Under the Same Blanket

Under the pretense of nursing him, Shana stayed by Lucian’s side.

But ever since waking up, Lucian had kept his eyes closed, completely still, as though immersed in deep meditation.

Aside from the irregular rise and fall of his chest and the cold sweat beading across his forehead, he was unnervingly motionless, like stone.

‘He’s probably focusing his mind to recover a body damaged by mana.’

Considering that only a short while ago he had said there was only one thought in his head and even asked to be knocked unconscious, Lucian now looked surprisingly calm.

Only the hand resting on his thigh betrayed him, clenching and unclenching at intervals so tightly that blue veins stood out.

Because Lucian had made it clear he didn’t want her touching him, Shana, despite her worry, could only listen to his breathing.

His condition still looked critical.

‘Once we teleport out, I’ll have to summon imperial physicians immediately.’

For now, all she could do was wait and hope his body recovered even a little on its own.

The problem was that as morning approached, other sounds began to creep in.

At first they were faint, but as time passed they grew more blatant and louder.

From the tent right next to theirs.

And from the one beyond that as well.

‘This is insane.’

They’d said that before the ritual, only acts of love were permitted.

She hadn’t expected the people here to follow that ‘doctrine’ so faithfully.

Each tent had nothing more than a flimsy flap of cloth for an entrance.

Soundproofing was completely out of the question.

‘Should I cover my ears…?

Can Lucian hear this?’

Lucian still had his eyes closed.

It was hard to tell whether he was asleep, awake and pretending, or something in between.

His breathing was relatively steady, but his face twitched faintly now and then, as if in pain.

Unable to endure the embarrassment of the sounds around her, Shana wriggled her fingers and toes.

The air inside the tent felt increasingly hot and suffocating.

‘This must be another effect of that “Moon Dew.”’

The longer time passed, the stronger the effect seemed to become.

That was when she sensed someone outside the tent.

The crunch of dry grass underfoot.

And voices she had heard earlier in the day.

Two male priests who had been overseeing the ritual were walking this way, talking as they went.

“…Why was Levan collapsed over there, anyway?

You don’t think an imperial heretic snuck in, do you?”

At that voice, Shana flinched.

She didn’t know who Levan was, but it had to be the priest she’d knocked out with the protection spell earlier.

‘A-already?’

“Come on, no way.

He probably drank too much during last night’s pre-festival celebration and passed out.”

“Even so, he was out for way too long.

We should check it.”

“…Then maybe it’s one of the newcomers?”

“We’ll know once the purification ritual begins.

For now, let’s just patrol and make sure everyone’s faithfully observing Lord Calis’s doctrine.”

‘Doctrine?

They’re checking that now?

And it’s not like we can escape immediately.’

In Lucian’s current condition, there was no way he could deal with those priests.

Hero of the Empire or not, his body was in no shape for confrontation.

For now, she had no choice but to figure out what this so-called doctrine meant and get through the situation somehow.

‘Are they going to question everyone inside their tents?’

Shana didn’t know much about the Calis cult.

As she tensely watched what was happening outside, one of the priests gave a small nod and headed toward the other tents.

To her surprise, they didn’t enter any of them.

They merely lifted the entrance cloth slightly, glanced inside, and moved on.

‘Wait…

Don’t tell me they mean the doctrine about sharing love before the ritual?

And they’re checking for that?’

That explained why they were moving between tents.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

That meant she had to make it look like she was doing something with the Lucian who lay there unmoving.

Despite the footsteps and presence outside, the other people seemed unconcerned, continuing whatever they were doing.

‘He clearly told me not to touch him…

And of all things, I had to knock out a priest and cause this mess.’

But arousing suspicion now would be even more dangerous.

Shana looked down at Lucian, who still hadn’t moved an inch, and thought quickly.

‘…I don’t know.

As long as it looks like I’m on top of him, that should be enough, right?’

People tend to see exactly what they expect to see.

