Hearing that, Yuri also lowered her head a little to sniff the smell coming from her. Once she reached her shoulders, her nose twitched slightly. Like Lakis said, there was indeed a smell of perfume. The sharp but cool scent was similar to the smell on Dominic Crawford whom she met not long ago.

The smell must have gotten on Yuri when she was riding in the carriage with him earlier. Even so, most of it should have evaporated while she was walking back home but to think he noticed it.

Then again, maybe Yuri’s nose had gotten used to Dominic’s perfume in that time span, so she just didn’t notice that the remaining smell was thicker than expected.

“The smell was all over the carriage, it must have gotten on my clothes.”

Yuri skipped all the inside details and gave a simple explanation.

“Carriage?”

At that, Lakis’ brows furrowed slightly.

He didn’t understand why Yuri took a carriage after leaving the coffeehouse.

“Yes, I stopped by the shopping mall in the next neighborhood for a bit.”

Only then did Lakis notice the boxes Yuri had dropped by her side. He was distracted by something earlier, so he wasn’t paying attention but now that he thought about it, she wasn’t empty-handed when she came inside.

“I needed a few things, so I went to buy them.”

Lakis’ brows were still furrowed, and he clicked his tongue under his breath.

“You shouldn’t have gone to such a dangerous place alone.”

And when she heard his following unhappy remark, Yuri wasn’t quite sure whether to laugh or not and her eyes narrowed.

To say a shopping mall was dangerous, how dangerous could it be? Of course, the shopping mall she went to last time had a record of an explosion but…that was an extremely rare case.

“If I think that way, I won’t be able to go anywhere. Then everything outside the blanket is dangerous.”

“You’re right. Everything outside the blanket is dangerous.”

“…I was just saying that, you know?”

Even though Yuri brought it up trivially, Lakis affirmed her words seriously. Seeing him like this, Yuri felt a little speechless.

Lakis was unconcerned about that and stared at Yuri like he was dissatisfied then he moved his hand.

His long fingers touched Yuri’s hair which was cast over her shoulders. Soon Lakis took a handful of her black hair and brought it to his face.

Yuri stared at Lakis’ eyelashes which were once again lowered slightly.

“How much perfume did that guy spray on himself for such a thick smell.”

A deep, low voice flowed from Lakis like he was talking to himself.

Lakis didn’t like the unfamiliar smell coming off Yuri. Even more so when it’s an man’s perfume. It was natural for him to feel unhappy when there was another man’s smell on the woman he liked.

He was currently in front of Yuri so he could only say it nicely, but he originally wanted to say ‘What kind of stupid bum goes around pouring such a disgusting smell on himself?’.

—Seriously. Are you jealous of perfume now?

The bug in his head spoke like this was ridiculous.

—It’s not like the landlady came back after meeting another man, it’s just the smell left behind by the guy who rode the carriage before her.

At that, Lakis’ attitude did a complete 180 from when he faced Yuri, and he thundered chillingly.

‘Shut up. I’m sure I told you keep your trap shut when I’m with Yuri?’

—I…I’m just talking to myself, OK? You idiot!‘All I hear is bullshit. Anyways, don’t sore my ears and just be quiet.’

Right then, when Lakis was having a scuffle with the voice in his head.

Yuri, who was looking at Lakis, opened her mouth and said abruptly:

“Mr. Lakis. Can you close your eyes for a second?”

At those words, Lakis came to his senses with a start and looked up. As he did so, Yuri’s face which was still very close to him, came into his sight. She was looking straight into Lakis’ eyes. As he met those red eyes akin to rubies, Lakis was undoubtedly captivated.

Her lips which were as red as her eyes moved slightly in front of Lakis’ eyes.

“Close your eyes and stay still for a bit.”

A softly whispered breath tickled his face.

“…I should close my eyes?”

When Lakis repeated her request, Yuri blinked her eyes as if to say he’d heard properly.

The sight of Yuri staring unchangingly at him like she was waiting made Lakis’ heart pound like before.

‘This atmosphere, could it be…?’

His ears which were covered by his hair began to redden a little. Something about it was ticklish and soft, and somehow, he felt anxious enough that he found it difficult to stay still.

—Wow, sometimes this woman just strikes like this. Maybe she’s actually a player?

Even though he had told it not to bark in his head, right now he couldn’t even hear the bug’s blabbering nonsense.

‘She wants me to close my eyes and stay still…what is she going to do when I close my eyes?’

Lakis looked at the person in front of him who was calmly staring at him then he couldn’t control it anymore and lifted his hand to cover his mouth.

