25—Bloom

The next morning, after cuddling and kissing for a while, Aina and I reluctantly parted. She went to the maid's quarters to have breakfast with the rest of the staff, while I waited for a while until it was time for me to eat with my family.

Clocks were quite a rare thing in this world, but being a relatively rich ducal house, we had at least a few around the house. Of course, there were none in my bedroom, unlike in both of my brothers', but there was one in a nearby hallway.

That allowed me to arrive right on time for breakfast, not a minute too early or late.

To my surprise, my brothers barely picked on me throughout the whole meal, perhaps still spooked by the previous day's fiasco. But, just when I was about to finish my breakfast, my father spoke up, his face solemn and with no noticeable change in expression.

"Starting next week, you will start taking daily lessons on management, history, etiquette, and other essential topics for a young noble of a ducal family. I am not expecting you to excel in any of them, I just do not want you to smear our family's reputation when you start attending social gatherings.

"The tutors have already been hired, so you will only have to make sure you are ready for the classes, which will last from 9 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon."

Having said that, he stood up and left. My brothers looked at him dumbfounded, but I was even more surprised than them.

'Why the hell is he doing this now? Does he want to make amends for treating me badly? Or is this part of some convoluted scheme? Maybe it really is just because he doesn't want to get embarrassed? But, yesterday, I showed him that I at least knew enough to not look like a dumbass in front of other nobles, so it shouldn't be that...'

I had no clue why he had done this, but I knew that the timing was absolutely terrible. I wanted to do as many quests as possible with Nika to get her to D Rank within a month, but these classes would take up half the time I had for doing missions.

I wasn't quite sure how to react to this, but since there was still almost a week until then, I decided I would think about it slowly. For the moment, I returned to my chamber.

Just like the night before, Aina was waiting for me when I arrived. I was glad to see that she wasn't hurt or dirty anywhere, but I could somehow feel that something was wrong. Perhaps she had been like this last night too, but I'd been too lost in lust to notice.

Now, however, perhaps thanks to my enhanced senses, or due to how deep my connection to her was, I could see how her steps were slightly unsteady, her gait a bit off, and the smile on her face felt... hollow, as if she was just making it to prevent me from worrying.

I stepped up and hugged her. Then, as gently as possible, I whispered, "Aina, did anything happen?"

I could feel as she shook her head, but the gesture was weak. I knew that she was lying. However, I didn't push her. If she didn't want to tell me, it was probably because of a good reason. Instead, I decided to let her know that she had my full support.

"Aina, it's fine if you don't want to talk about it, but please tell me when you're ready. You mean the world to me, you know? I don't want you to ever suffer, and it hurts my heart to see you like this. I don't know what they said or did, but I know that you only deserve the highest of praises. Anything else? It's all bulshit and falsehood."

I felt slightly embarrassed, having spat out such an cheesy, sickly sweet line. I had probably massively overreacted, or maybe even it was just me reading too much into things and Aina really was fine.

But the feeling of her warm tears falling on my shoulder, along with the sound of subdued sniffling, proved otherwise. I didn't say anything, and just stayed there, hugging her, just like that.

She had probably been shunned and mistreated all her life, and it was wishful thinking to believe that her inferiority complex and lack of self-love would be fixed so easily in a few days or even weeks of care and positive reinforcement, even more so when only one person did so.

Wounds on the heart took a long time to heal, and all I could do was to nurse her with as much care and love as possible. She was already a lot better, but I only knew how she acted when I was around. I wasn't sure if she reverted to her past, shy and easily bullied self when I was gone.

After a few minutes, I felt her body slowly, hesitantly separate itself from mine, as she stepped back slightly to stand face to face with me. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, two wet streams crossing her cheeks and crossing through her chin and neck. But I could see something was different within her. The look in her eyes had changed.

I felt it, as I gazed deep into her eyes, our faces so close they were almost touching. I looked into the mirrors of her soul, and her soul stared back.

I let out a pent-up breath, heating up the air between us.

Her previous scared, dependent, dim expression was gone. In its place, there was a bright, even slightly confident look. It was dazzling, like a butterfly finally coming out of its cocoon.

I was beside myself. What had happened? What had triggered this change?

But I soon discarded those questions. What did it matter? Aina had overcome her insecurities, it seemed like, and that was all I needed to know. A warm smile spread across my face. "I'm glad, Aina. It seems you have realized something."

She took my hands in hers, interlocking her delicate fingers with my thick, calloused ones. "That's right, Master. Lately, I had seen myself as no more than living trash, and everyone else has always thought so too, but not you, master. You treat me like a precious, shining gem.

"From the day you bought me at the slave house, you have filled me with love and warmth, and ensure I was missing nothing. I throught you were doing it out of pity, or extreme kindness, but I was wrong. You genuinely love me for who I am, and that's enough for me.

"I don't care about what anyone else in the world thinks. I don't care if every single living being despises me and feels disgust when they see me. As long as you love me, master, I will learn to love myself, although I will never love myself as much as I love you. After all, you're my everything."

She smiled at me. It was a dazzling sight, awe-inspiring. Two lovely dimples appeared on her cheeks, as I struggled to take in the fact that she had decided to dedicate her entire existence to me.

'No, not a butterfly,' I thought.

'A blooming flower.'

Then, she pulled me in for a kiss, and invaded my mouth with her tongue all on her own. It took me a moment to process what had just happened, but when I did, I began passionately kissing her back, starting a fierce battle between our tongues. Kissing Aina had never felt so good before.

It even felt good enough to make me forget about my other thoughts, including one of concern for Aina, which I'd had as she told me her resolution;

'It seems my maid has gone down a slightly strange path.'