Chapter 10 – D―10

Amber was sprawled out in a rocking chair, reading a book.

“There’s no space left there. Let’s plant the rest over here.”

She gave advice while turning the page, and George, who was planting seedlings in the garden at regular intervals, looked up. Sweat beaded and rolled down his smooth face, and his expression openly showed, ‘How did I end up like this?’

Amber suppressed a laugh and set down the cookbook she’d found at Grandmother’s house.

“If you’re tired, you can take a break, George.”

“I’m fine.”

Apparently, he wasn’t lying about being full of energy. She tapped the seat next to her, but George refused and started planting seedlings elsewhere. This time, it was chicory.

Amber dropped her gaze back to the book. Under the subtitle, ‘Everything You Can Do with Chicory,’ there were simple, varied recipes.

‘…Boring.’

She lost interest in the book in an instant.

Her wandering eyes drifted to the man sweating beautifully in the sun. His skin was smooth even under the sunlight, and his elegance wasn’t hidden by old clothes. If d*ldos had ranks, George would be royalty.

He didn’t fit this scenery at all. He wasn’t someone who should be planting seedlings here. Maybe if he were dressed in splendid clothes and waited on, but… She didn’t want to interfere with the current situation.

‘I have to put him to work somehow.’

Thinking that made Amber flustered. Wasn’t she acting like a greedy master, trying to squeeze everything out of him?

But she had no choice. Amber hadn’t sent George to the garden from the start. He was for sleep—for s*x, to be exact—and Amber knew it. She couldn’t expect anything from someone who didn’t know how to cook or even fetch the mail.

In reality, when George spent a day lounging around in human form, Amber didn’t say much. George was a d*ldo who only knew how to be cared for.

Three days passed like that. After more nights together, Amber changed her mind.

“Doing nothing all day and just lying around is the problem. That’s why you… do that at night, right?”

If he was for sleep, he should act like it. But George wasn’t satisfied with just one round; he kept going until Amber was about to pass out. He felt hunger, never slept, and his overflowing energy was a big issue.

Amber observed and realized he just saved up his energy all morning and never used it.

‘Let’s put him to work.’

It didn’t take long to reach that conclusion. So Amber sent George out to the garden. That was this morning.

When she first gave him garden work, George asked in a dumb voice,

“What am I supposed to do here?”

He looked like he couldn’t believe he had to work in a dirt field.

“Use up some energy here.”

“Oh, you want to do it here? Didn’t know you liked outdoor stuff.”

He’d always said he was for indoor use… He tried to avoid garden work by pretending not to hear. Amber explained firmly that with all his extra energy, gardening was good, and planting seedlings was a good start. Only then did George listen. He clearly hated it.

“Are you serious?”

To sum up George’s words: he wanted to do anything for his master, but ‘anything’ mostly meant nighttime activities, which was his purpose. He hated garden work so much that Amber almost felt sorry for him.

Luckily, his d*ldo instincts were stronger than anything.

Amber managed to negotiate with him: one round of garden work for two rounds of s*x. It felt like she was losing, but she comforted herself that she’d achieved her goal.

“Chicory’s good for you, even if it’s a little bitter. You don’t waste any part of the root.”

Suddenly, Amber knelt beside him. She checked to see if the chicory seedlings were planted properly. Surprisingly, George was doing well.

“Don’t you feel weird, seeing a d*ldo rolling around in the dirt?”

“All of a sudden?”

Amber met his sulky gaze and shot back. Wasn’t he rolling around without complaint when she worked in the garden?

“D*mn.”

George fell silent. Sweat dripped from his temple like dew. Amber instinctively reached out to wipe it away.

“I think that’s enough for the garden. Good job.”

“Praise me more.”

Before she could pull her hand away, George pressed his cheek to her palm.

“Good… job?”

“More.”

“Nice?”

“That’s it?”

That was it. What else could she say? Should she grade him an A+?

George leaned in toward Amber as she hesitated. Any other man would’ve startled her, but George was an exception. Even sweating, he didn’t smell bad, so she didn’t think he was dirty at all.

Maybe because he was an object…?

The problem was, George then took off his shirt. Amber stammered out a quick excuse.

“Oh, your clothes! They got dirty, right? I’ll wash them!”

