Chapter 49
After that, she couldn’t even scream, simply freezing and slowly averting her gaze.
‘What did I just see?’
Of course, it had been large and beautiful.
Abdominal muscles as if perfectly sculpted by a god, the serratus anterior clinging solidly beneath his massive chest, a waist tapering into an inverted triangle, and thighs so firmly and tautly muscled they seemed split apart.
But as Sepina’s descriptions had noted, the most enormous weapon hung at Edward’s lower half.
‘A t-tumbler.’
No, even that might be underselling it.
‘It looked about the size of my forearm.’
Lucy had unconsciously raised her arm and was examining it intently when another internal scream erupted.
Even amidst all that, Edward had approached the tub without a care.
“I-I’ll be outside a bit longer! Making preparations…!”
“If you take too long, I’ll assume you ran away.”
“…!”
“If that happens, I’ll come catch you myself. Keep that in mind.”
Then, with eyes that had deepened slightly in color, he had glanced at Lucy and stepped into the tub.
That was what had happened moments before.
Lucy, staring at the bathroom door, chewed on her lip.
‘He wasn’t joking about coming to catch me.’
Knowing him, there was a high chance he’d come after her without a care that others might see him naked.
He might even regard it as graciously showing them a work of art.
‘It’s terrifying that there are probably people who would actually think that…’
The image of a gigantic tumbler coming to catch her, and the maids gazing upon it in rapture, flashed through her mind like chaos incarnate.
“Have you run away?”
A low voice sounded from beyond the bathroom door.
Lucy squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.
“As if I would! I’m coming in now!”
“…”
“I’ve never bathed anyone before either, so I was just practicing a little out here by myself, you know! Hohoho!”
Lucy steeled her resolve.
‘It’s not like I’m some noble young lady who needs delicate care.’
She just had to scrub the parts he couldn’t reach, like his back, right?
And in romances like these, the standard was that foam or rose petals would float on the bathwater, hiding everything from view.
‘Just close my eyes tight and get it over with quickly!’
Her mind firmly made up, Lucy pushed the bathroom door without hesitation.
Creak.
Whoosh.
In an instant, the thick steam that had been gathering inside the bathroom rushed toward her.
Damp air, heavy with heat.
“Hah.”
Before she knew it, she had stopped breathing.
Lucy caught a strange scent mingled in the air.
The scent that had always drifted from his embrace whenever she was held.
“It’s useful. There is.”
The scent that had lingered at the tip of her nose when he had whispered those words…
The fragrance of the oils and soap Edward used.
The moment she recognized it, she felt her tension quietly shift into something else.
Swallowing to settle her churning stomach, Lucy rolled up her sleeves and headed toward the tub.
‘What the hell.’
And she lamented at the sight beyond his broad back.
Contrary to her expectations, the bathwater was crystal clear, a pristine first-grade stream if ever there was one.
Which meant the menacing situation below the water’s surface was far too visible.
The presence protruding from Edward’s lower half as he leaned against the tub was so overwhelming that even the thick steam couldn’t conceal it.
‘A pretty face and a not-so-pretty club…’
Lucy let her eyes go out of focus.
‘Don’t think about it.’
That’s just a lump of flesh, Lucy.
Strip it down and it’s all the same— no, there’s no way something like that could ever be the same, but anyway…
Lucy was standing perfectly still, steeling her heart, when—
Edward urged her again.
“You said you practiced.”
“O-Of course! Allow me to show you the real thing this time!”
Lucy scrubbed her hands clean and picked up the sponge and soap.
Squish.
Water, squeezed from the sponge as she gripped it too tightly from nerves, trickled down her wrist and elbow, soaking even her skirt.
She lathered the soap diligently into the sponge and, trembling, brought it to the nape of Edward’s neck—
Flinch.
Edward’s body jerked unexpectedly, and Lucy sprang into the air on the spot as well.
