Saving My Childhood Friend Through... Questionable Means... - Chapter 37
As she waited in the sitting room, the sound of the door opening finally broke the silence. Duke Lucas approached her. When Seria looked up at him with worried eyes, he quickly averted his gaze.
“Let’s go.”
“What were you talking about for so long? Was there more to discuss?” she asked as she untied the donkey outside.
Meanwhile, Lucas had already mounted his horse with ease.
“Just this and that. You heard the important part already.”
“There must’ve been something said after I left. What exactly needs to be done for the curse to be completely lifted?”
Seria climbed onto the donkey as Lucas began to slowly guide his horse forward. The two continued their conversation while riding.
“What he said after you left was similar. The mark disappearing doesn’t mean the curse is gone. To fully dispel the bad energy inside, it needs to be… um, done frequently.”
“Oh, so…”
“Yeah. Starting tonight, it has to continue. Ugh, what should I do? I feel so guilty about this…”
The idea of repeating what they had done for three nights—without any clear end in sight—made Seria frown in confusion.
“There’s nothing to feel guilty about. There’s no one else who can help you, so I’ll just have to help you again. But… is there no way to tell how many times we need to do it for the curse to be lifted? That’s different from what the sorcerer at the estate said. He claimed the curse would be gone once the mark disappeared.”
“Exactly. But you heard it earlier—that sorcerer was a fraud. Apparently, my strange symptoms were because the curse wasn’t fully lifted. Anyway, I’m really lucky you’re here to help me. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
The idea that the curse hadn’t been broken after all made Seria sigh with relief. She had nearly lost her friend, despite her efforts to save him.
“Good thing we sought out another sorcerer. If we had just assumed the curse was gone, who knows what could’ve happened,” she murmured.
“Right? It’s a relief. But still, I’m really sorry. Having to do that over and over again without a set timeline… I feel terrible about it.”
“No, don’t feel bad. It’s my choice, after all. If anything, I’m the one who convinced you to do it in the first place.”
“Thanks for saying that. So… will you come to my room tonight?”
Lucas’s subtle question made Seria lift her gaze to him. His pale cheeks were slightly flushed, and his blue eyes held an inexplicable heat. The intensity of his gaze sent a shiver down her spine, filling her with unease. It was a strange look, one that made her wonder if the end was near for him.
“Well… I’ll come after I wash up.”
“Thanks. Let’s head back to the townhouse quickly then. It’ll be night soon. Let’s go!”
With a sly curve of his lips, Lucas spurred his horse into motion.
Following his lead, Seria tapped the reins and chased after him, her mind a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. Just when she thought her strange relationship with Lucas had come to a resolution, she found herself agreeing to share the bed with him again after only a day.
Though she couldn’t deny the physical pleasure of being with him, the problem was their relationship—they were just friends.
Staring at the back of Lucas’s head, Seria sighed softly. Judging by his earlier reaction, he didn’t seem to mind the idea of getting intimate again.
‘Of course. He doesn’t think about these things deeply. He just wants to keep doing it because it felt good. Sure, I feel good when I’m with him, too… but I don’t want this kind of relationship.’
But such thoughts couldn’t be voiced aloud. They were bound to this arrangement because of the curse, and burdening him with her feelings would only make things worse. If Lucas started feeling guilty, he might lose confidence and fail to… perform properly—just like that first time when he couldn’t even get started.
Unaware that this was all part of Lucas’s scheme, Seria followed behind him, her innocent concerns swirling in her mind. When her slow donkey struggled to keep up, Lucas suddenly stopped his horse and waited for her with a dissatisfied expression.
“You’re too slow.”
“How do you expect this little guy to keep up with your giant black horse?”
The poor donkey huffed and puffed as it finally caught up, standing beside the stallion. Lucas raised a disapproving eyebrow.
“Come here.”
“Huh?”
Without waiting, Lucas leaned over, grabbed her slender waist, and lifted her with ease. Her small frame floated in the air before landing securely on the horse in front of him. Caught off guard by the sudden shift in height, Seria glanced to the side nervously. Behind them, the abandoned donkey let out a mournful whinny.
“What about the donkey?”
“I’ll have a servant come and fetch it. Let’s move quickly. Hyah!”
With one arm firmly around Seria’s waist, Lucas guided the horse forward with the other. Seria, watching her poor donkey grow smaller in the distance, called out apologetically,
“Sorry, little guy! Wait there for me!”
“Hiiing!”
