By Zephyria 
Aska returned about twenty minutes later.
He sauntered in through the window he’d jumped out of, soaked from head to toe. I had been planning to scold him for disappearing, demanding to know where he’d gone, but seeing him looking like a drowned white mouse, I couldn’t muster any anger.
I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t say a word, just staring at him. Aska, noticing me, was startled.
“You’re awake?”
“How could I not be…”
I trailed off, about to ask if he really thought I wouldn’t wake up after such a commotion. Aska’s question felt strange. Why did he assume I’d be asleep?
I studied Aska for a moment, then frowned.
“Don’t tell me this isn’t the first time you’ve snuck out at night?”
“No? It’s the first time.”
“…”
I was hesitant, but his expression and tone suggested it wasn’t his first time. My face fell at his blatant lie, and Aska hesitated before confessing.
“I’ve gone out three times.”
“…”
“I’ve only gone out three times!”
“…”
“Three times…”
As I remained silent, Aska’s expression and tone shifted constantly, as if he were scared or remorseful. But I was more bewildered by something else.
How could I have not noticed him sneaking out of the room three times? How could I not have heard him getting up from beside me or the window opening? It didn’t make sense.
“But I didn’t get caught by anyone.”
That much seemed true, which was a small relief, but I couldn’t let it slide. I inhaled, ready to give him a stern lecture, when I noticed droplets of water dripping from the ends of his hair, which shone even whiter than usual in the moonlight.
His excessively thin clothes were completely soaked, clinging to his body so tightly that he might as well have been naked. My head throbbed, and I sighed, summoning a Servant.
As soon as the bathwater was prepared, I called Aska to the bathroom and pointed to the tub.
“Get undressed and get in.”
He didn’t seem eager to bathe, but perhaps because he knew he was in the wrong, he didn’t resist. Aska hesitated for a long time, touching the surface of the water with his fingertips, even dipping his wrist in and swirling it around, before finally stepping into the tub.
“How did you get so wet if you hate water so much?”
“I don’t hate water, I hate the weird smell it has.”
Smell? What smell was he talking about? I approached the tub, cupped some water in my hand, and brought it close to my nose and mouth, taking a deep breath. I was so used to it that I hadn’t noticed before, but there was a faint scent of fragrance.
I’d have to tell them not to add anything to the water next time. A sudden thought struck me, and I frowned, asking,
“So, you’re saying you went outside to wash because you hate the smell of the water here?”
“No, not exactly…”
“Then why did you sneak out in the middle of the night to wash? Who did you meet?”
“Who would I meet?”
Aska asked, looking bewildered. I stared at him silently for a moment, then sighed. In fact, considering all the circumstances, my suspicion was reasonable, but conversely, that’s what made it seem unlikely.
It would be more believable if he’d snuck out to eat dried fruit or meat. An affair? It would be strange even if he’d met a spy from Calderia. Otherwise, why would he come back so soaked?
Then, Aska’s former guard, Jade, came to mind. I didn’t know why yet, but the thought of how careless he had been made suspicion sprout again.
Could Aska be acting carelessly like Jade to confuse me?
Just then, I heard a bubbling sound. Turning my gaze, I saw Aska with only his eyes above the water, exhaling underwater, creating bubbles.
The way he looked at me was too intense, and the atmosphere was strange with him submerged in water. I had once read a Forbidden book describing monsters from ancient times that no longer existed, and Aska didn’t look much different from them.
Of course, that monster mainly lived in the ocean, and Aska was in a bathtub, but still… Anyway, the story was about a monster with a beautiful appearance and heavenly voice that used them to lure people in and drag them into the sea to their deaths.
“…”
Bubbblllle…
“…”
Bubble bubble…
I had no idea what he was doing. Feeling somewhat dumbfounded, I asked Aska, who was glaring at me while making bubbles,
“Why are you looking at me like that? What have you done so well?”
At my words, Aska frowned, brought his face out of the water, and turned his head away. I couldn’t understand what he was thinking, so I got back to the main point.
“So, why did you go out?”
“…”
He moved his lips as if to say something, but no sound came out. He just had to say the reason, so why was he hesitating so much?
Feeling like the conversation would be long, I grabbed a chair and sat down in front of the tub. I crossed my legs, folded my arms, and stared at him intently, as if pressuring him. Aska mumbled in a small voice.
“There’s no water…”
“What water?”
“There’s no water here. Cold water…”
“What are you talking about? Why do you suddenly need cold water in the middle of the night?”
Leaving aside the reason why he needed it, I also wondered why he hadn’t woken me up. Wouldn’t it have been easiest to just wake me up and ask for some water?
“There isn’t water here every day.”
“Here? In the bathroom?”
“Yeah, someone else has to come and refill it every day…”
“So, I’m asking why you need that water. What’s the reason you suddenly need cold water in the middle of the night? You’re all wet, so I don’t think you were going to drink it. Were you going to wash with it?”
I felt like the conversation was going around in circles. Aska glared at me with a sulky expression, then suddenly stood up.
Water splashed everywhere because of the large movement, and I unconsciously frowned slightly, closing my eyes before opening them again. The water in the tub surged around Aska’s waist before settling down.
Wondering what he was doing again, I looked at him, and Aska lowered his head to look down. Inevitably, my gaze followed. But there was nothing there but water.
“What?”
At my question, Aska parted the water and walked towards me. Watching him with a puzzled expression, I instantly unfolded my crossed legs. I also unfolded my arms, leaned back against the backrest, and eventually got up from the chair, taking a couple of steps back.
“W-what are you doing?”
I couldn’t help it. Aska was pointing at his specific area with his hand, as if telling me to look at it. The position of his gaze, lowered as he looked down, made it clear.
Of course, due to unavoidable circumstances, it wasn’t the first time I’d seen Aska’s, but that was because there were unavoidable circumstances, not because I wanted to see it.
“Look at this.”
Sure enough, Aska even said it out loud.
“I don’t want to…”
“What?”
“No, why would I…”
Aska tilted his head when I said it with a disgusted expression. He looked at me with a puzzled expression, as if he didn’t understand why I hated it so much.
“You asked me why I washed. Why are you reacting like that?”
“Do I have to look there to explain it?”
Why? Did he have some kind of disease in that area? Was that why he needed to wash it? All sorts of thoughts ran through my head, but I didn’t want to see it, so I turned my gaze away. Aska said confidently,
“Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night, I feel strange, but when I wash it with cold water, it gets better. I was going to tell you in case I was sick somewhere…”
“…”
Aska began to explain his condition in detail, with a serious expression like when he was studying. I didn’t know how to react, so I just closed my eyes for now.