It felt as if my sister might suddenly open the door and walk in.
What exactly was I afraid of being caught doing? Nox’s face as he looked at me? His gaze? That low voice? …Or was it my own face, flushed from surprise as his face drew closer?
No. No, this isn’t important.
I shook my head, trying to escape the gaze filling my entire vision, but in the end, I had no choice but to look at him. There was nowhere to run. The slight distance he’d maintained before was gone; he now looked like someone who had just had their leash cut loose.
“Um, please let me go. My sister will catch us.”
“If we’re quiet, will that be enough?”
“She’ll wake up if she hears us.”
I thought of my sister’s exhausted, sleeping face, but ignored the image. She hardly ever woke up when she was this deeply asleep, but still…
“You’re worried about being caught by your sister.”
Rolling my eyes, I quickly nodded. Tilting his head, he whispered in a low tone.
“……If we’re not caught, does that mean I can do anything?”
……Sir, I feel like I just heard the single most dangerous word in the world.
He clearly didn’t realize what kind of thoughts a word like “anything” could provoke. I blinked in disbelief, momentarily stunned by what he had just said, then snapped back to my senses and jerked my face away from his.
“What do you mean by ‘anything’?”
“Are you curious?”
“……”
No. Absolutely not.
Shaking my head quickly, I felt as though agreeing here would be like stepping through a curtain straight into hell.
Because of his height, whenever I looked down, my eyes naturally landed on his bare chest, which made things even worse. The moonlight deepened the shadows over his muscles, fanning an odd heat inside me.
Don’t panic. Don’t panic.
Clutching the edge of my clothes tightly, I forced a strained smile and spoke in what I hoped was a calm voice.
“I think I should go to bed now. Um, it’s really late. You should sleep too.”
When he suddenly pressed me down, I flinched.
“……Permission?”
……This man says the scariest things. No, I’m not giving you permission. Of course not.
I shook my head quickly, but his gaze made me shrink back regardless. Slowly pulling my hands away from him, I said,
“My sister is sleeping in the room, remember? I really need to go back.”
I scooted backward on the sofa, trying to sound as composed as possible, convinced that getting any closer would be a bad idea.
Actually, my sister was sleeping so soundly she probably wouldn’t notice if someone carried her out of the room, but there was no way I could tell Nox that. His stubborn violet eyes were already locked on me like a predator stalking prey.
“Why are you avoiding me? I haven’t done anything.”
That’s the problem, sir—your eyes are saying you’re about to.
I tried to avert his gaze, but he held my hand tightly, leaving me no way to retreat. Even when I awkwardly asked him to move aside, he didn’t budge, only staring at me with relentless focus.
Then he spoke softly.
“……Sleep here. I can’t sleep without you.”
His beautiful amethyst eyes shimmered under the moonlight.
Why was he acting like this tonight? A chill crept down my spine as his gaze felt like a hand slowly caressing me.
“Why are you making that face? We’ve always slept together.”
Because you’re acting weird tonight, and it’s making me want to run away! I couldn’t say that, so I stammered instead,
“Th-that’s true, but… I told you, we can’t let my sister find out!”
“If we don’t get caught, isn’t that fine?”
“……”
“I’m confident I can be quiet.”
……What exactly do you mean by “quiet”?
You can’t just make “let’s sleep together” sound this suggestive, okay? Unlike me, who was practically panicking, Nox looked calm, as if this were nothing.
“It’s just sleeping, right?”
“Yes. I want to sleep with you.”
……Excuse me, can you not phrase it like that?
“What’s the problem?”
His fingertips traced along my hand. I wished he’d stop touching me already.
He clearly didn’t realize the effect his words and actions were having on me, but the more conscious I became of them, the hotter my face felt.
Worried he might feel that heat through my skin, I pulled my hand away.
“My sister is sensitive… she wakes up easily. V-very easily.”
As if studying me, he glanced at my retreating hand, then suddenly caught it midair and looked down at me.
“Your sister seems deeply asleep. She’s usually sensitive to any movement, but she’s quiet now.”
