Chapter 176: Have I Been Drugged?

For a brief moment after Luna’s confession, it felt as if something in the air had changed.

A quiet spark seemed to pass between them.

They looked at each other with an intensity that neither of them had expected, something deep and warm stirring beneath the surface.

Luca’s eyes had softened, holding an affection that Luna had never quite seen before, while Luna herself looked back at him with a small, silent smile that carried all the love and sincerity she had just confessed.

Inside, however, she was burning.

Her heart was beating so loudly she was certain he could hear it.

She had never said something like that before.

Never confessed something so bold and embarrassing.

It was probably the most unnerving thing she had ever admitted in her entire life.

And yet…

She didn’t regret it.

Now she only wondered what would happen next.

And then—she saw it.

He was moving.

Not his body. But his head was tilting, leaning forward, and his lips were slowly, deliberately, approaching hers.

Understanding crashed into her like a wave.

’He’s…going to kiss me on my lips.’

Her first kiss.

The thought exploded in her head like fireworks.

Her heart instantly began racing even faster than before, and she felt an overwhelming urge to jump up and down from pure excitement.

But she forced herself to stay still, holding everything in so she wouldn’t ruin the moment.

Carefully, she gathered her courage.

Her eyes slowly closed.

Her lips puckered slightly.

She had never imagined this moment before.

Unlike many other elves who spent their time dreaming about romantic encounters with handsome warriors or brilliant archers, Luna had spent most of her life focused on proving herself worthy in her mother’s eyes.

Romance had never really crossed her mind.

But right now…

Right now she felt just like any other girl who had fallen in love.

And the thought that she was about to receive her first kiss made her so emotional that she felt like she might cry.

’It’s finally happening.’ She thought, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes. ’My first kiss is finally—’

But…bothing happened.

She waited. A second. Two seconds. Three.

Still nothing.

’Maybe I need to lean in more.’ She thought, and pushed forward slightly.

But still nothing.

Confusion crept in. Slowly, hesitantly, she opened one eye.

And what she saw made her heart stop.

His face wasn’t tilted toward hers. His lips weren’t approaching.

He wasn’t even in the same emotional state she was in.

Instead, his expression was one of utter, complete, bewildered confusion like he was trying to solve the most complex puzzle of his life and coming up empty.

And he wasn’t looking at her face.

He was looking down. At his lap. At the space between them where she was sitting.

Luna followed his gaze, dread pooling in her stomach.

There was nothing there. No insect. No strange object.

Nothing but the normal fabric of his pants and her legs straddling him.

But Luca’s face told a different story.

He looked genuinely troubled—more troubled than she had ever seen him since arriving in the village.

Like he was facing some existential crisis that had no easy solution.

“Luca?” Her voice was small, uncertain. “What’s wrong?”

Luca didn’t look up. His voice, when it came, was strained.

“Luna…I think I need you to step outside for a moment.”

Luna’s heart stopped.

“What?” Panic flooded her. “Why? Did I do something wrong?”

Her mind raced through every possibility.

Had she misunderstood? Had she pushed too far? Was he rejecting her?

Luca finally looked up, and despite his troubled expression, his eyes were warm.

“No. No, you didn’t do anything wrong. Not at all.”

He looked back down at his lap.

“I just…need to check out something. So I need a moment.”

Before Luna could process this, Luca was standing, lifting her gently from his lap and setting her on her feet.

He took her shoulders and began guiding her toward the door.

“Just give me a second. Please. Step outside and wait for me there. I’ll be right out.”

Luna stumbled forward, utterly bewildered.

“But—Luca—the kiss—we were going to—”

She couldn’t even finish the sentence before Luca had gently pushed her through the doorway.

He paused at the threshold, his expression pained but resolute.

“Just give me a few minutes, Luna. I’m sorry, just—give me some time to myself.”

And he closed the door.

Luna stood in the soft lantern light outside, staring at the closed door with her mouth hanging open.

One moment, she had been seconds away from her first kiss.

The next, she was standing alone in the night, pushed out of the house like an afterthought.

Her mind spiraled through every possibility.

Had she done something wrong?

Had she misunderstood everything?

Was he not interested after all?

Had she made a fool of herself?

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

She hugged herself, feeling small and foolish and desperately hoping that whatever was happening had nothing to do with her.

That Luca would open the door and explain everything and make it all okay.

She waited, heart pounding, praying to any god who might be listening that she hadn’t messed up something beautiful before it even began.

—

While Luna stood outside the tree house worrying and staring at the closed door, inside the house Luca was having a problem of his own.

A very serious one.

He was pacing back and forth across the living room, running his hands through his hair as he muttered to himself in utter confusion.

“What the hell…what the hell is going on?”

He stopped for a moment, staring down at himself like he expected his body to explain something.

“Why am I reacting like this? What’s wrong with me?”

He looked completely bewildered.

Finally, he sat down heavily on one of the chairs and rubbed his forehead in frustration.

“This isn’t supposed to happen.” He muttered. “I’m not supposed to react like this. Why the hell am I acting like this all of a sudden?”

Just moments ago everything had been perfectly normal.

