When I opened my eyes, the air was thick with pale, billowing steam.
“Mmph… where am I…”
“You’re awake?”
‘What’s with that gentle voice — when his hands are anything but!’
“D-don’t touch me!”
“Why? You’re mine.”
“Have you lost your mind?!”
In the steaming bathwater, Kael was touching me beneath the surface with the most natural, shameless ease imaginable.
I was nestled against his chest, draped across him as though I hadn’t a care in the world. Instinct told me immediately what my conscious mind was trying to avoid: I was completely bare. And so was he. Well — we were in a bath, so of course.
“W-what do you think you’re doing to a sleeping person!”
“I was washing you. You were quite a state.”
He murmured it against my ear from behind, his arms wrapped around me as though he intended to press me right through himself. The breath caught in my throat.
With our bodies this close, I could feel something beneath me that was… impressively and undeniably present.
‘…Is it actually possible to be like that all day long?’
I thrashed against him, struggling to pry myself free from his arms, which held me like a chain.
“I sleep perfectly! I don’t even d-drool!”
“That’s not what I meant. It was my —”
“Stop — stop right there!”
I shrieked and buried my face in both hands. ‘Please, for the love of all that is decent, do not say that out loud!’
I slapped at his forearm in indignation, over and over.
“Let go of me! If you don’t, I’ll drown myself face-first in this bath!”
Kael released his hold at once. I flailed across to the opposite side of the tub, paddling like a panicked dog, then covered my upper body with both arms and glared at him.
He was lounging against the far end of the bath in the most outrageously relaxed posture imaginable.
‘Does he have no shame? Completely bare and utterly unbothered — what, are you that proud of yourself?’
He was entirely unhurried despite being entirely undressed. He pushed his wet hair back with one hand and spoke in a perfectly calm voice.
“This is hardly new ground.”
“It is new ground! We’ve never done this in a bath!”
“Nothing happened.”
“Not doing the final step doesn’t mean nothing happened! The touching is the problem! You were just — just kneading me like bread dough!”
“I told you. I was washing you.”
Did he think I was an idiot? As if I couldn’t tell the difference between being washed and being thoroughly felt up.
I fumed at him, at that shameless, expressionless face of his.
“Finish up and get out!”
“I’m not done yet.”
“W-well, you said you’d mostly finished washing me, right?”
“More or less.”
“Then I’ll be getting out first!”
My declaration rang out boldly, and then silence fell.
…How was I supposed to get out, exactly?
If I just stood up and walked out, he’d see everything.
“What are you waiting for?”
“I’m — I’m going, so don’t look!”
“Understood.”
He said the words. His body did not comply. He simply blinked at me slowly, watching me with quiet, unhurried eyes.
“I said don’t look. Close your eyes!”
“Very well.”
He let out a faint, amused breath — as though this were all faintly ridiculous — and closed his eyes. Then he leaned back against the tub and tilted his head back.
“Keep them closed!”
I lunged for the towel draped over the edge of the bath and wrapped it around myself, shooting constant sideways glances at him to make sure those eyes stayed shut.
The towel, mercifully, was nearly the size of a blanket and covered me entirely.
* * *
“Taking advantage of someone while they’re asleep — that is not acceptable behaviour.”
“You were the one who climbed on top of me while I was sleeping.”
“I — I was about to stop!”
He dismissed my protest without so much as a glance.
I fixed him with a look that could have started a fire.
“From now on, all of that is prohibited.”
“Says who.”
Kael’s voice went flat and hard without warning. His eyes sharpened.
“S-says me.”
Silence.
Had I pushed too far?
As much as it pained me to admit it, I had technically been the one to make the first move — however unintentional. If I pressed this, I might end up being the one in trouble.
“…Actually, on reflection, it doesn’t have to be completely forbidden. But not too often — occasionally, with prior agreement… and also, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t leave marks where they’re visible. They’re terribly difficult to hide…”
I pulled my dress aside just slightly to reveal my collarbone. The evidence of his teeth was quite clearly written there.
“Noted.”
