"My Lord," she whined, feeling her knees getting weaker. Perhaps she would have fallen to the floor if Duke Kleo had not supported her weight.

Gosh, this wasn\'t the first time she\'s kissed a man, this wasn\'t the first time she\'s got the touch of a man, but why was she now so weak and easily aroused? Was it because she had been locked up in Wereal for too long? Or because she was already in love with him?

Her stomach tightened, as he bit and sucked deeper on her neck, and grabbed the chest giving the pleasure. She moaned, trembled until then she managed to pull his face to face her. He was staring at her face which was reddened with weakness.

"Ju-just kiss," she said with difficulty. "Just kisses. You promised…"

Duke Kleo didn\'t even let her continue her words. Her lips parted as she got smashing from his lips rapidly, getting a very drunk licking expansion.

She nearly fell to the floor, her knees suddenly losing ground. He caught her weight and carried her to the bed, laying her down slowly.

Her scattered blond hair, drowning his stout fingers. They pecked, then took a sip. She turned her face away, gasping for air.

"No," Duke Kleo shook his head, impatiently. "You can only get air from my lungs." Then he pulled Lyra\'s neck again, crashing his lips on her, sucking all the air in her cavity, making his cheeks very sunken. When his shoulder got hit by her weak fist, he exhaled, letting her breathe using his lips, like giving artificial respiration.

He grinned, as her body finally relaxed slowly. The grin turned into a smile as he fumbled around the bed and found her hands, leading them to hang on his neck.

\'You\'re only mine, Lyra,\' he thought, during their kiss. \'And you can only breathe and live because of me,\' he continued.

The air slowly rose and burned, like a fire that was scorching the walls of the room, spreading to the surroundings of their bodies. Their skin pores were open, although they were not sweating.

His fingers snaked her bottom neck to the end of the neck, creeping, and trifling all over, until then propping up on her jaw, twirling on her ears.

Choking, Lyra turned her face back again, until she gasped after Duke Kleo devoured her lips without pause as if to emphasize that she could only breathe from him. Gasping, all the air seemed to be squeezed in her stomach, making it as deep as a recess.

He swooped down on her cleavage and feasted on it, spreading on the two bubble balloons, pushing from below as if to lift them and pump them.

She whined in kissing, her legs hit the emptiness, fidgety, begging in silence.

He was snacking to reach under her skirt, wanting to tempt and make her give up, until finally something hit his digestion, rip and prick over and over again. His mind became chaotic, as his emotions still wanted to defend her, but his body said otherwise.

Suddenly he collapsed on top of her body, wincing while whimpering.

She blinked repeatedly, confused. Her face that was red from pleasure suddenly became panicked. "My Lord? What happened?" she asked, trying to examine his face. All she got was a deep cry sound.

"My stomach aches," he groaned with difficulty. His face was wet and sweaty.

Screaming, she immediately shouted for Mr. Bertus. Not long after that Mr. Bertus came with a calm face and gesture, even though he was quite shocked and panicked. Her screams were too pathetic and conveyed a strong emotion of urgency.

The butler didn\'t have time to ask anything when he saw Duke Kleo curled up in pain on top of Lyra\'s struggling body. At the same time, he got information from her about the duke\'s condition.

"He suddenly collapsed with a stomach ache," she explained, her panic expression still unchanged. She was now sitting beside the groaning lying duke on the bed. Her eyes trembled with worry as she waited for the palace healer to arrive.

Several examinations were carried out, and the diagnosis was finally found.

"As usual," the healer said calmly, then packed up the medicine he had brought. "His Grace is having digestive issues, which he\'s been having recently. And the problem is that he doesn\'t take care of his food. From his explanation, it seemed that he had just consumed a sizable amount of too coarse food. But nothing to worry about. He will recover soon. I have increased the dose of the medicine he is taking." Then he left Lyra\'s room, escorted by Mr. Bertus, leaving Lyra and Duke Kleo alone in the room.

Snorting, crying, disappointed. All these emotions were mixed and churned in Lyra\'s heart. Then she shuffled, intending to get out of bed. However, Duke Kleo gripped her little finger weakly.

"Where are you going?" he asked hoarsely, sounding pitiful. "Please accompany me!"

"Why didn\'t you tell me you had digestive problems?" she turned around both annoyed and disgusted with herself. Tears welled up in her eyes as her voice trembled. "You can refuse my cooking if it harms you. Why do you still want to eat it?"

"Because it was cooked by you."

"How can you still smile at a crucial time like this?" she snapped, getting even more irritated after seeing his smile at her. This was not the right time for that.

The smile on his face vanished, replaced by sad eyes. "Why are you yelling at me? What did I do wrong?" His voice still sounded weak, and at the same time weakened her guts to blame him.

"Because you still want to eat my food, even though it\'s dangerous for you."

"Even if you give me poison, I will still eat it." Once again he smiled as if his life was a game.

"Why are you so stupid?"

"Yeah, you make me stupid. What can I do now?" His eyes blinked wistfully. "I\'ve found my future wife, I can no longer use my senses."

"No one knows that we already spent a night, My Lord. And even if everyone knew, a lot of women would still want you."

"What use are they if all I want is you?"

Stunned, Lyra fell silently unable to answer anything. She also didn\'t want to elaborate on the meaning of Duke Kleo\'s words, as his intentions were too obvious.

"You\'re so stupid," she sobbed, wiping her teary eyes.

"Yes," he murmured. "I\'m stupid. And now I\'m sick. Accompany me! I will have trouble sleeping and have a lot of nightmares."

"Looks like you can sleep alone because this digestive problem isn\'t your first time."

"But this is the first time I\'ve experienced it when I\'ve had you," he said meaningfully. "Please? I can\'t do anything bad for you. I can\'t even move my body freely."

His face was extremely pale, it was as if he didn\'t even have enough life to live on, except for his eyes which were still open. Even his breath seemed weak.

Finally, she gave up, crawled back onto the bed, and slid under the warm and thick blanket.

Duke Kleo turned to her. "Come closer! I can\'t even hug you if you lie that far."

"You just want company right?"

"So that I can sleep tight," he corrected. "And it will only work if I hug you."

Once again she gave in, especially since she was his prime suspect of falling ill that night. So she inched closer and buried her face in his arms, feeling both of his arms tightly embracing her.

"My hugs aren\'t bad are they?" he asked slowly, closing his eyes.

\'No,\' Lyra thought. \'It\'s not bad, and it even feels very comfortable.\'

***