By Zephyria 
Ack.
Cassian froze on the spot. What was happening? What on earth was this peanut crumb doing?
“Get o—”
“Welcome back-aaa.”
Bliss, speaking with a heavily slurred tongue, let out a giggle and looked up at him. When their eyes met unexpectedly, Cassian momentarily faltered. Then, Bliss suddenly made a clicking sound with his tongue.
“Bad guy.”
Suddenly?
He couldn’t comprehend this situation at all. As his face contorted in bewilderment, Bliss also furrowed his brows deeply and continued in his slurred speech.
“You’re… a bad jerk-aaa. How much… hic, …without knowing, hic.”
What the hell are you babbling about, you peanut brat?
“Get off. Get off right now!”
“Nooo, I’m not getting off-roong.”
Seeing him tease him, even sticking his tongue out with a playful “ebebe,” Cassian was utterly speechless. Why was he acting like this? It was as if he were drunk.
…Drunk?
At the thought that suddenly flashed through his mind, he quickly shook his head. No way, where would this kid even get alcohol? Besides, if he had drunk enough to get this wasted, Penelope would have known.
…Could this be part of Penelope’s grand plan too?
A chill ran down his spine, but now was not the time for such thoughts. Determining the truth was a task for the morning. First, he had to deal with this capybara.
This brat, I won’t let him slide this time. I’ll tear him off even if I have to use force.
“Let—”
Just as he opened his mouth to forcibly push him away, Bliss suddenly leaped back. Though he was unexpectedly freed, the abrupt timing left Cassian dazed. Bliss blinked his half-open eyes at him and then suddenly wrinkled his brow with all his might.
What now, this brat.
Just as a cold sweat broke out on his back, Bliss narrowed his eyes and gnashed his teeth.
“Hmph, dummy.”
“What?”
Cassian could only let out a hollow laugh of disbelief. This peanut crumb, what on earth did he eat to suddenly act like this?
“Don’t be cheeky and…”
Just as he was about to tell him to go to sleep, Bliss suddenly grabbed Cassian’s arm. Now what? As he looked down with a frown, the capybara gave a beaming smile.
“Take a bath first, Cassian.”
“Forget it.”
Cassian violently shook off his hand. Along with that, Bliss let out a short scream, “Ah!” and flailed his arms wildly before tumbling backward. Cassian, momentarily startled, looked down at him. Bliss, who had remained curled up in a ball without reacting for a moment, let out a stifled, choked sound. Hearing that sound, Cassian’s heart sank.
“Blis— Blair!”
Just as he hurriedly called his name and tried to approach, Bliss, who had been folded in half, suddenly rolled forward and sprang up. Was he hurt…? While he watched with inner anxiety, Bliss suddenly clenched his fists and widened his eyes. When Cassian felt another bad omen from those bright blue eyes glaring at him with all their might…
“Kkeu, kkeuk, kkeuuuk.”
Bliss breathed heavily, his chest heaving. The huffs of air escaping his nose were ominous. What now? Cassian instinctively took a step back and paused. Tears were welling up in Bliss’s eyes.
“The, the bathtub… how hard I, scrubbed it. I thought, my arms, were going to break. Bad guy, human with mole’s front teeth. My, my back hurts too, it was so hard.”
Hearing those words, Cassian remembered what he had made Bliss do. He had simply intended to give him a bit of a hard time, but had he gone too far?
He was momentarily flustered, but he didn’t have much time for self-reflection. Bliss immediately grabbed his arm and pulled.
“Hurry and wash, I said wash!”
“Wait, just a second.”
“Wash right now!”
Cassian tried to stop him, but seeing Bliss’s face flushed bright red from pulling with all his strength, he eventually sighed and had no choice but to follow him into the bathroom. And finally, the place Bliss stopped was right in front of the bathtub. Standing beside the tub, which had been scrubbed so clean it practically glowed, he puffed out his chest proudly and waited for Cassian’s reaction.
