A husky voice and full lips touched her forehead.

For a very long time. After a long moment, his lips parted with a heavy sigh.

“…….”

Pandora stood dumbfounded, pursing her dry lips.

[If one day I get to share a goodnight kiss with you……. will I be able to say good morning back to you from the bottom of my heart?]

She said that to him this the morning. She muttered it to herself.

She didn’t expect or hope for anything.

And yet, because of those words, Erf did not disappear, but stood guard at the manor.

“You were waiting for me?”

Pandora’s voice quivered shallowly.

‘I do not love this man.’

‘All I have sought is the small pleasure of brushing lips and pretending to be a lover with him, not the sharing of a heart.’

The words she’d been repeating to herself seemed to flutter like a candle in the wind.

Erf did not answer Pandora’s question.

“……Good night.”

He simply waved good night and pushed past her, heading for the front door.

The man’s long legs stomped away, his broad back bellowing.

“This kind of thing is for kids!”

Pandora said, sounding somewhat disgruntled and a little cranky.

Erf, who had started for the door, stopped short.

Pandora turned toward him and reached out her free hand. Her fingertips brushed the hem of his shirt.

It was an ambiguous distance, not close enough to touch, but far enough away that she felt like she could reach out and grab him.

Pandora hated that ambiguity.

She hated the ambiguity, standing on tiptoe, unable to cross the black line, unable to step back.

Pandora took a step forward. Her wandering hand touched the man’s arm.

“This is how grown-ups kiss goodnight.”

She slipped her hand into his strong arm and pulled him close. The ambiguous distance closed in an instant.

Pandora closed her eyes, lifted her chin, and stretched her lips forward.

“…….”

“…….”

All she had to do was put her spoon on the table, but after a long moment, Erf didn’t respond.

Pandora became embarrassed and tried to tuck her lips in.

At that moment, a large hand cupped both her cheeks and pulled her in, capturing her lips.

Instead of pulling away with a light kiss on the forehead, Erf swallowed Pandora’s breath hungrily.

His hot lips pressed in fiercely, as if pent-up emotions were being released. A dizzying sensation that threatened to melt her entire body raced through her mind.

Pandora stumbled back a step, and Erf’s legs snaked around her, pulling her closer. He didn’t want to allow any space.

Pandora clutched at the collar of Erf’s shirt as they kissed, breathlessly. Her chest rose and fell with her rapid breathing. Their hearts thumped together, pounding in their ears, on their toes, and leaping from their entwined lips.

It was the hottest, most intense goodnight kiss in the world.

When their lips slowly parted, Pandora was scooped up by Erf and carried up the stairs.

‘He’s taking me to my room.’

Pandora opened her bleary eyes and looked down into Erf’s face.

Everything was dark and blurry, but the violet eyes that met hers were clear.

Pandora cupped his face with her fingertips.

“Doctor.”

“……Yes.”

Pandora never asked him a question.

Who are you?

Where did you came from?

Why do you so casually stir up the pot, and then remain silent as if you know nothing?

[Anna. Do you know what the doctor’s name is?]

[What’s the doctor’s name? He’s Dr. John Rail].

Erf Darling. And how he came to have such a strange name.

She was too scared to ask.

She was afraid that if she questioned him, he would vanish as mysteriously as he had appeared, like a ghost.

But now she wanted answers.

This strange man who had entered her life over and over again.

The identity of this one and only ‘error’.

“I heard something creepy out there today.”

“Yeah.”

“They say there’s a mean ghost walking around here that comes into a woman’s room when she’s alone, does bad things, and then disappears.”

“Yes.”

“I’m scared to be alone, can’t you just stay with me until I fall asleep?”

Pandora, the master of excuses.

She’s too much of a coward to ask him directly what she wants to know, or to just say she wants to stay with him longer, so she’s always going around in circles, making one excuse or another to hold onto Erf.

But it was also Erf’s fault that Pandora had become such a habitual liar.

It was Erf who was always willing to listen and accept her excuses, which, if he listened carefully, made no sense at all.

As they stopped in front of the door, Erf asked.

“……Are you scared of ghosts and not scared of me?”

“What?”

“What if I do something bad to you?”

His low voice tickled her ears.

Pandora looked up, her eyes darting around, and then she giggled under her breath, like a child preparing for a naughty prank.

