By Zephyria 
“Welcome back, Count. How was your day?”
Facing Penelope’s smiling face, which greeted him as always, Cassian stepped out of the carriage and silently scanned his surroundings. There was no one around. She was alone, as she always was.
Only after confirming this did Cassian give a short nod and readily step forward. As expected, he thought with satisfaction. He believed Penelope would never go against his wishes. And just as he anticipated, ‘he’ had vanished.
Whether the man was truly Penelope’s relative or not didn’t matter. What mattered was that he had disappeared from sight. And with that, it was all over.
The sound of his own footsteps echoing through the silent castle sounded particularly refreshing today. He felt as if his daily routine, which had momentarily collapsed, was finally returning to normal.
His thoughts remained unchanged as he climbed the stairs and walked down the long corridor. Yes, just as he thought. He recalled the words he had repeated to himself several times on the way back, feeling a sense of relief. There are no problems for me.
…There shouldn’t be.
The moment he opened the door to his room and stepped inside, Cassian came to a dead halt. An unbelievable sight entered his frozen, silver-grey eyes.
Standing right in the middle of the room was that man. Incredibly, he looked exactly as he had this morning.
No, he was different. Unlike the frozen state he was in this morning, he was greeting Cassian with a wide smile. Moreover.
“Welcome back, Count!”
…Now he’s even speaking.
Cassian was so appalled that he found himself speechless.
12.
A few more seconds passed while he stood in the doorway. Bliss swallowed hard, feeling his heart racing wildly. As expected, Penelope was nowhere to be seen. Cassian’s face contorted as he looked behind him, seemingly realizing this fact belatedly. Bliss grew tense, but this had already been planned. After all, Penelope was the one who had devised this entire scheme.
A few hours ago.
Having finished her daily routine early, Penelope had called Bliss to this very room.
“I’ve thought about it all day, and I think this method is the best.”
“What is it? What is it?”
When he asked hurriedly with great anticipation, Penelope narrowed her eyes and pretended to check their surroundings before whispering in a low voice. Even though they were the only two on the entire floor.
“Bliss, you will attend to the Count’s bedside tonight.”
“What? Me?”
Startled, Bliss accidentally raised his voice, prompting Penelope to quickly put a finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet. Hurriedly following her lead, Bliss covered his lips with a “shh” and then whispered urgently in a low voice.
“Bedside attendance? All of a sudden? Me?”
“Yes.”
Penelope nodded and continued quickly.
“It was bound to happen eventually. Of course, it’s happening much sooner than I thought. But it can’t be helped. Judging by the Count’s reactions yesterday and today, I think the plan to ‘slowly get closer to the Count while attending to him’ has failed.”
“So?”
It was time for Plan B. As Bliss waited with his ears pricked, she answered confidently.
“Therefore, we’re moving to the plan to ‘quickly get closer to the Count while attending to him.’”
Bliss stared at her in silence for a moment. Looking at Penelope’s expression, which remained proud as she gazed back at him, he had no choice but to give an awkward smile.
“Um, Penelope. Nothing changed except for one word.”
At Bliss’s observation, Penelope waved her index finger from side to side as if telling him not to worry.
“Of course. Because the conclusion that you two will get close is already decided.”
“But….”
“Now, Bliss. I’ve seen the Count since he was at the Duke’s estate. Who would know him better, me or you?”
The answer to this question was obvious. Bliss had no choice but to reply.
“Of course it’s Penelope. I think so too, but….”
“Now, that’s settled. Let’s start preparing. Right? Come over here. No, would here be better? Try standing there. As I thought, over there is better. Yes, good. Let’s go with this spot….”
Penelope busily dragged Bliss here and there. She had him change into a new servant’s uniform, combed his hair neatly, and even taught him every single line he had to say.
“I ordered new wines for the cellar today, and I’ve placed the list on that table. See it? That’s the one. If the Count asks for the list, give him those documents….”
And after all that effort, this situation had come to pass. Bliss recalled this while breaking into a cold sweat. Penelope was right. Wasn’t this why he had come all this way? He could never succeed if he just kept running away!
Having thought that far, he summoned his courage and managed a difficult smile.
“How was your day? Um, should I… prepare the wine?”
Now that he had said it, it sounded strange. What was this? He felt like he had missed a huge chunk of the script.
‘The wine is the very last thing.’
“Ah!”
The moment Penelope’s words came back to him, he let out an involuntary gasp. Oh no, I skipped the whole middle part.
But he couldn’t even remember it now. What mattered was the fact that he had made a colossal mistake in front of Cassian.
Is he going to scream like he did yesterday?
Bliss was momentarily terrified, but there was nowhere to run. That large man was still blocking the door.
In that case, there was only one way left.
Bliss forced the corners of his mouth up and asked.
“You drink wine before bed, right? Then what would you like to do before that? A bath first?”
Cassian still didn’t speak. Bliss couldn’t tell if he was lost in thought or preparing to do something. He just kept smiling with such effort that his cheeks were twitching.
Suddenly, Cassian moved. Bliss blinked as he watched the man take long strides and carelessly toss his coat onto the bed.
Oops.
It was then that he remembered Penelope saying he should organize the clothes. As he hurriedly moved to pick up the coat Cassian had taken off, something was suddenly thrust toward him. Turning his head, he saw Cassian taking off his suit jacket and holding it out to Bliss.
Does he want me to take it away?
It felt unpleasant, but he silently accepted it and held it along with the coat. The last thing to be handed over was the tie. As he draped the thin, snake-like piece of fabric over the other clothes, Cassian, having undone a couple of buttons on his white shirt, turned and headed toward the bathroom. Just as he let out a sigh of relief.
“You.”
Stopping at the bathroom door, Cassian suddenly called out to Bliss.
“Yes, yes?”
Startled, Bliss shouted back, tensing up again. Cassian stared at Bliss for a moment before speaking.
“Come in. You too.”
“…What?”
For a moment, Bliss thought he had misheard. As he looked at him, still smiling so hard his cheeks hurt, Cassian gave a cynical laugh and repeated the same words.
“I said come in. You too.”
And with that, Cassian stepped into the bathroom. The clothes in Bliss’s arms slid down and fell in a heap as he stood there staring blankly.
Whaaaat?
Unable to believe what he had heard, he let out a silent scream. The bathroom? Why? How? Me? For what? He covered his cheeks with both hands and screamed again, but as expected, only a thin breath lingered in his throat.
He wanted to confirm if what he heard was real, but there was only one way to do that: ask the man himself. But if he did, the answer would be obvious. Just as he felt caught in a dilemma, Penelope’s voice suddenly echoed in his head.
‘Don’t miss this opportunity!’
Right, this is an opportunity. Bliss swallowed hard and nodded. He had no idea what was about to happen, but he summoned his courage and headed toward the bathroom. The door to the bathroom Cassian had entered was slightly ajar.
The sound of him swallowing hard seemed exceptionally loud. And finally, Bliss stepped inside the bathroom.