~Chapter 56~
“W-wait a second!”
I hit Damien’s shoulder frantically as he held me in the air.
There weren’t many desperate moments in my life, but this was definitely one of them.
“Yes, is there a problem?” Damien asked calmly.
My face was burning, and I was stuttering from embarrassment, but Damien was so composed that it actually annoyed me.
“Even though… we haven’t even had our first night yet! Showing skin like this is a bit…!”
“Ah,” Damien nodded as if he understood.
“You thought we had to take off our clothes. No, we can just go in like this.”
“…What?”
Go into the bath fully dressed?
“From experience, the blood stains can be removed just fine even if we’re wearing clothes, as long as we use the cleaning liquid.”
Now my face turned red for a different reason.
‘I was imagining something unnecessary… so embarrassing.’
“R-right. I see.”
“There’s no need to take anything off,” Damien said as he sat me down on a chair by the tub.
I looked down at the water, avoiding his gaze. But I could still feel those clear purple eyes staring at me.
“You know, you’re surprisingly… naughty,” Damien teased.
“That’s not it!”
When I snapped back and met his eyes, Damien laughed out loud, clearly entertained.
“Your reaction is cute,” he said.
His quiet chuckle made me even more annoyed.
“Hey! Is this how you treat the person who just saved you from your curses?”
But Damien looked completely unaffected, like someone watching a tiny puppy barking.
“Yes, sorry. You’re just so cute I couldn’t resist teasing you,” he said and held out his hand.
“Now, let’s get in. I’ll help you get rid of the blood stains.”
I slowly dipped my feet into the warm, sky-blue water.
The blood stains on my feet were still stuck firmly in place.
“Now, sink your whole body in,” Damien said.
The tub must have been built for his size; even when I stretched my legs out, there was still room left. The water was deep enough to cover my shoulders when I sat upright.
“It’s warm,” I said.
“Not too hot?”
“No, it’s perfect.”
The warmth was enough to make me relax. The water even had a subtle pleasant scent.
‘If only Damien wasn’t watching me like this… it would feel like a normal bath.’
“But the blood stains aren’t coming off at all, even in the water,” I said.
I rubbed at a stain on my arm, but nothing changed.
“I’ll help,” Damien said and held out his hand for my arm.
I hesitantly gave him my arm, and he carefully scratched at the edge of the blood stain with his fingertip.
“See this part? It’s lifting a bit,” he explained.
Just as he said, the edge of the dried blood was peeling off like a sticker.
“You just grab it and pull it off gently,” Damien said.
With a single move, the black blood peeled away completely, like a sheet of cellophane.
“Wow… how did you do that?”
“Here, I’ll show you again,” Damien said, quickly removing the rest of the blood stains from my body.
I tried following his instructions, but I couldn’t do it as cleanly or quickly as he did.
“So that’s why you said you’d wash me,” I realized.
“Yes. Even the servants can’t do it as fast as I can, so I usually just handle it myself,” he explained.
It didn’t take long to clean my whole body. After about thirty minutes, the dried blood was gone from my skin and hair.
“You’re all clean now. There are clothes waiting on the bed for you to change into,” Damien said.
“Thank you. You even asked the servants to prepare it so quickly?”
“No, those are just always kept ready.”
“…Always ready?”
“Yes. Because the Grand Duchess could come to the Duke’s room at any time,” Damien said calmly.
“…Oh.”
“And in case the Grand Duchess can’t walk to fetch her own clothes—”
I quickly clamped my hands over Damien’s mouth.
“Okay! I get it! That’s enough!”
Damien blinked at me but nodded, so I let go.
“Well… I guess I’m using those ‘always ready’ clothes now,” I muttered.
“Yes…”
I felt sweat rolling down my forehead.
‘How many times today is he going to fluster me like this…’
“Um… I’ll go now so you can bathe,” I said.
“I can bathe later. If you want to stay longer, go ahead.”
“No, I’ll get out now.”
I stood up from the tub, water splashing as it poured off me.
“Careful,” Damien said and held out his hand to steady me.
My wet feet touched the floor.
“Where’s the towel…?” I started to ask, but I didn’t have to look for it.
Damien was holding it.
But his expression was strange—he looked… flustered.
“Damien?”
He had been so composed earlier, but now his eyes were clearly panicked.
“Uh…”
His ears even started turning red.
“D-Damien?”
I waved my hand in front of his face, and he finally blinked, regaining his senses.
“Ah, yes.”
But as soon as he did, he turned his head away.
“Damien? What’s wrong?”
When I stepped closer, Damien stepped back—a reaction I almost never saw from him.
He even covered his eyes with one hand.
“Uh… it’s just…” he said nervously.
“Your clothes are thin, and you look… very cold.”
Suddenly, a giant white towel was thrown over me.
“Sorry, I’ll cover you up right away,” Damien said as he wrapped me completely in the huge towel.
I poked my head out, and Damien finally seemed relieved.
“Your clothes are on the bed. Change and wait for me there,” he said quickly and all but pushed me out of the bathroom.
It was the complete opposite of the confident way he’d carried me in.
‘He’s… really flustered…’
Of course, I was flustered too, but it was the first time I’d seen Damien this shaken.
“Hmph,” I muttered, drying myself off with the giant towel and changing into the neatly prepared pajamas.
Then I went straight back to the bathroom.
“Eh?”
Damien looked just as surprised as before.
He was already in the tub, having tossed aside his ruined shirt.
“Why… did you come back?”
“I want to wash you too,” I said boldly.
Damien froze.
“No, that’s… that’s dangerous talk…”
I smirked at his reaction.
“You saw me wet, so I get to see you wet too,” I said.
Damien looked like I’d just smacked the back of his head.
Eventually, he let out a helpless laugh.
“You’re right,” he admitted.
“And I have some questions,” I added, pulling up a chair next to the tub.
“The cause of this incident… it’s Leonard, right?”
Damien didn’t even try to deny it.
“Yes. You figured it out.”
“Of course. You’d never let something that could trigger a rampage wander around this mansion. That means it was brought in by someone else.”
It had to be an outsider who had the motive and the access to bring in that strange object—the one the curse had eaten, probably filled with fear.
Considering the portal to the imperial palace in the backyard, the only person who fit was Leonard.
“But… is it okay not to retaliate?”
“Retaliate? That’s already been handled,” Damien said.
“…What?”
I frowned, and Damien smiled faintly.
“Not by me. You’ve already done it, Ruby.”
He took my hand, holding it gently but firmly.
“The imperial palace is probably in chaos right about now.”
At the Imperial Palace…
“Please, please work!!”
Prince Leonard slammed his hands against the floor, his face pale.
“Why… why isn’t it working?!”
The Third Prince trembled violently, clawing at the walls like a madman.
“Please… work! Ugh… aaaaah!”
Blood finally spilled from Leonard’s hands as he smashed them against the floor.
“Aaaaaaah!”
The Emperor’s bloodshot eyes watched the chaos.
Every single member of the imperial family was in a state of complete panic.
