“…Is it dawn?”

I barely managed to open my heavy eyelids. The scenery outside the window was too bright to be dawn. Judging by the height of the sun, it seemed well past noon.

“Already?”

I was shocked at how much time had passed without my noticing. As I turned my head, I gaped at Zachary’s face right in front of me. I couldn’t even make a proper sound. I was so startled that I tried to jump up, but a pain like my back was breaking made me collapse back onto the bed.

Zachary was naked, not covered by a blanket. Only I was wrapped up snugly in a soft comforter.

“What in the…”

Sprawled on the bed with a dumbfounded expression, I mumbled briefly before shutting my mouth. My voice was completely hoarse. Just then, I heard a low groan from beside me.

I quickly turned my head to see Zachary fumbling for the empty space where I had been lying. Startled, I hastily pushed a pillow into his arms. Fortunately, he hugged it tightly and fell back into a deep sleep.

Zachary, asleep? He was shirtless, his eyes tightly shut. It was the first time I’d seen him sleep so deeply. Such a peaceful expression on Zachary was rare, but…

‘Shit.’

I couldn’t maintain my composure. The events of last night were coming back to me, bit by bit.

This definitely couldn’t be a dream, right? Still hardly believing it, I carefully pulled back the blanket covering my body. From my neck down to my toes, my body was covered in all sorts of marks left by Zachary. My face flushed hot as if on fire.

‘There’s no way this pain could be a dream.’

Above all, the most certain thing was the pain down there. What else could be the reason for this ache? Zachary had…

‘I’ve lost my mind. This is insane.’

How many times had I reached climax? It hurt so much, but I kept remembering how I’d cried and clung to Zachary, telling him it felt good. By the end, my memories had almost completely faded out.

Zachary must have even washed me after I lost consciousness. He must have passed out right after, not having slept for days just like me.

‘How did things end up like this?’

We knew we were crossing a line, but this wasn’t just crossing a line—we’d completely mixed ourselves together.

More than anything, I was shocked at how weak I was to desire. As memories of last night kept flooding back, I shook my head and carefully put my feet on the floor outside the bed. But my legs gave out again, and I plopped down on the floor. I glanced at Zachary, but he still had his eyes beautifully closed. Haa… As the tension left me, I found myself lying down on the floor without realizing it.

‘The restraints.’

The restraints I had hidden under the bed were right nearby.

‘Why are these out here?’

Strange. I clearly remember hiding the box containing the restraints deep under the bed. But now the box was within arm’s reach, which was deeply unsettling. Feeling a chill, I carefully reached out and pulled the box towards me.

‘Just looking at the box, it’s so small. How could it restrain Zachary?’

Even though I’d had opportunities to open the box before, I hadn’t dared to. It felt like opening it would make the reality of having to send Zachary back too vivid.

‘I have to send him back, but…’

I ran my hand over the top of the restraints’ box.

My expression darkened with worry. The time left was probably just one day. Having slept through the entire morning, there wasn’t much time left in reality.

But even in this rushed situation, my heart was wavering.

There were far more reasons to send Zachary back than to keep him by my side. Even thinking rationally, even recalling the content of the original work. For Zachary’s true happiness, he absolutely should go back, but…

‘Let’s just open it for now.’

After deliberating, I slowly opened the box.

‘…Bracelets?’

I had imagined the restraints would be larger and more grotesque, but it was different from what I’d expected. The restraint that looked like a bracelet was actually four in total, and they were extremely small. They seemed too small to fit even around Zachary’s wrists, let alone his ankles.

How could these restrain Zachary? I reached out in surprise.

“Cough.”

Suddenly, a cough burst out. Worried I might wake Zachary, I covered my mouth, but the coughing continued.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t been feeling well since I woke up. I bent over, coughing, abandoning my attempt to reach for the restraints. The coughing didn’t seem like it would stop easily. In fact, it was getting worse to the point where covering my mouth with my hand wasn’t enough.

“Young Master?”

It was only natural that Zachary would wake up. Startled, I hastily put down the box I was holding, almost throwing it to the floor, and tried to stand up.

“…Ugh. Urk.”

The pain, as if my internal organs were twisting, prevented me from lifting my head properly. Something was surging up from inside. Along with the nausea came a different kind of pain, as if all my innards were being pulled out. Just as I spat out something that had risen up like vomit, Zachary grabbed hold of me.

“Young Master!!!”

Even in Zachary’s arms, I could only stare blankly at what I had just spit out, unable to believe it.

It was a black mass of blood. I had coughed up blood before, but never such a large clot.

‘Why so suddenly?’

I was confused. But more shocked than me was Zachary.

He froze, unable to even make a sound as he saw the dark red blood clot. Looking at me with a face full of bewilderment and pain, he suddenly snapped out of his frozen state and lifted me up in his arms.

“We’re going to the physician right now.”

Although he looked extremely unstable, he tried to maintain a calm tone as much as possible.

“N-No, it’s okay.”

If anything, spitting out the blood clot seemed to have made me feel better inside.

Though I wasn’t completely fine, the pain and symptoms didn’t seem to be continuing, so I shook my head and said,

“This happened occasionally recently too. It’ll stop soon.”

“…You say this happened recently too.”

He looked at me with a face that had received a great shock.

