Cold (2)

“……Cough, cough.”

…Ah, it’s a cold.

My body felt hot, and as soon as I woke up in the morning, I let out a dry cough, instantly confirming it. I had caught a cold.

‘To think I’d catch a cold immediately after pushing myself a little for just one day….’

I had been sleep-deprived, gone for a walk outside in the winter weather, then had a Swordsmanship Duel with Harold outdoors for an hour, exhausting all the Mana I used to keep my body warm, and then stayed in my sweat-soaked clothes for quite a while.

Even doing just one or two of those things would naturally lead to a cold in this season, so there was nothing I could do. In fact, it would be better if it just ended with a cold.

‘Back when I still had the Saint’s Qualification, I went through worse and was perfectly fine….’

Like the period when Aeria and Alicia made me do all the Kitchen duties, or when I first became Ethan’s Exclusive Maid and was called upon and exploited everywhere.

Honestly, if I were going to get sick, I should have gotten sick then, but back then, I didn’t even catch minor illnesses and was perfectly fine. That was because Lilith still had the Saint’s Qualification, which gave her some immunity to minor ailments.

As much as I’d like to receive treatment from a Priest belonging to the Blackwood Family, unfortunately, viral diseases like colds couldn’t be cured with Divine Power.

Even if they could, as a mere maid, I wouldn’t be able to ask a Priest to treat me.

‘My face seems a bit red… but if I cover it with a mask, maybe it won’t be as noticeable?’

I couldn’t just skip out on my duties as Ethan’s Exclusive Maid just because I was this sick. After all, I still went to work even during the period when I was suffering from severe sleep deprivation because of MacHart.

About 30 minutes after I changed into my Maid Uniform and perfectly put on a mask, heading to Ethan’s room with such thoughts.

“Just sleep. Your forehead is burning up; what do you mean, go to work?”

I was forcibly led by Ethan’s hand back to my room, where I changed into my sleepwear and ended up lying in bed.

“But if I’m not here, who will handle Young Master Ethan’s Exclusive Maid duties…?”

“You don’t have to go outside the mansion anyway. I’m not some immature brat who can’t live a day without a maid. I can manage for a few days without a maid, so Lilith, just focus on getting better quickly.”

“…Understood, Young Master Ethan.”

“Rest. I’ll have Isabel bring you breakfast.”

“Okayyy…”

-Click.

Ethan put me back in bed, closed the door, and left.

Alone in the Servants’ Waiting Room, I spent the time blankly, occasionally groaning and coughing.

‘Ah, damn it.’

If I had known this would happen, I would have just refused when Harold asked to spar. No, I should have just skipped the morning walk.

Lying sprawled in bed, I lamented my unfortunate fate of catching a cold as soon as I returned from the Academy.

‘If this were my past life, I’d at least have a smartphone, but with nothing, it feels so empty.’

Well, they say the best way to recover from a cold is to eat well and rest well. So, for now, I should just focus on getting better quickly.

Looking at it positively, it was like getting a vacation after a long time. …Though, considering my position as Ethan’s maid, going to work was closer to a vacation for me in the first place.

As I lay under the covers with such thoughts, staring blankly at the ceiling, the door opened, and a maid with vanilla-colored hair entered.

“Lilith, how are you feeling?”

“Isabel….”

“I brought you breakfast. You probably can’t eat meat or bread when you’re sick, so it’s just soup and salad.”

“Yeah, thanks….”

As I half-sat up in bed and reached for the spoon on the tray to eat, Isabel shook her head, stopping my action.

“Lilith, you’re sick, so just stay still. I’ll feed you.”

“I’m not that sick, though….”

“It’s fine, just lie back down quickly. You need to eat to regain your strength and recover faster.”

“……Okay.”

Well, I didn’t want to argue about this and that while I was sick, so I just nodded. It was true that conserving my energy would help me recover faster, just as Isabel said.

Isabel, who was spoon-feeding me soup, briefly told me about my day off.