More than normal.

It had been warm.

Wholesome.

Loving.

Luna had confessed her feelings with complete sincerity, and Luca had understood exactly what was about to happen next.

He had no intention of rejecting her.

In fact, he had leaned forward himself, ready to accept the moment.

He had been going in for the kiss.

And honestly…he had been looking forward to it.

But then—

Something inside him had suddenly changed.

Out of nowhere a powerful urge had surged through his body.

Not the gentle warmth someone would normally feel in that situation.

Not the soft desire to protect the girl who had just confessed to you, to hold her gently, cherish her, and return her affection.

No.

This urge had been something else entirely.

Something darker.

Something far more primal.

Lust.

An overwhelming, violent kind of lust that shocked even him.

The thought had flashed through his mind with terrifying clarity: Pin her down. Ravage her. Devour her piece by piece until she’s nothing but a moaning, trembling mess.

It was so sudden, so visceral, so completely out of character that he had physically recoiled from it.

And in that moment of shock, he had realized—he couldn’t trust himself. Not with Luna. Not right now.

So he had pushed her out. Away from him. To safety.

Now he sat alone, trying to understand what had gone wrong.

This wasn’t like him at all.

Luca had always prided himself on his control.

He had lived long enough, experienced enough, trained enough that his emotions were his servants, not his masters.

In any situation—even the most extreme—he could remain calm, composed, in command.

Even if a hundred naked elves surrounded him and pressed their bodies against his, he would still be able to think clearly.

He was confident in that. Certain of it.

Yet just now, sitting there with Luna on his lap, something had cracked.

Instead of calm restraint, his body had suddenly been filled with a burning desire that felt almost impossible to suppress.

The urge to grab her, claim her, make her moan beneath him, and mark her as his woman had surged up so suddenly that it frightened him.

It didn’t feel like something that belonged to him.

It felt as if another part of him had taken control for a moment.

As if the deeper instincts he had buried far inside himself were clawing their way out.

And that was exactly why he had pushed Luna out of the room so quickly.

For her sake.

Still, the more he thought about it, the more confused he became.

He leaned back in the chair, staring at the ceiling while scratching his head in frustration.

“I don’t get it…”

He exhaled slowly. But he couldn’t deny the obvious facts either.

While Luna had been sitting on his lap earlier, her body had been constantly brushing against him.

Her soft body pressing against him. The way she shifted and wiggled, her firm little bottom rubbing against his thighs.

When she had straddled him to make her point, her breasts had pressed against his chest.

He had noticed all of it. Of course he had. He was a man, not a statue.

But he had controlled it. As always. He had acknowledged the desire, filed it away, and remained focused on the conversation.

So why had it suddenly burst free?

Why had the lock on his emotions seemed to crack, releasing thoughts and urges that should have remained buried?

Luca’s mind raced through possibilities.

Maybe someone had slipped something into his food?

Some kind of aphrodisiac designed to make him lose control?

But he shook his head almost immediately.

That was impossible. His body was resistant to most poisons and foreign substances—at least, any he had encountered in his previous world.

Even if something existed here that could affect him, he would have noticed the taste, the smell, something.

Next thought: a spell. Some kind of magic designed to amplify libido, turn a person into a beast driven by base desires.

But again, that didn’t fit.

Mana in this world was weak—barely a whisper of what it once had been.

Any spell powerful enough to affect someone of his strength and mental fortitude would require an immense amount of energy.

Energy that simply didn’t exist anymore.

He crossed that off too.

Maybe it was something in the fruit he’d been eating?

Some natural compound that increased desire?

That made even less sense.

If the fruit had such properties, every elf in the village would be walking around in a constant state of arousal.

They’d have pounced on him the moment he arrived. Clearly, that wasn’t happening.

Possibility after possibility, he examined and discarded them all.

Then one thought surfaced. One that made a horrible, terrible kind of sense.

He looked up.

Not at the ceiling. Through it. Beyond it.

Past the tree branches and the night sky and the clouds and stars, to something far higher. Something he had been trying not to think about.

The Goddess.

She had brought him here. She had given him his mission. She had, presumably, set the rules that bound him—the restrictions that prevented him from simply slaughtering Julius and his ilk without cause.

And now this?

But he couldn’t jump to conclusions. He needed proof.

Needed to be certain that this wasn’t just some malfunction in his own mind, some crack in his legendary self-control that had finally given way.

There was a way to test it.

A horrible, terrible, absolutely dreadful way.

Slowly, reluctantly, Luca turned his head.

On the small kitchen counter, a cleaver hung from the wall looking sharp, clean, deadly.

His gaze then traveled downward.

To his crotch.

Where, despite everything, a unmistakable mountain had formed.

Luca let out a long, weary sigh.

“I really, really don’t want to do this.” He muttered to himself.

But he knew he had no choice.

If he was going to accuse a Goddess of tampering with his mind, he needed to be absolutely certain that the fault wasn’t his own.

That his legendary control wasn’t simply failing him at the worst possible moment.

And there was only one way to test that.

He stood slowly, his eyes fixed on the knife.

“…This is going to hurt.”

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