To make that happen, he had even invited a few friends to the castle. After all, deviation was always more stimulating in a group.
Now then, what should I start with?
For a moment, Cassian pictured himself getting drunk and going bungee jumping naked. He burst out laughing. He tossed the wet towel carelessly onto the floor and stepped out of the bathroom in high spirits, walking barefoot across the room.
Before choosing what to wear for dinner, he decided to check his phone messages first, but he did not see it.
Where did I put it?
Standing there naked, he turned his head back and forth, scanning the room. Frowning, he tried to recall what he had done. He had come in, taken off his clothes, and his phone…
Turning his head, he let out a small laugh. His phone was sitting alone on the bed. Whistling lightly, he walked over and bent down. That was when he noticed one side of the sheet was oddly raised. It seemed the servant had not arranged it properly. Without thinking much, Cassian grabbed both the phone and the sheet and pulled.
The sheet covering the bed was flung aside, revealing the neatly arranged mattress underneath.
And Cassian’s entire body froze.
“Mm…”
He had thought the crumpled sheet was just bunched up in some strange shape. He had been completely wrong. It was not empty space. As the sheet that had been pulled over its head disappeared, something curled up on the mattress slowly stirred from a deep sleep, rubbing its eyes.
At most, the little thing only reached Cassian’s knees. It awkwardly pushed itself upright and blinked sleepily up at him. The eyes that first moved to his chest slowly traveled downward. Across the sharply defined muscles of his abdomen, over the lean waist without a trace of excess fat, past his pelvic bone, and further down beneath the dark body hair where the man’s—
The child’s gaze fixed there. The drowsiness in its eyes faded, widening little by little. And just as its eyes grew round, its mouth opened just as wide.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!”
At that instant, Cassian went deathly pale and let out a scream loud enough to shake the world.
“Why in the world are you running around without any dignity, stripping off your clothes like that? Good heavens, that poor child had to see such a hideous sight. Do you know how startled he was? Bliss looked completely stunned. No matter what we said, he was blank. Well, naturally. He came all this way only to witness something he never should have seen. What are we to do with you?”
The Duchess scolded her son in a tone more agitated than usual, clearly displeased by the unfortunate situation. But this time, Cassian also had quite a lot to say.
“In my own room, whether I take off my clothes or not is my freedom. The one at fault is that peanut crumb who decided to sleep in someone else’s bed without permission. More importantly, why did you not tell me that he was here in the first place?”
At his son’s rapid, angry outburst, the Duchess frowned.
“I wanted to surprise you. What was I supposed to do?”
“Ha.”
Cassian let out a disbelieving sigh. If that was what the Miller brat had wanted, then he had achieved his goal one hundred percent—no, one thousand percent. Cassian had been so startled his heart nearly leapt out of his chest. And what was that about witnessing something hideous? If anything, he was the victim here. He was the one wronged, yet he was the one being scolded. What kind of filthy situation was this?
But if he spoke his mind as it was, his mother might faint. In the end, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and swallow the curses that wanted to spill out. He roughly ran a hand through his hair. The Duchess spoke again.
“That tiny child still remembered you and came all this way just to see you. Isn’t that admirable? When Mr. Miller told me that, I was so touched…”
With both hands placed over her chest, she let out a deep sigh. She looked more sincere than ever. Of course, none of that moved Cassian in the slightest.
“You should have at least given me a hint.”
If she had, he would have left England the moment vacation began. To drop that peanut crumb into the golden vacation he had waited for so eagerly—this was nothing short of terrorism.
“It seems he hid in your room to surprise you and fell asleep. He must have been tired after such a long flight.”
The Duchess continued to defend Bliss. Cassian could not help but protest.
“Mother, are you saying this is entirely my fault?”
“Oh, certainly not. Absolutely not.”
She denied it immediately, then added lightly,
“It is simply that you are not entirely without fault either.”
Though she had stepped back a little, she had not surrendered completely. In the end, Cassian pressed a hand to his forehead and tilted his head back, releasing a heated breath.
“Haa…”
Seeing her son like that, the Duchess tried to soothe him.
“He will not be staying long. You do not need to play with him every day. Just once every two or three days, for a couple of hours.”
She added gently,
“That small child crossed such a great distance just to see you. Isn’t that pitiful? Besides, he is a child of the Miller family. There is the relationship between our houses. You must treat him with utmost courtesy.”
Once again, she was not wrong. The name “Miller” was not one to be taken lightly. Especially for his own future as the next duke. Cassian stood still for a moment before finally letting out a sigh and nodding.
“…Understood. I will try.”
“That is right. Well thought.”
His mother smiled as if she had been waiting for that answer and patted his arm. Still displeased, Cassian asked,
“And how long is he planning to stay?”
He clung to his mother’s earlier words—“not long”—as his final hope. Looking at her son, the Duchess answered gently.
“Not very long.”
“Yes, you said that earlier. So how long? Three days? Four?”
When he pressed her again, she widened her eyes slightly and gave him a light reproachful look.
“My dear, that would be far too short. That little child crossed the sea and spent hours on a plane.”
“Fine. Then a week? Is it a week?”
At her son’s impatient question, the Duchess gave an ambiguous smile.
“A bit longer.”
“Ten days.”
Cassian nodded, but she spoke again.
“A bit longer.”
“Surely not half a month?”
He frowned. The Duchess continued to look at him with a smile. A bad feeling crept down his spine. Watching her with unsteady eyes, he finally received the answer.
“A month.”
“Oh, fuck!”
The curse flew from Cassian’s mouth before he could stop it. The Duchess went pale with shock.
“My goodness, did you just swear? At me? Heavens, how could you say something so vulgar? Lord, please forgive my son’s wicked mouth.”
She clasped her hands and began praying in a fluster, but Cassian did not even see it.
He had returned home imagining a peaceful vacation, and this was what awaited him? His grand plan to spend a once in a lifetime debauched break was completely ruined. To spend this precious vacation babysitting a child—this was beyond fucked. No, it was a million times fucked. He already knew what kind of tiny demon that brat was. The memories from a year ago, which he had finally managed to forget, came rushing back. He grabbed his head with both hands.
“I’m doomed. I’m completely doomed.”
At her son’s miserable self condemnation, the Duchess hurried to comfort him.
“Do not be so dramatic. It has been a year since then, has it not? Bliss is a year older now. He must have become more mature. He is simply a bit lively…”
“A bit? A bit lively? He barged into someone else’s house, rummaged through everything, and even rolled around in my bed. And you call that ‘a bit’ lively?”