By Zephyria 
I went to where the bath products were, opened the lids to smell them, and lathered some on the back of my hand a few times. After taking a few and pouring them onto a cloth, I figured that if it was slippery, smelled good, and foamed when rubbed, it must be for washing the body.
“Hngh…”
I was lathering the cloth when I heard a sob. I looked up and saw Aska with his wounded arm raised above his head, tears streaming down his face.
“Does your arm sting a lot?”
Aska nodded at my question. But even if it hurt, there was nothing I could do. I had to wash him first before applying medicine or bandaging him.
It seemed better to wash him quickly and get him out, so I told him to keep his arm raised and quickly scrubbed him from head to toe like doing laundry.
It was my first time washing someone, so I was clumsy and awkward, but it wasn’t too difficult since all I had to do was rub and rinse with water. But as soon as I thought that, I ran into a problem.
“Stay away a bit.”
Aska kept trying to stick close to me, inching closer and closer. Thanks to him, I was covered in foam and splashed with water, making me look like a drowned rat.
“I’ll give you blood later, okay?”
Aska didn’t just stick close, he slammed his head into my chest and slowly started bringing his mouth towards my arm. I forcibly pulled Aska away, held his head to keep him from coming closer, and barely dried his body before putting a robe on him.
“Stay outside.”
“I’m in pain…”
“I’m in pain too. My back hurts, my arms hurt like hell. I feel like my neck’s going to fall off.”
I realized for the first time how exhausting it was to wash someone. Thinking that the maids who attended to bathing should be paid more, I quickly threw off my clothes.
Belatedly, I washed off the blood on my body and went into the tub, and Aska followed me in, still wearing the robe. His robe was already wet at the hem because he had put his feet in the water.
I was about to say something, but I was too tired, so I just left him alone. I sat in the tub, leaned back, and closed my eyes.
I felt like I was going to die from exhaustion.
“…”
I was relieving my fatigue for a few seconds when I felt a small pain in my shoulder. I turned my head and saw Aska sitting next to me, taking a big bite out of my shoulder like it was an apple.
“…”
Each time he pressed and released his teeth, his lips pursing, the intensity increased. I didn’t want to move at all, but if I left him alone, my shoulder would end up like my neck, so I pushed Aska’s forehead with my finger.
At first, Aska yielded easily, but then he frowned and started resisting with force.
“I just washed you and dried you off…”
He wasn’t very strong, but seeing him crying again made my head hurt, so I thought I should just get out quickly.
I took off the robe that was soaked and clinging to his body, put on new clothes, and went outside. I took the baggage that was Aska to the room where we would be staying together.
Seeing the fluffy bed made me want to bury myself in it and fall asleep, but I couldn’t.
“I’ll give you blood, so sit over there.”
“…”
“I’ll give it to you if you sit.”
“…”
He seemed to listen to me until a little while ago, but now he wasn’t even pretending to hear me. I took the bandages and medicine while he was still clinging to me like a leech, his arms wrapped around my waist.
Then, I took out a dagger and put the tip of the blade to my arm, and Aska, who had been burying his face in my chest, finally showed interest. The strength in his arms wrapped around my waist gradually loosened.
The tip of the blade pierced my skin, and blood droplets quickly flowed out. In the blink of an eye, I grabbed the back of Aska’s neck as he lunged his lips towards the blood and earnestly told him.
“Don’t use your teeth, just suck. Got it?”
Aska quickly nodded at my words. I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to finish quickly and sleep. As soon as I let go, Aska put his lips on my bleeding arm.
His sucking power was so strong that it hurt even without using his teeth. Moreover, he wasn’t getting enough blood to satisfy him, so he even started touching the wound with his tongue, making me frown involuntarily.
“…”
I started to feel sleepy as I watched Aska sucking diligently, making slurping sounds. The pain was pain, and the fatigue was fatigue.
I slowly moved my legs towards the bed, and Aska followed me, still with his lips on my arm. I slowly lay down on the bed, and Aska lay down next to me.
I gave Aska my arm and closed my eyes. And I said goodbye to the long, long day.
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How long has it been since I slept so soundly without even dreaming?
I rarely woke up feeling good because I had mild sleep problems, but today I felt surprisingly refreshed.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was white hair scattered like thread on the pure white blanket. Aska was sleeping with only the top of his head slightly exposed, completely covered by the blanket.
