Chapter 26

“Young Master, how is the taste?”

“It’s ordinary.”

As Kyle said, it was indeed quite ordinary.

Since this was just an ordinary restaurant in an ordinary town, I hadn’t expected anything particularly elaborate.

Rather, I had worried it might be bad.

“That’s a relief. I was concerned it might not suit your taste, Young Master.”

“Haha. It’s fine. This level is not a problem at all.”

Different people place different importance on taste.

Some people will even leave a restaurant if they find the food unpalatable.

Fortunately, Kyle doesn’t seem to be one of those people.

“Young Master, please have this as well.”

“Thank you.”

I cut the steak and passed it to Kyle.

Compared to me, Kyle was still in his growth phase and ate more, and my stomach wasn’t that big to begin with, so that’s partly why I gave it to him.

And I also wanted Kyle to eat well.

“Hehe…”

Seeing him eat well certainly made me happy.

Children are at their best when they’re eating, sleeping, and playing.

Of course, Kyle wasn’t at an age to play around anymore.

The child had grown too much.

When I measured him a few days ago, he had reached 180 cm.

He’d really grown tremendously.

My already sore neck felt like it was getting worse.

“By the way, the Oldenburg Lady will be coming this time too, right?”

“Yes.”

Since Kyle and Catherine are of the same rank, Catherine will also be at this debutante ball.

Though debutante balls don’t happen just once a year, the one in April is the most prominent of all the yearly debutante balls.

That’s why Kyle decided to attend this April.

“If you happen to meet the Oldenburg Lady, make sure to greet her.”

While it’s true that one should be cautious around women, it’s also important to maintain existing relationships.

Although the concept of “managing relationships” might sound a bit uncomfortable, from a noble’s perspective, it wasn’t wrong.

For nobles, even friendships were important benefit relationships.

As someone who wasn’t a noble, I couldn’t fully understand, but thanks to my memories from my past life, I could understand to some extent.

“It’s already been two years.”

“Indeed.”

It had already been two years since Catherine stayed at Eristirol.

At that time, they were both 15 years old, but now they’re 17.

They were already becoming adults.

I was very curious to see how Catherine had grown in these two years.

Back then, Catherine was truly a noble child.

Unless something unusual happened since then, Catherine should have grown even more beautiful than before.

Back then, she had moderately long blonde hair—I wonder if it’s still similar now.

“Young Master, if you happen to meet young ladies from other ducal families, please, please be careful.”

For other families, as long as you don’t make dangerous mistakes, you can somewhat cover them with family influence.

But when it comes to ducal families, even that becomes impossible.

How much money would it cost to do that at a similar rank?

“I know.”

“That’s a relief.”

I answered with a smile.

By now, Kyle had finished all the steak pieces I had given him.

We had both finished our meals and were lightly sipping drinks to cleanse our palates.

“Young Master, shall we leave now?”

“Yes.”

Kyle and I got up from our seats.

Then we went outside and walked the streets.

The streets were somewhat bustling, definitely different from the castle.

These were streets I used to see all the time during my adventurer days, but not much while staying at the castle.

These kinds of streets weren’t bad either.

I like both the atmosphere of somewhat bustling streets like this one and the atmosphere of quiet streets.

“You’ve become an adult now, Young Master.”

“Pardon?”

“When we first met, you were so small… you’ve really grown a lot.”

This isn’t just about height.

It’s true that he’s grown tremendously in height, but I’m not just talking about that.

“Not just your body, but many other aspects have improved.”

At first, he was an extremely timid little kid.

But that Kyle is gone now, replaced by a sturdy young man.

His chest muscles have grown, and his personality has improved significantly.

Back then, he would shrink his shoulders when a few men passed by, but that Kyle is gone.

Rather, with Kyle’s broad shoulders, he might have trouble entering narrow spaces.

“You’ve grown so well. You’ve become incomparably more handsome than before.”

“Haha….”

“Thank you for growing so well during these five years.”

“It’s all thanks to you, Sofia.”

“…”

When he says something like that, I don’t know what more to say.

I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Kyle didn’t seem to have anything more to say either, as we walked to the inn in silence.

And so we arrived at the inn.

The interior was ordinary, not much different from the weather outside.

“Young Master, would you like to bathe right away? Or would you like to rest for a moment? Personally, I think it would be best to bathe right away.”

