A cold sensation swept across my scalp and down to my neck. Shivering from the cold wind, I flinched and raised my head. Above me, I could see Zachary’s water jug, which had toppled over and was dripping water down.

‘Soap water?’

It smelled like the herbal water that was constantly in a corner of the bathhouse. In this world, herbal water was commonly used as a soap. But the trouble was that this herbal water was now pouring all over my body.

“Why would you…, uh.”

I took a sharp inhalation. Zachary was embracing me and pressing his fingers into my scalp. The abrupt incursion made my skin crawl. His big, broad fingers immediately encircled my head. He began gently rubbing my scalp and slowly pouring water on it.

Initially startled by his actions, I struggled, but it didn’t take long for me to understand what he was doing. Zachary was washing my hair. Only then did I stop resisting.

Sure enough, feeling it more closely, Zachary was indeed washing my hair. He softly ran his hands through my hair before wiping my cheeks with his moist palms.

‘What’s this about? Why is he doing this?’

His movements were gentle, as if he was carefully wiping a child’s skin, ensuring not to leave a single scratch. After thoroughly wiping my cheeks, he slowly rubbed and cleaned my forehead and nose. Staring blankly at Zachary, an involuntary muffled sound escaped me. My mouth clamped shut in embarrassment, silencing any further sounds.

‘What on earth…?’

I must have been making a foolish, dazed expression. I wondered what kind of face Zachary was making. Of course, his face was still hidden by the cloth, so I couldn’t see his expression. Not that I would be able to recognize it due to the spell anyway.

‘But did I smell?’

Suddenly, that thought crossed my mind. Zachary cannot do anything harmful to me. And until now, he had never attempted to enter the place where I bathe. Yet now, he was doing everything contrary to that, and judging by his actions…

“Did I smell?”

“…”

“Right. I must have smelled really bad.”

Zachary remained silent, focusing solely on washing my face and hair without responding.

Fortunately, unlike earlier when he seemed intent on removing my clothes, he didn’t try to force them off this time. He was just cleaning the visible parts. And I, having seemingly given up, just sighed without resisting any further.

‘It’s gone.’

My clothes, soaked with water, had crossed the point of no return. Seeing them completely ruined made it easier to accept the situation.

But how bad must the smell have been for him to act this way?

Zachary had never been so reckless with me before, but today’s actions made me wonder just how severe it was.

‘I didn’t even sweat…’

It was certainly strange. I had attended a banquet, but I was mostly indoors and had no reason to sweat. I was just among people, most of whom tended to keep their distance from me anyway.

As I pondered, a fragrant herbal aroma spread throughout the bathhouse. Perhaps due to this, the sharpness in my eyes that had been tense until a moment ago softened, and I began to feel at ease.

The water was warm, melting away the fatigue of the day, and the hands stroking my face were tender.

‘I hope he doesn’t remember all this later and tease me about it.’

The impending disaster had ended up tending to my bath.

This might lead to a significant butterfly effect that could overwhelm me in the future, but what can I do? I didn’t have the strength to overcome Zachary and storm out of the bathhouse.

Unlike my initial resistance, as I relaxed my body, Zachary no longer hesitated. He delved deeper into my scalp with his fingertips, using the herbal water to cleanse me thoroughly.

“Ah.”

Startled, Zachary’s hands halted.

Simultaneously, I also gasped in surprise and clutched my neck. His touch on my neck had tickled, causing goosebumps.

This nearly made me lose my grip on Zachary and fall backward. Fortunately, Zachary caught me, preventing a potential concussion.

“Sorry, it tickled. Maybe we should stop now…”

When I inadvertently lifted my head, I could only take a breath.

‘What’s this?’

The near-fall had shifted my position, and it seemed I was sitting on something. But that… thing, it seemed to be… somewhat peculiar.

So, now I found myself in Zachary’s embrace. He was sitting with me in his arms, which meant that what I was sitting on was…

With my head bowed, I found myself unable to move. Between our closely intertwined bodies, I felt a certain firmness. This wasn’t the usual kind of firmness but rather one that men would unmistakably recognize.

The wetness from the water made this sensation even more pronounced than usual. In the awkward situation, I tried to move slightly to extricate myself. However, the more I moved, the more I felt Zachary’s body tense up.

Silence prevailed.

The sound of water droplets falling from the ceiling onto the surface of the water seemed unusually loud.

