

Luciana stared incredulously at Richt’s back as he picked up his scattered clothes from the floor and dressed.

“I’ll have someone bring contraceptive potion. Drink it before you go.”

“...Pardon?”

The duke, who hadn’t turned around once while dressing, stated it like a command.

‘What...?’

Luciana was struck speechless by the sheer absurdity, but soon remembered something and silently gripped the blanket.

‘No, actually... thinking about it, this is probably right.’

All the prolonged acts they had shared had nothing to do with their wills.

Moreover, Richt had been caught in his rut, so he surely hadn’t been in his right mind.

The tenderness and soft whispers he had shown multiple times were fake personas unrelated to the real Richt’s feelings.

‘Judging by that grimacing face, he remembers everything. His mood must be... the worst.’

So him shoving her away or speaking in an icy tone was all perfectly natural reactions.

“...”

Was there any reason to expect tenderness from him?

Her head fully accepted and rationalized it, but why did her chest feel so hollow, like a gaping hole?

Because of the stark temperature drop overnight? Because she was starting to feel wronged about yesterday?

Or because she hadn’t wanted it either, yet being unilaterally ignored in this situation rubbed her the wrong way?

Various thoughts tangled like spiderwebs, but deeming them pointless, Luciana silently pressed her lips together.

“Why are you just sitting there? Wasn’t it you, Lady, who said we should be careful not to get caught by others?”

The duke was right.

Luciana had been the first to worry about rumors, for the sake of the heroine meant to be with Richt.

‘You think I want to stay here forever?’

Seeing Richt snap at her as if she planned to settle into the duke’s residence permanently, Luciana swallowed a hollow laugh.

“What are you doing?”

This wasn’t the mood for idle play.

Richt asked toward Luciana, who was wordlessly extending her right hand.

“The magic artifact.”

“What?”

“Don’t you remember? You took it yesterday, Duke.”

“...!”

Damn.

Hearing Luciana, Richt belatedly recalled something and scowled fiercely.

“We don’t need this anymore.”

“Wait...!”

His hurried attempt to snatch the artifact away, fearing she might flee from his arms...

“Give it back... Ah!”

“Don’t you like being with me? Why do you keep thinking only of leaving?”

“Because I...!”

“Do you know how much I’ve wanted to see you all this time?”

Not content with that, he had kissed her wriggling cheek as she struggled to find the hidden artifact and spouted all sorts of nonsense. The memories came flooding back in chunks.

“...”

Horrible memories she didn’t want to recall even for a second.

Richt tried to move his lips to say something—anything—but no suitable words came to mind.

“...I’ll leave the item here.”

Finally regaining control of his turbulent emotions, Richt retrieved the artifact from somewhere on the floor based on his vague memory and placed it on the table.

She thought that wrapped up their business, but Richt paused and spoke in a firm tone, like a warning.

“Everything you saw and heard yesterday was nonsense. Forget it all.”

Luciana snorted at him.

She had realized he wasn’t in his right mind from the moment he started calling her pet names on his own, and she had no desire to cherish the duke’s dark history anyway.

“Lastly, as a precaution, I hope you haven’t made any needless misunderstandings.”

“...What did you say?”

Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?

Bang!

But by the time Luciana tried to retort, the duke had already vanished out the door.

“Ha! Unbelievable...”

Had she ever felt this absurd in her life?

She was living a different life from the original Luciana, a complete stranger.

How was this the face of someone misunderstanding? He was the one in the late stages of crazy.