ORCA 33

Rubbing his eyes, he forced himself to sit up and cleared his throat. A gravelly, metallic sound escaped him. It felt like it might be because he had cried so much all through yesterday afternoon. His swollen eyelids felt heavy.

Niah remained curled up for a short while before getting out of bed. He neatly folded the shirt the young master had given him and placed it safely on one side of the bed, then layered his everyday clothes over his shivering body. As the rough fabric brushed against his skin instead of the soft texture of the shirt, he was swept by an unnecessary sense of disappointment. He picked up the shirt again and buried his face in it. As he sniffed it, a smile escaped him before he knew it. He wanted to see the young master as soon as he could.

He packed the towel he had brought yesterday, along with fresh underwear and socks, and headed out. It was earlier than usual. The sky was dim. He felt sleepy from the mild cold, and he wanted to lie down and rest. But the desire to go to the young master was much greater.

Niah descended the steep staircase two steps at a time. He nearly tripped several times, but he did not stop. He hurried as if he were being chased by something.

His throat, having inhaled plenty of cold air, stung as if he had swallowed a cactus. After forcing his ragged, panting breath to settle, he slowly pulled the door handle. The basement, the servants’ living space, was silent except for the occasional sound of snoring. Naturally, it was not yet the time for the mansion’s servants to begin their daily routine. It was that early.

Even though Niah knew that no one was awake, he naturally shrank back. He walked on tiptoes to avoid being caught coming down. His footsteps, keeping close to the outer wall of the hallway, felt like those of a sinner. It was always like that.

As soon as he slipped into the bathroom, he threw off his upper garments and pulled down his pants and underwear all at once. He tossed the pile of clothes that had gathered around his ankles to the side and was quickly naked. Even then, his anxiety did not disappear, so he moved busily.

Niah looked back and forth between the wooden bathtub and the metal basin, then gave up on filling the tub and squatted in front of the faucet. He had woken up unnecessarily early, so he had plenty of time, but he didn’t feel like taking it easy. His hips kept twitching. He had completely forgotten about his own physical state.

Having soaked his body, Niah quickly grabbed the soap and scrubbed vigorously. He worked up a lather and rubbed his chest with one palm while washing his hair with the other. Then, he switched positions, rubbing his thighs with one hand and his back with the other. It was, indeed, a strange way to bathe. As he repeated this, white bubbles covered his entire body. He looked like a snowman he had secretly tried to make last winter.

After giggling for a moment at the trivial imagination, he poured water over the top of his head. He squeezed his eyes shut as the stinging soapy water ran down, repeating the process several times until all the large bubbles were washed away. Afterward, he rinsed off his still-slippery skin and hair, and rinsed his stinging eyes again. After brushing his teeth thoroughly, he dried himself off with a fresh towel.

The preparations to go to Orca were finished in an instant and concluded quickly.

Suppressing his impatient heart as much as possible, Niah, now neatly dressed, headed to the laundry room. The laundry room, provided separately in the backyard of the mansion, was close to the basement, but to Niah right now, it felt too far away. On top of that, even the laundry he did every morning felt cumbersome for some reason.

The young master floated up in his mind. His cool, handsome face, his body surrounded by hard muscles, his soft voice, his incredibly nice scent, his ticklish touch—everything came to mind, and his heart swelled as if it would burst. His solar plexus felt tight. Cherry blossom-colored shyness settled on Niah’s cheeks.

“Oh, right.”

Having safely escaped the basement, Niah suddenly stopped and buried his nose in his wrist. He could smell the young master right after he woke up, but now, only the familiar scent of soap remained. He had been so focused on going quickly that he had completely forgotten something important.

“I’m such a fool….”

Niah hung his head with his eyebrows drooping as he snuck out the back door of the mansion. His footsteps were full of sulkiness, as if he were dissatisfied with himself.

Still, he couldn’t abandon his chores, so he went straight into the laundry room. It was a familiar place because he had often helped with laundry work before the young master arrived. He brought the small basin leaning against the wall and put the laundry in. After wetting it sufficiently by turning on the water, he took it out onto the broad board and rubbed the laundry soap on it.

The laundry amounted to nothing more than two towels and one pair of underwear. He had to fetch the clothes he wore yesterday from the young master’s bathroom. He planned to fetch and wash them after serving the pre-meal tea later. That way, the timing would roughly align with the start of the greenhouse routine. It would be a bit tight if he stopped by the dining hall in the meantime, but it didn’t matter. Adrian would glare at him whenever he ate, so he couldn’t eat leisurely anyway, and even if he couldn’t eat at all, he could just go to the young master in the afternoon.

Niah washed the towel Orca had given him with special care. He thought that if he washed it cleanly and returned it, the young master might praise him. Suddenly, a greedy thought occurred to him: he wished the young master would treat him today like he did yesterday. Being stroked was nice, of course, but being held tightly in his arms felt so good it made him want to scratch at his own heart.

The time he had spent touching his body in the bathtub had also been very enjoyable. It was ticklish, bubbly, slippery, and soft, making him feel as if he were floating on the water’s surface. It was a sensation he had felt for the first time in his life. It was difficult to express it in words other than just saying it was good. It was a little different from being embarrassed or shy.

He wondered what the young master would say if he asked him. Since the young master was a remarkable person, perhaps he knew the answer.

Niah, who had been completely preoccupied with Orca the whole time, suddenly startled and left the laundry room. Outside, it had grown quite bright before he realized it. It was still early in the morning, but it was enough to satisfy Niah’s overflowing impatience.

Watching the dawn fade over the forest in the distance, he hung out the cleanly washed towels and underwear. His limbs moved nimbly in the simple act of shaking out the wrinkles. The clothesline pole was quite high, so he had to stand on his tiptoes and stretch his arms fully. Only after securing them well with clothespins so they wouldn’t blow away in the wind could he move his feet toward his original destination: the central fourth floor.

Niah moved energetically as if flicking his tail fin. His body felt light, as if by a miracle. A laugh filled with anticipation escaped his lips.

Niah arrived at Orca’s room and knocked on the door. The small vibration felt just like his own heart beating. The wood tapped out a sound, thump-thump, like his heart. Niah waited for Orca’s answer with a silly smile, then pressed his ear against the door.

“Hmm…?”

Something was wrong.

The young master would always open the door and come out as soon as he knocked, or sometimes, he would appear before Niah could even knock. He was always startled. It was simply amazing how he knew even when he couldn’t be seen. But today was strange. It was the first time that nothing had happened for so long.

Flustered, Niah stepped back and rolled his eyes here and there. His fingers, tangled together as if anxious, couldn’t stay still.

“Eh? Oh…. Why, what is it…?”

He wondered if he was still asleep, but he was perplexed because that had never happened before. Not knowing what to do, he just twisted his helpless fingers. Niah gulped down his dry saliva. His prickly throat stung. He tried to trick himself into acting like nothing was wrong while lingering in the same spot.

The young master was a kind and gentle person. Yesterday, the day before yesterday, he had been good to him every single day. So, this was just a passing worry. He tried hard to rationalize the situation, believing that the young master was just not awake because he had come too fast, that he would open the door soon, and that it would surely be all right.

Despite these efforts, Niah gradually began to breathe in short, sharp gasps. In an instant, his eyes turned red. His body, which he had thought felt light, became as heavy as cotton soaked in water.

“Young master…. Young masteeeer? Are you, not up yet…?”

He mustered the courage to approach and knock on the door once more. His call was noticeably more cautious than before. However, there was still no answer.

Orca did not open the door. He didn’t even tell him to go away. He simply ignored him.