Reniel felt as if Thanasis’ head weight was transferred directly to her chest as he laid her down and then lay on the bed himself.

She was momentarily surprised when Thanasis suddenly embraced her and lay down.

“Sleepy.”

“Ah, yes.”

But perhaps because she was used to embracing Felix like this every time, the awkwardness quickly faded.

The only better thing now compared to then was that she was fully clothed, whereas with Felix, he disliked clothes so much that there were no days left with tops on, whether voluntarily or involuntarily.

She seemed to miss a little the soft hair that tickled her chest back then.

Even though at the time, she would involuntarily curl up in discomfort whenever she felt the tickling.

It felt strange to think that now that she had completely left the mansion, such things would never happen again.

“By the way. It seems our master used to come to the imperial palace often, is that right?”

She realized she had used the wrong title again and rolled her eyes.

Even though she thought she would be staying in the imperial palace now, she was still unconsciously calling Felix master.

“…I’m your master now.”

“Ah, that’s right. Should I call you master?”

Thanasis pondered that for a moment. While it might feel quite nice to have her call him master.

“No.”

It was an ambivalent state where it seemed to sound similar to Felix Le Pelique, which made him feel bad.

He didn’t want her to regard him exactly the same as Felix Le Pelique.

If anything, he wanted her to recognize him as a completely different entity.

“Then I’ll call you ‘Your Highness’ as usual.”

“When it’s just the two of us, you could at least call me by name.”

“Isn’t that a bit disrespectful?”

“Call me by name. It’s an order.”

“Only when we’re alone?”

“Yes.”

Thanasis had gotten used to Reniel controlling him, and he was now quite accepting of the fact that he didn’t dislike it.

“Lord Thanasis…”

As the name came out of her mouth in a slightly trembling voice, Thanasis felt a strange sense of conquest.

“Say it again.”

He couldn’t understand why it felt good, but every time she called his name, it seemed to create an illusion of being connected to her.

It felt as if his magic mixed inside her and then returned, spreading its purity throughout his body.

“Lord Thanasis, aren’t you going to have dinner?”

“Ah, right.”

Thanasis only then came to his senses. He was supposed to eat again when he came here.

“The imperial cuisine is quite good.”

“I’ve heard that. The head chef at the Le Pelique ducal residence used to work in the imperial palace.”

“…Which palace?”

“The Emperor’s Palace.”

When Reniel answered with a smile, Thanasis frowned. The skills of the Emperor’s Palace chef were certainly good.

But even that excellent chef had been swayed by the enormous amount of money offered by the Le Pelique ducal family.

While imperial jobs paid well, compared to what some wealthy nobles offered to employ them, it was almost considered an honorary position.

It was natural for the Emperor’s Palace chef, who had already built up honor, to go to the Le Pelique ducal family to gain a second fame along with a salary.

“Come to think of it, that bastard often poached personnel like that.”

“You mean Felix?”

“Why are you calling him by name? Were you that close?”

Thanasis felt disgusted seeing how easily Felix’s name came out while he had to ask several times for her to call him by name.

“Ah, but when I worked at the Le Pelique ducal residence, I did something similar to a bedchamber maid. Bedchamber attendant? Assistant bedchamber steward? How should I say it?”

To Reniel, this job wasn’t that significant either.

“Didn’t that bastard not know you were a woman?”

“He doesn’t know.”

“Then how did you become a bedchamber maid?”

“The master, I mean Duke Le Pelique, needed someone to stay by his side until he fell asleep.”

Thanasis had unknowingly stretched his arms towards her and was making eye contact.

Even this didn’t feel very threatening to her. Felix often trapped her like this too, stretching his arms like bars.

“Do more with me. More than you did with that bastard.”

“Yes.”

Reniel thought Thanasis seemed to have a stronger sense of possession than expected.

It also seemed that part of his behavior stemmed from his antipathy towards Felix, who had kidnapped her.

“But you know.”

“What.”

“The ointment jar on my back hurts a little…”

At that, Thanasis immediately pulled away. Then he grabbed her arm and lifted her up.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

He became more concerned thinking her back might have been hurting.

“From now on, if you have any discomfort like this, tell me right away.”

