“No, no, no! It’s not that you are a rabbit, but his red eyes are not so hideous.”

I tried to fix the words I blurted out in a hurry, but it didn’t work well. Theodore’s expression, still frowning, said so.

“And now your eyes are not red.”

“……”

“You seem to be fine. It looks like your injuries have healed too.”

Certainly, Theodore looked much better than before.

His lips, which had been pale and dying, were now clean, and the large and small bruises on his face and hands were also healed.

And Theodore’s eyes had returned to their original purple color.

Seeing Theodore in such a neat state, I could tell that he was really handsome.

Underneath the naturally swept black hair, Theodore’s features were clear and neat.

Unlike his slender jawline, his tightly closed lips looked somewhat fierce, and his straight nose was just right, neither too high nor too low.

His eyes, with their appropriately sized double eyelids, were deeply sunken due to the hardships of the past few days, but it only seemed to accentuate his decadence, as if it was makeup intended to do so.

On top of that, his mysterious purple eyes were looking at me.

He was absolutely perfect.

“Yes. It’s all thanks to you.”

“Thank you for recognizing that…….”

“What the hell did you do to me?”

Except for his memory.

“Answer me right now.”

Theodore spoke in a growling voice, a trademark of the exhausted male lead.

I chuckled at how a person could growl. But it seemed possible for a being called the male lead.

From his glaring eyes, I could feel the wildness of a beast. The angry voice that scratched at his throat, the words that he chewed out, and the rough breath that came out through gritted teeth all created such an atmosphere.

And what was important was that he looked handsome even in such a state.

If ordinary women saw him, they would unknowingly sigh and yearn for his growling.

“Isn’t it more accurate to say that Theodore did something to me, rather than me doing something?”

However, that was not my taste. I preferred a faithful dog wagging its tail to me than a growling dog. Ah, of course, a large breed!

Thanks to my taste, I was able to say what I had to say rather than being captivated by his appearance.

In addition, as evidence of my words, I stretched out my arm in front of Theodore. This wound, roughly wrapped in a ragged cloth, meant to show that it was what he had done.

The clever Theodore seemed to understand what I wanted to say, and he just stared at my arm.

“Is this all?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking if this is all that you’re talking about that I did.”

He asked with a very suspicious expression. Not only that, he even scrutinized every corner of my face and body, as if looking for other wounds.

“Do you really not remember?”

Instead of answering my question, Theodore frowned deeply. From his expression, it seemed like he really couldn’t remember.

‘Does he have no memory during the fit of madness? Because he was half out of his mind?’

Perhaps it could have been. In the novel, only the process of Theodore having a seizure and calming it down was depicted.

There was no scene where Theodore recalled the memory of that afterward.

“Well, this is all there is.”

“That can’t be possible, right?”

“But this is really all there is.”

Theodore was still looking at me with doubtful eyes.

He should be glad that I was less hurt, but instead, he was suspicious that I wasn’t badly injured.

From the start, his question about what he did to me seemed to be asking how he could have returned to his senses when I was perfectly fine.

That wasn’t a good thing for me.

If he had any doubts, or if he thought I wasn’t charming enough, he might look for another pink-haired witch.

And he might find the beautiful witch named ‘Astella Gratia’.

That can’t happen! My sister has to run far away and live well!

“Perhaps it was because it wasn’t to your taste?”

“Taste?”

“Yes. Normally, if the food doesn’t suit your taste, you chew it a bit more.”

Of course, I eat well without doing that.

“Maybe you chewed only a little because I wasn’t to your taste, Theodore?”

“It’s true that you’re not exactly my taste.”

Theodore’s head tilted slightly. It seemed he was drawn to my picky eating theory. Good! Let’s push him this way!

“As expected!”

I clapped my hands with a smack sound, acting as if we had finally found the answer together.

“I am very! Definitely! Not at all your type, Theodore!”

“Why are you laughing?”

“Huh?”

