An awkward gaze meeting quietly in the bathroom, and a startled reaction.

It was natural for Ethan to react that way. After all, he was naked and showed that state to me.

I had thoughtlessly recalled the times I used to prepare Ethan’s bath at the Blackwood mansion, assuming there would naturally be a changing room beyond the door and then the bathroom.

I should have expected that such a cramped inn wouldn’t separate the changing room and bathroom.

Fortunately, thanks to him having his back turned towards the door, I couldn’t see him at an angle where some truly dangerous parts were visible.

…To be honest, I didn’t particularly want to look anyway.

What’s the point of observing another man’s member? Am I going to compare it with mine from my previous life?

While I was momentarily flustered by the situation I faced, thinking such thoughts, Ethan carefully called out to me and asked.

 

“M-maid? Did you come in by mistake?”

“…I’m sorry.”

“I-it’s okay. The structure of this room is different from the mansion, so mistakes can happen.”

“…Excuse me. I’ll place your clothes to change into outside.”

“O-okay. Be careful next time.”

 

Fortunately, Ethan generously overlooked my mistake, not paying much attention to it.

As I was about to retreat quietly with backward steps at his kindness, Ethan’s bare back suddenly caught my eye.

 

“…”

 

…Come to think of it, there’s no such thing as a back scrubber to wash one’s back with in this world.

The only thing used as a bath scrubber in this world was a round ball of fur-like material made by drying and processing a specific plant.

Bathing in this world requires another person’s help to properly wash one’s back.

Of course, Lilith’s body was basically flexible enough to reach her back, so there was no problem washing it myself. But it would probably be quite difficult for the current Ethan to wash his back by himself.

The more muscle a man gains, the stiffer his body tends to become.

…Well, although it wasn’t intentional, I had already seen Ethan’s body.

As a way of apologizing for that, I quietly took off my knee-highs and moved into the bathroom to wash his back.

 

Splash, splash.

 

“Young master.”

“M-maid?! You haven’t left yet?”

“I just realized that I’ve never helped you bathe until now.”

“Wh-what?!”

“It must be difficult for you to reach your back and waist by yourself. So, I’ll help you with just those parts.”

 

With those words, I brought my hand holding the round bath towel from beside the tub to Ethan’s back.

Surprised by my action, he bent over while sitting, looking at me cautiously.

 

“Th-there’s no need for that, maid. I can wash my back by myself.”

“How do you intend to reach your back with such a muscular body, Young Master Ethan?”

“…A-anyway!”

“There’s no need to be shy, young master. I’m just fulfilling my duty as your exclusive maid.”

“I-I said it’s not necessary! That’s enough, get out quickly!”

“…”

 

Ethan twisted his body away, reacting with alarm as soon as my hand touched his back.

Seeing this, it was clear he really didn’t welcome having his back washed by my hand.

…Somehow, it’s a bit irritating.

I could understand if the genders had changed, but he’s a man too, and he’s freaking out just because my hand touched his back a little?

Come to think of it, just last night, Ethan was directly kneading my bare chest.

He’s fine with touching my chest but can’t even stand my hand touching his back a little.

Feeling a bit annoyed at Ethan’s brazen attitude, I silently put down the bath towel I was holding.

For some reason, I didn’t quite understand. It was a moment when I felt a bit angry.

 

“I understand, young master. If you dislike my hand touching your body that much, I guess it can’t be helped.”

“N-no. I didn’t mean that I particularly dislike your hand touching me.”

“I understand well that someone who’s been kneading my chest about twice a month can’t tolerate even my hand touching their back.”

“M-maid?”

“Since you say you dislike my hand touching your body so much, I guess it can’t be helped. I won’t do such presumptuous things as helping you bathe from now on.”

“…”

 

…I offered to wash him since I was thinking of him, but there was no need to react so alarmingly.

I don’t care anymore. Whether his back is unreachable or itchy, he can handle it himself.

I had already put down the clothes to change into in front of the bathroom door anyway. As I was about to return to the bedroom, leaving Ethan in the bathroom…

This time, I suddenly heard Ethan’s voice calling me urgently.

 

“M-maid!”

“…Yes?”

“N-no. Well, um.”

“…”

“…Actually, my back is a bit itchy, so could you wash just that part for me?”

 

…See, I knew he’d be like this.

In the end, he was going to call me when his back got itchy, so why did he put on unnecessary airs?

Well, I am Ethan’s exclusive maid, and I also needed to apologize for seeing his naked body once already.

Here, I, being broad-minded, had no choice but to grant his request.

 

“If that’s the case, I guess it can’t be helped, young master. I’ll have to wash you.”