“Yes.”

She thought it was fortunate that Thanasis didn’t seem to be such a bad new master.

After all, Reniel had a habit of thinking positively about everything.

“I look forward to working with you, Lord Thanasis.”

“…Yeah.”

At her words, Thanasis sighed and stepped aside.

“Then I’ll go bring dinner.”

“No need. Sit down. We can order the servants.”

Saying that, he casually reached out and pulled a long bell cord nearby. Within seconds, there was a knock at the door.

“Bring in dinner.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Thanasis then tried to find another towel.

Reniel had already picked up a dry towel and started drying the moisture from his hair.

There wasn’t much moisture left in his hair, probably because quite some time had passed.

“Ah.”

He then realized he needed to disinfect her ears, so he headed back to the bed.

He roughly tore some cotton and poured plenty of disinfectant on it. Then he pressed it to her ear.

“Hiss…”

Reniel, who shrank with the towel still in hand, looked quite like a rabbit.

He felt increasingly strange as he watched her react to the pain he was causing.

He could feel the blood rushing. It seemed like everything around was getting hotter with her reactions, as if his ears were burning.

“Please be gentle.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Yes.”

He gently wiped her ear as if caressing it.

She trembled and curled up according to his movements, but she also seemed to be strangely addicted to the act.

When he finally removed his hand, there were small tears pooled in the corner of Reniel’s left eye.

Seeing this, he unconsciously wiped away the tears with his fingertips.

“You did that on purpose to hurt me, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

Thanasis answered honestly. However, Reniel was looking at him as if she found him quite vexing.

“Do you like it when I’m in pain?”

And seeing her expression like that, he realized what he was hoping for.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“…Pardon? Ah…!”

In that moment when she was flustered, Thanasis tried to touch her ear with his hand again.

Reniel squeezed her eyes shut and clutched her frantically beating heart, bracing for the pain that was about to come.

“I won’t do it.”

He moved away, smiling as if he found her reaction amusing.

“Clothes.”

“Ah, yes.”

She recalled his past when he didn’t know how to dress himself. Then Felix came to mind again while looking for clothes.

Felix always said he dressed himself. He seemed to really dress alone before she took care of it.

Inside the thick and large mahogany wardrobe hung many splendid clothes.

Come to think of it, when she first saw him, he was wearing such splendid clothes that one would say he looked like a crown prince.

Only, they were quite torn and covered in blood.

“But won’t the maids have a hard time doing laundry if it’s white clothes?”

“What does it matter when I don’t wear the same clothes twice anyway?”

“…Pardon?”

Reniel was taken aback. But then she was once again realizing how incredibly wealthy the Apentina Empire was.

“There are many clothing suppliers to the imperial family. There are many who should be grateful just for me wearing their clothes. Wearing them twice would be taking away their opportunities.”

“My goodness.”

His words weren’t wrong. Indeed, it seemed very different from the life of an ordinary commoner, which was fascinating.

Reniel then pulled out a garment with silver epaulettes from among the clothes that all looked similar, and said:

“But these are simpler than the clothes I saw before.”

“That’s because these are only worn inside the imperial palace. I wear more splendid ones when guests come or for other schedules.”

“Then what about when you came to the Le Pelique mansion?”

“Formal wear.”

“Ah.”

Reniel finally understood the identity of those splendid clothes he had worn and nodded.

“Bring the one you picked and the one next to it.”

“Yes.”

Reniel was about to dress him in the clothes he had indicated. But he spoke hesitantly for a moment.

“On second thought, you’d better turn around.”

“Why?”

“I need to untie the towel around my waist.”

“Ah, yes.”

This time it was Reniel who was flustered.

She hadn’t been very conscious of her body even when she was a man.

But suddenly realizing that Thanasis, who was several times bigger and much stronger, was also a man made her cheeks flush.

“What? Want to look?”

“Pardon?”

“If you want to look, go ahead.”

He said that as if teasing the flustered Reniel. Reniel wondered if even this was part of the job.

“Sh-should I?”

So she answered without even realizing it.

Perhaps thinking Thanasis might be testing her. She knew well that proving one’s abilities was necessary for promotion.