Chapter 4 (Part 1)

In truth, Celestia had no intention of ever meeting him again if she could help it.

It wasn’t that she hated Kayev because of that one night. Rather, she was deeply worried about how he would perceive her after having taken her while under the influence of the drug. If, by any chance, he regained his senses and looked at her with an expression full of contempt and disgust… it would break her heart. Even if that weren’t the case, Celestia couldn’t bear the thought of facing him after engaging in such an embarrassing act.

For three days, her avoidance seemed quite successful—until Kayev, unable to endure it any longer, came looking for her himself.

During those days, Celestia carefully chose places where she wouldn’t run into him.

The daily life of a maid was simple. Each morning, the maids would gather in the mansion’s hall to receive their tasks for the day from the butler and head maid. Their work would then revolve around completing those assignments.

Of course, the tasks varied daily, and the difficulty depended on the nature of the work, making it far from easy. Particularly for Celestia, who was disliked for being a noble despite being the newest maid, she was often assigned the hardest and most unpleasant tasks.

When she was a noble, she had been looked down upon for being of commoner origin. Now, as a maid, she carried the label of being a former noble. These circumstances made her situation even more difficult.

That said, the treatment of maids in Ruden’s household was far better than what she had experienced at the previous Duchess’s estate. Thus, Celestia tried her best not to complain and focused on her work.

This morning, the butler assigned her the task of cleaning the stables—a job that all the other maids avoided.

“Looks like someone will definitely come back smelling like manure today.”

Celestia paid no mind to the mocking laughter of the maids and simply replied, “Yes,” without any hint of emotion. Watching her calm demeanor, the butler frowned slightly and seemed about to say something but then let her go.

Thankfully, the maids remained quiet, which suggested that the butler had issued a strict gag order regarding what had happened three nights ago.

Bowen Dyke, the butler of Ruden’s household, was a man in his forties who gave off an unsettling impression. However, Kayev seemed to trust him quite a bit, and his work was always handled impeccably. Celestia dismissed her unease as mere sensitivity.

After all, as long as rumors didn’t spread and she could continue living here without issue, what did it matter?

However, as she turned her back without a care, Celestia failed to notice the sharp glare the butler directed at her. His expression resembled that of someone looking at a bothersome insect he wanted to crush immediately.

* * *

Celestia didn’t particularly dislike cleaning the stables.

It was a quiet place where she could avoid Kayev, and as someone who loved horses, she found it rather pleasant.

Upon arriving at the stables with the necessary tools, Celestia decided to delay cleaning for a bit. Seeing the horses up close after so long filled her with joy, and she felt like indulging in a bit of laziness.

When she had lived as the young lady of Earl Danverton’s household, she had owned several horses. Among them, her favorite was a sleek white mare with golden mane, which her father had gifted her for her twelfth birthday. She had even named the mare “Serene” and cared for her diligently.

But after the fall of the House of Danverton and the loss of all their assets, Serene’s whereabouts became unknown.

Celestia forced herself to shake off the melancholy. At least now, she had the chance to see horses again.

Ruden’s stables, like its owner, were clean and well-maintained. Beyond the partitioned stalls, the horses, unaware of human complexities, observed her with innocent eyes.

As she watched the horses snort softly and gently, Celestia suddenly felt the urge to give them something.

Perhaps it was because of the miserable life she had led since being cast out of the mansion with nothing. While some might see it as vanity, she wanted to experience the generous feeling of giving something to another being, even if just for a moment.

‘Luckily, I do have something to give…’

Celestia fiddled with a lump of sugar hidden in the pocket of her shabby maid’s uniform. A few days ago, while cleaning the dining room, she had secretly taken it from a plate.

What she missed most about her previous life was the luxuries she had once enjoyed. Especially as someone with a sweet tooth, Celestia had been suffering from withdrawal since becoming a maid, unable to even catch a glimpse of sweet treats.

The lump of sugar left over from Kayev’s tea time had been an irresistible temptation.

It had taken considerable courage to steal it…

As she hesitated, holding the sugar, the brown horse standing right in front of her flared its damp nostrils.

“What should I do? I only have one…”

Looking down at her palm, she fell into deep thought, feeling pitiful for hesitating over a single lump of sugar. But given her current circumstances, it was only natural to be frugal.

Maybe I should split it in half… 

Staring into the horse’s dark eyes, Celestia ultimately decided not to give it anything.

“Celestia.”

The sound of someone approaching from behind sent a chill down her spine. As soon as she heard her name being called, Celestia instinctively dropped to her knees on the pile of hay in the stable.

“I’m sorry!”

Her brief year as a maid at the Duchess’s estate had been enough to completely condition her. There, any mistake by a maid would result in a beating from the head maid. The vivid memory of pain made her body move on its own.

Not even knowing who the voice belonged to, Celestia immediately began to beg.

It wasn’t until a moment later that she realized the person looking down at her with a conflicted expression was Kayev.

* * *

Kayev felt conflicted as he looked at Celestia, who knelt at his feet.

He had no intention of scaring her like this. But it wasn’t hard for him to guess why she had dropped to her knees so quickly. Her time as a maid must have thoroughly broken her spirit.

Yet such thoughts didn’t ease his troubled mind. The overwhelming emotion he felt was pity.

“How long were you planning to keep hiding?”

It would have been nice if his tone matched his concern, but having never spoken kindly to anyone in his life, his voice came out brusque even to his own ears. Seeing her small shoulders flinch at his words only made him feel worse.

In truth, Kayev had been in a foul mood before he found Celestia in the stables.

The morning after their drug-induced night together, he had woken up feeling both refreshed and oddly uneasy—a contradictory mix of emotions.

‘…’

Celestia, who had been asleep in his arms, was nowhere to be found.

Though his body, sore from the night’s exertions, felt strangely light, the discomfort weighing on his mind made him scowl.

Kayev couldn’t determine which was more irritating: the absurd reason he had ended up holding Celestia in his arms or the fact that she wasn’t in front of him.

He had thought she would be sound asleep, but it seemed she still had enough strength left to slip away.

Kayev felt both resentment toward Celestia for running off before he woke up and concern over whether the previous night’s activities had been too much for her body to handle. To his recollection, Celestia wasn’t particularly strong. It wouldn’t have been strange for a noble young lady, who had lived in a mansion as grand as a palace until just a year ago, to lack physical stamina, but she had been especially frail.

Whenever Kayev accompanied her, it wasn’t uncommon for her to sit down on the grass after just a few steps, complaining of shortness of breath or sore feet. As a result, he often had to carry her.

More than anything, his concern was heightened because he had just confirmed her frailty with his own hands. Her body was so soft and delicate everywhere he touched that he had been afraid he might break her.

However, her disappearance, as if to dismiss the passion of the previous night as nothing, reassured him that she hadn’t been harmed by his rough movements. Even if he set aside his desire to confirm with his own eyes that her body was unharmed, Kayev couldn’t shake the lingering attachment he felt in his heart.

He wanted to talk to her. After all, he needed to apologize for holding her while he wasn’t in his right mind. And now that things had come to this, he felt a responsibility to take care of her in some way.

For these reasons, he felt it was necessary to speak with Celestia.

Kayev deliberately ignored the deeper, more intimate desire within him. Of course, that desire was the yearning to hold her in his arms again and explore her as he had the previous night.

‘I must be insane.’

He found himself so repulsive that even after tormenting her all night, he still wanted more.

He didn’t regret spending the night with her. What bothered him was the fact that his first intimate encounter with Celestia had happened in such a way.