"Honey, I just want to get close to you. Why is your face like that?" Ivy smiled sweetly, walking to hold Lucien's hands. Her eyes ignored Rutor standing beside him.
"Let's bathe together and get more intimate."
She leaned in, whispering in his ear, her lips grazing his ear. His ears shifted slightly where she couldn't see it.
"Do you know what you are talking about, Ivy?" Lucien's voice came out hoarse as if trying to keep his composure. His hands tried to push Ivy slightly, but she stuck to him like an octopus instead.
"Oh, honey. It's not like that. It's because I can't help myself from wanting to get close to you." Ivy smiled, ignoring his reaction. She was enjoying what she was doing, especially with an observer like Rutor around.
"Sure, you can't blame me, right?" She chuckled slightly, asking, raising a brow at him. Her hand clung to him, her scent filling Lucien's nose.
"Ivy, you..." Lucien opened and closed his mouth, the words barely able to leave his lips. Only her name came out, and he paused. His cheeks were slightly flushed.
His appearance made the smile on Ivy's face stretch further.
"Ha, Duke, Duchess, you might as well excuse me. I seem to have been interrupting something." Rutor cleared his throat, bowed slightly and gave Lucien a suggestive glance.
"You can go, Rutor," Lucien nodded to Rutor, his eyes still glued to Ivy, keeping aware of what she might do next.
"And Duke, do not shy away from giving the Duchess what she wants." Before leaving, Rutor turned around and said with a smile curved on his lips.
He thought that the Duke was too shy to accept the Duchess's request because he was here. Perhaps if he left, the Duke wouldn't be uncomfortable anymore, nor reject the Duchess.
"Yes, you heard him right, honey. Don't shy away from giving me what I want!" Ivy beamed like sunshine, nodding to what Rutor had said. Her eyes stared at Lucien more cunningly as she spoke.
"Why you, Rutor." Lucien, through gritted teeth, shot deadly glares at Rutor.
He couldn't believe that his own man today was standing for his wife instead of him. Where was the loyalty? But Rutor had run away, giving him and Ivy awkward glances, then ran off before the Duke could unleash his wrath on him. Though it was a joke, the Duke could never do anything to him.
Ivy cleared her throat, and her eyes twinkled with something. Then she pressed on Lucien, making them both fall on the grass.
"Ivy, get off me. Shift." Lucien muffled like a soft roar, his eyes staring at her, trembling with tremendous emotions.
But Ivy did not listen to him. She brought her face closer to him.
"Just a bath. Promise me a bath, please," she whispered in his ear, her voice sultry like the sweetest temptation.
As she whispered close to his ears, Lucien's eyes couldn't leave her face. There was no way he could stop looking at her face. Today she seemed more mesmerizing, and she smelled extremely nice. Of course, he would have changed that perspective if he knew she hadn't bathed.
At some point, Ivy's rabbit ears had popped out. They were long, white, and pinkish, looking fluffy to the touch.
Lucien's eyes darkened slightly.
"What are you doing? Put those ears away," he groaned, his eyes looking seriously at her like he was giving a warning.
"What ears, huh?" Ivy asked, confused, looking cluelessly at him.
At one point, her heart raced. Her hands got stiff on his shoulders where she was pressing down. She refused to even shift her thigh.
"Hah, honey, you are too excited. I only said bath. I wasn't implying something else."
She barely said this, not wanting to think about what she was feeling. She saw Lucien closing and opening his eyes as if he had lost his patience, his breath uneven, like he was enduring serious torture.
"Woman, I have had enough of you," Lucien furrowed his brow, swiftly vanishing from her presence, turning into a dragon and flying away.
"Huh?" Ivy reacted, looking at the sky.
She was still processing what had happened.
"Lucien! Lucien, come back here!" she yelled when everything hit her. Lucien had escaped. How was she going to carry out the system mission? It seemed as if she wouldn't be able to complete the system mission today.
"Ahem, greetings, Duchess. Here is an invitation that arrived for you and the Duke."
As Ivy was lost grimacing over Lucien's departure, a man dressed in royal clothes with golden pointed horns said this.
"What does this say?" Ivy muttered, taking the letter from him. Looking down at the letter, it was sealed, and she couldn't see through it.
The man was not surprised that Ivy could not open it. He cleared his throat and said,
"It is from His Majesty, Duchess. You need to deliver it to the Duke."
"Okay, I heard you. You can go," Ivy nodded, still looking in confusion at the invitation.
Nothing that the king gave to the villain was ever good. The king was one of the reasons Lucien was the villain in the book.
"Hah, Duchess. It seems you are entering your heat. You should go to the royal healer and take your pills," the man said as he sniffed the air, his eyes trailing over Ivy from head to toe.