Cassian looked down at the bathtub in silence. There were signs that he had worked quite hard, but for the employees, this would have taken barely an hour. And yet, this kid was saying he had done this all afternoon…
However, he didn’t find it pathetic. This was because the two hands resting firmly on his hips were swollen and reddened in several places. Thinking about how that small thing had spent the whole day crouched by the tub scrubbing away, it felt both funny and pitiful, and Cassian couldn’t decide how to react.
Bliss remained standing, looking up at him. With a somewhat nervous face, he waited for Cassian’s answer.
“Ahem.”
Cassian cleared his throat to steady his voice and spoke in his usual indifferent tone.
“This is enough.”
“Right?”
Seeing the satisfied face, Cassian was about to tell him to go and rest, when Bliss suddenly shouted, “Wah!” That wasn’t the end. Bliss began to spin around in circles on the spot, humming happily.
“I’m, so good at cleaning, why am I, so cool-aaa.”
Seeing him sing a nonsensical song in high spirits, Cassian was once again struck by absurdity. He should have stopped Bliss right there. But for some reason, Cassian just watched him without saying a word. In fact, a loose smile had begun to form on his lips when…
“Uh, uh.”
“Bliss!”
Bliss’s foot slipped, and he lurched violently. Startled, Cassian hurriedly called his name and reached out. He caught the falling Bliss in his arms just in time, but in doing so, Cassian also lost his balance. Oh no…!
“Aaaaah!”
At the sudden turn of events, Bliss screamed as they fell forward. Even then, Cassian held him tightly. A loud crash echoed through the bathroom. Cassian grimaced, swallowing a low groan from the pain spreading through his body.
What a mess.
In the end, he couldn’t prevent them from tumbling into the bathtub. Damn it, he cursed inwardly as he lifted his head. The hand rubbing his throbbing back of the head suddenly stopped. And Cassian discovered the brilliant platinum blonde hair nestled snugly in his arms.
18.
Everything was silent. Not a single breath could be heard. It was as if the world had stopped, and only stillness lingered. Seeing Bliss motionless with his face buried deep in his chest, a chill suddenly ran down Cassian’s spine.
He couldn’t have been hurt, could he?
A forgotten memory suddenly surfaced. A young Bliss, swollen up after eating a poisonous mushroom. A child who cried and cried, saying it hurt. If a situation like that happened again…!
Just as his mind went blank, the child who had been frozen in his arms twitched.
“Bliss? Are you okay?”
As he spoke urgently and forced him up by the shoulders, Bliss finally lifted his head. As Cassian looked back at the face blinking with hazy eyes, Bliss suddenly gave a beaming smile.
“Cassian, wash now.”
Then, Bliss pushed himself up and abruptly tried to undress Cassian.
“Wait, what are you doing?”
Startled, Cassian hurriedly grabbed his hands, and Bliss tilted his head, blinking his half-open eyes as if he hadn’t fully woken up.
“You have to take them off to wash. I’ll take them off for you.”
“No, wait. It’s fine. I’m really fine!”
Cassian tried to shake off the reaching hands, but he suddenly snapped to his senses, thinking that if he did, Bliss might fall over. Instead, grabbing the arms to stop him, Cassian forced a smile and spoke.
“I can do it. So stop now.”
“Whyyy, I said I’ll do it-aaa.”
Bliss pouted and reached out with his other hand. But when that too was caught by Cassian, his expression immediately turned to one of deep disappointment.
“I was, gonna do it for you-uu…”
Once again, Bliss let out those stifled, choking sounds. Seeing this, Cassian let out a deep sigh. This pattern again. He was almost disgusted with himself, but his heart had already swayed. Cassian let go of Bliss’s arms and simply leaned back into the bathtub.
“Fine, do whatever you want.”
And he declared to the crazy capybara who was tilting his head while looking at him.
“Do whatever the hell you want, you insane peanut.”