In short, although the witch and Little Mia had both shown some "bad intentions" during the drug trial, it had also proven that the Cat in a Bottle potion worked on Shade as well. This way, there was no need to wait before opening the Time Key again the morning after tomorrow.
Since Miss Galina had arrived in the evening, she naturally had dinner with Shade afterward.
After dinner, she showed no intention of leaving. At first, she and Shade had been discussing Green Lake and the progress of his investigation in the study, but as they talked, they went from sitting opposite one another on either side of the desk to sitting side by side on the same side. Then, somehow, the witch took off her black high heels and very uncivilly placed them on the desk before wrapping an arm around Shade's neck and sitting sideways on his lap. Then, when Tifa entered with the maids to change the water in the teapot and bring fruit, Shade—who had nearly been smothered to death against her chest—finally got a chance to breathe. In the end, somehow, their conversation moved from the study to the bedroom. The usually forceful Duchess rarely revealed such softness and shyness, and Shade felt he could never get enough of the perfume scent called Witches' Taste.
When the witch woke from her dreams on Tuesday morning and held Shade around the neck, refusing to let him get up on time, she asked a very strange question:
"Shade, you said you suspected your own origins. Then, is it possible that you have succubus blood?"
Her fair right hand twirled the tip of her red hair as she brushed it against Shade's cheek.
"What? Galina, how did you think of such a strange question so early in