Chapter 19

Chapter 19

He was definitely trying to change the subject. For a moment, I considered ignoring his question and pressing the topic of his new clothes instead, but decided against it in the end.

“Your job is to eat well, sleep well, and rest so you can get better as soon as possible.”

He stared at me curiously as if my answer had been wholly unexpected.

“But for now, please just eat. I promise there isn’t poison or anything like that in the food.”

At my urging, Cassis’ eyes glanced at the tray on the floor. Before he could say anything, I plucked a bit of the bread, then put it in my mouth.

“In case you were still suspicious.”

He began to frown at me, so I waited a few seconds in hopes of proving to him that the food really wasn’t harmful. I certainly wouldn’t have poisoned the food. Poison having zero effect on me whatsoever was beside the point. The performance was obviously for his sake.

“I can eat more of your food if you want.”

“No need,” he replied coolly. He pulled the tray towards himself, but instead of digging in as I had hoped he would, he crossed his arms and stared at me again in silence.

I figured he might feel uncomfortable with me there watching him eat, so I left under the excuse that I needed to check with the servants about his new clothes. I felt bad he didn’t even have a place to sit, so I resolved to at least get him a chair. Once I was certain that he wouldn’t make an attempt on my life, I could get him other necessities.

Minutes later, I returned to his room with a new set of clothes. To be precise, Emily had actually brought the clothes while following me to his room. We had done the same moments ago with the medicine and food tray. Involving her was an extra step, but a necessary one in order to avoid others seeing me caring for Cassis personally as much as possible.

Once we reached the door to his room, I dismissed Emily.

“Thank you, Emily. You may go now.”

“Yes, My Lady.”

My arms filled with clothes, I entered the room. It was actually quite a pain having to disengage the lock with each visit. The sound couldn’t have made Cassis feel good either, but for the time being there was no other choice. I pushed the heavy door open with a grimace.

Clack.

The moment I entered the room, I froze in place. Unlike before, Cassis was standing this time with his back to the door. The reason I had stopped dead in my tracks like a stunned deer was due to him having nothing on from the waist up. On top of that, his body was hazily outlined by the wave of light coming from the wall near me. I took notice of the various red welts on his back that were interspersed with heavy bandaging here and there. Strangely enough, my first thought upon seeing his bare back wasn’t, “Gosh, those must have hurt.”

As I released the door handle, I heard it slide back into place.

Clunk.

The sound of it closing shut resounded throughout the room. Cassis watched me suspiciously from where he stood. Mesmerized by his calm, golden gaze that was layered in shadows, I could neither speak nor move. Obviously, that hadn’t been the first time I had seen a man’s naked back. In fact, I had already seen Cassis’ bare torso already while treating his wounds. However, I hadn’t felt anything strange at the time about his nakedness.

But this time... why the sudden surge of embarrassment? Could it have been due to the dimmed lighting? Or perhaps because earlier Cassis was merely an unconscious body I was caring for, but now this vibrant being was watching me. It felt almost as if I had seen something that was meant to be a secret. The amber glow from the candle made Cassis’ form appear even more marked as he stood alone at the opposite side of the room. Then he slowly opened his mouth to speak.

“I’ll need to bathe.”

It was a low, almost quiet voice that tickled my ear. Then he released a piece of fabric that looked like a rag from his hand. The well-defined muscles along his back flexed with every slight movement.

“Um... Sure.”

I answered him without thinking, but soon after reminded myself that I needed to keep it together. And honestly, why would I get flustered over his back? And why was the vibe in the room so weird?! Perhaps it hadn’t been such a good idea for me to lower the candle’s brightness earlier, but what could I do in that situation?

I couldn’t very well light the room more while Cassis was standing there half-naked. That would have only made him wonder why I had only done so after he had removed his clothes. All my musings were further proof that I had become worried to death over what Cassis might think of me.

Frowning slightly, I spoke in a casual voice.

“That door leads to the bathroom. Since I can’t look after you at all hours, I arranged for you to have a room with an attached bathroom.”

It was a small bathroom where he could wash up, and like the bedroom, it also lacked anything that could be considered dangerous. Since his room was not rectangular, Cassis hadn’t noticed the door.