Come to think of it, I usually hid such things from him.

“I-It might be because of winter. Maybe it’s the dry air. I cough up blood like this a few times and then it stops. I went to the physicians recently too, remember? They all said there was nothing wrong. Really, I’m fine…”

“How can you say you’re fine!”

Zachary suddenly shouted in a loud voice. I looked at him with surprised eyes. Zachary had veins popping out on his neck. However, contrary to his angry voice, Zachary’s body was trembling like someone who was terrified. He tried to regain his composure somehow, but it didn’t seem to be working.

“Why do you neglect your body like this, Young Master…”

Even though I was the one who was sick, for some reason Zachary looked more pained. He hugged me tightly, as if he didn’t know what to do. Seeing him like this made my heart ache even more.

Was it a big deal to pretend to be calm in front of someone who worried about me more than I did myself? Holding my throbbing insides, I smiled as I gently pulled away from Zachary.

“It’s nothing. My body being weak isn’t something new, is it?”

I habitually reached out to touch Zachary’s cheek, but stopped when I saw my messy hand. My hand was covered in blood, a complete mess. I didn’t want to touch Zachary with such dirty hands. I withdrew my outstretched hand and covered it with the blanket.

Only then could I reach out to Zachary, who looked like he was about to cry. The inside of the blanket covering my hand was probably a mess with blood, but at least the outside was still snow-white. I placed it on top of his hand, which was still trembling as if in spasm. Even though the blanket was between us, I felt as if I could sense his warmth.

“See?”

I spoke as if I wasn’t in pain at all.

“I’m fine now.”

I put strength into my voice, held my neck straight. I spoke while looking him directly in the eyes. But he still didn’t seem to believe me. His wavering eyes looked at my hand covered by the blanket and then back to my face.

“…”

How long did the silence last? Usually, he would have leaned his cheek into my hand, but this time he wasn’t so easily swayed.

“It’s still not okay. I’m going to call for a physician.”

Zachary pulled out my hand hidden in the blanket. He gripped my hand tightly with a face that looked like he might burst into tears at any moment. As if something like this was nothing. As if he didn’t care if his own hand got dirty.

“The physician… as you know, I don’t want to because I look like this right now…”

I blushed and lowered my head. Because I had spent the night with him, there were marks… Zachary, who had been solely worried about me since I coughed up the blood clot, now looked quite embarrassed as he saw my body.

“I’m sorry. I…”

“Ah, no.”

I liked it too. What could we do about it?

“Excuse me for a moment.”

As I kept my face down in embarrassment, Zachary pulled me into his arms. There wasn’t a single rough edge to his touch. He held me so carefully and preciously that I couldn’t help but feel my face heat up. Maybe it was because last night’s events were coming back to me…

“Could you close your eyes for a moment?”

His hand touched my forehead. His palm was so large that it covered my eyes as well.

Is he trying to check for a fever? My doubts were short-lived, as I felt overwhelmed by his warm and sincere touch.

“Young Master.”

“Ah, yes.”

He’s quick-witted too. He somehow knew I had opened my eyes. Well, I had been blinking, so he must have felt my eyelashes moving.

Feeling awkward, I closed my eyes, and a warm sensation enveloped my forehead.

“You’ll be alright soon. I’ll make sure of it.”

With Zachary’s whisper, a white light settled on the hand touching my eyes. With my eyes closed, I couldn’t be sure, but it felt bright as if a curtain had been drawn. And I thought I could smell something like grass. Or was it the wind? While feeling ticklish from this strange sensation.

‘Why is this happening again? It feels like my insides are twisting again…’

Clink. That’s when it happened. A clear metallic sound came from somewhere.

‘What was that?’

It definitely came from nearby. But before I could check where the sound came from, suddenly the aura emanating from Zachary’s entire body became too rough. Feeling that something ominous was happening, a chill ran down my spine. I hurriedly opened my eyes and quickly pulled down his hand that was covering them.

A cold killing intent that could freeze everything was emanating from Zachary.

With a face contorted like that of a demon, he suddenly staggered greatly. His gaze was fixed on one spot.

“…Zachary?”

Not understanding what was happening, I looked around hastily and then quickly examined Zachary. The body touching mine was filled with tension. Suddenly, veins popped out on Zachary’s neck. He swiftly put me down on the bed. But that movement seemed somewhat unnatural. It seemed as if he was having trouble controlling his own body, and his movements were rougher than usual.

As soon as he put me down, he staggered greatly. It was as if he was being crushed by an invisible force. He soon collapsed forward as if crumbling.

“Zachary!”

Just as I was about to get up in shock and move towards Zachary, he barely managed to kneel on the floor and was continuously trying to remove something with his hands. That’s when I finally saw the things trying to bind him. I let out a choked scream in shock.

Behind Zachary, thick chains imbued with a pure white light were spread out as if fluttering. They looked like sunlight reflecting off water waves, and at the same time, they resembled spider webs. The starting point of these spread-out chains was the restraint wrapped around Zachary’s ankle.

“Young Master.”

The chains that looked like they would bind Zachary at any moment were unable to close the distance freely and remained suspended in the air. As if blocked by some powerful force. Zachary looked at me. His dark blue eyes glowed an unusually bright blue.

“Why do you have this, Young Master?”