I blinked a few times and became more alert, and groggily raised my upper body.
“…”
The numerous incidents and accidents that happened yesterday and all the labor came to mind, and I sighed involuntarily. When I thought about it, I didn’t even remember eating anything properly while feeding Aska.
I vowed to eat, rest, and sleep all day today when I heard a knock. I waited for a while, but no one came in, so I was wondering why, when it suddenly occurred to me that I had told them not to enter the room without permission yesterday.
It was naturally because of Aska, but when I thought about it, there were more than one or two inconveniences to doing that. I wondered why my legs were so heavy, so I slowly came out of the bedroom and opened the door myself, and saw Asella.
“Kyle, good morning.”
“Yeah, good morning. I’m hungry, so bring me something to eat.”
At my words, Asella moved her lips and said.
“I understand. And His Majesty is in the reception room.”
“My brother?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“About an hour has passed.”
Mahir had been waiting for me for an hour? In the reception room? I looked at Asella with a dumbfounded expression and asked.
“Why are you telling me now?”
“I knocked, but there was no answer, so I couldn’t tell you. I’m sorry.”
“…”
Of course, I told them not to enter without permission, but still, this was too much… No, was this my fault? More than that, what time is it now that Mahir has been waiting for me for an hour?
I stood blankly for a moment, then closed the door and went outside. Asella called out to me as I was about to go to the reception room without thinking.
“Kyle.”
“What?”
“Shall I bring you clothes?”
I wondered what she was talking about and made a puzzled expression, then looked down at my appearance. I was shirtless and only wearing pants, but the problem wasn’t the clothes. First of all, there were red and blotchy bruises here and there on my arms, chest, and stomach.
“What is this?”
“I think we need to change the bandages too.”
At the word bandage, I raised my hand and groped my neck, and a throbbing pain washed over me.
When I thought about it, I remembered Aska sucking on my arm before I fell asleep. I fell asleep after that, so I had no idea what happened.
I couldn’t go to see Mahir like this. Actually, I could go if I wanted to, but it was already tiring to explain everything one by one, so I decided to be a little later since I was already late.
I called a maid and took a bath while looking in the mirror. The situation was serious. Starting with the chest, stomach, and arms I had seen a little while ago, there were bruises and bite marks all over my legs, neck, back, and sides for some reason.
I clearly told him not to bite…
More than that, the most absurd thing was near my chin. I could somehow cover the other areas with clothes, but I had no idea what he did to my chin, there was even a blue bruise. Did I get hit while sleeping?
But I’m a light sleeper, so I should have woken up if that happened, so why didn’t I know anything until my body was in this state? Could this also be some kind of ability of Aska’s?
I finished changing, thinking that I should ask him later if he remembers. I had to cover up the red and blotchy marks, so I had no choice but to wear a formal uniform that I wouldn’t even look at normally.
My neck was constricted, and there were so many things hanging from the clothes that my body felt like it weighed a ton. I dragged my feet to the reception room and saw Mahir drinking tea and checking documents.
“Brother.”
I felt like I was meeting him after a very long time, so I was happy and approached him, and Mahir, who found me, widened his eyes.
“Where are you going?”
He was so surprised by my outfit. I could realize once again how much of a delinquent I had been acting like.
“I had something to do yesterday, so I overslept.”
When I told him the reason why I made him wait for more than an hour, Mahir’s expression became serious.
“I heard about it too. What’s going on, anyway?”
I came in a hurry, so I didn’t think about where to start and where to end. Even if I told him everything as it is, Mahir wouldn’t do anything that would harm me, but that was the problem.
Conversely, if he judged that it would be harmful to me, he couldn’t guarantee Aska’s safety. But if I lied, it would be difficult because he was so perceptive and I couldn’t know what he was thinking.
I quickly drank the tea on the table to buy some time.
“Aegis was kidnapped.”
“He even knew the secret passage? It seems certain that he’s from Calderia.”
As expected, he had already received a report about everything. It seemed like it would be counterproductive to make clumsy lies.
“Well, that’s what they said.”
“Why did you kill them all?”
“There was only a difference in degree, but they were almost all accomplices. It was more dangerous to pick them out one by one. But brother, what’s that note? The one that said to stand by. You were in the bedroom all day yesterday, right? Where…”
He stopped as he was about to ask if I was sick.