“It’s right over there.”

As I pointed, he followed my finger with a turn of his head. Then looking back at me, he raised his arm slightly.

“I can’t change. Not with these chains.”

Of course! The magical cuffs were no problem as they only wrapped around his wrists and ankles, but the chains were definitely an issue. But then how had he removed his shirt?

One glance at the floor gave me my answer. There was a literal pile of rags where he had dropped the pieces of tattered fabric. Between the thrashings from the guards, Charlotte’s assault, and Lante’s barrage of violence, his shirt had been torn to shreds. I doubt he had to use much effort to pull them off from his battered body. Sure, that had proven an effective method to removing his shirt, but there was no way he’d be able to put clothes back on while the chains connected him to the pillar.

After a moment, I offered him a solution.

“What if I swap those chains attached to your limbs for one attached to your neck?”

I was met with only silence. Though he didn’t answer, Cassis seemed to be looking at me with frost in his eyes. I supposed he didn’t very much like my proposition.

“Well, wouldn’t that be better than four separate chains?”

Of course, he’d still have to keep the magical cuffs on. Their purpose was to suppress the wearer’s strength, and they were specially designed to discourage subdued beasts from trying to attack. It went without saying that the anti-monster magical cuffs were far more useful than regular handcuffs. Still, they had been snapped off during Charlotte’s rampage, which was partially why I didn’t entirely trust them. That’s why I had been cautious of Cassis even while he was under their restraint.

But if the cuffs had already proven useless against him, then that reasoning was in itself flawed since the chains would undoubtedly be even less effective. Thus, switching out the chains would achieve practically nothing in terms of securing him. In my defense though, I couldn’t very well leave him free and unbound.

Cassis still hadn’t answered, but appeared to resign himself to my suggestion. There was no doubt he was no fan of being chained by the neck, but I silently hoped he would realize that taking off four sets of chains each time he needed to do anything would become a greater hassle than either of us had time for. Cassis lowered his arms to his sides as if he could hear what I was thinking.

I walked toward him briskly with the neck collar I had prepared along with his new clothes. In truth, the fact that it might be impossible for him to get dressed with all those chains hadn’t initially occurred to me. Their clanging alone had been enough to drive me up the wall. And of course, I hadn’t told Cassis about how the servant stared at me when I ordered her to get me the collar. As I still lacked confidence about anyone else entering the room, I had to put it around his neck myself. There was no way to do it without getting close to him. Cassis seemed aware of what needed to happen and made no motion to hamper my movement.

“This may be a bit uncomfortable, but it’ll only be for a little while.”

I tried to assure him as we stood face-to-face. For a moment he simply stared at my face. But just as quickly as he started, he turned away. He was of course more than welcomed to stare, but he seemed absurdly steadfast. Hello? Isn’t my beauty my strongest weapon?! Needless to say, I was a bit puzzled. In truth, everything would have worked out much more smoothly if Cassis had just fallen for me like the countless other men that inhabited this fictional universe.

Despite feeling a tiny bit miffed, I extended my hand toward him. As it grazed his neck, I felt him flinch ever so slightly. After that, he didn’t move at all, so I had no problem securing his new collar. He continued in his silence as I gazed upon him, his neck now bearing a leather strap.

The vibe in that room couldn’t have been any weirder. A beautiful youth with a collar around his neck and his half-naked body revealing an array of sadistic wounds. Once the thought occurred to me that I had unwittingly played the part of the pervert, I scrunched up my eyes. What made it worse was that Cassis seemed equally mortified.

But rather than dwell on our mutual embarrassment, I chose to act practically. I took one of the chains from his ankles and connected it to the collar. With his cuffed wrists and ankles finally free from the wall, Cassis began to rotate his hands and feet. I suddenly felt the urge to warn him against doing anything rash.

“This house is designed like a maze. Even some of my own siblings get lost in it, so it goes without saying that newcomers can get lost just looking for the exit.”

Cassis simply eyed me suspiciously.

“Of course, I know a useful shortcut to get out, but...”

His golden globes began boring into me once again. I gave him my prettiest smile, then changed the subject.

“Why don’t you go get washed up now?”