Devil Swan - Chapter 1: A Suspicious Request (6)

She wished he would just give her something to do, but the man only looked at her occasionally while reviewing documents.

She felt like she would have suffocated if it weren’t for the ticking of the wall clock.

Elise secretly sighed, realizing that there were still more than 30 minutes left until the agreed-upon two hours were up. If she knew the way, she would have offered to leave, but she had to wait until the woman came, and she felt very uncomfortable being in the same room as the man without anything to do.

She pretended to mop the floor to avoid his gaze, but she felt uneasy and her heart raced, as if he was watching her.

Her anxiety soon became reality.

After finishing signing a stack of documents that had been piled quite high, he massaged his neck and ordered her.

“I need to bathe, so come with me.”

“Excuse me?”

The word “bathe” made Elise’s mind go blank, as if she had never heard it before. She wondered if the bath she knew was different from the noble’s bath.

Seeing her standing there with a dazed look on her face, the man frowned.

“Don’t tell me you don’t even know what a bath is?”

“Ah, I know. I know, but…”

The problem was that she didn’t know that a bath included washing him.

Her already pale face turned as white as her mind. Before she could even say that she absolutely couldn’t do this job, he urged her.

“Move quickly.”

She should have said that she absolutely couldn’t do such a thing, but she was intimidated by the man’s fierce demeanor, and before she knew it, she had entered the bathroom next to the study with him.

Elise was about to exclaim in admiration at the sight of the noble’s bathroom, which she was seeing for the first time, but she covered her mouth with her hand. The place, which was entirely decorated with gold, from the faucets to the edges of the huge bathtub filled to the brim with water, was even larger than her house.

From the fresco painted on the well-like concave ceiling to the windows decorated with colorful glass.

She was so surprised to see such a space inside the castle, not in the basement, that she was observing it when she heard a clicking of the tongue.

“Don’t just stand there like an idiot, take off my clothes.”

The man spread his arms and pointed with his chin, causing Elise to take a hesitant step back. It was only then that she came to her senses.

“I… I can’t do it.”

“Can’t?”

“I’ve never done it before, and I don’t know how.”

“You can take off your own clothes, can’t you? And you’re saying you can’t do that?”

The man scoffed in disbelief and pointed to the clothes she was wearing.

“I mean, bathing you. I didn’t know it was this kind of job.”

“You’re saying you can’t even do this much while getting paid that much?”

“Ah, I won’t take it. I’d rather just do the job I was originally assigned…”

A sneer came from behind her as she hurriedly tried to leave.

“Hey. I heard you have a sick family member. Looks like you can still afford to be picky? Seeing you being so selective about your work. You live a surprisingly comfortable life.”

The hand that was about to turn the doorknob stopped on its own. Living a comfortable life.

If she had lived that way even once, she would have been indifferent to those words, but because her life had been anything but, the man’s words stung her heart sharply.

Tears welled up in her large eyes. Her vision blurred, but fortunately, she didn’t make the mistake of shedding tears in front of the man.

“That’s not true.”

“If that’s not it? It’s not like I’m asking you to sell your body, and I didn’t realize you were so noble that you couldn’t even bathe me. From now on, should I call you Lady Gwen instead of Elise?”

Elise’s face flushed at his sarcasm.

She should leave this place right away, but she could tell how sharp and fierce the man’s personality was even from a short conversation, so she couldn’t rashly leave the room.

Besides, she had to wait because she didn’t know the way.

She was worried that if she wandered around the castle alone, he might use this as an excuse to break the contract. From his current appearance alone, he seemed like someone who would do that.

“Are you going to stand there all day? Leave if you don’t want to work.”

At the cold words that echoed again, Elise finally turned around and approached the man. In the eyes that looked down at her with a sneer, she could even see the cruel pleasure of having subdued her.

She didn’t know why, but she immediately realized that the man she had met for the first time today was not friendly to her.

Judging by those eyes, she thought that he might not call her again after this, so she decided to finish at least today’s work.

Elise pressed her lips together and, with clouded eyes, took off the man’s clothes one by one.

She managed to finish the doublet, which looked like a vest, but when she was unbuttoning the shirt underneath, her fingers trembled so much that her hands slipped several times.

Especially as she struggled to resist the urge to squeeze her eyes shut at the sight of his bare body revealed between the increasingly open clothes, her face turned redder than a brazier.

The man’s inverted triangle, straight, and massive shoulders, his chest that looked as hard as a log, and his deep abs that looked like they had been carved out, were clearly reflected in Elise’s green eyes. His body, covered in muscles that had been honed through long exercise rather than bulky muscles, was completely different from her soft body, starting with his trapezius muscles and firm chest, which seemed to have been sculpted.

His firm upper body, which looked like it would bounce her fingers back if she pressed down on it, was like a work of art.

She had never seen a man’s naked upper body before, but even she, as ignorant as she was, could quickly tell that the man in front of her was in excellent shape. Her mouth went dry as if there had been a drought.

She didn’t know where to look, so she rolled her eyes around, and then she noticed something strange.

