ORCA 85

Niah, who had been blushing, pouted his lips and felt embarrassed. It was the first time he realized that it was obvious to others that he had been thinking about the young master all day. Although he had talked to Harriet about the young master a lot, they had also conversed about many other topics. He had listened to stories about her younger siblings, as well as the mansion she worked at previously and her hometown. However, knowing that she already knew about his worries before he could even speak about them made him feel incredibly shy.

“Has it gotten a bit worse? You were working fine before, after all. Above all, it’s definitely a serious matter that you’ve lost your appetite.”

Harriet giggled teasingly and rubbed the back of his head. Niah accepted the gesture gently while grumbling that it wasn’t true. At that, Harriet asked in an even more mischievous tone:

“But why are you a pervert?”

“Pardon?”

“Because no matter how I think about it, I don’t think you’re a pervert.”

Niah flared up and turned bright red. Harriet, whose interest was piqued by his intense reaction, began to coax him gently to make him open up. After promising about five times that she wouldn’t tease him, convincing him about ten times, and prodding him about fifteen times, she was finally able to hear his real worry.

“It, it’s that… it’s the same that I keep thinking about him…. But like, like….”

“Like what?”

Niah unclenched his hands and fidgeted with his fingers. His pace slowed down due to his hesitation. His lips only opened and closed, fluttering without making a sound. He glanced at Harriet, took a deep breath, and hunched his shoulders tightly. A strained voice leaked out hesitantly, becoming smaller and smaller.

“Like, I keep, I keep wanting to take the young master’s clothes off….”

Harriet came to an abrupt stop and pondered Niah’s answer. Then, a stifled snort turned into a burst of laughter that rang out loudly. She laughed heartily, even bending backward. Because of this, the quiet corridor echoed with her laughter. Niah felt like he was being teased over and over again. His resentful face distorted as if he were about to shed tears at any moment.

“I, I thought you wouldn’t tease me! You said you wouldn’t!”

“Sorry, sorry. I won’t, pfft, I won’t laugh.”

“…”

“Really. I’m really not laughing now. Look, I’m not laughing, am I?”

Harriet struggled to suppress the corners of her mouth that kept wanting to twitch upward and apologized repeatedly. She cleared her throat to hold back the laughter that kept leaking out. Her stomach hurt from laughing so much. Niah resented her just a little bit, but he nodded quietly. He didn’t have the personality to hold a grudge for long. The two, who had been standing still for a while, started walking forward again. There was a set morning routine, so they didn’t have time to linger. Harriet was especially pressed for time.

“Anyway, that is definitely a concern worth having.”

“Right? What do I do now, Harriet….”

“Why not just ask him to show you? No, wait a minute. But don’t you see him every day? When he bathes or when he changes his clothes?”

“Pardon? That is, well, that’s true, but…. It’s embarrassing to look too closely. And I might get caught. The young master knows everything about those things….”

“Aha… so you want to see the young master’s naked body without getting caught?”

“Harriet!”

By the time they reached the distillery, no proper solution had been found, but Niah felt much more at ease. It was far better than agonizing over it alone. Besides, he had received a plate of sugar-preserved flowers, so all the slight resentment he had felt disappeared. He was even in a good mood at the thought of sharing them with the young master. Harriet lightly patted Niah, who was happy over something so trivial. Then, after hesitating for a moment, she brought it up.

“You know, Niah. Just try doing whatever your heart tells you. The young master wouldn’t hate it, would he? If he hated it, he would have cast you away long ago. And didn’t you go see him eventually last time, even though you were afraid of being scolded? Nothing happened then, did it? Far from being scolded, you’re seeing him every day and spending every day together, aren’t you? Isn’t that right? So, do whatever you want. In my opinion, that is the answer you’re looking for.”

“But, Harriet….”

“Instead, don’t just go up to him and say, ‘Young master, please take your clothes off.’ Alright? You can’t just take them off forcibly, okay?”

Niah fumed at her teasing tone but headed toward the center. On the way, he turned around and diligently waved his hands to say goodbye. Harriet waited until Niah completely disappeared from view before opening the door to the distillery.

She found herself quite entertained by this unexpected romance consultation. The honest desire of someone so naive, who seemed to have never liked anyone before, was both cute and funny. At this point, she was even curious about the young master’s true feelings. She had a hunch that since Niah was in such a state, the young master would be even more so, not less.

Harriet covered her mouth and giggled for no reason. She had a gut feeling that Orca was also likely inexperienced in love. He probably had terrifying rumors following him everywhere he went, so she wondered how many people would truly fall in love with him upon learning all that. The imagination that they were both equally inexperienced and would be in total chaos made her happy once more.

Of course, there were many things weighing on her conscience, such as engagement matters and the fact that the young master was someone who would soon be leaving, but she figured it would be better to leave those matters to the young master himself. It didn’t seem right to Niah or the young master for her to step in and talk about the engagement or his departure. Harriet decided to just do her duty as a matchmaker and make plans to listen well to the eccentric worries Niah would occasionally lay out.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes to me saying he wants to kiss him.

She laughed, “Ahahaha.”

The dim dressing room occasionally echoed with a crunching sound. Niah was sitting blankly on the vanity stool that had become his designated seat. Orca was caught in the line of his fixed, blank gaze. He couldn’t take his eyes off him, as if he were a magnificent spectacle. Niah reached out to feel the vanity and popped one of the flower petals Harriet had given him into his mouth. The dry petals shattered like the cheers of spectators surrounding a performer. The quiet surroundings were filled only with the crunch, crunch sounds.

Orca, having roughly wiped his wet hair, put on his pajama top. It was a method he had devised for the goldfish who acted chaotic outside the dressing room every time he changed his clothes.

Every time, he finished putting on all his other clothes except for the top before calling Niah inside. Niah, who would rush in after busily peeking about, would run over to the vanity, and Orca would grab him by the hips and lift him up to sit him down. Then, he would offer his damp hair and ask him to fasten his buttons or cufflinks. Niah firmly believed he was serving him by helping him dress.

It was a similar situation with his bath service. He would draw a bath, add bath salts, sit quietly to the side, and then brush his forearms or shoulder blades a few times with a brush. He spent more than half of that time just admiring Orca. In addition, Niah was thrown into the bathtub every two days. Because of Orca, who always made him wash in his own room, especially when it was late at night, one of the two sets of pajamas he had brought was already downstairs on the fourth floor.

If others had seen this behavior in detail, they would have clicked their tongues, asking who the servant was and who the master was, but Niah himself believed he was a quite helpful servant. Even though the treatment he received had long crossed the boundary of being a servant, he struggled by himself because he wanted to serve Orca well. Since he was truly trying his best to accomplish whatever he could, it was a plausible evaluation.

Orca, with a towel draped over his head, walked toward the intense gaze that seemed to be licking him. As the distance gradually closed, Niah licked his sugar-coated finger and reached out his arm. The gaze that had been scanning Orca’s curved stomach and chest now swept down his face. Orca, standing in front of Niah, naturally bent his back to lower his posture. His two hands, spread wide as if trapping his prey, pressed against the edge of the vanity.

“Why are you looking like that?”

“I wasn’t, no, I was, I was just looking….”

Niah, who had been staring intensely at his lips, jerked his eyes upward. He was so flustered that his words came out nonsensical. When Orca narrowed his eyes, Niah began to act like he was doing something else for no reason. He tried his best to keep an indifferent expression while busily moving his hands. Fearing that he would be suspected even more if his face turned red, he deliberately tried to think about miscellaneous things.