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In shock, Oriana took a step back, only for her body to hit the bathtub behind her, the sudden pain effectively bringing her back to reality.
"Young Master...? I mean, m-my Lord..." She corrected herself before lowering her head immediately, wondering how exactly to address him. She called him ’young master’ in the past thinking he was just some spoiled younger generation whose only merit was his handsome face, a profligate who knows nothing aside from wasting the wealth of his parents.
She could not be more wrong!
This Lord Arlan was apparently not only a relative of the Wimark Family, but also a high-ranking person in the capital with power in his own right. Even the status of the most beloved son of the Ahrens was below him.
...and he happened to also be a perverted brat who likes chasing pretty boys!
Seeing the brat harboring an evil smirk, Oriana had the strongest urge to lunge towards the door and escape.
"I must say, I am quite impressed," she heard him say in a leisurely manner. "I didn’t expect a herbalist to work as an attendant. You seem to be a person with many talents."
With her entire body trembling, she could only crack a smile. "T-Thank you for the praise, my Lord."
Seconds ticked by without anyone making a single sound, but Oriana dared not break the silence between them. It was a war of nerves. She could feel his gaze on her, making her more nervous than she already was.
"Are we going to just stand here?" he spoke, satisfied after seeing her trembling form.
Let this be her punishment for all the frustration her absence caused him. After all, she disappeared into the forest after the peaceful night they shared at the inn. Afterwards, her scent taunted him repeatedly, causing him to develop a strange fascination towards honeysuckle flowers.
"Apologies, my Lord," Oriana could only say, unaware of the man’s line of thought towards her.
In Oriana’s head, she was urging herself to start serving Arlan, trying to put away whatever bias she had against him.
’Make no mistakes,’ this was all that she needed to remember.
Oriana covered that two-step distance between them, eyeing the owner of the robe she had to help remove.
’I hope he won’t try to take advantage of me. I don’t think he will. I am officially employed under the service of the Ahrens. He would not have the audacity to try something funny...right?’
Nervous under his gaze, her trembling hands moved to take off his robe. The fabric slowly slid down his shoulder, leaving his well-toned body exposed to her bewildered gaze.
’Spirits be damned, how can a human body be like this—’
The other upper body she had seen, Rafal’s body, was heavily muscled, each line packed with explosive strength, but in comparison to Arlan’s...
Arlan’s body was temptation incarnate.
His torso was lean and pleasing to the eyes, fit like a finely carved sculpture, his toned muscles not lacking at all. It portrayed the balance between beauty and strength, and Oriana felt like she could gaze at it like an artist admiring an artwork all day.
Meanwhile, Arlan noticed the flitting emotions on her face. Those long eye lashes hiding her initially nervous gaze fluttered, and her golden-flecked hazel eyes enlarged by a fraction. Those lips pressed into a thin line slightly parted, as if her breath was knocked off her chest.
The smirk on his lips morphed into a pleased smile.
’Things won’t be boring anymore with this little deer by my side.’
When Oriana removed the robe, she dared not look down, not wishing to see anything below his waist, but to her surprise, she found Arlan wearing long loose trousers under the robe which hung delicately against the dip of his hips.
’Thank the spirits he’s not naked,’ she sighed with relief and kept the folded robe aside. ’Now what? Do I need to remove his trousers as well?’
Her entire body shivered but she chanted ’make no mistakes’ repeatedly in her mind, renewing her determination. She once again stood under that intimidating gaze.
With her head lowered, her hands reached out towards the waistline of his bottom garment, but even before they could touch it, her trembling hands were stopped by his larger ones.
"You plan to strip me naked, Shortie?"
"Y-Yes? I...was removing it—"
Oriana lifted her gaze, and she swore, those blue eyes of his were laughing at her!
"...and taking advantage of my beautiful body? You are not allowed to do so." An indulgent smile appeared on his face. "As a poor commoner who has never seen the world, I won’t be surprised if you have never seen a man as handsome as me. I know you are interested, but know your limits."
"Interested, who is interested in who?" she shot back and took a step away while pulling her hand out of his hold.
"I wonder. The way you were looking at my body a while ago..."
"I was not. I was just..."
"What?"
"I was just doing my job." She turned around in a hurry, pretending to busy herself with the oils and soaps. "Please get into the tub, my Lord, otherwise the water will get cold."
Arlan submerged his body in the middle of the bathtub with his pants still on, his gaze observing her struggle with the soaps and oils.
What she selected for him was precisely the fragrance she had long set her eyes on: lavender.
Grabbing the washing cloth along with the soap and oil, she walked towards the tub, contemplating how to start.
’I guess it is a blessing in surprise. At least the body that I’ll be washing isn’t that of a stinky old man. It’s alright. I just have to use this cloth to clean his body. I am a man in his eyes, and so is he so it should not be strange.
’Oh, wait, I think I can imagine him as a stone sculpture. His body is beautiful enough to pass as one. He is just an artwork I’ll be wiping down so technically, I’m just cleaning...’