“Wash?”

“…Since you’ve got it off, do you want to try on the clothes I made? I used some old clothes to make something.”

She almost faltered but pulled it off. Amber stood up as if she’d planned it all along and handed him the shirt she’d draped over the chair. It was a top she’d sewn with several layers of fabric. She’d made it for him, so Amber quickly regained her confidence.

“It’s not bad, right?”

“……”

Instead of taking the shirt, George knelt and looked up at her. Was he silently protesting? Amber tried to persuade him.

“It’s just temporary, really! I’ll buy you proper clothes soon.”

“You look sweaty too, Master.”

“Hm?”

Just as Amber was thrown off by the sudden topic change, George went for the direct approach.

“It’d be fun to roll around here. And let’s go wash up together.”

“Here…?”

Amber raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

“I really don’t want to.”

“Wasting premium talent?”

Tap. George grabbed Amber’s ankle just as she tried to pull away. She felt a sense of dread. Surely not… Amber’s gaze dropped from his face to his lower half. George’s pants were bulging. Maybe even darker in color.

She quickly looked away, but George had already noticed her reaction. He smiled. Amber smiled awkwardly back. It was pointless to resist.

“Why pretend you didn’t see?”

“Hm?”

“You saw I was hard.”

Amber let out a short groan.

“Was there a reason… for that?”

She’d put him to work to tire him out, but he was still getting aroused at every opportunity. He’d said he hated the dirt, but now he wanted to roll in it… Like an animal.

“I get excited just seeing you. You know I’m always like this.”

George added, sounding wronged.

“Isn’t it better than not getting hard?”

“…You said you were an indoor tool. This is outside.”

Amber tried to pull her ankle away, then her hand, but George grabbed her again.

Tap.

“A great tool should satisfy its master both indoors and outdoors.”

“Sleep aid is enough.”

“I’m too good to be used just for sleep.”

He was too much for just a sleep aid… Amber wanted a life where she worked by day and slept at night. But if she gave George what he wanted, she’d never get enough sleep. He’d gotten hard dozens of times already.

The reasons were simple. Seeing her cook in the kitchen, smelling her fresh scent after a bath, noticing her round ankles while she sat, and so on.

Of course, except for the first day, Amber only indulged him at night, and George, knowing she’d refuse, would try once or twice and then take care of it himself.

Just as their usual tug-of-war was about to start, an unexpected visitor interrupted.

“Miss Amber, are you here… Oh my! I’m sorry for interrupting!”

“No, Mrs. Joren.”

Amber quickly shook off George’s hand and stepped away. Only then did Mrs. Joren’s curious gaze fade.

“That’s a relief. I was worried when you didn’t come out even though I called from outside. So you were here.”

“Yes, I was working in the garden…”

Amber swallowed a rebuke about unexpected guests and smiled. Holding back what she wanted to say was a habit from her capital upbringing.

One of the surprising things about Napolia was how visitors would just walk into your house. In the capital, even a minor visit without an invitation was considered rude. Amber didn’t like that culture much.

But now, she almost missed it. No matter how close you were, it was awkward in situations like this. Even if people visited out of kindness, it was tough when you had a secret to keep.

Amber gave George a look, then approached Mrs. Joren.

“What brings you here, Ma’am?”

“Gavin said your grandmother was away, so I thought I’d join you for dinner.”

After Amber had postponed invitations several times, it seemed Gavin had persuaded his mother.

“By the way, who is this gentleman?”

Mrs. Joren cleared her throat and glanced at George, who was now standing nearby. Amber pretended to remember and introduced him.

“This is my cousin, George… Belit. My father sent him to look after me, and since Grandmother’s away, we’re staying together for a bit.”

Amber’s imagination was limited—she even dragged in her ex-fiancé’s family name. Good thing she’d settled on ‘cousin’ earlier, or she’d have had a hard time making up a story. Amber sighed inwardly.

“And George, this is Mrs. Joren.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Ma’am. Please feel free to call me by name.”

Somehow, George had pulled himself together and kissed the back of her hand. He was even wearing his shirt again.

Amber felt relieved, but also amazed. She’d worried he’d say something weird, but instead… there was this elegant man greeting Mrs. Joren.