‘Ah, damn it…why is she so cute, seriously.’

Even when she was just standing there, she looked beautiful and lovely but when she was acting so cute, he didn’t know how long his heart could last.

Either ways, since Yuri wanted it, there was naturally no reason why he couldn’t do such a minor thing.

Following that, Lakis lowered his eyelids like Yuri asked.

“Okay, I’ve closed it.”

At that, Yuri nodded as if to say he had done well then she said:

“Don’t move.”

After closing his eyes, his other senses became more sensitive. Upon hearing Yuri’s voice ringing in his ears, Lakis felt subtly nervous.

He felt Yuri slowly drawing closer and his heartbeat quickened and grew increasingly irregular. Somehow, it felt like his mouth was parched with thirst.

And the very next moment, a certain warmth flittingly touched somewhere unexpected. Lakis’ eyes reflexively trembled. In that moment, a question mark arose in his mind.

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, but your eyelashes are really pretty. They look like they were sprinkled with golden powder.”

Following that, when he heard a little admiration in Yuri’s voice, Lakis’ questions increased.

A delicate set of fingers were caressing his eyes carefully. Lakis’ eyelashes shook at the sensation of Yuri’s finger. Eventually, Lakis opened his eyes.

“Wait. What are you doing…”

“Ah, don’t do that. I almost poked your eyes.”Hearing the voice which was lightly telling him off, Lakis finally understood the situation.

His eyelashes which Yuri praised, moved upwards, revealing a pair of blue eyes which was obviously colder compared to earlier.

“…What are you doing right now?”

He asked because he simply couldn’t believe this situation but not knowing what he was feeling, Yuri calmly replied.

“I’ve always wanted to touch your eyelashes, to be honest.”

And when she added, ‘But that’s not really a place I can easily touch, normally. So since I had the chance, I went for a little,’ it was truly heartless.

—Kh, kekeke…

Right then, a faint snickering sound rang out in his head. It was the sound of someone stifling their laughter.

Realizing that the bug was laughing at him, Lakis instantly wanted to rage. However, he felt like the bug was going to laugh even more if he lost his temper, so he tried to best to press down his anger and lifted his hand to rub his face.

Lakis’ ears which were slightly exposed under his hair were red but for a different reason than before. He felt like a fool for expecting something and misunderstanding by himself.

He felt so wronged that he even felt a little resentful towards Yuri. But how could he have know that Yuri was interested in his eyelashes?

“Now that I think about it…”

Right then, Yuri, who was tilting her head, leaned forward just like Lakis did a little earlier. This time, her black eyelashes slowly lowered under Lakis’ gaze.

Her long hair fell over Lakis’ shoulders and chest.

Lakis unconsciously held his breath at the sight of Yuri’s face approaching.

Even though he had just experienced disappointment because of his misunderstanding, he couldn’t help his instinctive reaction whenever Yuri was in front of him.

Yuri slightly buried her face in Lakis’ neck then she tucked her flowing hair behind her ear and lifted her head again.

“You smell completely like my house now.”

Lakis froze at the unexpected remark. A moment later, his lips slowly parted.

“I smell like your house?”

“Yeah.”

Yuri nodded at the soft question.

“I think you smell like me. Ah, of course, our bodies smell different so it’s not exactly the same but…maybe it’s because our laundry are the same.”

Yuri brought it up in a casual manner but Lakis couldn’t treat those words casually.

“Sometimes, you’re really like a devil.”

“Excuse me?”

The words that left Lakis’ mouth the next moment made Yuri frown. She was taken aback by the sudden curse but unexpectedly, Lakis was laughing.

He held Yuri’s arm and pulled her towards him.

As his smiling eyes drew a little closer, Yuri realized that the light in his clear blue eyes was darker than usual.

Lakis fully buried his face in Yuri’s neck. Then he took a deep breath. The faint smell of perfume was still there, mixed into the smell that dug into his nose.

Unhappy about that, Lakis moved away from Yuri’s hair and rubbed his nose against the bare skin that was fully exposed beneath it.

“Mr. Lakis, wait. That’s ticklish. Mm…”

Yuri groaned slightly and tried to move her body backwards but Lakis was holding her nape firmly at some point.

Lakis wrapped his other hand around Yuri’s waist and pulled her even closer and soaked in her sweet scent as much as he wanted. Only then did he feel a little satisfied.

“So you think I smell like you?”

However, Lakis’ half-lowered eyes were filled with a much deeper thirst than before.