Since I had the time, I decided to go look around the village.
I had to muffle my scream when I saw the tremendously terrible sight of the end of the village being buried under the rubble of the collapsed mountain. I could see that the houses that were buried underneath were unlikely to be dug up again.
I also went to the area where they cleared the forest so they could start to expand their village. The trees that were cut down were being trimmed so they could use it to construct their new houses while the timber that they had purchased from outside was piled up neatly in the yard. It seemed like these were the wood that the administrator had ordered from the merchant yesterday since the merchant’s workers were still carrying the timber from the wagon before stacking them down in the yard.
While I was walking around the logging site, I found something that looked like a black balloon hanging in between the branches. When I looked closely, I realized that it was a beehive.
“Ack!”
I shrieked in surprise and finally realized that it was strangely quiet in my surroundings. Then, one of the workers who passed by shouted at me.
“Don’t worry, I already killed all of the bees!”
“Thanks!”
I shouted back at him before examining the beehive more closely. Just like he had said, it was really an empty beehive so I plucked up my courage to poke it. I drilled through the blackened exterior to expose the honey-colored inside that looked strangely similar to the color of my hair. When I poked a hole through, glossy honey flowed out of it.
“What a waste!”
I couldn’t just throw away something like this. I quickly went to the workers to ask for an empty bottle as I scooped up the honey from the clean and char-free inside of the hive. This would be perfect to put in Duke Kyron’s tea.
I felt better when I filled an entire bottle with honey so I went to the doctor and brought him some snacks. The doctor looked like he was wrestling with the patients in the barracks but despite having a small number of patients, the doctor’s expression remained as grave as usual.
❄❅❄
In the afternoon of the next day, I stood in front of the inn and greeted Duke Kyron when he returned. After not seeing him for quite a while, it seemed like his aura had become extremely dignified and more brilliant.
When I saw his expressionless face, I felt relieved that nothing serious had happened to him. But it seemed like it was not necessarily the case. It was because he was a man who still had a face that looked like he was fed up with everything even after he killed the wolves in the forest.
He glanced at me before turning to his vassals that already got down from their horses. That was when my pleasant mood of welcoming him disappeared.
How have you been? I wanted to ask him that face to face. It would have been good if he would greet me and tell me that he had a good trip. I even waited for him too. When Duke Kyron caught my eye, I greeted him loudly.
“How was your trip, Duke?”
Then, Sir Tyra, who was getting off of his horse from beside him, chuckled.
“Do you only see the Duke, Arielsa?”
“How was your trip too, Sir?”
I actually wanted to ask him ‘Sir, did you have a good trip without breaking your leg?’. However, even if Arielsa died again, she wouldn’t dare to say something like that so I tightened my neck before asking about his well-being. But it seemed like that was also a wrong idea. Sir Tyra burst out in laughter as they began to chat among themselves.
“Does falling from the ladder make your voice louder?”
“For a moment, I thought that she was my daughter since she did not resemble Sir George’s voice at all but she’s really his biological daughter!”
“No. It’s probably because she was energized since she had a good rest on her comfortable cushion.”
Duke Kyron went inside the inn while I was busy glaring at them. I glanced at the knights one last time before chasing after Duke Kyron.
When I got to his room, I hurriedly helped him remove his armor. Since I had a light confrontation against the knights, I felt a bit awkward being left alone with Duke Kyron. It was not because I did not like it but because I was embarrassed.
I smiled awkwardly as I spoke to him first.
“How was the East? Since it’s under the Duke’s rule, it must have been peaceful.”
“Right.”
Aaaah. Our short-spoken male lead.
I tried so hard to resent him for that a little bit but just a glance at his side profile that looked like it was perfectly trimmed by a sculpting knife broke my resolve.
That’s right. You’re innocent if you’re handsome.
When he finished changing, I asked him something that I haven’t said in a while.
“Shall I get you some tea?”
“Alright.”
I ran to the kitchen as I quickly prepared some yendel tea with some honey that I gathered before. The yendel herb had a unique scent and a bitter aftertaste. This herb was said to have the effect of boosting vitality and vigor. Adding some sweet honey would be a wonderful way of mellowing the bitterness.
When I re-entered the room, Duke Kyron was resting as he sat on a chair. He was looking out of the window with his legs crossed and a quiet expression on his face. Even his long legs looked so cool.
“Duke, here’s some yendel tea.”
He took the teacup before savoring the scent. Then, he said quietly.
“The scent is different?”
“I added a bit of honey. I found a hive near the new village so I brought the cleanest honey back.”
I wanted to brag that I did not spend my time playing around while the Duke was away but Arielsa would definitely not chatter away so I shut my mouth with regret.