Avoiding his gaze, I couldn’t bring myself to nod or shake my head. My sister knew her own limits well, and it wasn’t common for her to sleep this deeply, completely worn out.
Should I even tell him that?
I glanced up at him nervously, my mouth opening and closing as I searched for words.
“She is… y-yeah, she’s asleep, but……”
Even now, I was desperately trying to minimize how much of my palm touched his skin. Why was I putting this much effort into it?!
“She’s really that deeply asleep?”
“She ran into a monster today… so probably.”
“I see.”
His persistent gaze pinned me down, and I ended up saying what I hadn’t meant to. If I didn’t speak, I felt like I’d be swept away by his breath brushing my skin.
We’d spent many nights together, but never like this.
I admitted it to myself: Nox was strange tonight. Very strange.
“Your sister seems to like you a lot.”
“Y-yeah… and she likes you too.”
“My daytime self?”
“Yes. She thinks you’re cute and adorable—she really likes you.”
“……I can’t imagine what that even looks like.”
He murmured with a strange expression, shaking his head.
I didn’t know why he suddenly brought up my sister, but I still answered honestly, watching him carefully.
As silence flowed between us, his amethyst eyes—sharp and refined like cut gemstones—remained deadly serious.
He seemed about to say something, and I tensed up instinctively.
“Amy, I have something to confess.”
Holding me still, he lowered his head until our eyes met, speaking in a quiet, meaningful tone. I swallowed hard.
“If I hurt your sister, would you be angry?”
“……What?!”
“When she tried to take you away earlier, I found myself getting angry.”
“……”
“……Is that normal?”
I flinched.
Remembering how silent he had been the entire time around my sister, my eyes widened.
“You were… angry? You didn’t look like it at all……”
“Because you were there.”
Just imagining him actually showing anger sent a chill down my spine. And then flashes of the Nox from the novel came to mind—if he fought my sister, even as skilled as she was, who knew what would happen?
Wait, hold on. Was I seriously almost letting the male lead fight my sister?! No, no, that wouldn’t happen. It can’t.
Panicking, I quickly grabbed his hand.
“Why would you get angry?”
“I’m not sure. I have guesses, but…”
Swallowing nervously, I hurried to say,
“……You can’t fight my sister.”
“……”
For a moment, his gaze turned cold, as if he wasn’t looking at me but at something layered over me.
Then his eyes shifted toward my sister’s room. The violet gaze, still holding my hand tightly, rolled slowly, predatory, like a beast preparing to hunt.
“If you want me to.”
He agreed too easily, but why did his answer make goosebumps rise on my skin? I couldn’t help recalling the Grand Duke’s madness from the novel.
And then Nox gave a faint, low chuckle.
“If your sister is asleep, you can sleep here, can’t you?”
Snapping out of my thoughts of the novel, I realized how close he’d gotten while holding my hand.
Had Nox remembered something? No, no way. People don’t change this fast unless they regain their memories.
No. No, I was just being paranoid. It was probably just old habits from his Grand Duke days slipping out unconsciously.
Yes, his memories were only supposed to return after the Crown Prince’s attack—triggered by something as big as my sister’s death.
“Didn’t you just say it? Your sister met a monster and is sleeping deeply.”
“……”
Why was he talking so close?
I slid back little by little, but my back quickly hit the end of the sofa. As my body tilted toward the armrest, he caught me. My hands brushed his chest, and startled, I quickly pulled away. His face was right in front of mine.
“I’ve been waiting all night just to see you.”
Trapped under his shadow, I looked up at him. His expression was unreadable.
“For once, I wondered if you’d come out to me. Every hour felt like a whole day.”
He lowered his head, resting it on my shoulder, and exhaled quietly. His breath grazed my neck, making me swallow nervously.
“……Do I need permission for this too?”
Of course you do.
But I couldn’t say it, holding my breath instead, afraid that speaking would spill too much heat into the air.
I felt him slowly sliding lower. When his lips brushed my collarbone, I flinched.
“Don’t avoid me.”
His hair brushed my neck, and with every breath he took, it felt like having a wild animal caged just in front of my chest. My lower stomach tingled; my back stiffened; goosebumps prickled my skin.
