The Unlikely Imprint of the Villainess and the Male Lead - Chapter 44

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Chapter 44

Translator: Yonnee

—

‘I must have overexerted myself, and now I’m paying the price.’

Unable to resist Mary’s fussing, Luciana had ended up receiving a check-up. Even though the diagnosis was nothing more than a mild cold, she found herself lying in bed as if she were a patient in need of complete bed rest.

Her sleep schedule had already been all over the place while she reviewed materials and conducted experiments, and now the added stress from the mating season had taken a toll on her condition.

‘Father seemed quite worried. If I’m prevented from staying up late to work, it’ll be a problem…’

And it was all because of that darn male lead.

As her thoughts continued to wander, Luciana’s cheeks puffed in irritation as she suddenly remembered his dark, fiery eyes.

“Lucy, look at me.”
“Is this where it feels good?”
“Damn, your whole body smells so sweet.”

Richt, with his intense passion, had acted like a character from an R-rated novel, savoring every moment of the night.

His crimson gaze, as if he couldn’t bear to be separated from her, seemed burned into her memory, appearing vividly every time she closed her eyes.

“…The more I think about it, the more absurd it feels.”

A weight settled in the center of her chest, constricting her as though she’d swallowed something wrong.

The man who had stared at her so tenderly, completely different from the cold demeanor she had seen this morning, reappeared in her mind, poking at her with a thorny, bitter feeling.

“Did I tell him to act that way? Why is he taking it out on me?”

From the way he’d pushed her aside that morning to every other unfair reaction, she felt wronged.

“If he was going to treat me like this, he shouldn’t have pretended to be so kind in the first place…”

She mumbled softly to herself, her voice heavy with frustration. She covered her eyes with one arm, trying to shove the memories rolling around in her head far, far away.

‘It’s infuriating. I can’t stand this.’

The forced attachment of the mark and spending that night with him—it all stemmed from that unnatural imprint.

Richt’s actions during his rut must have stemmed solely from that imprint.

‘I suppose remembering himself suddenly becoming another person must be unbearable.’

She’d long known that Richt wanted to sever the imprint. After all, he wasn’t someone who naturally leaned toward kindness.

As unpleasant as his behavior had been, she could overlook it as an annoying but minor offense.

But despite herself, Luciana couldn’t stop feeling a strange stirring whenever she thought about Richt’s contrasting attitudes. Realizing this, she bit her lip in frustration.

The gentle words he’d whispered to her the night before and the way his touch had moved with care, as if handling fragile glass…

She couldn’t deny that something about it had made her feel a slight, fluttering warmth. Even though it was just a tiny, fleeting feeling, it had unsettled her.

Maybe that was why. Every time she remembered Richt’s cold dismissal, she couldn’t shake off the feeling of having been played with.

“If only I hadn’t drunk so much that night, none of this would have happened.”

But who could she blame? She’d been the one happily drinking, after all. How had one simple mistake led her to this point?

“…Hopefully, his rut won’t come around again.”

She had no desire to experience such an exhausting, frustrating ordeal twice.

“From now on, I’ll have to stay sharp.”

One way or another, she was determined to sever the imprint before the end of the year.

With the resolution of a soldier in a life-or-death struggle, Luciana made her vow and gradually drifted into sleep.

* * *

“…It’s already been three days.”

A weary voice slipped out in resignation.

As he had been looking over documents in his office, Richt put down the stack of papers in his hand.

He couldn’t focus on his work. Every line of text seemed overlaid with an image of Luciana’s face.

She popped into his mind while he ate, again before he slept, and countless times in between.

For three days now, he’d been plagued by memories of Luciana, relentlessly intruding at any time or place—and it had all started after the mating season ended.