Lucian rolled his eyes beneath closed lids.

He hadn’t been able to fall asleep at all.

The energy of Moon Dew boiling inside him sharpened every sense, heating his blood until it burned.

He deliberately lay there like a corpse.

Time crawled by at an unnatural pace.

Shana’s small sighs as she worried beside him.

The rustle of fabric whenever she moved.

Even her faint, natural scent reached him with painful clarity.

But the hardest thing to endure was the sound.

The sounds coming from right beside them.

From all around.

Those voices ignited every obscene image of Shana imaginable in his mind, setting fire to the desire he had been barely suppressing.

And then—

“Lucian… are you thirsty?

I could… wet your lips at least…….”

‘Is this a hallucination brought on by Moon Dew?’

The whisper in his ear was dangerously seductive.

It felt as though Shana herself were speaking right beside him.

Just wet his lips?

Shana would never say something like that.

If this were real, Lucian would probably be kissing her every day, every moment.

The fact that his mind could fabricate a voice like this proved he was completely out of his mind.

The brain was truly terrifying.

At this rate, instead of asking to be knocked out, maybe he should have smashed his own head.

But what if—just what if—it wasn’t an illusion?

The thought rose unbidden.

If that were the case, he would grab Shana by the neck, pull her in, and kiss her—

No.

Get a grip.

This was a thin tent with no soundproofing.

Anyone could overhear.

Why was he even thinking about this?

In the end, he couldn’t resist the temptation.

Caught between imagination and restraint, Lucian finally opened his eyes.

As expected, it was a halluci—

‘…What?’

Shana wasn’t saying anything.

But she was undeniably right above him.

“…Shasha?”

She was braced over him, both arms planted on either side of his shoulders.

Her face was stiff with embarrassment and panic.

One of her pale legs rested precariously beside his waist.

Her hands pressed into the ground near his shoulders.

To anyone, it looked exactly like she was about to pounce on him.

Lucian’s mind short-circuited.

Then Shana whispered near his ear in a flustered voice.

“Lucian, y-you’re awake?”

‘…So it wasn’t a hallucination?’

Why was she doing this?

He had clearly warned her to keep her distance.

“Why are you—”

“Shh.”

Shana pressed a finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the tent.

Lucian frowned.

She carefully placed her hands back on his shoulders.

That tiny contact alone sent his heart spiraling out of control.

“They’re checking,” she whispered.

“Checking what?”

Lucian lowered his voice as well.

He desperately avoided looking at the collarbone and waist visible through her clothes.

Even ignoring her breath near his ear was difficult.

“…Whether we’re asleep.”

Asleep.

He understood immediately.

“So they’re peeking to see whether people are ‘sharing love’ or not?”

Which meant she was staging this so she wouldn’t be exposed as an outsider.

Lucian gently but firmly caught her slender wrist.

He hadn’t been ignoring her by pretending to sleep.

Clicking his tongue silently, he grabbed the blanket beside him and draped it over her from shoulders to toes.

Thoroughly.

“Lucian?”

He didn’t care what kind of perverts came to check.

But he would not allow anyone to see even a glimpse of Shana’s body.

The footsteps stopped beside their tent.

Lucian sat up smoothly, pulling Shana onto his lap by the wrist.

Leaning close to her ear, he asked quietly,

“Why are they suddenly checking like this?”

“Uh, well… I’m not really sure either.”

The moment he saw her wavering gaze, Lucian realized the patrol had something to do with her.

He quietly read the mana stored inside her bracelet.

Nearly half of it had already been used.

“Lucian, that doesn’t matter right now!”

Shana urgently gestured toward the tent entrance.

At that moment, the entrance cloth lifted slightly, casting a shadow inside.

Lucian’s hand instinctively wrapped around Shana’s waist beneath the blanket, lightly pressing her hips against his lower abdomen.

“As long as it looks like we’re doing it,” he murmured, “that’s enough, right, Shasha.”