“I just want to stay like this a little longer. Can’t I?”
His warm breath against my neck made the tiny hairs stand on end. Every time it moved lower, my attention sharpened, and his lips felt like they raised the temperature by ten degrees wherever they passed.
Then Nox lifted his head slightly, raising my captured hand to his cheek. His amethyst eyes stayed fixed on me as if nailed there. When his lips pressed against the inner side of my wrist, where the veins were most visible, I froze completely.
“Will you allow me this much?”
Barely blinking, I managed to open my mouth.
“Why are you suddenly speaking so formally?”
“When asking for something, isn’t it proper to be polite?”
“Did you… remember something?”
“No. It just crossed my mind.”
Shaking his head, he locked his gaze on me again. His lips pressed firmly on the softest part of my wrist.
“Will you allow it?”
……You’re not supposed to ask for permission after you’ve already done it, you know.
I stared at him as his lips lingered, my lower lip trembling. My fingers gripping his shoulder trembled too. But I couldn’t let this continue, so as he finally raised his head, I pulled my hand back.
“Nox… y-you shouldn’t do this to just anyone.”
“You’re not ‘just anyone.’”
Tilting his head slowly, his cool, serious gaze locked on me.
“Are you scared?”
He gently released my hand, holding it instead as if to reassure me.
“I wouldn’t do this to your sister.”
“Right. And you shouldn’t to me either……”
“Shouldn’t I?”
Our eyes met.
“Why not?”
He looked at me like someone hearing for the first time that fire could be dangerous—genuinely confused, as if he couldn’t understand why I’d ask him not to.
“Don’t look away, Amy.”
“……”
“Amy, what are you thinking? Why are you avoiding my eyes? Do you hate me? I can’t know unless you tell me.”
Seeing him stare at me with such a puzzled expression, I couldn’t say anything. Looking at him holding my arm tightly, the boy from the daytime flickered in my mind.
“T-this is… the kind of thing people do when they’re closer.”
“……Aren’t we close?”
His question was reasonable. To him, I wasn’t just someone who fed and clothed him—I’d saved his life. He was looking at me now the way someone would ask, What is pain? while their hands dripped with blood.
“……Do you not like me, then?”
Why did his voice suddenly sound so deflated? Instinctively, I grabbed his hand tighter. It was a reflex.
His face overlapped with the boy’s again, especially when he’d told me not to run away from him.
“It’s… complicated.”
“Complicated.”
“Yes. Every time this happens, I just… remember that you don’t have your memories.”
I hesitated, unsure how far I should go, but finally spoke.
“I think about how you must have had a real home, people you loved…….”
“……”
“It’s complicated.”
I don’t want you to give me so much of your heart.
“Nox, the things you lost will come back someday. You’ll regain your memories, right? And when that happens… things might change.”
“Nothing will change even if I remember.”
“What if you remember something precious? Something really important to you? What if remembering makes things awkward for you?”
He’ll meet the true heroine, and he’ll be happy. We were just passing through each other’s lives.
I swallowed the words I couldn’t say, but Nox stared at me silently, then wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer.
“……Did you know you only meet my eyes when you talk about my memories?”
“……”
“……When you do, I wonder if I’ve scared you somehow.”
As he leaned forward, my cheek brushed his shoulder. I flinched but didn’t ask him to let go—I doubted he would anyway. So I quietly rested my face against his shoulder, breathing in his warmth.
“Shaking like this.”
“I’m not scared.”
“Really.”
His still-deflated voice reminded me so much of the daytime boy that I couldn’t ignore it. Whispering to myself that I shouldn’t, I nonetheless cautiously held onto his arm.
“Really. At first, yes, I was scared. But you saved me, Nox……”
His skin was warm, and the longer I stayed in his arms, the stranger it felt—like his scent was seeping into me.
I firmly resolved that I really needed to make him proper clothes soon when he lowered his head.
“Amy.”
He called me softly, almost whispering. The three syllables sounded strange, almost unfamiliar.
“……You make me wish all my time could be night.”
Looking at me, Nox spoke his truth with complete calm.