“Y-yeah. Please do.”

“You’re just showing your back to your exclusive maid, so there’s no need to be shy.”

 

I, who had stood up to return to the room, crouched down behind Ethan again and picked up the bath towel I had put down.

From behind Ethan, who was carefully presenting his back to me, I thoroughly rubbed the parts he couldn’t reach with the bath towel.

Helping with bathing turned out to be surprisingly doable once I actually did it.

============

In the dark dawn, when twilight had settled, even moonlight no longer illuminated the night sky.

The first night on the Island of Knowledge for Ethan and Lilith, who had experienced various things throughout the day since departing from the mansion, was passing like that.

On the bed meant to rest their tired bodies, Ethan Richard Blackwood was quietly lost in thought.

 

“Snore… Snore…”

“…”

 

Looking at his exclusive maid, Lilith Blackwood… Rosewood, sleeping peacefully beside him.

 

‘…You’re sleeping so peacefully.’

 

Unlike himself, who couldn’t easily fall asleep due to his pounding heart, his exclusive maid had fallen asleep as soon as she lay down.

As an exclusive maid, she would have started her day earlier than him, and above all, it was natural in a way that she, who must have been tired from serving him all day today, fell asleep easily.

Considering that he himself couldn’t fall into deep sleep even after two hours of lying in bed, he couldn’t help but feel a little resentful.

 

“…”

 

He was so tense that he couldn’t close his eyes just from sharing the same room.

Ethan couldn’t help but feel a strange dissatisfaction with this attitude that seemed completely indifferent to whether they shared the same bed or the same blanket.

He still couldn’t grasp how to approach Lilith…

…especially when he thought about what had happened with her in the bathroom today.

 

‘Was it because she doesn’t think of me as a man that she entered the bathroom without hesitation while I was bathing? Or was she really angry because I refused when she wanted to wash my back?’

 

For Ethan, Lilith was always like this.

Sometimes, she would treat him nonchalantly, as if she didn’t see him as a man at all, and at other times, she would show strange behavior as if she really had some feelings for him.

Although their relationship had certainly become much closer than when she first started as his exclusive maid, he couldn’t guess just how close they had become.

Clearly, his initial plan of wanting to move forward while gradually confirming her feelings had completely reversed at some point.

Although it was an action born from a misunderstanding, he ended up touching Lilith’s chest in a daze.

Because of that, seeing him unable to come to his senses, she reluctantly allowed the next act as well.

In this current relationship, where physical connection seemed to take precedence over emotional connection no matter how he thought about it, Ethan always worried whether he should view this positively or not.

There’s a saying that when the body desires, the heart follows, but it was Ethan himself also wished for the heart to approach first.

He had even tried to lead the physical relationship into emotional love by attempting to share feelings during physical intimacy, but that strategy didn’t work out as well as he had thought.

Rather, the more he tried such attempts, the more displeased Lilith seemed to be the next day, so Ethan had no choice but to offer careful apologies whenever he noticed her mood.

…If only he could enter her heart just once.

If he could at least know what feelings she had for him, he would be able to decide what to do.

Whether to maintain the current relationship and move forward slowly or to approach a bit faster before losing her…

…or whether it would be wise to accept that there was no hope and let her go early.

 

‘…For now, it’s a problem without an answer.’

 

Since he couldn’t know the correct answer, all he could do was continue to put in more effort.

The academy’s swordsmanship exam was the day after tomorrow. In other words, there was still one day of leeway until tomorrow.

Since it was a rare day with a free schedule, it might be a good idea to go around the Island of Knowledge with Lilith tomorrow for a secret date.

Just as Ethan was about to fall into deep sleep, imagining walking around the island where Luminor Academy was located with her.

He began to feel two soft sensations wrapping around his forearm up and down.

 

Squish.

‘…Squish?’

 

At that familiar yet warm sensation, he slightly opened his eyes to look at the space beside him, and there was Lilith, peacefully asleep while facing towards him.

His forearm was sandwiched between her two breasts, up and down.

Ethan barely managed to cover his mouth with one hand to stop the voice that was about to burst out.

 

“…!!”

 

Although it was a chest he had touched many times before, this was the first time his forearm had been sandwiched between her breasts.

Ethan tried to quickly pull out his arm, worried that she might feel embarrassed.

However, as he tried to pull out his arm, Lilith’s action of embracing him even more tightly made Ethan have to hold back his voice once again.

 

Sli-ide.

“…”

Squeeze!

“…!!!”

 

On the first night at a remote inn on the Island of Knowledge…

Ethan’s sleepless night was destined to be prolonged.