By Zephyria 
Back in my room, Aska, who must have woken up in the meantime, came running towards me, making little footsteps.
“……?”
But for some reason, he didn’t come close, just stood far away and glared at me. I wondered what was wrong with him again, so I just stared back blankly and asked.
“Why?”
“Smell…….”
“What?”
“You smell weird.”
He frowned as he said that, so I raised my arm and inhaled. Maybe it was because I lay on the bed when I went to the Harem, but the scent of various perfumes that Fatima often used was deeply embedded in me.
“When did you wake up?”
“A little while ago.”
“I’m going out for a bit today, so stay in your room and study quietly.”
Not long ago, I went out on a Stealth mission without saying anything, and Aska came out of the room and roamed around the castle. He made the excuse that he thought I had disappeared because he suddenly couldn’t smell me, so I couldn’t scold him properly then, and I couldn’t make that mistake again this time.
Come to think of it, it seemed like he couldn’t smell me if he was more than a certain distance away, and I wondered exactly how far that distance was.
“Where?”
“Outside.”
“Where outside?”
“I have somewhere to go.”
I couldn’t possibly tell him that I was going out to buy his sex education textbook. Aska glared at me with a very sulky expression because I kept not answering him.
“You won’t let me go out…….”
“You and I are in different situations.”
“I won’t get caught by anyone anyway!”
I was just stating the truth, but Aska yelled back at me.
“Why can’t I go out! If that’s the case, then you don’t go out either, you cheap bastard!”
That was just absurd.
I was planning to let him roam freely in the Greenhouse once it was completed, but from the start, I had no intention of taking Aska outside.
What if I took Aska, who was neither a princess nor a woman, out and he was discovered by someone? I would have to get rid of innocent people again to maintain secrecy, and it would be a headache if someone I couldn’t control found out.
Another reason was that Aska was something other than human. I couldn’t let him out until I knew exactly what his abilities were.
“Let’s study for now.”
I calmly coaxed Aska, who was getting annoyed, to appease him.
“Why are you suddenly talking about studying?”
“If you study properly and put some common sense into that head of yours, then let’s think about it again. It’s too dangerous right now. If you keep acting like a colt…….”
“I won’t act like a colt. And I’ve read all the books you gave me.”
He’d already read them all? I was a little surprised, but I didn’t show it.
“Of course, there’s more to study than that. And your face is too eye-catching, that’s also a problem.”
“I can cover it up.”
“Is that a face that can be covered up?”
Was he being serious? Aska’s patience, who had been answering diligently while looking at my dumbfounded expression, reached its limit, and he yelled again.
“Ah, I’ll shave my head! I’ll put on mud! I’ll wrap bandages! Then no one will recognize me! Have you ever done that? What do you know if you haven’t done it!”
I pressed my ears shut at the sharp voice that was pounding in my ears. Nevertheless, Aska’s loud voice continued to beat my eardrums.
“I’m going out too! Why only you! I can cover it up! Who knows me here? Ah, I want to go out too!”
Shave his head to go out for a while, was he out of his mind? I looked at Aska with a weary look and finally took a step back.
“Okay, then let’s go out together when you’re done studying. Until then, I won’t go out either.”
Aska, who had taken a big breath to shout again, closed his mouth when I said I wouldn’t go out either. Aska, who had been glaring at me with distrustful eyes for a while, asked.
“How much do I have to study?”
“At least basic common sense…….”
“So, what is the scope of that basic common sense? Common sense is different for everyone.”
“…….”
What was this, this un-Aska-like sharpness……? So it was true that people had to learn. Until recently, he had asked me what being drunk was…….
For some reason, I felt both touched and regretful at the same time.
“Let’s go out when you’ve read all the books I give you and get a perfect score on the test.”
Aska finally closed his mouth at my words. I decided to put sex education on the back burner for a while as I looked at his eyes, which were shining resolutely like jewels.
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“Are you really going to do this?”
I asked, looking at Aska, who was sitting at his desk and frantically reading books.
“…….”
“Are you really going to do this?”
“…….”
But no matter how much I talked to him, Aska didn’t say a word. I couldn’t help but sigh as I looked at Aska, who wouldn’t take his eyes off the book with a stubborn expression.
That was because Aska had been reading books for over ten days without sleeping or eating. I wasn’t lying, he really hadn’t drunk a single drop of water or food, or blood, for ten days. He hadn’t slept, so his eyes were sunken, and of course, he hadn’t washed, so his hair looked like it was about to drip oil.
“It’s not like you can learn that much just by looking at it for a while. Why are you being so stubborn?”
“…….”
“And it’s not like the things you’ve read will disappear from your head if you eat, sleep, and wash, are you protesting now? Huh? Are you doing this on purpose to show me?”
“…….”
Aska didn’t even look at me until the end. Who did he take after to be so stubborn?
I crossed my arms and stared at Aska for a while, then took special measures. I took out a syringe from the drawer, brought a chair, and sat right across from Aska. Then I put my arm on the desk and immediately stuck the needle in and drew blood.
This was a method I came up with during a week-long experiment with Aska. Giving it to him once or twice was one thing, but it was too inefficient to make cuts with blades every time I had to give him blood regularly in the future.
So, I got a large number of syringes from the doctor and then gave him the right amount at the scheduled time. For some reason, Aska didn’t seem to like this very much either, but he didn’t say anything.
Aska, who didn’t move unnecessarily except to turn the pages of the book, flinched and shrugged his shoulders when the transparent syringe was filled with blood.
“Eat this first and then look again.”
I said it nicely, trying to coax him, but Aska still didn’t react.
“We can’t throw away what we’ve already drawn. Or should I throw it away? Huh? Should I just throw this precious thing away? I drew fresh blood for you?”
“…….”
Aska didn’t budge even when I shook the syringe full of blood in front of his eyes. Seeing that, I sighed again.
What I gave Aska to look at was the imperial etiquette, which was so unnecessarily vast that I wondered if I should just commit suicide while memorizing it when I was young, and the chronicles of Actan, which boasted a thousand-year history. And just in case, I added a book containing the latest current affairs and the advanced course of Hipmes, the common language of the continent, to increase the amount.
Even the most outstanding scholar would take more than 10 years to learn all of this from beginning to end. So, it wasn’t a problem that Aska could solve by reading books for a few days without eating or sleeping.
“Are you really going to throw this away?”
I shook the syringe in front of Aska’s eyes one more time. Aska didn’t say anything even though his vision was blocked and he couldn’t see the book well. I was about to sigh at that sight when I heard the sound of the paper of the book that Aska was holding crumpling.
“…….”
“…….”
And Aska glared at me with ghostly eyes. I wanted to shout cheers inside at the finally reached gaze.
“Eat this first. And let’s wash up a bit. You smell right now.”
“Get rid of it.”
“Do you know you’re talking after ten days? I’m going to forget your voice…….”
Before I could finish speaking, water dripped from Aska’s eyes. I couldn’t help but be flustered by the sight of him suddenly starting to cry.
“Why are you crying?”
“It’s annoying, fuck…….”
Aska clenched his fists and trembled, sobbing as if he couldn’t control his anger.
“It’s all because you’re starving. People are originally very sensitive when they’re starving…….”
“Shut up!”
“Eat this first. And let’s wash up. Good boy, good boy. Open your mouth.”
“You son of a bitch……. Fuck, you bad bastard…….”
Aska obediently opened his mouth while shedding tears and spitting out all sorts of vulgar curses. I put the fresh blood I had just drawn into Aska’s mouth, who must have been hungry.