"Ha, thank you," Ivy smiled, scratching her neck.
Although she did not understand what the man said, she had a broad idea.
In the book, since people were shifters, they underwent heat just like animals!
She didn't want to act like an animal!
The man, seeing Ivy lost in thought and making weird expressions, walked away, deciding to leave the Duchess to her moment.
"Was that why Lucien was like that? Did he react because of me?" Ivy mumbled to herself, recalling what had happened earlier.
***
"Hah, just here and here, all done," the healer said, giving a final touch to the place where Ivy emitted pheromones.
"Thank you." Ivy smiled, feeling the spot on her neck. It stung a little, but the lady had done well not to hurt her throughout the whole process.
"You are welcome. You really have a nice pheromone," the healer nodded, arranging her ornaments.
"Thank you. Please, might you have seen the Duke flying by?" Ivy asked, taking the opportunity. Finding Lucien alone would be a big problem for her; she wasn't familiar with the castle.
"Ah, yes, I did see a big red dragon flying southeast to the Mermaid Spring," the healer said, pointing with her hands in demonstration. Her eyes fixed back on Ivy. Her expression looked like she was still amazed by the sight of a dragon. She was just a lowly butterfly, too delicate to fly magnificently in the sky like the Duke.
"Thank you. I'll go there to check for him," Ivy beamed, bowing, her hair covering her face in the process.
Now it would be easier for her to find the Duke. It wouldn't be that difficult anymore. The healer was super nice to her. The healer was a butterfly shifter, she supposed, because who else could be this sweet?
"It's alright, no problem at all," the healer lastly said in dismissal. This time, Ivy had to continue her search for Lucien.
On her way, Ivy passed many places in the castle, servants working, and beautiful buildings in the area.
"Huh, is that where he ran to cool off, in the spring?" she wondered, passing through the garden, placing a hand on her waist as if tired.
"La la... I don't need the system's help in finding where the healer directed me. I'll find my husband... the Duke, without needing the little guy's help," she sang on her way, trying to kill boredom. At some point, she passed a sakura shade where a group of women sat together having tea.
"Oh, sister-in-law, where are you going?" Elina's familiar voice came, and Ivy just wished to run and hide. But they had already seen her. Turning awkwardly and waving at them, she greeted them.
"Hah, sorry, I didn't see you all here. Greetings, Crown Princess, Goldy, Lady Seraphina, and Elina."
Ivy controlled her twitching her mouth. It was very ironic—every enemy of Ivy in the book was seated here drinking tea together. It was as if they were all gathered here, having evil plans about her!
"Where are you going? You might as well stop that and join us," the Crown Princess spoke. She had risen from her seat, staring at Ivy with a discriminating gaze.
"Sorry, Crown Princess, but I need to go look for my husband," Ivy bowed, showing respect, although she rejected the princess. The princess in the book had no problem, so that's why she dared to give her reasons instead of directly obeying her.
"The princess has told you to stay, and you dare give excuses?" Seraphina got up, threw the cup to the floor, and made the tea spill. How dare Ivy refuse the princess? She had no right. She was just the wife of the Duke. Seraphina didn't know why she was angry with Ivy, but she felt like she had suffered something horrific because of her.
Yes, she had lost her memories again.
"Leave her. Let her go," the princess dismissed, sitting back on her seat and sipping her tea.
"Thank you, Princess," Ivy smiled, bowing to the princess. Once again, she was grateful that the princess was not such a troublesome person. As for the heroine in the book, she just sat aside, taking her tea like everything going on around her did not matter.
"Hmmm, go now," the princess nodded shortly, and Ivy left, stealing a glance at the heroine before completely leaving.
Ivy arrived at the mermaid spring, where several men were swimming around a sleeping man. The man was as fine as a jewel.
"Look at those tight muscles. Look at his..." one mermaid said, swimming closer.
"Ha, he's so charming. I know, sister. Is he taken?" another purple mermaid giggled and said, swimming over to touch his raven-dark hair.
"We could be his many mates. I so want to touch his chest," the mermaid giggled, playing in the water and stealing glances at the man like he was a treasure.
"Oh god, he's asleep. We should touch him. He won't feel anything. Maybe he's as horny as we are," the older mermaid said boldly, moving closer and feeling more of his chest.
"Oh my gosh, sisters, his skin is so soft and... and like I wanna..." the mermaid squeaked.
The man they were touching was none other than Lucien. He had come to the mermaid spring to cool himself, and he had entered his inner realm, his body disconnected from his soul.
Ivy, who had been watching from the sidelines, had enough of everything. She came out of her hiding place and commanded.
"Get your hands off my man!"