“Since Lilith caught a cold, Master told you to rest well. And he said he’d give you some kind of injury allowance?”

“…Injury allowance?”

“Yeah. I don’t know why he’s giving it either. That’s just what Master told me.”

…Is he concerned that I caught a cold because he held me for a morning duel?

This was also uncharacteristic of Harold. As I mentioned before, the Harold in the original work was a man who handled everything in a businesslike manner unless it concerned his son.

Considering that I was Ethan’s Exclusive Maid, there might be a slight reason for him to care, but that alone wasn’t convincing. In the original, he was a guy who didn’t care at all whether Lilith was raped or sexually trained by Ethan.

I just assumed it gave him some peace of mind that his son had grown up properly, unlike in the original, and didn’t try to read too much into it.

“……and later ……-nim, will drop by for a moment…….”

“…….”

“…Lilith? Are you listening….”

“Ah, yeah…. I’m listening….”

After that, in a hazy state of mind, I responded to Isabel’s feeding and vaguely nodded along to her words.

In the overwhelming drowsiness that followed the meal, I simply fell back asleep.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

…How many hours had passed since then?

When I opened my eyes again, my condition seemed to have improved somewhat, and I woke up feeling a bit clearer-headed.

One side of my brain still throbbed a little, but the throbbing pain I felt in the morning was gone.

Carefully, I shifted my gaze towards the presence I felt nearby, and there was Ethan, sitting by the bed, quietly observing my body.

“…….”

Ethan was looking down at my body with a serious expression, deep in thought.

He wasn’t looking directly at my face, so it seemed he hadn’t noticed that I was awake.

‘…What is he trying to do?’

Putting aside why Ethan was in the Servants’ Waiting Room looking at my body, I was curious about what he was going to do, so I didn’t say that I was awake.

Seeing that the blanket covering my body had been pulled back… a suspicion entered my mind that he might be planning something lewd.

‘It’s been about two weeks since… that day at the Academy.’

Perhaps because he had overcome Harold once, Ethan would occasionally win a round against the full-fledged Harold in their duels even after the day we had our first experience.

And on those days, he would give me ‘rewards’ regardless of the Academy’s location, so the number of times Ethan and I had been intimate at night had already reached four, including our first time.

‘It feels a bit strange to be in a relationship-like situation but not have sex.’

For formal lovers at this age, it would be normal to be intimate every day, not just once or twice a month, but that would be a bit much.

The biggest reason was that my stamina couldn’t keep up, and another reason was that it might hinder Ethan’s skill development.

If he used up all his energy in bed, he wouldn’t have the strength to wield a sword the next day, so our relationship was about maintaining an appropriate boundary. …Of course, kissing or touching breasts wasn’t exactly sex, so I’d let him do it occasionally even if it wasn’t a reward.

Anyway, enough time had passed since Ethan and I were last intimate, so it was highly likely that his desires had accumulated.

And he was probably trying to secretly relieve his sexual urges using my body while I was asleep… with such lewd intentions. That’s probably why he intruded into my waiting room without a word.

Normally, seeing someone take advantage of another’s illness to satisfy their desires should be disgusting, but somehow, thinking that Ethan was about to do such a thing made my heart begin to pound.

…I wondered if I would finally get to see Ethan acting on his desires, wanting me, after a long time.

‘He hasn’t really clung to me obsessively lately.’

Just in case you’re thinking something strange, I don’t have a fetish for being taken by Ethan or anything like that.

I just wanted to confirm how much Ethan cared about me. Now that we’d crossed the line, if he started treating me like a caught fish and didn’t obsess over me as much… that would be a little disappointing in its own way.

‘And if I pretend to be taken by surprise now, I can use it as leverage to tease him later.’

No matter how much it was Ethan, if I brought up the fact that he took advantage of me while I was asleep, he’d have no choice but to feel apologetic.

With such thoughts in my head, I quietly peeked through my eyelids, waiting for his next move, as his hand slowly reached for my chest.