WTHVT C13

Chapter 13

Noel turned without a word and moved his feet toward the bath.

He deliberately didn’t check whether Chase was following him. The moment he even met eyes with that kid, he felt he’d ask first without meaning to whether he’d eaten the meal well.

From behind, quiet footsteps continued carefully at even intervals. Fortunately Chase kept a distance neither too close nor too far from Noel and matched his steps without speaking.

Entering Noel’s room like that, the two soon set foot into the bath. Warm steam rose from the tub the servant had drawn in advance, and on the shelf soft cloth towels and soap were neatly arranged.

Prepared well.

Looking around the neatly prepared bath, Noel spoke to Chase.

“Take your clothes off.”

“…Why do I have to take my clothes off?”

Chase reflexively wrapped his body with both arms. Startled pupils wavered uneasily.

Don’t tell me…… this person is going to do something to me? Am I being sold off like this.

The faces of the men at the tavern who had tried to sell him overlapped for a moment. So Noel was no different from those people after all.

Chase’s eyes turned instinctively toward the door. Could he run. But his legs didn’t listen.

“What are you doing? Are you going to wash with your clothes on?”

“I don’t, don’t want to.”

Chase gripped his hem tight and took a step back.

Not knowing the circumstances, Noel’s heart grew mixed.

Is he just a child who doesn’t like washing, even if he’s well-behaved. I hated showers when I was little too.

And here he was, saying he’d make a kid like that get doused with water. But the water was already prepared. He couldn’t give up after coming this far.

“You’re going to stay looking that dirty? Even dirty has a limit.”

“……”

Noel put a hand in the tub water and stirred it gently. The temperature was right. If he got hit with this he wouldn’t even catch a cold.

“If you hate it that much to the death, go in wearing a robe. You think I’m here like this because I like it? How dirty do you have to be! I’ll just wash your hair, so do the rest yourself.”

“……”

Chase looked at Noel without a word.

Wariness still filled Chase’s eyes. Noel pretended as hard as he could not to know that gaze and pointed to one side.

“The robe’s over there. What, are you even embarrassed? I’ll turn around, so put it on fast. Don’t dawdle. I’m not a person with free time.”

The instant the words ended Noel turned his back.

After a brief hesitation Chase finally picked up the robe.

Soon a rustling sound of clothes brushing came carefully. When at last a splash of entering the water sounded, Noel only then slowly turned his body.

Chase was crouched tight in a corner of the large tub, looking up at Noel.

“You’ll really only wash me……?”

A trembling voice dripping unease. Noel looked at him as if puzzled.

“What, then what would I do with you? Don’t stay grimy, tell a servant from now on. Ask them to wash you. Do you know what happens to my face if you walk around looking like that while receiving a ducal house’s guardianship? Who can open their eyes and look, it’s so dirty.”

Even while grumbling without rest, Noel’s hand skillfully scooped water with a wooden pail beside him and slowly poured it over Chase’s head. He carefully supported the forehead with his palm in case water went in the eyes.

Ding—!

[Dousing with water 1 time success!]

[Sub-mission: Two Steps Toward Awakening the Main Villain!]

Goal: Douse Chase %^@# with water.

Progress: 1/2 times (50%) complete

On success: Two steps closer to quest completion

On failure: Hematemesis

Wow, even this much is mission success?

The corner of his mouth pulled up on its own and a smile formed. Noel barely swallowed the smirk leaking out and cheered inwardly.

Since it’s come to this, I should wash him properly before I go. He cooperated well and the mission succeeded too.

Noel put soap foam on his hands and thoroughly rubbed Chase’s wet hair.

Dust and grime clumped between his fingers came loose. What’s all this. How long has he not washed.

“…Did you actually roll in a dirt pit? It just keeps coming.”

At the scolding that popped out before he knew it, Noel himself flinched in surprise. But Chase instead dropped his head deep and answered in a voice that shrank.

