Chapter 75
-Splash, splash.
The sound of rippling water echoed through the bathroom.
Thick steam hung heavily in the air, blurring the view.
In a corner of that warm, humid bathroom.
“…….”
Leon stood frozen like a statue. His gaze was fixed solely on the tightly shut bathroom door.
The sound of water behind him. And the maid’s furtive glances.
It was extremely distracting, but he never turned his head. No, he couldn’t.
Because Renoa was soaking in the tub on the other side of a thin curtain.
I never thought I’d end up being put through something like this.
Leon pressed hard against his throbbing temples.
The quarrel that had taken place at the bathroom threshold just ten-odd minutes ago flashed through his mind.
“You come in too.”
“Pardon? Why would I go in there? There’s a maid here, so I’ll wait outside.”
Renoa’s sudden request that he accompany her into the bathroom.
Leon naturally refused. No matter that they were master and servant, it was beyond common sense for a grown man and woman to go into a bathroom together.
But Renoa, without yielding even an inch, replied in a chilling tone.
“What if an assassin is hiding in there?”
“Please don’t worry. I can’t sense any presence inside.”
Renoa motioned toward the maid who was to assist with her bath.
“What if this maid tries to kill me?”
“W-What?! M-Miss, how could you say something like that…! I swear I would never do such a wicked thing!”
“That’s right. Unfounded suspicion is rude to the maid as well.”
“Even Bibi betrayed me.”
At that one sentence, Leon’s mouth fell shut.
“My lifelong personal maid even poisoned me. What guarantee is there that this maid, who’s only served me for a few days, won’t push me under the water and kill me?”
“Well….”
Leon still hadn’t shared with Renoa the story he had heard from Aither.
He had worried it might shock her unnecessarily when she still needed to recover.
The same went for the details behind Bibi.
So Renoa’s suspicions were, in their own way, a reasonable judgment.
But this was going too far. Her sense of propriety had gone completely haywire.
“Even so, I don’t think it’s appropriate for a man like me to go in with you, miss. If you’re that worried, I’ll stand guard at the door.”
“Which is more suitable as a guard: watching from outside, or waiting inside?”
“The latter, I suppose….”
Since the physical distance was overwhelmingly shorter. It was obvious.
“What if you’re late because you’re guarding from outside? What if you stab my throat while washing me?”
“…….”
No matter how stubbornly Leon refused, Renoa’s attitude remained firm.
The look in her eyes as she stared at Leon was downright cold.
“You’re the one who said you’d become my hands and feet. Keep your word. Or was your loyalty only worth that much? You sure love running your mouth.”
It was a trivial provocation.
But Leon, who had sworn loyalty after kicking away even his freedom, was thoroughly stung.
So I’m the one being embarrassed here, huh?
It looked like she was about to add another entry to her dark history.
If she insisted on making herself lose, Leon had no reason to back out.
“Understood. If you insist, I’ll go in with you.”
That was how it happened.
I shouldn’t have come in.
And Leon regretted it.
If he could go back just a few minutes into the past, he would never have entered.
This situation, where he couldn’t even turn his gaze away, was no different from torture.
-Splash.
The sound of water struck his ears once again, pulling Leon out of his thoughts.
“Miss, how is the water temperature? Is it too cold or too hot?”
“Would I be sitting in here if it were?”
“R-Right. That was a stupid question. I’m sorry.”
The maid, flustered, poured warm water over Renoa’s shoulders.
Her rigid body loosened, and the rose scent that drifted around her nose soothed her senses, but
“…….”
Renoa’s entire attention was fixed on something else.
Beyond the silk curtain.
Leon’s silhouette standing with his back turned, staring only at the tightly closed door.
The threat of an assassin.
Trauma from betrayal.
Those were certainly rational reasons no one could refute.
But Renoa herself knew.
That the real reason she had dragged Leon into the bathroom, making excuses to the bitter end, was simply a spur-of-the-moment whim.
Renoa knew exactly what this feeling blossoming inside her was.
It was a strange sensation she had never experienced before in her life, but not so childish or dull that she couldn’t recognize it.
A feeling that made her crave the other person’s scent, find comfort in the warmth when they touched, and want to keep them trapped within her field of vision alone.
In a world that had collapsed into utter blackness when she lost her sight.
A fierce pull that made Leon seem like her only light and salvation.
Renoa didn’t bother denying that she had fallen for Leon.
She hated herself for finding a slave attractive, but what could she do?
The deed had already been done, and the feelings that spilled out were no longer something she could scoop back up; if anything, they only kept overflowing.
It was astonishing enough that she herself had such a girlish feeling.
Still, there was something else that irked Renoa, and that was Leon’s attitude.
She was being helplessly tossed around by even the smallest thing about Leon, while he remained utterly calm.
That indifference grated on Renoa’s nerves. It was infuriatingly humiliating, and terribly unfair.
So she had forcibly trapped him in this private space.
So that he would feel the same way she did.
“Haa….”
Renoa deliberately moved her legs as if splashing water. From time to time, she let out faint breaths.
Then she checked Leon’s reaction, but he didn’t move an inch.
As if the situation meant nothing to him.
“Boring.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m done.”
Her interest had vanished.
What had she even been expecting?
She alone had ended up feeling foolish for nothing.
Renoa rose from the tub without a shred of hesitation.
Water streamed down her body as she parted the surface and stood up.
“A-Ah, miss! I haven’t finished yet…….””
“It’s fine. I’m cold, so hand me my robe.”
The maid hurried over with a pale face and roughly wiped off the moisture with a large towel.
Then she wrapped a pure white bathrobe around Renoa’s body.
Renoa came out with the curtain drawn aside.
