By Zephyria 
Just as those thoughts crossed his mind, Cassian suddenly asked.
“What did you say your name was?”
“Ah, Bli—Blair.”
As he hurriedly corrected himself, Cassian let out a strange humming sound.
“Bli-Blair. What a peculiar name.”
“Ah, haha, hahaha.”
Bliss could only laugh awkwardly. Just as he tried to stand up and leave, Cassian suddenly grabbed his arm.
“I’m not finished with you yet, Bli-Blair.”
“Ah, yes. Count. Is there something you need?”
For some reason, the way he said the name sounded like a sneer. When Bliss hurriedly straightened his posture and asked, Cassian gestured with his chin toward the bathtub and spoke.
“Drain the water. All of it.”
…What?
What did I just hear? As Bliss blinked in bewilderment, Cassian spoke again.
“Did you not hear me? Drain the water. All of it.”
“Uh, no, I heard you, but….”
Stuttering from the unexpected situation, a flustered Bliss asked.
“I just finished filling it… and you want me to drain it? Why… why?”
Had he made some kind of mistake? As Bliss hurriedly retraced his actions, Cassian smiled with a crooked lip.
“I changed my mind. So just drain it all.”
Bliss looked up, hoping it was a joke, but there wasn’t a hint of humor on his face. Eventually, Bliss leaned over and plunged his arm into the bathtub, which was obscured by a thick layer of bubbles. After fumbling around the bottom for a while, he finally pulled the plug, and the water spiraled down with a loud gurgling sound.
Cassian looked down at him with his arms crossed. Once the tub was empty, save for a few remaining bubbles, Bliss finally looked up and asked.
“Is this enough now?”
“Yes.”
Cassian gave a thin smile and nodded. Thinking that this man was absolutely ridiculous, Bliss asked again with a smiling face to hide his true feelings.
“Is there anything else I should do?”
“Yes.”
Cassian gave the same answer this time. Just as Bliss began to feel anxious, Cassian spoke with a lingering smile on his face.
“Fill the water again.”
Instead of answering, Bliss simply blinked and looked up at him. His expression was as if he were looking at a madman, but Cassian ignored it and commanded.
“I changed my mind. I’ll wash in the tub, so fill it up.”
“Ha, haha, haha.”
Forcing out a laugh, Bliss turned the faucet back on. He repeated the process of mixing hot and cold water to get the temperature right, adding the detergent, and pressing the button to wait until a decent amount of bubbles rose. And then.
“Empty it.”
The same command was issued. After repeating this exact sequence three more times, Cassian finally spoke with indifference.
“How boring. I think I’ll have a drink. Scrub the tub clean. I might feel like getting in after I’ve had some wine.”
And with that, he turned his back and left the bathroom. Left alone, Bliss wanted to scream every curse word in the book at Cassian’s retreating back, but all he could actually do was clench his fists and tremble.
Huff, huff.
By the time he finished cleaning the tub and came out, Bliss was completely exhausted. Both physically and mentally spent, he wanted to give up on revenge and everything else and just run away.
Of course, that was only until he saw the face of his enemy.
Cassian Strickland, who had just piled on more bad karma, was sitting loftily, drinking wine. He had almost finished the very wine Bliss had brought earlier, drinking it while Bliss had been paying the price alone by repeating a pointless task that not even a stray dog would do.
Looking back and forth between the empty bottle and the wine glass that clearly held the last drop, a stunned sigh escaped Bliss’s lips. What is wrong with this guy? Why did he make me do that? And he can actually swallow wine after doing that to me?
As he stared in absurdity, Cassian drank the remaining wine in one gulp, as if Bliss were completely irrelevant. Setting the empty glass on the table, he looked off into the distance. He seemed lost in thought, but Bliss couldn’t just stand there and watch. His only thought was to return to his room and erase this meaningless day with sleep.
“Hwaaaaam.”
The problem was that this desire manifested outwardly. Having accidentally let out a loud yawn, Bliss smacked his lips and blinked, only to suddenly feel a strange sensation. When he shifted his gaze, he immediately locked eyes with silver-gray pupils glaring at him menacingly.
“Hieek!”
At Bliss’s reaction—gasping in surprise and hunching his shoulders—Cassian, who had been silent until then, spoke.
“How nice, to be sleepy.”
The words sounded almost like he was grinding his teeth. Bliss scratched his head awkwardly and laughed.
“It’s been a tiring day… so, uh, I think I’ll go to sleep now.”
Revenge be damned, sleep first. His eyelids were already heavy. He didn’t even need to go to his room; that sofa looked quite comfortable, though he probably wasn’t allowed to sleep there.
While he was looking at the sofa with secret longing, a dark shadow cast over him. Puzzled, Bliss looked up and gasped “Hieek” once again. Cassian had appeared in front of him at some point and was looking down at him.
“U-uh, w-what.”
The intimidation was immense as a man over 2 meters tall looked down at him with a grim expression. Most of the men of the Miller family were over 2 meters, but none of them had ever looked at him with such a terrifying expression, so this was the first time he had felt this kind of fear. To Bliss, who was trembling and hunching his shoulders, Cassian muttered through clenched teeth.
“Right, so you’re sleepy.”
Bliss’s eyes darted around frantically. The atmosphere suggested that saying “yes” would be a mistake. But he had already yawned widely and said he was going to sleep.
“W-well, it’s like, I feel sleepy, but I can’t say I’m not, and while I am, it’s like a mysterious kind of drowsiness….”
After rambling while breaking into a cold sweat, Bliss suddenly beamed a bright smile. The moment Cassian paused, Bliss didn’t miss the chance.
“Then, I’ll be off to bed.”
“Where to?”
He tried to spin around and flee, but it was a futile effort. Cassian immediately grabbed Bliss by the scruff of his neck, preventing his escape.
“W-why are you doing this!”
As Bliss shouted urgently and struggled, Cassian spoke in his usual tone.
“It would be problematic if you left while there’s still work to be done.”
“What now? I already cleaned the tub!”
Bliss shouted with all his might. Since it was his first time doing it, he couldn’t guarantee it was perfect, but he had at least cleared the bubbles. However, Cassian didn’t budge despite the protest.
“There’s still more. Wait.”
Releasing him, Cassian entered the bathroom again. Hmph, he’s probably just being petty and wants to check it. Bliss waited with his arms crossed and a swollen face, and a moment later, he heard the sound of water. Only then did Bliss realize that Cassian had gone in to shower. He was so dumbfounded that his jaw dropped.
If you were going to wash, why didn’t you do it earlier?
He had made him fill and drain the tub several times for no reason, and now he was just taking a shower. Considering how many people in Africa walk kilometers a day because of a lack of water, and how many water-scarce countries exist on Earth, wasting water like that was appalling.
His claim about caring for the environment was a lie.
He had found another piece of Cassian Strickland’s hypocrisy. If it became known that the man known publicly as the dignified heir to a ducal house who was sincere about environmental activism behaved like this, everyone would be disappointed.
I will tear off your mask…!
That was the last thing he remembered. When Cassian came out wearing a bathrobe and drying his wet hair, Bliss was fast asleep on Cassian’s bed, limbs sprawled wide, snoring loudly.
“Hah.”
Cassian couldn’t help but let out a stunned sigh. It had only been about 15 minutes, yet he had fallen into such a deep sleep in that short time.
In a way, it was almost enviable. Cassian’s sleepless nights were endless and had become chronic. Seeing someone sleep so soundly right before his eyes made him feel pathetic.
And he was doing it while arbitrarily occupying someone else’s bed.