Looking closely at the skin, which seemed smooth at first glance, she saw countless scars on it. The thin, long scars seemed to have been made a long time ago. There were also what looked like animal teeth marks.

The man’s body, which was twice as big as hers, was supple and smooth like a leopard painting she had seen somewhere, but his entire body was covered in scars.

The scars were absolutely not suitable for a noble, especially someone of such high status that he lived in a castle, so he clicked his tongue and distracted her, as if she had been looking too closely.

Elise moved her hands again.

She somehow managed to undress his upper body, but she didn’t have the confidence to take off his drawers, so she hesitated, and he chuckled and pulled down his underwear with his own hands.

Gasp.

Elise gasped as she saw the man’s penis popping up like a club and quickly covered her eyes with her hands.

Though she only caught a glimpse, the long, thick thing was so large it was hard to believe it belonged on a human body. Could she have misseen his leg?

Unlike the flustered Elise, the naked man scoffed at her reaction and nonchalantly walked into the bathtub. She had only heard that servants were invisible to nobles, but he really did treat her like a wall, showing no shame in his nakedness.

Elise, on the other hand, blushed and squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again.

“What should I do now?”

She wished he would wash himself, but as if that were too much to ask, he pointed to the shelf with his fingertip.

“Pour the scented oil from over there into the water and wash me. Do I have to teach you everything?”

“I’m sorry. It’s my first time.”

Elise lowered her head and brought the scented oil he mentioned, pouring it little by little into the warm bathwater.

A refreshing fragrance that seemed to emanate from the man filled the misty air.

She sighed softly as she watched him naturally lean his head back, and began to wash his hair as she would for her sick mother, pouring water over it.

As she skillfully massaged his scalp, she heard a soft hum.

“Not bad for someone who claimed they couldn’t do it.”

She swallowed the words, I had to wash my sick family, that’s why, and diligently moved her hands. She tried her best not to look at the water.

The man’s body was so large that it took a long time for Elise’s small hands to wash him. Washing his shoulders alone required her hands to move back and forth several times.

Just as she was wondering if the woman would be coming to get her soon, he rose from the tub.

Water splashed everywhere, soaking Elise’s blouse and making it cling to her chest, revealing her breasts. The white fabric became so transparent that her underwear was visible.

Before she could even cover herself in surprise, a towel flew towards her.

“Wipe.”

It wasn’t for her, but to wipe his body. Elise stood before him in her wet clothes and began to dry his damp body with the towel.

Even when she had only glanced at him, she knew he had a large and strong body.

“Aren’t you going to do the lower part?”

She wanted to pretend she didn’t see it, but she resented him for making her wipe even there.

And it seemed to have grown even larger than before, perhaps swollen from the water.

She dabbed the stiff, erect thing with the towel. The sight of it standing so proudly was mortifying.

“Are you going to wipe it until morning?”

When she half-closed her eyes and fumbled, the man reached out his long arm and grabbed her wrist.

As he moved her hand in that state, Elise’s hand, still clutching the towel, occasionally brushed against his member.

Each time she felt the smooth, hot sensation, her heart pounded as if it would burst.

Oh, God.

She couldn’t go to the temple on her days off because she was taking care of her sick mother, but at this moment, she couldn’t help but desperately seek God.

In a daze, she barely managed to dry his body and leave. She felt like she would have a fit just hearing the sound of a bath for a while.

She had been so tense that her body was sticky with sweat, as if she had taken a shower herself.

Someone, somehow, had come and neatly arranged the clothes he would wear on the shelf in front of the bathroom.

After he dressed, he looked around as if trying to find fault with something, and his gaze landed on Elise’s bare feet.

“Why are your feet like that? It’s not like you don’t have shoes.”

Suddenly catching his gaze, she pulled her skirt down as far as possible to hide her feet.

But the skirt, which wasn’t very long to begin with, couldn’t cover her feet completely, and her small toes were clearly visible to him.

Even if it was fashionable to reveal one’s shoulders or chest, feet were usually kept hidden from the opposite sex. Realizing that she had been standing barefoot in front of the man all this time, even though she was flustered, her face flushed. She was more embarrassed by her bare feet than her wet clothes.

She felt she had to explain, so Elise took a few breaths and opened her lips.

As she explained to him why she had shown her bare feet to clean, her already small voice seemed to shrink even further.

“M-my shoes are dirty. I took them off so I wouldn’t dirty the carpet.”

“And your feet aren’t dirty?”

“I cleaned them before I started cleaning.”

“Really?”

“Yes…”

She had definitely cleaned them, but the thought that they might have gotten dirty in the bathroom afterward made her voice shrink into her throat. And she belatedly realized that what seemed clean to her might not be the same in the man’s eyes.

Perhaps that was why the man still looked suspicious after hearing Elise’s unconfident reply. Then, an absurd request came from him.

“Come closer. I need to check if it’s true.”

“Pardon?”

For a moment, she thought she had misheard, but the beckoning fingertip told her it wasn’t a hallucination. At the man’s call, Elise hesitantly approached.

Stopping two steps away from him, Elise looked down at him with a face that clearly showed her nervousness.

“Don’t just stand there, come closer and lift your skirt.”

“Lift my skirt?”