“…So-sorry.”

For a moment Noel’s hand paused in midair. To be laying out scolding sounds unconsciously while washing hair. He’d even gotten an apology from a kid.

He’d spewed so much rough talk it must have stuck to his mouth naturally. It felt like pouring all the bad words he hadn’t even spat in his last life into this one.

Noel hurriedly collected his startled expression.

“So you know to be sorry? This time I’m kindly doing it. Know it’s an honor.”

Noel snapped even more bluntly on purpose and moved his hands again.

Under that kind touch at odds with the rough tone, Chase wriggled open the fingers he’d been gripping tight.

The wariness that had been standing on end melted little by little with the warm heat. Someone washing him like this—it was a fluffy, strange feeling.

The image of the tavern owner he’d secretly watched while fetching bathwater, washing his own child, rose. The cozy soap smell he’d caught then was circling the tip of his nose now.

Chase scooped a handful of white foam floating on the water’s surface and fidgeted with it. The foam glittered a moment on his small palm, then popped and vanished.

After watching the foam a long time, Chase suddenly opened his mouth.

“…Noel, you don’t hate me?”

The hand diligently massaging the scalp stopped dead. Noel twitched a brow and looked down at Chase’s crown.

Why does this kid keep digging the ground assuming I’ll hate him?

While puzzled a moment, the things he’d done until now brushed through Noel’s mind. Flinging the door open out of nowhere and sneering, and just now he’d barked too, hadn’t he.

Hm. If it were me I’d ask too.

“If I say I hate you, what. Why do you keep asking that kind of thing. Tiny as a mouse drop and you only buzz useless noise. If you don’t want foam in your eyes making you cry, close your eyes.”

Having finished convincing himself, Noel again pretended indifferent, lifted the pail, and poured water shhh over the head. Foam washed into the water and ran clean down the tub.

Ding—!

[Dousing with water 2 times success!]

[Congratulations! Sub-mission: Two Steps Toward Awakening the Main Villain! You have cleared it!]

“Crazy.”

“…Hm?”

Spitting words without meaning to at the success notice that rose out of nowhere, Noel clapped a hand over his mouth and evened his breath.

At Noel’s sudden vicious mutter Chase looked up at him with round eyes. Meeting those black pupils, Noel flinched, coughed, and returned to his original blunt look.

“Enough. Hate or not, what’s it matter? Just try asking one more time for no reason.”

Having rinsed all the foam, Noel roughly laid a threat and covered Chase’s head with a towel, tousling lightly. This much should do. He’d cleared the quest too, so it was perfect.

Barely settling his flushed heart, Noel shook his wet hands and stood from his place.

“Do the rest with a servant.”

“A servant……?”

“Yeah. People will come in to wash you. I’m going.”

When Noel turned his body toward the bath door, Chase gripped the edge of the tub with both hands and asked hurriedly.

A chilling unease brushed through Chase’s head.

After washing me this clean…… am I really being sold off somewhere?

Had he let his guard down too much. Was the kind touch until a moment ago the last. At an unease that made no sense, fear jolted. Normally if he insisted like this a beating would fly at once, but still Chase didn’t want Noel to leave like this right now.

“…Can’t Noel do it?”

At the first request to come from Chase’s mouth, Noel stopped on his way and looked back.

Does he really hate washing……? Or does he hate strangers. Kids are shy with people they don’t know a lot. But if he washed him more attentively here, the system might mistake his action not for evil but for a “good deed” and give a penalty. Right now leaving coldly was best.

“Do I look like that much of a free person? What more do you want here? Don’t be a nuisance and wait quietly. If you want to talk to me, don’t complain, wash every corner hard and come out. Who likes a brat with grime-water dripping.”

At the cold refusal Chase’s shoulders hunched visibly. Then he moved his lips and tossed one question.

“…If I listen well and wash quietly, will Noel like me?”

Large eyes looked straight at Noel.

Did he hate washing that much.