By Zephyria 
Carnival
The condition for this banquet was that everyone had to attend wearing a mask. Some argued that wearing a mask to a birthday banquet of all things was inappropriate, but there was no helping it.
No matter how I thought about it, if I were to take Aska out, I felt I had to put a mask on him, at the very least. This was the method I came up with because he kept whining that he didn’t want to wear a thick, cumbersome veil because it was too hot.
The main point of this banquet was to just play, eat, and leave whenever you wanted without knowing who anyone was.
Asella kept nagging that I absolutely had to receive congratulations, so I arranged a short gift-giving ceremony before the banquet started.
I sent an invitation to Khalifa as a formality, but he probably wouldn’t come. Rumor had it that he was especially out of his mind these days.
Would Mahir come? He wouldn’t be able to stay long because he was busy, though.
“Isn’t this practically a blanket?”
“Still, I told them to prepare the lightest one possible, so it’ll be okay.”
Aska grimaced at the so-called veil, which was basically a blanket, that he had to wear.
“How long do I have to wear it?”
“Just… for a little while when you receive the gifts and say hello?”
“Gifts? What gifts?”
Aska asked with a puzzled expression. I couldn’t help but be even more puzzled.
“Didn’t I tell you it was my birthday?”
“What? Birthday? It’s your birthday?”
Aska asked back in surprise. I nodded and said,
“Anyway, that’s why you have to be especially careful. It’s been a while since we’ve been to a banquet, so there will probably be a lot of people.”
“……”
“It’ll be better once the first part is over and the second part starts because everyone will be wearing masks then… Well, let’s just hang around for a bit and then slip away. Since no one knows who anyone is, they won’t even notice if we sneak out.”
“……”
He should be complaining by now, but Aska remained silent. I reached out and lightly tugged at Aska’s hair.
“Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Why? Don’t you want to go to the banquet?”
“It’s not that… Anyway, I’m going to go wash up.”
Aska, who had been hesitating with a sullen expression, jumped up and headed towards the bathroom. I watched Aska’s back as he walked away and gave him a stern warning.
“Wash thoroughly, everywhere. Cleanly. And don’t just wet yourself and come out. Use soap properly. Got it?”
“Got it!”
Normally, a Servant would have washed and dressed Aska, but right now, Aska didn’t have a single dedicated Servant. Whether it was washing, dressing, eating, or anything else, he either did it himself or I did it for him.
It wouldn’t matter if he wore anything casually on a normal day, but a banquet was different. I couldn’t dress him in those kinds of clothes myself, so a Servant would have to be assigned today.
“Aska.”
I followed him into the bathroom and told him something I had forgotten.
“Put this in the water before you wash. And when you wash your hair, do it in order, first this, then this, and finally this.”
Aska, who was about to get into the tub, came over naked and looked at the bottles I was pointing at. I explained it to him again, step by step.
“When you wash your hair, lather this up first, rub it in, and then rinse it with water.”
“I know that. I use it every day.”
“Today, there’s also the second and third ones.”
“Lather it up and put the second one on my hair too?”
“No, wash it off and then again.”
“What?”
Aska’s eyes widened at my words. I knew it too. That this was an incredibly troublesome thing to do… I had the same reaction as Aska when I first asked the Servant who took care of my bath.
I didn’t know because they did it for me every day, but they were actually using a lot of different things.
“You want me to do this three times?”
“Just today. And when you wash your body, use this and…”
“No, fuck…”
I understood why he was swearing. If someone told me to do the same thing, I would have sworn too.
“I can’t do it.”
Aska, who had been muttering to memorize the order, shook his head with a pale face, as if he couldn’t do it. Seeing that, I was conflicted. Since he was going to cover everything up anyway, shouldn’t I just skip it?
Even without applying all these things, Aska’s skin was transparent, white, and soft, and he smelled good even if he washed roughly…
“……”
I hesitated for a moment, but I still thought it would be better to do as I was told. I sighed and finally decided to help Aska with his bath.
I used the products to wash his hair in order, washed him, applied various things to his skin, and put something on his face and then took it off, making a mess of things, but we managed to finish the bath safely. But as soon as we came out, we both collapsed onto the bed without either of us saying a word.