“Are you finished?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll escort you to your room.”
Only then did Leon turn around. His gaze landed on Renoa.
Renoa in the bathrobe.
Heat had seeped into her once bloodless, pale skin, bringing a faint flush to her cheeks.
Her hair, saturated with water, clung to the nape of her neck and the line of her collarbone.
The rich scent of roses and the smell of her skin hit him all at once.
Leon, who had just been barely holding his reason together, faltered for the briefest moment.
Without meaning to, he swallowed dryly and quickly averted his gaze.
Then,
‘Ah.’
Renoa’s green eyes caught that fleeting gap without missing it.
His head had turned away, unable to look her straight in the eye.
And yet his eyes kept darting back to steal glances this way, as if he couldn’t control them; even his ears had turned red.
Renoa understood at once what that meant.
Just as she had a feminine side, he had a masculine side too.
No matter how casually and nonchalantly he acted, he was still a man who could not help being conscious of a woman’s skin.
So it wasn’t completely one-sided after all.
That fact pleasantly tickled a corner of Renoa’s chest.
“Good. Lead the way.”
“Yes….”
Watching Leon turn and walk ahead of her, a satisfied curve secretly formed at the corner of Renoa’s lips.
***
Returning to the bedroom with Leon escorting her, Renoa lowered herself into the chair in front of the vanity.
Since she had never once in her life gotten so much as a drop of water on her hands, even drying her hair was a maid’s job.
“Leon. You dry it.”
Renoa pointed directly at Leon and gave the order.
“Me?”
“What if the maid suddenly stabs me in the back?”
“…….”
“Bibi would have done it….”
That damn knife.
That damn Bibi.
In the end, thanks to Renoa’s unreasonable insistence, Leon ended up drying her hair too.
Leon picked up a dry towel and stood behind Renoa.
“Tell me if it hurts.”
“……Yeah.”
That he had answered was fine, but Renoa seemed tense as well, and her voice came out stiff.
-Rustle, rustle.
Soon, the sound of hair being rubbed through the towel softly filled the bedroom.
A rough man’s hand, hardened with calluses from gripping a sword.
But the hand wiping away Renoa’s wet hair was endlessly careful and gentle, as if handling delicate glasswork.
The steady pressure pleasantly massaging her scalp and the warmth that came from behind her.
Her whole body went limp.
Renoa’s head swayed this way and that in the direction Leon’s hand moved.
Just as Renoa’s eyelids were about to slowly fall under the drowsy haze.
“Your hair is quite long.”
Leon’s low voice came to her.
“It must be hard to take care of. Isn’t it inconvenient on a daily basis?”
“Not especially. Bibi always dried and brushed it for me before, so I never had a chance to feel inconvenienced.”
“I see.”
“But now that I look at it, it is kind of bothersome. Maybe I should just cut it all off while I’m at it.”
Her long black hair fell all the way to her hips. The maid who used to take care of it by her side was gone too.
She had been thinking it might be a pain to keep managing it every day, so maybe she’d just cut it off.
“What do you think?”
Renoa slowly opened her eyes. Leon’s figure was faintly visible in the mirror.
“About what?”
“My hair. Would it be better short, or long?”
It was a subtle probe.
A spur-of-the-moment question, thrown out because she was curious which side he preferred more.
Leon, looking down at Renoa from the other side of the mirror, gazed at the black sheen slipping smoothly through his fingers and replied flatly.
“I like it as it is now.”
“Do you like long hair?”
“No, not particularly.”
Renoa frowned at the vague answer, visibly pouting. She shot back in a prodding tone.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Say it clearly.”
“It just suits you, miss.”
Whether now or before he came to this world, the hairstyle Leon had always seen Renoa wear was long, straight hair.
It was the default, the natural thing.
He couldn’t imagine her wearing any other hairstyle.
For that reason, it had been an answer he’d given without much thought.
So he hadn’t guessed the effect that dry remark would have on Renoa.
“…Really?”
It was a plain reply, free of flattery or awkward embellishment.
Since it was a straightforward compliment more direct than any flowery praise, its impact was doubled.
Renoa felt as if the heat from her bath had rushed straight to her face all at once.
With her eyesight far from perfect, she had no way to check what her face in the mirror looked like right now.
She was surely grinning foolishly or flushed red beyond control.
To keep that expression from being noticed, Renoa lowered her head and gripped the collar of her robe tightly.
“……If you say so, I suppose I’ll leave it alone for now.”
As indifferently and haughtily as she could.
She tried to disguise her voice in the usual noble lady’s tone, but she couldn’t completely hide the buoyant note at the end of her words.
Sensing that, and worried it might give her away, Renoa said in an unnecessarily gruff tone.
“Instead. From now on, you’re in charge of my hair.”
“Pardon?”
“You told me not to cut it. Then you have to take responsibility.”
It was an absurd line of logic.
But Renoa made the demand as if it were only natural, without a trace of embarrassment.
“Carry a comb with you from now on. If you damage my hair, you’d better be prepared. Bibi would….”
“Yes, yes. Understood. Bibi would have done it, after all.”
“Right. That’s what I mean.”
Renoa wore a faint smile.
Leon let out a short sigh, but did not stop his hands.
-Rustle, rustle.
Even after that, the soft sound of friction continued to echo through the bedroom for a while.
As she savored Leon’s touch, Renoa suddenly thought.
Maybe she should throw everything else away and run far away with Leon.
But she quickly put that thought away.
Leon is here, so why should I be the one to give up?
With Leon, she could do anything. She could seize both power and love.
She wouldn’t lose a thing.
She would catch both rabbits.
The life she had been forced to endure until now—she would be repaid for every bit of it.