Chapter 5 (Part 1)

It was April, a season when the gentle spring breeze began to blow.  

A month had passed since Celestia spent her first night with Kayev.  

On the surface, life at the Ruden Estate seemed unchanged, but upon closer inspection, many things had shifted. The most striking change was the peculiar tension between the master of the estate and a lowly maid.  

Since their tryst in the stable, the relationship between Kayev and Celestia had rapidly evolved. However, it was still a bond that defied definition—at least, that’s how Celestia saw it.  

Though they had shared their bodies countless times since that night, she couldn’t fathom what to call their connection. After all, there were countless nameless relationships sustained by physical intimacy alone. Celestia decided not to overthink it.  

For Kayev, it was a matter of no longer being able to suppress the desire he had kept hidden for so long. But unaware of this truth, Celestia could only interpret it in her own way.  

She continued to believe that Kayev despised her. She didn’t know what had prompted his sudden interest in her, but she thought their current arrangement wasn’t entirely bad.  

Perhaps it was her naturally uncomplicated personality. Celestia tended to approach most matters with a certain degree of passivity and leniency. Besides, her feelings were directed toward none other than Kayev.  

He was the one person she could never bring herself to hate, no matter how hard she tried. In front of him, she was always like prey caught in a hunter’s trap. So, as long as Kayev didn’t push her away as he had in the past, Celestia wanted to continue loving him.  

For her, loving him was as natural as breathing unconsciously or lying down to sleep at night. Her love for Kayev was an integral part of her existence. Ever since she met him, she had never once hesitated to love him.  

However, even someone like her knew she had to be cautious in her current situation. Although her time as a servant had been brief, she had developed a degree of awareness during that period.  

As a maid in the Ruden Estate, she couldn’t openly express her feelings for him like she used to. A romance between a maid and a Duke would amount to nothing more than fodder for scandal in high society. Celestia now fully understood why Kayev had avoided her so vehemently in the past.  

It must have been incredibly difficult for him. At the worst possible time, in the worst possible circumstances, the daughter of his enemy had relentlessly pestered him with her affection.  

‘I like you, Kayev.’  

‘Yes, I understand, my lady.’  

‘I really like you, you know?’  

‘I’ve told you I understand.’  

‘How can you not be happy when I say I like you?’  

‘……’  

Whenever Celestia recalled her memories with Kayev—though most of them were one-sided—she felt so embarrassed she wanted to kick the air. At the same time, she found herself pathetic for being no different now than she was back then.  

‘Am I still as immature as I was then…?’

Thinking about the past inevitably led her to a melancholy mood.  

‘I wonder if my brothers are doing well…’

During the past year, when she had fallen to the status of a maid, Celestia had spent countless nights crying herself to sleep. While the work as a maid had been grueling, the greatest source of her sorrow was the longing for her lost family.  

Even though she had come to accept reality, the regret in her heart didn’t fade easily.  

She had no significant memories with her always-busy father or her much older brothers, yet they were her only family.  

At least her two brothers had survived—that was a relief. She had heard that Gwen Island, the land of exiles, was barren but not entirely uninhabitable.  

Thinking of her brothers struggling in an unfamiliar place filled her with pity. At the same time, she felt a small sense of relief that her own situation was slightly better, though that didn’t mean she wasn’t worried about her future.  

Now that she had unexpectedly encountered Kayev and things had progressed to this point, how was she supposed to live from here on out?  

The overwhelming emotions and undefined relationship left her confused, and Celestia couldn’t find the answers to her life. So, as always, she decided to simply observe her situation for now.  

Fate had never once asked for her opinion, so she didn’t want to concern herself with it either.  

Celestia let the warm spring breeze carry away her worries.  

Having endured a year as cold as winter, she wanted to set everything aside for a moment and simply enjoy the comforting spring sunlight. Of course, she had no way of knowing what consequences her complacency might bring.  

***

At the same time Celestia was grappling with her complicated thoughts about the past, Kayev was behaving as though he had completely forgotten that past. He acted like a man desperate to express his affection for her.  

Since their encounter in the stable, he sought her out whenever he had the chance, using her well-being as an excuse to linger nearby. Before long, he found her cleaning the fireplace in his office, sat her on his lap, and informed her that she would have a new set of duties.  

“From tomorrow on, you will only work on the third floor of the main building. I’ve already informed the butler, so you don’t need to worry about it.”  

“What? What does that mean? Only the third floor of the main building? Does that mean I won’t attend the morning gatherings with the other maids?”  

“You don’t need to attend those. Just wake up in the morning, come here, and stay until your tasks are done.”  

“That’s absurd. The butler won’t allow that… And the other maids will think it’s strange…”  

“Celestia.”  

“Yes?”  

“I am the master of this estate. Who are you worried about?”  

Even with his stern expression, his voice was unnecessarily sweet. Despite the abruptness of the situation, Celestia found herself captivated by him without even realizing it.  

She didn’t know it, but Kayev, though he hadn’t confessed it outright, was behaving like a clumsy man who had just discovered love.  

Kayev thought his behavior was pathetic, but that didn’t mean he could control the emotions that overflowed within him. Unable to contain his feelings, the first thing he did was ensure that Celestia was always within his sight. The third floor of the main building was where his office and bedroom were located.  

‘Celestia, are you talking about that girl?’

The butler gave him a suspicious look after hearing his orders, but Kayev, already blinded by his emotions, didn’t care.  

A few days after Celestia had been assigned this role, Kayev concluded that his decision had been an excellent one.  

She no longer had to clean dirty places like the stables, which was certainly a relief. Moreover, he liked seeing her freely moving in and out of his space. However, there were unexpected difficulties. Watching Celestia closely in her every move, he found himself unable to tolerate seeing her do anything remotely difficult or lift heavy items. “Don’t do this, leave that alone,” he would intervene here and there until there was practically nothing left for her to do.

In the end, what he wanted was for her to rest comfortably, but she adamantly refused every time he suggested it. The image of Celestia jumping up and down when he asked her if she would like to take a nap in his bed sometimes came to mind and made him smile for no reason.

She had said something about fulfilling her duties as a maid. The Celestia he remembered was undoubtedly a naïve noble lady, but her diligence in unexpected areas was both endearing and pitiful. 

Even he thought his current state was somewhat severe. Regardless, Kayev liked the fact that Celestia stayed around him in some way. He enjoyed seeing her waiting outside his bedroom every morning to attend to him—even though he told her to stop serving him, only to receive a cold glare in return. He liked finding her still in his study after returning from work. 

Occasionally, on days when he stayed at the estate without any particular tasks, Kayev would spend the entire day in his space, watching Celestia. And as he meddled unnecessarily in her tasks again, their eyes would meet more often than not.

Though Celestia refused to stay in Kayev’s bedroom, she would reluctantly accept his advances when he came at her like a dog in heat. The gap between her words and actions drove him mad. The passion between a man and woman who had discovered the joy of each other’s bodies burned fiercely and showed no signs of cooling. Today was shaping up to be one of those days.