As I pondered how to resolve this situation and flicked my gaze towards Zachary, I noticed a stark contrast. Unlike me, frozen in embarrassment with my face fully exposed, he seemed unbothered, his face still hidden by the cloth. In fact, he appeared rather calm.

Yet, something strange was happening. Despite neither of us moving, the area of contact below me seemed to be expanding. It felt as though it was continuously growing, causing me to shut my eyes tightly.

‘Is it…? Could it be?’

But then again, why would he react this way to another man like me?

Moreover, given that Zachary is currently under the influence of a spell, it seemed even less likely.

‘So, is this its non-erect size? Though it would be strange either way.’

I despised the fact that these thoughts were crossing my mind. However, I couldn’t ignore the sensation that kept nudging against me, driving me crazy.

Despite my discomfort, Zachary showed no reaction. As if nothing had happened, he resumed meticulously cleaning me.

He continued to pour water on my clothes, without pausing, until the scent of herbs permeated everything. It appeared that I was the only one troubled by evil thoughts, so I tried to ignore them.

‘This is embarrassing.’

Despite my best efforts to appear unconcerned, I was in turmoil internally, unable to shake the belief that Zachary’s part was constantly growing. The sensation intensified with each movement, rendering me immobile.

The water churned loudly. Soaked from head to toe, I had also drenched him thoroughly. Our waterlogged clothes hung heavily.

He waded through the water, grabbing two large towels. Then, after lifting me out of the bath, he carefully wrapped the towels around my body.

“…”

It wasn’t necessary to go to such lengths to dry off. I could easily change into dry clothes in my room, and I wanted to suggest it to Zachary. However, he appeared unresponsive to my words today.

Arguing seemed to be a waste of time. Resigned, I let him wrap me in the towel and attempt to carry me.

“I can walk.”

I took one step forward on my own. Fortunately, this time Zachary did not insist on carrying me. Together, despite the awkwardness and embarrassment I felt alone, we returned to my room.

“You should go back now.”

Zachary, holding the slightly ajar door, looked at me intently. I was wrapped in towels and warm, in contrast to Zachary, who was cold due to the damp.

“You’re wet. You’ll get cold staying like that.”

I could change my clothes by myself. The bigger issue was how soaked Zachary was. Droplets of water still dripped from his body.

But Zachary showed no signs of leaving. He just stood there, holding the door, staring at me. Finally, with a sigh, I unwrapped one of the towels around me and draped it over his shoulders.

Despite the warming weather, the nights remained chilly, particularly inside the Serpentine house, which felt even colder. I was about to wrap Zachary in a towel when he suddenly…

“Wha, what…?”

Charged at me?

As he came crashing down on me, I instinctively closed my eyes and reached out my hands. The weight that landed on my hands was substantial, as heavy as Zachary’s large frame, which was fully bear down on me. This wasn’t a charge.

“Ugh.”

Bang! The rebound pushed back the door he was holding, which slammed shut.

Zachary collapsed onto me, as if he had fallen. Clutching onto his damp body, I opened my eyes wide in surprise. He was gasping for air, burying his face in my shoulder, unable to steady himself.

“Zachary?!”

He attempted to stand several times, swaying as if to find his footing, but it was futile. He floundered, his hands missing their target and repeatedly collapsing on me.

I attempted to examine Zachary despite the fact that it was difficult to do so with him pressing down on me. I managed to pull myself away from his embrace and looked at him, but he continued to pant heavily.

I was scared to touch him further, fearing I might worsen his condition. Yet, I couldn’t seek help from anyone else for Zachary’s pain. If I did, the news would immediately reach the ears of the Duke and my mother.

“Come here, look at me, okay?”

I reached out my hands to cradle his face. He turned his cheek to me, but the cloth covering his face was bothersome. I reached out for the cloth that appeared to be obstructing his breathing.

Given the circumstances, I didn’t realize it had been years since I’d seen Zachary’s face. My only concern at the moment was his well-being, as he appeared to be unable to breathe properly.

Suddenly, the cloth slipped from my grip, revealing Zachary’s face.

Strangely, once the cloth was removed, everything seemed to slow down, causing me to forget everything else.

Slowly, his face began to reveal itself. A high forehead, dense eyebrows with prominent brow bones, long eyelashes partially concealing his eyes, and a pronounced nose beneath.

The features were familiar.

Yet, the reason for my shock was:

‘Has he grown this much?’

This wasn’t the youthful, naive face that I remembered.

It was the face of an unfamiliar adult.