“So you looked around the village?”
I nodded happily at his question.
“Yes.”
“Before they cut down the forest, they made sure to drive away the animals, snakes and insects there. If they had built a new nest then they would relocate the nest somewhere else but if it’s a hive then they have no choice but to smoke it and kill the bees.”
Oh my. Our male lead knows a lot of things.
In fact, for cases like these, I did not know a lot of things. But I was happy that he looked like he was savoring the tea as he listened to my story. So I opened my mouth and blabbered on.
“Shall I prepare your tea like this next time?”
“Yes.”
Duke Kyron nodded briefly before looking back out the window again. I decided to stop being silly and stop pestering him since he looked like he was extremely tired.
“I will prepare you a bath.”
By the time he finished his tea, the bath was already prepared.
“Duke, everything has been prepared.”
When I saw that Duke Kyron had already got out of his chair, I turned to get out of the room.
“Arielsa.”
“Yes, Duke.”
“Where are you going?”
“……?”
I stared at him with rounded eyes as I gulped nervously.
Most of the people knew that he couldn’t stand the touch of others for one reason or another but as far as Arielsa was concerned, he was just shy and apprehensive. He couldn’t leave his body for others to touch. The only people that he allowed to touch his body were the doctor and Arielsa.
He usually bathed alone but when he was very tired or when he wanted to relax, he would call for Arielsa to wait on him. In this world, it was not unusual for a maid to take care of her master. Of course, he would be covering his lower half with a towel.
During those times, she would usually think ‘Ah, my arms hurt.’ and ‘I want to go and sleep soon.’ but I couldn’t understand the slightest bit why she would think that way. Her eyesight was normal too. Of course, she grew up watching him from such an early age and repeatedly did those things since it was her job. But it was a bit impossible for me to go through such a thing without a long period of harsh training.
It’s impossible for me!
Actually, I already realized how much I had been worried about him since I met him. And I wasn’t confident that I could keep my calm if I did something like this. There was nothing more than that in the original!
As I stood there with my unfocused eyes looking like I went to another world all by myself, Duke Kyron spoke to me irritably.
“Why is there a problem?”
“N, nothing, Duke!”
I couldn’t say anything else.
I timidly followed Duke Kyron over the partition with a firm determination to burn my eyes. Even my tactless and uncooperative heart continued to thump wildly without knowing about my situation.
While I was turning around, he flung his clothes lightly in just a few moves before he went into the water. My heart couldn’t help but skip a beat when I heard the splash of water when his foot entered the bath.
“C, can I turn around now?”
“Scrub my back. I’d like to get some rest today. I couldn’t be anymore tired because of this long journey.”
“Yes, Duke.”
When I turned around, a gasp unknowingly got out of my mouth. He was wearing a thick towel on his lower half so his appearance was not much different from a man that you could normally see in a swimming pool.
However, I was glad that I was able to avoid, albeit barely, looking at his wide chest, sculpted abs and strong and firm thighs. The refraction in the water looked like they were mocking me for looking at them.
My face quickly heated up. It felt like I was the one who entered the water instead of him.
‘Please pardon me Duke Kyron Harpel…!’
I went behind his back with my eyes closed. Then, I stretched my hands out to grab the sponge and dip it in the water before rubbing his back gently. I felt like his hard, sturdy and bulging muscles were about to pop out from over the sponge in my hands.
It feels good but… it feels good but! But I feel like I’m committing a crime!
Some would say that the only dividing factor between a job and a hobby was the pleasure and happiness that it brought to you. It would be called work if you were only happy after getting paid and it would be called a hobby if you were only happy while you were doing it.
So right now, this job was obviously my hobby. As peculiar as it was that my heart kept on thumping wildly, I still felt a prickling in my consciousness as I did my job.
What should I do? This…
Meanwhile, the sponge that I was holding on kept on going in the wrong direction.
“Arielsa.”
‘I’m sorry!’
I accidentally dropped the sponge when he called me with his irritable voice.
“Yes? Yes!”
“Are you being distracted right now?”
“Yes. No?”
I shut my eyes tightly as I quickly grabbed the sponge again. Then I rubbed his back sideways. I heard the Duke let out a deep sigh.
“Arielsa.”
“I’m sorry Duke!”
I shouted with a voice that sounded like I was almost crying. Duke Kyron glanced behind him when he heard my dumb and muted voice.
“Go out and wait. Wash my hair before you go.”
“Yes!”
He looked at my face as he spoke in a helpless voice.
I was ready to face any punishment the Duke gave me but nevertheless, I still couldn’t help but stand up with my teeth clenched while I shouted unknowingly with his unexpected words. Then, I went outside and sat on a chair from behind the partition.