“What bad thing would you like to do to me?”

[T/N: ARGGGHHHHH I CANT TAKE THIS ANYMORE]

Pandora’s lips lingered on the top of Erf’s head.

“Something like this?”

Erf’s black hair shimmered with white, but Pandora didn’t see it and continued her mischief.

She pressed her lips to his right cheek, then his left.

“Or this?”

She could feel his breath tickling her.

Click. Holding Pandora still with one arm, Erf opened the bedroom door with the other and stepped inside, pushing the doorway closed with his back.

“Pandora, you are far too innocent.”

Pandora’s body tilted back as she clung to Erf like a cicada. The fluffy comforter wrapped around her back.

“You need to have a sense of danger.”

Laying Pandora down on the bed, Erf took her hand and kissed her palm.

Tsup. It sounded cute, but the lingering kiss was tinged with real desire.

Pandora twitched her fingers in a tickle, then smiled softly.

“All the time, every day, continuously. Am I supposed to feel threatened by a man who fidgets in fear of hurting me?”

This must be the first time he’d ever kissed her, but Pandora remembered Erf’s careful, affectionate kisses on countless other days.

The way he handled her like she was a precious, fragile jewel.

Look at this. Even now, he’s sitting on the edge of the bed, fiddling with her hands, verbally scaring her that he’d do something bad.

When she point this out, Erf’s sigh tickles her fingers.

“Do you know how much I…….”

Kurururuk.

Erf is interrupted by the unmistakable chime of Pandora’s belly clock.

Pandora cursed her stomach for not recognizing the mood.

“I’ll go downstairs and get dinner ready.”

“Let’s eat together, okay?”

Fearing that Erf would walk away after telling he’ll go downstairs and prepare dinner, Pandora grabbed him by the shoulders.

“If you hold on to me like that…….”

“?”

“No, don’t worry, I’ll stay with you until you go to bed.”

Erf brushed the disheveled hair from Pandora’s forehead and stood up.

???????? ?? ???

“Oh my, doctor. You still haven’t left?”

Anna, who had come up with the prepared meal, asked curiously.

“My lady, she needs to be fed, cleaned up, and put to bed.”

“I told you to bring two servings, Anna. Doctor will eat with me.”

“Ay~ I thought you were going to eat with me.”

“Hmm. Just because you’re pretty doesn’t mean I’ll eat with you..”

From the 40th June 9th, when I was forcibly taken to the exhibition after getting injured from falling from the window, you were already out, you know?

My quack worries when I cough and gives me lemon tea!

He’s not exactly a doctor, but so what.

After all, Pandora is stuck in a time loop and can’t get sicker, better, or even old.

Pandora grumbled and hugged Erf’s arm tightly.

“Miss is also quite something. You say that, but you love me~ Anyway, you’re just not honest!”

Whether Pandora glared or not, Anna grinned and set the table.

“Awww. Look at me. You have guests in the studio.”

“Guests?”

“The crown prince, the archduke, and Sir Eugene. Oh, and Priest Noel is here, too.”

“Eh? Why are they here?”

“I thought they had an appointment with the lady?”

“They don’t.”

Pandora answered nonchalantly, then remembered the daytime exhibit. The voices of the male leads who had been looking for her all day.

‘They’re here to criticize me for a lousy exhibit!’

The thought of being called a disgrace to the country for putting on such a show, and that she didn’t deserve to be called a painter, thrilled her.

Another thing changed. Her day had changed.

She thought maybe it was a meaningless gesture.

Pandora was painting a colorful picture over the repeating strip of Mobius[1].

“Well, I didn’t realize it because I was taking a nap until you arrived, but the butler showed them to the drawing room and served them tea, and then one by one they came in, and the Crown Prince and the Archduke said they were going to see your workshop until you arrived, and Sir Eugene and Priest Noel, who came in late, said it would be rude to go into a workshop without the master, so I offered to take them both to the drawing room, but they haven’t returned yet.”

“Hm. I see.”

“As soon as I heard the sound of your carriage earlier, I ran out to the front door with the butler to let you know, and just then you two…….”

Anna omitted her next words and grinned conspiratorially.

She had caught Pandora kissing Erf and completely forgotten to announce their arrival.

Erf’s face flushed red.

[1] Mobius strip