The refreshing feeling spreading through her veins to every corner of her body made her feel like she was melting. She didn't want to separate from the man.
"..."
"..."
Rodrick looked down at the woman's head that had suddenly rushed in, his vision tinted red.
As he made contact with the woman, the madness that had sharply taken hold began to subside.
What on earth was happening? As his rough breathing calmed, he began to assess the situation.
"Hey."
The woman didn't respond. Silence fell for a while.
"Move."
Despite his voice dripping with coldness, Diana didn't budge.
Until the man grabbed her nape to peel her off, Diana, unaware of her unseemly behavior, rubbed her face against the man's thick neck.
Although the man dropped her as if throwing her, Diana managed to maintain her balance and stand upright. This was possible due to her basic physical strength returning.
Wiping the saliva that was about to drip from the corner of her mouth, she looked up at the man with dreamy eyes.
After separating from Rodrick, Diana blinked a couple of times before suddenly coming to her senses with a gasp!
Her face instantly turned red with heat rising. Oh no, what shameful behavior!
"I'm sorry!"
The man, who had tilted his head indifferently, lifted Diana's chin with the tip of his sharpened sword.
Diana's pink eyes trembled slightly as she glanced down at the menacing sword.
"Um, couldn't we just talk?"
His languid eyes narrowed as if measuring her.
"What are you?"
"I'll tell you if you put this away."
Rodrick didn't lower his sword. While Diana could understand the man's caution, she couldn't help but sigh.
"I apologize for my rudeness. I am Diana Beatus, the second daughter of Duke Beatus."
If she had been an ordinary person, she would have trembled at the pressure he exuded, but her attitude remained calm.
Raising her head even more challengingly, she stood proudly as if daring him to stab her if he dared.
After a long moment of this battle of nerves, Rodrick withdrew his sword.
"Why is the youngest of the Beatus family here?"
"You know me?"
"As much as others do."
"Then who are you, sir?"
Nodding at his brief answer, Diana properly examined the man.
She had addressed him as 'sir' because he was wearing a military uniform.
The wolf emblem engraved on the scabbard belonged to the Northern Knights.
"I didn't get an answer. My lady. I asked why you're here."
"I'd like to know that too. When I woke up, I was trapped in this castle. Let me ask again. Who are you?"
Diana looked the man up and down despite his cold attitude.
With broad shoulders and a balanced physique, he had the typical appearance of a well-trained knight.
However, the man exuded an aura unique to those who rule, beyond that of an ordinary knight.
Beneath his black hair tinged with blue, a faint madness lingered in his blue eyes.
"Rodrick Schwartz."
After briefly stating just his name, Rodrick looked at his hand and clicked his tongue, throwing away his black leather gloves.
He took out new black gloves from his pocket and put them on.
Watching his graceful movements, Diana froze.
Schwartz?! That Rodrick Schwartz?
Who was Rodrick Schwartz?
He was the only brother of Felice Schwartz, the sub-male lead in the novel.
Duke Felice Schwartz was a figure who openly opposed the Crown Prince.
The reason was because of his brother and father who had died from madness. A curse-induced madness.
The Imperial family had been adept at using magical power for generations.
Only the Imperial family could use magical power comparable to that of ancient wizards. It would be easy for them to cast curses.
Felice believed that the deaths of his family members were due to the Imperial family, who held the North by the throat.
In the original work, Rodrick Schwartz only appeared briefly in Felice's flashback scenes before disappearing.
Felice, longing for his dead brother, found solace in the female lead who embraced him despite being from the opposing faction, and thus fell in love.
Although he too would walk the path of a villain.
Well, to summarize, this man before her eyes was also on borrowed time, just like her. Moreover, he was a villain who disappeared before the original story even began.
Why a villain? His infamy for cruelty that would put tyrants to shame was well-known not only on the battlefield but in other countries as well.
They said he went mad with frenzy and died on the battlefield. That was a story she had heard in the reality before her regression, not mentioned in the original work.
Although Diana had been bedridden, she could hear various news within the system faster than anyone else thanks to her talkative maid.
Was your end as painful as mine?
"Your eyes look impure."
Hmm, while she was looking at Rodrick with a sense of sympathy for their shared plight. That's what he had to say.
What a prickly man. Diana looked him up and down again, just as Rodrick had done.
She read not his external appearance, but the cursed magical power flowing through his body.
A man carrying several times the curse of a curse doll.
Hmm, approved.
With this man, she could quickly cure her illness.
What would be good to stick with this man? Lovers? Spouses? For the sake of my life, I'll cling to him no matter what.
With his handsome appearance that made it hard to believe he was a villain about to disappear. It couldn't get any better than this.
"What about my eyes?"
He leaned in close, bending his head so that his breath dizzily touched her.
"You're looking at me with a pitying gaze, as if feeling sorry for me. Am I wrong?"
Oh my, how perceptive. Her eyes, tinged with pink, curved gently. Would it be too perverted to say that even this man's breath was refreshing?
"No. You got it exactly right."
It is pitiful. Your curse could save me. Why did you appear only now?
Rodrick's face was expressionless, but the emotion in his blue eyes was clear.
It was obvious displeasure.
Search "seduce" at redcatty [.] com to read ahead up to chap 70.