Just then, the coachman knocked twice on the compartment wall. The signal that they were approaching the Florence estate.
I glanced out the window. It was fully dark now — a deep, quiet night, with only the silver glow of the moon scattered across the black sky.
As the carriage rounded the corner, the small clock tower of the Florence manor came into view — so much smaller and more modest than the grand architecture of the Hardeion estate —
Wait.
‘Father’s study light is on.’
* * *
“What do you mean Ivelina hasn’t come home yet?”
“Well, you see—”
“What exactly do you lot do all day? You can’t keep watch over one girl?!”
I shoved the front door open and stepped into the entrance hall, where the shouting echoed from wall to wall.
It was eight in the evening.
Given that my curfew was six, Father’s fury was not, perhaps, unreasonable.
“Oh — I’m home!”
I dashed toward my parents, quick as a flying squirrel. Near one wall, a considerable number of bags and trunks were piled up — Jacqueline’s luggage, from the look of it, returned at last from her travels.
I was still catching my breath when Father’s voice tore through the hall.
“Have you completely lost your senses? Do you have any idea what time it is!”
“Ivelina, what kind of behaviour is this?! Have you no sense of propriety!”
The tirade had begun. I was just as caught off guard as anyone by my parents’ earlier-than-expected return.
“Y-you’re back so soon. I just stepped out for a bit — I’m sorry it ran later than I expected.”
“You think sorry covers this? What sort of example have you been making of yourself? The moment my back is turned, you go running about without a single thought in your head!”
Once Father started, no one could stop him. Not even Mother. In this house, Father’s word was law.
I breathed in silently, again and again, and resigned myself to at least two hours of this.
“Tch. And aren’t you proud of yourself.”
Jacqueline’s voice came from somewhere close by. I looked over to find him slithering out from behind Mother’s side, wearing a smug little expression.
‘Oh, honestly. Two months away and that’s the first thing out of his mouth.’
I detested him.
“And what’s it to you? Mind your own business.”
“You! What gives you the right to raise your voice at your own sibling?!”
I had broken curfew, yes. I had not been particularly well-behaved these past few days, yes.
But was that really worse than Jacqueline, who’d taken a pile of money and spent two entire months doing exactly as he pleased?
And our parents, who’d personally gone to collect their precious son — while I was apparently a criminal for coming home two hours late?
Resentment rose in my chest.
“Why is it always me, Father? Jacqueline can stay out all night and you never say a word!”
“That’s entirely different! A girl and a boy aren’t the same!”
I was still fuming rather than apologising, which gave Jacqueline the opening to twist the knife further.
“She clearly hasn’t learned a thing. I already heard. Staying out all night like it’s nothing these days? And she has the nerve to pick a fight with me?”
Jacqueline was two years younger than me. And yet he had spoken down to me like this since we were children — blunt, dismissive, as though I were beneath his notice.
“Instead of showing any remorse, you drag your younger sibling into it? You’re the elder — you should be setting an example!”
And given the way he’d been raised, perhaps it wasn’t surprising he’d turned out this way.
I had no one on my side. The injustice of it stung behind my eyes, and tears began to rise despite everything. At moments like these, a person naturally turns to their mother.
I blinked hard, pressed my mouth shut, and looked to her.
Surely she’d take her daughter’s side when it was two against one.
“Go and apologise to your father this instant. Before he gets any angrier. And say sorry to Jacqueline too.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks. Pride told me to hold them back, but they fell all the same, pulled down by something heavier than I could resist.
It was clear: in this house, the only person on my side was Emily.
“You’ve brought enough shame to this family already. How long has it been since the broken engagement — and where exactly have you been, at this hour of the night?!”
“…”
“Stop that crying this instant! What have you done to deserve tears?! I asked you a question — where have you been?!”
I scrubbed at my cheeks with my sleeve. I didn’t want to answer.
‘What exactly have I done that’s so terrible?’
Then, a weight settled over my shoulders. Something heavy and familiar.
A warm, woodsy scent drifted past my nose.
“She was with me.”
* * *