“I just said you’re not my type and you laughed brightly.”

It seemed like things were going according to my plan, so I must have laughed without realizing it. And it seemed that Theodore didn’t like that.

“No, no way. I’m actually feeling very distressed inside right now.”

“Your face doesn’t seem to show it though?”

“I usually have a smiling face.”

“……”

“And, I only have one, but this is a really serious injury!”

I quickly pulled out the cloth that I had torn from my skirt and tied up yesterday, as Theodore seemed not to believe me.

There were still scabs stuck on the pair of round wounds that looked like they had been bitten by a dog.

Moreover, because I had hastily tied it with one hand, the wound hadn’t been properly staunched and blood had seeped out, causing dried blood to stick to my skin.

Thanks to that, it looked much worse than the original wound.

“……”

Theodore was staring intently at my wound.

“……”

As he stared too intently, I began to feel uneasy.

Is this not enough? Then how can I make it look painful? I’ve been so robust all my life that I’ve never even caught a common cold, so I don’t really know what it feels like to be sick!

What happened in the novel if the female lead lost too much body fluid?

‘Fainting!’

A lightning-like answer came to mind.

The female lead always, always fainted. That’s how the scene ended. The vigorous male lead never ended it first.

“Ah! Maybe it’s because I lost too much blood yesterday, I feel faint…!”

I pretended to stagger, holding my forehead with one hand. And just as I was about to collapse, I saw a wall in that direction.

If I fell this way, I would definitely hit my head against the wall.

‘Good. Then towards the side without a wall!’

With that decision, I pretended to stagger and turned my body to the right.

The moment I hit the floor would hurt a bit, but there was no other way to get out of the current situation.

“Aah! I’m so dizzy!”

Leaving a very feeble line behind, I collapsed sideways.

‘Eek! My hip bone!!’

Thanks to my best effort to cushion my fall with my hand, the rest of my body was fine, but when my protruding hip bone hit the stone floor of the underground dungeon, it hurt enough to make me tear up a bit.

But I couldn’t cry out in pain or grimace. Because I was supposed to be unconscious now.

“……”

It was just quiet.

“……”

Theodore didn’t say anything.

“……”

I just felt a piercing gaze.

‘Did he notice that I was pretending to be unconscious?’

My heart pounded. I had a strong desire to sneak a peek and see what Theodore was doing.

But what if I open my eyes and meet Theodore’s purple eyes?

‘Ah, no! I can’t, I mustn’t.’

I clenched my eyelids tight! and bit my teeth hard! suppressing the urge to open my eyes.

“Take this child to her room.”

And finally, as a reward for my effort, the words of approval came out of Theodore’s mouth.

Thank goodness. It seemed like Theodore was fooled by my pitiful acting.

Oh my! Could I have a talent for acting? It might be a national loss that I’m just quietly being sucked dry here.

I could run to the capital right now, join the most famous theatre troupe, and become an actor who can grasp both wealth and honor at once! That could be my destiny!

“If you had a conscience, you should wake up and walk, but it seems like you don’t.”

…Apparently not.

“I’m sorry. I’ll get up and walk on my own.”

I quickly got up from my spot and trudged out.

It was a pathetic exit. Sob sob.

* * *

Theodore’s mouth curled up as he watched Lenatis walking out of the underground dungeon.

He could somewhat bear her exaggerated acting, like an extra in a wandering theatre troupe, her trembling as she bit her lip and endured the pain from falling and hitting somewhere, and her eyelids trembling when he stared at her.

But when Theodore pointed out her fake fainting and she obediently got up from her spot and went outside, he couldn’t help but laugh thinking about Lenatis’s face turning bright red, though she pretended nothing was wrong.

“Pfft!”

And when the pink hair completely disappeared down the stairs of the underground dungeon, Theodore burst out laughing that he had been holding back.

Of course, Lenatis didn’t see Theodore like that. And she didn’t know at all that he laughed because of her.

T/N: LMAO SO ADORABLE