We’ve been outside continuously since leaving the castle, so he must have sweated.

“…Do we really have to bathe together?”

“Yes.”

How could Kyle, a noble who always bathes with the help of attendants and never alone, bathe by himself?

Even if he tried, he probably wouldn’t wash properly.

On a day like today when he’s sweated, he needs to wash properly.

While it’s not nearly as perfect an environment as bathing at the castle, it’s not problematic.

It’s certainly better than not bathing at all.

“Come on, get undressed quickly. I’ll change for a moment too.”

“What?!”

“I can’t help you bathe while wearing a suit, can I?”

It’s unavoidable if I’m to help Kyle with his bath.

With that, I started removing the blazer I was wearing.

“… I’ll go in first.”

“Pardon? Please wait a moment. It won’t take long to undress anyway.”

“…”

I’m not sure if Kyle heard me or not, but he just went straight into the bathroom.

“Hmm….”

Well, since we need to go inside to bathe anyway, there’s no problem.

I slowly undressed.

Under my shirt, I was wearing… not thin underwear, but appropriate undergarments.

Since it was a season when one might sweat, I wore clothing that could absorb sweat.

After changing my clothes, I opened the bathroom door and went in.

“Oh….”

The inside was cleaner than I expected.

For a small bath inside an inn room, it was really decent.

It was wider than expected and had a bathtub, so it wasn’t bad for Kyle to wash in.

“Young Master?”

“…Yes….”

“Please give me your arm quickly. We need to wash, don’t we?”

I called out to Kyle because he seemed to be zoning out suddenly.

The interior wasn’t even filled with steam yet, so why was he doing this?

“Then I’ll begin.”

I started washing Kyle’s body as I had done before.

Since his body had grown, there were more areas to wash.

“Hnngh….”

As a result, it was hard to give a massage while washing him!

Because of his unnecessarily—well, not unnecessarily, but extremely—firm muscles, it really became difficult to massage.

I feel like they used to give a little when pressed before, but now they didn’t seem to yield at all.

“Hnnnngh!!”

I pressed Kyle’s latissimus dorsi muscles again with force, but it was more like pushing than massaging.

“…I think it would be better to just wash.”

“…..Yes.”

I couldn’t argue.

In my opinion, it was better to just scrub hard with the shower towel.

“Whew…. Whew… How is it, Young Master? Is this adequate?”

“Yes…. It’s perfect.”

“If you… huff… say so, I’m truly grateful…!”

I washed Kyle’s body even more diligently.

Now, only the scent of soap could be smelled instead of sweat.

Well, that was only natural.

“Young Master, now spread your legs….”

“I’ll do that myself.”

“….”

Is he still embarrassed to be seen at that age?

Being seen by family should only be slightly embarrassing, not really problematic, right?

What are we if not family?

We’ve been together for over five years since he was 12, and I’ve practically raised Kyle.

Since the age difference is too great to call me mother, wouldn’t “older sister” be more appropriate?

Of course, it’s an employment relationship.

But wouldn’t “older sister” be the most fitting expression?

Terms like aunt, mother, or ma’am sound too old.

“Young Master, I have no interest in your lower body. After all, aren’t we practically family?”

“…..”

Kyle seemed struck by my words and couldn’t speak.

Yes, what are we if not family?

“Well…. Although I’m a servant, I still think of us as family. We’ve known each other since you were young, how could I not think that way?”

He’s too big to call a little brother, which is a bit burdensome.

If he were just a bit shorter, I would have felt more like he was a little brother.

“Hehe…. It might be nice if you called me ‘big sister’ once.”

“….”

It would be fun to hear Kyle call me “big sister.”

He always calls me “Sofia-ssi,” which feels a bit stiff.

At least he uses informal speech with me, which makes it less stiff, but “Sofia-ssi” is still too formal.

Given how long we’ve known each other.

It would be less stiff if he just called me “Sofia.”

“Or I could call you Kyle…. No, that wouldn’t be right. I’m sorry.”

I almost crossed a line.

No matter how close we are, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to casually call Kyle by his name.

Afterward, Kyle, who had finished bathing, was lying in the bathtub, and when I tried to take off my damp clothes to bathe myself, he suddenly panicked so I stopped.

Although it was uncomfortable being damp from washing him, I sat still until Kyle left.

It was about 30 minutes.

It seems Kyle also enjoys the bathtub more than I expected.