Huh… I opened my mouth in surprise.

So, he heard. What I said in bed last time.

‘I’m glad there are no scars on your pretty face.’

My face flushed as I realized he had discovered my secret admiration and compliments about his face.

Still, even though I did say that, it’s not like looking at someone’s face is a bad thing!

It wasn’t a strange thought, just a compliment.

Various thoughts flashed through my mind, but no matter what I said, dealing with the embarrassment was my responsibility.

As I meaninglessly moved my lips, I decided to naturally change the direction of the conversation.

“So, about that.”

“What.”

“Why aren’t there any scars on your face? There were a lot on your body…”

“Do you prefer faces with scars?”

“I’m just curious. It’s a bit strange that only your face is fine, unlike your body…”

Then Edan, who had been holding my face still, let go and leaned back lazily against the sofa backrest, tilting his chin up.

“I hate it.”

Then Edan crossed his legs.

“I absolutely hate things touching my face, so I blocked attacks with my body.”

What kind of logic is that? It’s not like he protected his pretty face by blocking with his body, but because he hates things touching his face.

“Why?”

My curiosity growing, I asked without hesitation.

“When I was young, I had chubby cheeks because my baby fat lasted a long time, and the maids kept pinching them so much that it was really annoying.”

“Wow. You remember from when you were little? How old were you?”

“13 years old.”

“Ah…”

Of course, when he mentioned maids, I thought he meant when he was a baby or a 3-4 year old child, but at 13, it was after Edan had manifested his ability and returned to the imperial palace.

I briefly imagined Edan’s childhood. Big eyes and chubby cheeks. Considering his current appearance, he must have been incredibly cute back then too. But for the maids to touch him enough to cause trauma, how lightly must they have regarded Edan? Even if he was an illegitimate child, he was still a prince.

Just as I was starting to regret asking, Edan frowned as if recalling an unpleasant memory.

“Still, you must have been pretty with chubby cheeks. That’s why everyone touched them, right?”

Edan’s gaze flew coldly towards me and pierced me.

“Why. Do you want to touch them too?”

“What? No?”

“You said I’m pretty. Don’t you want to touch?”

“No, well… not particularly…”

I hadn’t thought about touching at all.

“Not particularly, you say?”

His gaze grew colder as he repeated my words, apparently disliking my choice of expression.

That glaring look… I had a feeling that no matter what answer I gave, it would lead to an argument.

So, even though I really had never thought about touching, the forceful atmosphere made me answer against my will.

“I do want to touch a little bit.”

What a miserable social life this is.

Then Edan smirked and replied.

“Then beg for it.”

“…”

Is this guy for real? I dug my own grave. I should never have given in to this power struggle.

But since the situation had already come to this, I could only smile awkwardly without saying anything.

“I don’t need to go that far…”

“Hurry up.”

Don’t rush me! I don’t want to! You crazy bastard!

After saying you hate things touching your face, why are you doing this to me?

Whether I looked at him in bewilderment or not, Edan leaned his head on his hand, resting his arm on the sofa armrest.

It was a relaxed posture showing no signs of tension at all. Moreover, the top few buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing not only his collarbone but also the firm chest muscles below. Ugh. As I hurriedly tried to turn my head away, Edan raised one arm and grabbed the nape of my neck.

“Quickly.”

Though his touch was gentle, the strength in his arm was enough to keep me from moving an inch. Trying to avoid the persistent gaze facing me straight on, I unconsciously lowered my eyes to look at his lips.

And as if mocking me for doing so, one corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk.

I really didn’t mean to do that.

Faced with Edan’s persistence, which seemed like he wouldn’t budge an inch if I didn’t comply, I did as he commanded with a half-tearful expression.

“P-please let me touch?”

Edan let out a satisfied sneer as he stood up and looked down at me.

“We’ll see. If I feel like it.”

Rejecting me in an elegant tone, Edan hummed a tune as he returned to his room.

Wow…

That, that, that madman! Why suddenly do such a childish thing! If you were going to do that, why did you ask in the first place?

Hey! I don’t want to either! I won’t touch! Absolutely won’t touch!

I revised my life plan.

For his sake, I pestered Edan to find out the date of Ivy’s saint’s ball, and it turned out to be next week.

“I don’t understand.”

After injuring my hand, I couldn’t cook or clean, so I was useless.

Why on earth isn’t he firing me?

I don’t know what he’s thinking, but now there’s only about 4 months left.

It seemed Edan had no intention of letting me go before the end of the remaining contract period.

So I decided to help that madman-to-be not go crazy.

Anyway, if I tried to run away now, I’d surely be caught quickly, and it was uncertain if I could even leave the castle in the first place. Therefore, I concluded that preventing him from going crazy was the best course of action.

“You absolutely must not go crazy until I retire.”

Please stay sane! With that firm resolution, I filled a spray bottle with plenty of water.