“I feel like I’m going to die…”
“……”
Aska muttered, making a crying sound. I didn’t even have the strength to speak. I had to go get ready soon…
As expected, there was a knock. I struggled to get up and said weakly to Aska.
“I’ll go get ready and come back, so rest for a bit.”
“When do I get ready?”
“After I’m done.”
Doing it separately would save time, but I couldn’t help but do this because I was worried about leaving Aska with the Servant when I wasn’t there.
I staggered to the door, opened it, and Asella looked at me and flinched for a moment. I was soaked from head to toe from washing Aska.
“Double the salary for the kids who help with bathing.”
“Understood.”
She might have been curious about the reason, but Asella didn’t ask any questions.
I went to another room, was washed almost while dozing off, and was dressed from head to toe, then went back to Aska.
“Did you put something on your hair?”
“I don’t know. Put this on first.”
Time had passed more than I thought, so I quickly dressed Aska. The Servants were going to put several layers of formal wear over this.
While I was putting on the underwear so that no skin was visible, Aska reached out and lightly touched my hair, and tapped the accessories with his fingertips.
“You know how to act, right?”
“I know.”
“Then I’ll call them in?”
Aska, who had been touching the earring post behind my earlobe, nodded with a solemn expression. I was also nervous. It was the first time my castle’s Servants were attending to Aska.
When I called the Servants, a dozen of them entered the room with their heads bowed. Asella must have spoken to them well in advance, as they hardly raised their heads or opened their mouths.
Aska was also playing the role of a sickly, beautiful boy well, with his head slightly bowed.
In the silence, the only sounds were the rustling of clothes, the sound of touching hair, and the occasional small noise of accessories colliding. I stood next to Aska with my arms crossed, watching the Servants’ actions without missing a single detail.
Then, one of the Servants was about to apply something to Aska’s hand. Aska’s fingertip twitched slightly, and the Servant bowed deeply.
“I apologize.”
“What is this?”
I quickly approached and asked.
“It’s a beauty essence to apply to the skin.”
I applied the beauty essence to the back of my hand and smelled it. A soft, water-like substance with a subtle floral scent permeated the skin.
At that moment, Aska raised his hand and lightly tugged at my sleeve. He seemed to have something to say, so I put my ear to his mouth, and he whispered in my ear in a small voice.
“I don’t like it because it smells weird and it’s slippery.”
I nodded and handed the beauty essence back to the Servant.
“Don’t apply this. And don’t spray any perfume either.”
“Understood.”
At my words, the Servants quickly put away several small glass bottles. They seemed to be trying to trim his nails now, so I warned them.
“Be careful.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Never hurt him.”
“We will be careful.”
If he got hurt, all of this would be for nothing. If Aska, injured in a place with so many Servants, suddenly started crying and asking for blood because he was in pain, it would be a disaster.
They said they would be careful, but I was still anxious, so I stayed by Aska’s side and watched everything with my eyes wide open. The Servant’s hand, carefully trimming the white growth at the end of his pink fingernail, was trembling slightly.
I was going to switch to another person if he kept trembling, but fortunately, the Servant calmed down quickly. After tidying up his fingernails and toenails, combing his hair, and getting up from his seat, they even dressed Aska.
In the meantime, I chose the accessories for Aska to wear. I tried various things on his clothes and hair, and then showed him a few candidates.
“What do you want to wear?”
I showed him various things, such as a flashy accessory with a large jewel, an elegant one decorated with platinum and several small diamonds, and a gold accessory that matched his clothes well, but Aska just shook his head.
He probably just didn’t want to wear anything because it was heavy. Still, I had to choose a tiara to hold the veil in place, so I chose one that was reasonably light.
The preparations were completed quickly, carefully, and quietly, and the Servants retreated like the tide.
“I felt like I was suffocating.”
Aska muttered with a sigh. Even if the veil was thick, you could still see the outline of his face if you looked closely. I had even put on a veil in case the veil came off, but I was still anxious.
“Move carefully.”
“I know.”
“I only said it once.”
“You’ve been saying the same thing over and over again since a while ago.”
“That means you have to be as careful as possible.”
“I know.”
Aska grumbled as he put his hand on my outstretched hand.