Then I extended my hand and activated my healing power.

Because one hand was bandaged, the healing power only emerged from my uninjured hand.

“But how much should I use?”

I stared at the blob of healing power, which looked somewhat like slime or a collection of giant water droplets.

For now, I made it about the size of an apple, but…

Come to think of it, I’m not sure exactly how much healing power I have.

In the original story, it was written that if you use too much healing power, your whole body loses strength and you lose consciousness, which was the first danger stage.

After using healing power, time is needed for the body to recover.

The depleted healing power also returns depending on the body’s condition.

If you use healing power again without recovering your condition, you’ll lose consciousness again in an already depleted state, and your health will gradually deteriorate.

Eventually, if you can’t recover, you’ll turn into a mummy in an instant.

“Should I make it a bit bigger?”

I increased the healing power to about the size of a watermelon.

I quickly checked my body’s condition, but I felt fine.

So I applied a bit more force and made it about the size of a pumpkin.

“This much is okay too?”

Fortunately, it seems it wasn’t just a tiny amount. I’ll stop here for now.

A pumpkin-sized amount at once is fine.

Having finished the test, I put the blob of healing power into the water. The rippling pink light shimmered as it seeped into the water inside the spray bottle.

“You really don’t listen, do you.”

Edan was fighting monsters in his unchanging pattern every day, and the day of the ball was drawing closer.

Feeling anxious, I spent most of my waking hours spraying the healing power-infused water in every corner of the castle.

And today, Edan finally picked a fight with me.

“Didn’t you hear me tell you not to do anything?”

When I didn’t answer, Edan tilted his head and asked again in a crooked posture, and I looked up at him sulkily, gripping the spray bottle tightly.

“I need to do something to earn my salary, don’t I?”

“Your job is to do nothing.”

“That’s not true.”

“What?”

Annoyed by my answer, Edan slightly furrowed his brow and took a big step forward. I looked straight at him as he came close, right in front of my nose.

“To be precise, you told me to look at your face. But since you haven’t been showing your face much lately, shouldn’t I at least do this?”

It had been a bit difficult to see Edan’s face in recent days.

His living pattern hadn’t changed, but since I injured my hand, food was brought from the grand duchy. On top of that, he was sprinkling pepper on his own food, so unless he sought me out, there was no particular reason to run into each other.

It’s not that I felt neglected by Edan or anything. He had just returned to his schedule from when he was a recluse in his room.

If anything, I felt relieved that he seemed to have lost interest in me.

Edan’s lips parted slightly and then closed, as if he found my boldly thrown words absurd.

Then, as if he had realized something, he let out a small laugh.

“Is this your way of saying you want to see me?”

What? …That’s not it. It was meant to be a sarcastic comment about how little work I had, why are you understanding it that way?

I frowned and shook my head from side to side. But Edan’s attention was already directed at the spray bottle, not me.

“The number of monsters in the north has increased lately, so I’ve been busy.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

What’s this? Edan’s softened voice sounded like he was explaining that his not seeking me out wasn’t intentional.

“So, what are you spraying around?”

“Just water. It seems there’s too much dust in the castle lately, so I’m spraying it.”

Edan looked down at me with eyes that said I was doing something utterly useless.

Regardless, I had already decided to be brazen, so I approached Edan.

“Master, could you lower your head a bit?”

“Why?”

Though he asked indifferently, Edan readily lowered his head towards me.

In the north, Edan’s bright blond hair looked like stars, but seen like this in the daytime, it shimmered like spun gold.

Thinking that monster blood might have some kind of treatment function, given how soft his hair was… I sprayed the bottle on Edan’s head with a few quick bursts.

I felt Edan’s shoulders flinch at my unexpected attack.

“Stay still. I’m preventing dust from sticking to your hair.”

Actually, I’m infusing it with healing power.

You idiot! Future madman! Take my healing power! Don’t go crazy!

Excited, I sprayed the bottle repeatedly, causing Edan’s hair to quickly become damp.

Drip, drip. Water droplets collected at the ends of his hair fell onto his shirt, and Edan, who had been obediently following my words, finally raised his eyes as if he’d reached his limit.

“What are you doing.”

A low voice trying hard to suppress irritation.

Finally coming to my senses, I flinched and stepped back.

“I-I was worried about dust sticking, so I sprayed too much…”

“…”

As Edan remained silent, I quickly threw out an apology.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why don’t you act up some more.”

Edan raised the corners of his mouth as if my apology was laughable and brushed his hair back.

Then he pressed down on my head with his wet hand.

“Huh?”

With each push as he applied force to his hand, I gradually sank down into a squat.

Ugh. Who am I doing this for! This is all for your sake!

Not even knowing how much effort I’m putting in for him. Geez, really.

But since it was true that I had acted up too much to teach Edan a lesson, I kept my mouth shut.